Police in south Germany are investigating the mysterious disappearance of a giant wooden phallic sculpture that, until recently, took pride of place on a mountain summit in Bavaria.
The sculpture was removed from Grünten mountain at some point this weekend, local newspaper Allgaeuer Zeitung reported, with only a stump and sawdust left in its place.
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The two-metre tall statue appeared just as mysteriously several years ago – no artist has ever claimed it.
Although it has no official name, the sculpture has been christened “the Holzpenis”, and has become a local landmark and destination for hikers. It’s even listed as a cultural monument on Google Maps.
Police in the nearby Bavarian town of Kempten said a formal inquiry into the statue going missing had been opened, but it wasn’t entirely clear that a crime had actually been committed.
“We don’t know whether it is a criminal offence or not,” a police spokesperson told Allgaeuer Zeitung.
The penis statue’s disappearance comes days after a mysterious metal monolith found in the desert in Utah similarly vanished, only for a new monolith to apparently emerge in Romania. There’s no link between the two monuments disappearing… yet.