A roadside memorial to a UFO spotting in Flanders has been removed at the request of the family of the man who created it.
The monument, located in the hamlet of Lottenhulle in Aalter, was erected in 2004 by a man named Marin Vandercruyssen.
It commemorated the moment when on Belgian National Day in 1955, a young Vandercruyssen - then a paratrooper in the Belgian Army - spotted a group of people standing by the roadside, staring at the sky.
His father pulled over, and Vandercruyssen saw five gigantic, silver discs, each about a hundred metres in diameter, hovering above the motorway. He became convinced they were UFOs.
In 2004, Vandercruyssen persuaded the local council to allow him to erect a monument to the sighting in the form of a 40x40cm marble slab. The stone read: "Marin Vandercruyssen, paratrooper, along with 20 witnesses, saw 5 UFOs hovering over the E40 here on 21 July 1955 for ±10 min. in Lotenhulle."
In recent years, the memorial gained something of a cult reputation in Belgium, drawing visitors on the lookout for quirky and unusual tourist attractions.
It was included in a list of the 50 most bizarre places to visit in Belgium as part of a book called Bizarre Belgium: 50 Places for a Weird Day Out written by Karen Francois and Kamiel De Bruyne.
The monument was renovated as recently as July of this year, but was removed by municipal services last week.
According to VRT, the family of Vandercruyssens, who died in 2020, “no longer wanted to be associated with the sighting”. They reportedly asked a lawyer to send the local council a letter requesting its “urgent removal” and intended to launch a claim for damages if this was not completed.
