A monument commemorating a legendary Belgian UFO sighting is no more after the family of the primary witness in the case successfully petitioned to have the piece removed. According to a local media report, the original incident occurred in July of 1955 when Marin Vandercruyssen spotted what he later described as "five UFOs floated in formation from east to west" across the sky in the community of Lotenhulle. To the astonishment of what he claimed were dozens of other witnesses who had stopped along a road to watch the weird scene, the silver disc-shaped objects moved "at the speed of a zeppelin" before suddenly vanishing.

Remarkably, the incident went unmentioned for nearly fifty years until Vandercruyssen finally shared his story in 2004. Though he initially received some ridicule for the fantastic tale, the emergence of other witnesses lent credence to the account. Investigators gave additional weight to Vandercruyssen's claim by noting that he was a paratrooper for the Belgian Army and an amateur astronomer, which made him a particularly well-trained observer. The case quickly became a significant part of Belgian UFO lore, and, in the same year the story was revealed, Lotenhulle commemorated the event with a marble monument (seen below).

The piece depicts five flying saucers alongside a picture of Vandercruyssen, who passed away in 2020, from the time of the sighting. Although the monument received a fresh polishing this past July in recognition of the 70th anniversary of the case, just a few weeks later, the monument vanished like the very UFOs that captivated the paratrooper so long ago. Unlike in that instance, the circumstances of the disappearance are far from mysterious, as the piece was taken away this week at the behest of Vandercruyssen's family, who sought to detach themselves from his incredible story and even went so far as to hire a lawyer to convince Lotenhulle to make it happen.

While one can understand their reticence with being forever associated with their loved one's jaw-dropping UFO account, their actions have been met with some consternation from flying saucer fans in the country. "We’re losing a piece of Belgian folklore," researcher Frederick Delaere reportedly lamented, "there are a lot of people who are not happy that they have removed it." That sentiment was echoed by Belgian author Kamiel De Bruyne, who mused, “I think it's a pity. It's his life's work that's been taken away." To that end, the whereabouts of the monument at this time are unknown, as is its ultimate fate, though one can only hope that the piece can be preserved by researchers or historians in the country so that it is not lost forever.