The Statue Of Liberty Mysteriously Went Dark And People Were Scrambling To Find Out Why

The Statue of Liberty went dark on Tuesday night, sending folks online into mystery mode to try and determine if it was an accident or if the shutdown was planned. The timing of Lady Liberty going dark comes close to International Women’s Day and the #DayWithoutAWoman protest/strike that will see women across the globe take part in a “one-day demonstration of economic solidarity.” This includes taking the day off, wearing red to show support, and not shopping unless it is “small, women- and minority-owned businesses.”

https://twitter.com/McHugh/status/839318249477136385

https://twitter.com/passantino/status/839324981553053696

So with that proximity, some though it might’ve been a planned protest or some sort of intentional outage to show solidarity with International Women’s Day or at least in protest of Trump’s re-introduced travel ban:

https://twitter.com/emilyvgordon/status/839321016157364224

https://twitter.com/raymondbraun/status/839315748988166145

https://twitter.com/AltCaStateParks/status/839315179582074880

https://twitter.com/loather/status/839329752599048192

The truth seems to be less intentional according to the National Park Service. A spokesperson told the New York Post that it seems to be related to a new emergency generator that had just been switched on at the site:

β€œWe believe it is related to the activation of a new emergency backup generator which is being installed as a part of our last remaining hurricane Sandy recovery project,”

NPS also addressed the situation on Twitter and will reportedly head out to investigate what went wrong in the AM.

https://twitter.com/katierogers/status/839340339936772096

And while the lights were back on by 11:30, it does still seem to be a moment heading into tomorrow’s events. It might not have been intentional, but it had an effect on people already geared up to take part in the #DayWithoutAWoman.

(Via New York Post / Fusion)