Washington Monument Plunges Into Darkness [PHOTO]

WASHINGTON, DC — It was a spooky sight Tuesday night: the Washington Monument, usually a beacon of light on the darkest of nights in the nation's capital, suddenly went dark at around 7 p.m.

The blinking red light atop the monument that warns approaching aircraft worked fine, but the spotlights that bathe the structure in light when the sun sets were suddenly shut off.

National Park Service spokesman Michael Litterst said that the lights on the Washington Monument were back on by Wednesday morning when NPS electricians arrived, suggesting that the lighting system's clock was probably just out of sync.

"Staff are working to correct the problem and the lights are expected to be on this evening as normal," Litterst said.

Teams from D.C. utility Pepco also investigated, but determined it was not a power issue.

Instagram user mselover posted a picture of the eerie site, which you can see below:

So spooky to see the monument without any lights on it. #poweroutage?
A photo posted by Miranda (@mselover) on Jan 3, 2017 at 4:42pm PST

Image via Wikimedia user Teddy Yoshida