JERSEY CITY — It was a startling sight on Tuesday night: a darkened Statue of Liberty except for her torch and crown.

While ever-helpful Twitter users offered up explanations ranging from comedic to political, the National Park Service said in a Facebook post it was a "temporary, unplanned outage," likely part of work being done on a new backup emergency generator on Liberty Island.

The project involves placing the generator above projected flood levels, which is the park service's last Superstorm Sandy recovery project. The cause will be confirmed on Wednesday.

The lights came on just before midnight.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com.

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