Residents of the pretty Irish village of Ardfinnian in County Tipperary reacted in shock and disbelief when their town hall disappeared.
Crowds gathered around the site of the building, which had been closed down for several years following a move to new civic offices.
The crowd scratched their heads and speculated as to who the culprits might be. Thoughts turned to heathen terrorists, extraterrestrials and demons as a search party was formed and launched a thorough hunt for the building.
Local police were called in and village constable PC Stan O'Reilly cordoned off the area for a painstaking search for forensic evidence.
An earth digger found close by led O'Reilly to a building firm in the nearby city of Cork.
It was only then discovered that the building had been demolished to make way for a new block of flats.
