The Mysterious Appearance And Disappearance Of Metal Monolith

A tall, silver, shining metal monolith was first discovered on November 18 by officers from Utah Department of Public Safety’s Aero Bureau in the desert in south-eastern Utah.  The location of the monolith was not disclosed in order to avoid curious seekers to get stranded in the remote landscape of the desert. The unexplained monolith however mysterious disappeared over the weekend. It was removed by an “unknown party” sometime at Friday night as per Bureau of Land Management, Utah.

We may not know if an extraterrestrial or earthling installed the “monolith” structure, but we can confirm that it has been taken by an unknown party or parties. More: https://t.co/zmlHF4kPn9 #monolith #utahmonolith #utah pic.twitter.com/TiQMHK9cyM — BLM Utah (@BLMUtah) November 30, 2020

The structure was first discovered by the officers while they were flying by helicopter, helping the Division of Wildlife Resources count bighorn sheep in south-eastern Utah, when they spotted something that seemed right out of "2001: A Space Odyssey." The discovery of the structure had caused a lot of excitement among adventure-seekers and has sparked theories ranging from aliens to everything. However Bret Hutching, department pilot guessed that the metal monolith was most likely placed there by an artist rather than an alien. He said "I'm assuming it's some new wave artist or something or, you know, somebody that was a big ("2001: A Space Odyssey") fan," referencing a scene in the 1968 film where a black monolith appears. He also said the structure must be somewhere between 10ft to 12ft tall.

The department said it is illegal to install structures of art without authorization on federally managed lands, "no matter what planet you're from." And also the area was not developed for high visitation however large number of people visited the site over last week and BLM, Utah noticed these visitors left behind human waste and parked on vegetation.

"We recognize the incredible interest the 'monolith' has generated world-wide. Many people have been enjoying the mystery and view it as a welcome distraction from the 2020 news cycle," Monticello Field Manager Amber Denton Johnson said in a statement. "Even so, it was installed without authorization on public lands and the site is in a remote area without services for the large number of people who now want to see it. Whenever you visit public lands please follow Leave No Trace principles and Federal and local laws and guidance."