Monolith mystery deepens as Utah desert object vanishes

By Rich McKay

 

A metal monolith is seen in Red Rock Desert, Utah, U.S., November 25, 2020, in this still image obtained from a social media video. @davidsurber_ via REUTERS

 

(Reuters) - No word as to whether Star Trek's Scotty "beamed it up," but the mysterious, shiny monolith that was spotted in a remote southeastern Utah desert two weeks ago is gone.

 

A state crew that buzzed through the wilderness, counting bighorn sheep from a helicopter, found the alien-looking object on Nov. 18 and touched off international sci-fi speculation, harkening to the classic Stanley Kubrick 1968 film, "2001: A Space Odyssey."

 

In the Kubrick movie, an alien monolith is a recurring symbol that appears to play a role in the development of human evolution.

 

The riddle in the desert, twice as tall as an average adult, drew scores of the curious to see it, even though its exact location was not made public, according to accounts on social media.

 

A metal monolith is pictured in a remote area of Red Rock Country in Utah, U.S. November 18, 2020. Utah Department of Public Safety via REUTERS

 

No one seems to know where it went.

 

Neither the federal Bureau of Land Management nor the state's Department of Public Safety said they had any idea.

 

"We have received reports that the illegally installed structure, referred to as the 'monolith' has been removed from Bureau of Land Management public lands by an unknown party," the state agency posted on Saturday on its website.

 

It said the object was reportedly removed on Friday evening. A representative was not immediately available for comment on Sunday.

 

Guesses as to what happened ran wild online, with one person postulating, "The space aliens returned to remove it."

 

The art world has speculated that the object was the work of John McCracken, a sculptor fond who died in 2011. His son, Patrick McCracken, has told The New York Times his father told him in 2002 that "he would like to leave his artwork in remote places to be discovered later."

 

(Reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta; Editing by Daniel Wallis)

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-11-30

 

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Yep, or somebody is really tweaking their skills in the noble art of Photoshop.

Edited November 29, 20205 yr by Dagfinnur Traustason

Perhaps it was a monument to democracy? 

 

They do seem to disappear mysteriously at times of "democratic stress"!

Can anyone else see the two faces on the monolith? I'd say they were reflections except if the thing is twice the height of an adult.

No footprints or signs of digging a big hole

Donald Trump took it to finish his wall that aliens from mars are paying for !

Soon for sale on E-Bay for $1m

Flat earthers will be all over this.

A few years ago a British tabloid newspaper headlined with a picture of a London bus parked on the moon, how did it get there? A couple of weeks later the headline read “ mystery of London bus disappearing from the moon”. Nothing is ever new in this world but at least nobody got hurt.

"still image obtained from a social media video."

 

Kinda says it all

Some crank probably declared that it glorified slavery

Somebody trying to gin up some publicity imo but hey what’s the harm?kinda amusing imo carry on lol I love it!

It's a leg off Channel 4's giant box section man .. 

 

Edited November 30, 20205 yr by Justgrazing
Sp

21 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Can anyone else see the two faces on the monolith? I'd say they were reflections except if the thing is twice the height of an adult.

If you can see two faces on that you need to lay-off the whacky backy

Anyone ask Pete Townsend about it?

 

 

It's apparently turned up in Romania

 

Edited December 1, 20205 yr by Bluetongue

20 hours ago, Carlosm said:

Donald Trump took it to finish his wall that aliens from mars are paying for !

Or even more oddly it was a signal to those who assassinated the Iranian scientist that it was a green light to act and was removed after the deed...watch out for it again and see who dies then...

 

 

Extreme sarcasm alert

It had to be 'gone':as too many rednecks were starting to beat each other with sticks and fiddles after seeing it.

23 hours ago, hotchilli said:

If you can see two faces on that you need to lay-off the whacky backy

Not my problem if you need better glasses.

Believe this has been exlained by observers who witnessed four people breaking down the 'lith?

 

https://www.wltx.com/article/news/nation-world/witness-says-utah-monolith-was-toppled-by-group-who-said-leave-no-trace/507-d25146d0-6e3d-4778-9934-001d460c2d3e

 

 

Should have sold adverts on it.

 

 

2 hours ago, mtls2005 said:

Believe this has been exlained by observers who witnessed four people breaking down the 'lith?

 

https://www.wltx.com/article/news/nation-world/witness-says-utah-monolith-was-toppled-by-group-who-said-leave-no-trace/507-d25146d0-6e3d-4778-9934-001d460c2d3e

 

 

Should have sold adverts on it.

 

 

Thanks for the link to that informative article.

   I thought the one in Romania was a Brancusi.

On 12/1/2020 at 2:11 PM, hotchilli said:

If you can see two faces on that you need to lay-off the whacky backy

Let's try that again. Have to look at it from different angles and I'm not saying they are obvious.

 

 

On 11/30/2020 at 4:22 PM, retayl said:

A few years ago a British tabloid newspaper headlined with a picture of a London bus parked on the moon, how did it get there? A couple of weeks later the headline read “ mystery of London bus disappearing from the moon”. Nothing is ever new in this world but at least nobody got hurt.

 

  Errmmm , that was published in 1988 , 32 years ago and it was a WW2 bomber "found"  on the moon , it was a London bus that was found buried at the South pole, published 31 years ago

6 minutes ago, CorpusChristie said:

 

  Errmmm , that was published in 1988 , 32 years ago and it was a WW2 bomber "found"  on the moon , it was a London bus that was found buried at the South pole, published 31 years ago

I'd be careful about "was". I just looked at one of only 2 responses on google about that, and it's not something I'd depend on as being true.

3 hours ago, mtls2005 said:

Believe this has been exlained by observers who witnessed four people breaking down the 'lith?

 

https://www.wltx.com/article/news/nation-world/witness-says-utah-monolith-was-toppled-by-group-who-said-leave-no-trace/507-d25146d0-6e3d-4778-9934-001d460c2d3e

 

 

Should have sold adverts on it.

 

 

Thanks for the link.  
 

From the article...

 

“A Colorado photographer told KSTU-TV that he saw four men come to the remote Utah site Friday night and push over the hollow, stainless steel object.”

 

A photographer, but no pictures?  Sounds odd.

 

“Right after it had fallen over and made a loud thud, one of them said, ‘This is why you don’t leave trash in the desert,’” Ross Bernards told the Salt Lake City TV station.”

 

A “loud thud”.  Sounds heavy.

 

“The group broke down the structure into pieces, loaded it into a wheelbarrow and left.”

 

The monolith was supposedly 3 meters in height and there doesn’t seem to be a riveted break in the length/height of the steel sheets.  Must have been pretty hard to load it in a tiny wheelbarrow and wheel it across the desert.

 

From the original NY Times article...

 

“The object was found in a remote area that Aaron Bott, a spokesman for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, described as rugged and very rocky, with many canyons and potential hazards. “It’s a tough place to get to on vehicle and on foot,” he said.“

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/24/us/Utah-monolith-red-rock-country.html
 

So...it’s tall, heavy and in a remote area that’s tough to get to by vehicle or foot but it was just wheelbarrowed out of there?

 

Must have been one hell of a wheelbarrow.

 

 

1 hour ago, Airalee said:

Thanks for the link.  
 

From the article...

 

“A Colorado photographer told KSTU-TV that he saw four men come to the remote Utah site Friday night and push over the hollow, stainless steel object.”

 

A photographer, but no pictures?  Sounds odd.

 

“Right after it had fallen over and made a loud thud, one of them said, ‘This is why you don’t leave trash in the desert,’” Ross Bernards told the Salt Lake City TV station.”

 

A “loud thud”.  Sounds heavy.

 

“The group broke down the structure into pieces, loaded it into a wheelbarrow and left.”

 

The monolith was supposedly 3 meters in height and there doesn’t seem to be a riveted break in the length/height of the steel sheets.  Must have been pretty hard to load it in a tiny wheelbarrow and wheel it across the desert.

 

From the original NY Times article...

 

“The object was found in a remote area that Aaron Bott, a spokesman for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, described as rugged and very rocky, with many canyons and potential hazards. “It’s a tough place to get to on vehicle and on foot,” he said.“

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/24/us/Utah-monolith-red-rock-country.html
 

So...it’s tall, heavy and in a remote area that’s tough to get to by vehicle or foot but it was just wheelbarrowed out of there?

 

Must have been one hell of a wheelbarrow.

 

 

Perhaps they were aliens that are very strong and they took the bits to their space ship. ????

3 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Perhaps they were aliens that are very strong and they took the bits to their space ship. ????

I’m guessing it’s more like über rich techies who couldn’t attend Burning Man this year.

On 12/1/2020 at 9:46 AM, bendejo said:

Anyone ask Pete Townsend about it?

 

 

Who ?

4 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Let's try that again. Have to look at it from different angles and I'm not saying they are obvious.

 

 

Nope still can't see it... but then again I never saw Jesus in a slice of toast either.

Meh... last century, crop circles. Now it's monoliths. Who knows what's coming next?