[ad_1]
It was on November 18 of this year that conservationists from the Department of Public Safety found a one-meter-high steel monolith in the middle of the Utah desert.
The discovery, which was made in connection with a helicopter flight over the area, has raised a number of questions and theories have been burning about what the massive steel structure might be and, not least, how it ended up there.
“It didn’t look like he accidentally fell to the ground,” helicopter pilot Bret Hutchings told CNN after the discovery.
Since then, the place has been searched and visited by onlookers and hikers who have described the find as something inexplicable.
Now another question mark is added to the story.
According to local authorities, the metal object has disappeared.
“Moved by an unknown person”
“We have received credible reports that the illegally installed structure known as a ‘monolith’ has been moved by an unknown party,” the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) wrote in a statement.
The authority further states that they have not moved the steel pillar themselves, as it is considered private property. At the same time, it is noted that any crime related to the incident is being investigated by the local police.
“The structure has received international and national attention and we have received reports that a group of people moved it on the night of November 27,” the statement read.
Message in the sand: “Bye bitch”
Riccardo Marino is one of those who decided to visit the remote area of southern Utah. In a post on Instagram, he describes how he and Sierra Van Meter went there on Friday night and then, to their surprise, discovered that the monolith was gone.
At the place where it probably was, someone had written “Bye, bitch!” and urinated on the ground, something that, among other things Fox17 Online reported in.
It is also described that other visitors stacked stones around the place where the piece was previously standing.
During the week, the monolith has been linked to a number of movies and series, including 2001: A Space Odyssey.
But Nick Street, a spokesman for the Department of Public Safety, previously told the New York Times that it is most likely a work of art:
– As far as we know, it may have been there since the 40s or 50s.
