State, Local Authorities Say They Didn’t Take Down Mysterious ‘Monolith’

SALT LAKE CITY — A 12-foot “monolith” that mysteriously appeared in southeastern Utah has now disappeared just as mysteriously. But state and local authorities said it wasn’t them that took it down.

Like hundreds of others, Ryan Bacher heard about the monolith which became a worldwide phenomenon almost overnight.

Bacher said he wanted to see it for himself, so he took a couple of his kids and flew his helicopter down to southeastern Utah.

“It was a beautiful piece of art set really well in this perfect little canyon,” said Bacher. “Whoever did this, aliens or whoever, they spent a lot of time thinking about it, the direction it pointed, everything was just very unique.”

Bacher flew down Friday afternoon to take a look at the 12-foot tall, metal prism, but by Saturday morning the monolith had vanished.

“Someone took it in the night. I don’t even want to think who would have done something like that,” said Bacher. “Sadly, I thought the state did it. They thought the only way to get this out of here is to rip it out during the night.”

But officials with the Bureau of Land Management said it wasn’t them.

In a news release, BLM officials said the structure was “illegally installed.” They also said visitors who flocked to the site left behind human waste and garbage. However, they maintain they didn’t take it down.

The San Juan County Sheriff’s Office didn’t remove it either.

“There isn’t a formal investigation at this point. We haven’t had a victim come forward,” said Lt. John Young.

Young said they would investigate who took it, but they’re at a loss for where to start.

“Nobody knows for sure when it showed up. There’s evidence that it’s probably been there for a handful of years and then it mysteriously vanished just as mysteriously as it appeared,” said Young. “So what do we investigate?”

The monolith made a lot of appearances on social media Sunday — in a doctor’s office at Intermountain Medical Center, in a Southwest Airlines airport terminal, and even for sale in the KSL Classifieds, with a banana taped to it, but that’s another story.

“I almost felt like an alien being there because it was in a very remote spot,” said Bacher.

It seems folks all over the world, like Bacher, were left to wonder who or what took down the monolith. But it might be a mystery for another generation.

“I’m definitely a sci-fi enthusiast, so it could be on the other side of the galaxy at this point, who knows,” said Bacher.

A pile of rocks and a small pyramid made from what appears to be the same material was left behind in the monolith’s place.

BLM doesn’t recommend people go to the site though because it’s in a very remote area with no cell service, and now, there’s really nothing left to see.