The mystery of the disappearing Utah Monolith has been solved. A Colorado adventure photographer named Ross Bernards shared a friend’s photo of four men disassembling the Utah Monolith and making off with it, on Friday night. He managed to document the before-and-after moments of the monolith being in the Utah desert, while a friend of his captured images of the men taking the structure down. According to Bernards’ account (via the New York Times), the men viewed the monolith as an eyesore, making comments like “This is why you don’t leave trash in the desert.” They walked off with pieces of the structure in a wheelbarrow, with one of them reportedly proclaiming that they should ” Leave no trace.” So if you were worried aliens were up to something… don’t. Outdoor enthusiasts who didn’t like all the human traffic the Monolith attracted are apparently the culprits.
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https://redirect.viglink.com/?format=go&jsonp=vglnk_160686442301916&key=ce074976249105acf14d8c9cf69bdcd1&libId=ki6kgko601003n6p000DLe0snxl9z&loc=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnet.com%2Fnews%2Fphotographer-shares-shots-of-men-taking-down-the-mysterious-utah-monolith%2F&v=1&out=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2020%2F12%2F01%2Farts%2Fdesign%2Futah-monolith-removed-instagram.html&ref=https%3A%2F%2Fapp.asana.com%2F&title=Photographer%20shares%20shots%20of%20men%20taking%20down%20the%20mysterious%20Utah%20monolith%20-%20CNET&txt=Bernards%20told%20The%20New%20York%20TimesYou can read Ross Bernards’ full statement on what he and friend Michael James Newlands saw that night:
“If you’re interested in what exactly happened to the monolith keep reading because I was literally there. On Friday, 3 friends and myself drove the 6 hours down to the middle of nowhere in Utah and got to the “trailhead” around 7 PM after passing a sea of cars on our way in.
We passed one group as we hiked towards the mysterious monolith, while another group was there when we arrived, and they left pretty quick after we got there. For the next hour and 40 minutes we had the place to ourselves.
I had just finished taking some photos of the monolith under the moonlight and was taking a break, thinking about settings I needed to change for my last battery of drone flight when we heard some voices coming up the canyon. We were contemplating packing up our things as they walked up, so they could enjoy it for themselves like we did. At this point I looked down at my watch and it was 8:40 PM.
4 guys rounded the corner and 2 of them walked forward. They gave a couple of pushes on the monolith and one of them said “You better have got your pictures.” He then gave it a big push, and it went over, leaning to one side. He yelled back to his other friends that they didn’t need the tools. The other guy with him at the monolith then said “this is why you don’t leave trash in the desert.” Then all four of them came up and pushed it almost to the ground on one side, before they decided push it back the other when it then popped out and landed on the ground with a loud bang. They quickly broke it apart and as they were carrying to the wheelbarrow that they had brought one of them looked back at us all and said “Leave no trace.” That was at 8:48.
If you’re asking why we didn’t stop them well, they were right to take it out. We stayed the night and the next day hiked to a hill top overlooking the area where we saw at least 70 different cars (and a plane) in and out. Cars parking everywhere in the delicate desert landscape. Nobody following a path or each other. We could literally see people trying to approach it from every direction to try and reach it, permanently altering the untouched landscape. Mother Nature is an artist, it’s best to leave the art in the wild to her.”
The Bureau of Land Management of Utah had previously issued an official statement denying any government interference with the monoliths. Of course, that only inspired more wild theories about how the structure was disappearing:
“Here is our official statement on the rumors surrounding the “#Monolith:” We have received credible reports that the illegally installed structure, referred to as the “monolith” has been removed from Bureau of Land Management (BLM) public lands by an unknown party. The BLM did not remove the structure which is considered private property. We do not investigate crimes involving private property which are handled by the local sheriff’s office. The structure has received international and national attention and we received reports that a person or group removed it on the evening of Nov. 27.”
The statement that “a person or group removed it on the evening of Nov. 27” made people especially suspicious, as some people claimed to have seen the monolith there at sunset. However, as much fun as it was to speculate about what might be regarding this “mysterious disappearance,” it’s kind of hard to refute the evidence in front of our faces.
Ripley’s had previously offered upwards of $10,000 for any information leading to the recovery of the monolith or proof of its ownership. The mystery of a second monolith disappearing from Romania has yet to be solved.
