December 2, 2020, 8:01 am
Although we still don’t have the slightest clue who put it there in the first place, an adventure guide is taking credit for being one of four men seen removing the mysterious Utah desert monolith less than two weeks after it was first spotted.
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The tall, silver structure became the subject of speculation after the Utah Department of Public Safety’s Aero Bureau noticed it in the generally unvisited section of the desert on November 18. Nobody knew how it got there, or who created it, or if it had any sort of purpose, though obviously, theories of aliens landing in the desert soon began running wild.
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The metallic pillar attracted countless new visitors to the area — which was not prepared for an influx of human visitors, let alone with vehicles — as everyone loves a good mystery.
But by Saturday, November 28, it was gone.
The disappearance was initially equally mysterious, but soon a photographer came forward and said he was there on Friday night when four men came and tore the monolith down, breaking it apart and carting it away without leaving a trace.
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Following that, Utah adventure guide Sylvan Christensen posted his own video of the removal, saying that it was he and his friends who snuck in late Friday night and removed what had rapidly become an iconic structure.
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“Don’t abandon your personal property on public land if you don’t want it to be taken out,” he wrote, which feels like it could be the type of sentiment that comes back to haunt him if it really was aliens casually dropping monoliths in the desert.
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Christensen told the Daily Mail that he and his buddies took it upon themselves to remove the monolith because it was bringing too many visitors to the area and destroying the land.
“We removed the Utah Monolith because there are clear precedents for how we share and standardize the use of our public lands, natural wildlife, native plants, freshwater sources, and human impacts upon them,” he said. “The land wasn’t physically prepared for the population shift (especially during a pandemic).”
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He noted that there are no trails, parking lots, or bathrooms in the area, and that resulted in all sorts of damage happening to the previously largely untouched land.
“The dismantling of the Utah Monolith is tragic—and if you think we’re proud—we’re not,” Christensen continued. “We’re disappointed. Furthermore, we were too late. We want to make clear that we support art and artists, but legality and ethics have definite standards — especially here in the desert — and absolutely so in adventuring.”
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The comments on the YouTube video, however, lambasted the “adventure Karens” as hypocrites, arguing that activities such as slacklining and rock climbing constitute environmental disturbances as well.
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A monolith that may well be identical to the Utah monolith was also spotted in the city of Piatra Neamt in Romania several days ago, and mysteriously disappeared on Tuesday. Thus far, no one has come forward to claim responsibility for removing — or constructing — this one.
*First Published: December 2, 2020, 8:01 am
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