Why the mysterious Utah monolith was removed
So it wasn’t aliens that removed Utah’s mysterious monolith, after all.
Human beings were responsible for removing that 10-foot metal monolith, which garnered international attention after it was discovered Nov. 18 embedded in Utah’s remote Red Rock Country and went viral before vanishing without a trace over the weekend.
Days after the structure disappeared, travel photographer Ross Bernards revealed he was on site when four unidentified men showed up to remove the now-world-famous monolith. Bernards’ friend, Mike Newlands, was also witness to the removal. A few days later, he spoke with one of the men responsible for the removal who reached out asking for the photos Newlands took of them carrying the monolith away.
“They took it away for a few reasons,” Newlands told USA TODAY on Tuesday. “It’s litter – public lands are to be respected, and this was out of place, in a pristine and sensitive environment.”
Plus, the monolith was in a secluded area of the desert, only accessible through a 4-by-4 dirt road with no designated parking area. It had become a major attraction and “with the amount of people who are not familiar with desert landscapes, the damage to the land from all the vehicles and people was going to be disastrous,” he added, noting the group returned to the location the next morning to find dozens of cars and a plane.
Bernards attributed the popularity of the monolith in part to the coronavirus pandemic keeping people at home and bored but also to the obvious shock factor. It was “pretty unique and random for something like this to just pop up in the desert,” he wrote in an email.
He, Newlands and two of their friends were visiting the desert on Friday to take photos, snapping some breathtaking shots of the monolith, set against the starry midnight blue sky. While taking a break just before 9 p.m., they began to hear voices nearing their spot, Bernards recalled in an Instagram post Monday.
Four men approached the monolith, and the photographer and his group contemplated leaving “so they could enjoy it for themselves like we did,” Bernards wrote.
“You better have got your pictures,” he recalled one man saying, before he pushed the monolith, causing it to lean forward. Another quipped: “This is why you don’t leave trash in the desert.”
All four of them began to push, and the monolith nearly landed on its side before they decided to push it back. It was at that point, Bernards wrote, that the structure “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,’” he added, referencing a popular mantra urging people not to harm the spaces they visit in nature.
True to the “leave no trace” motto, Bernards, Newlands and their friends pitched in to clean up “some of the rivets that blew out upon impact and ... the epoxy that was used to adhere the structure to the sandstone,” Newlands said.
A few minutes after they arrived, the four unidentified men managed to dismantle and remove the odd structure that captured the world’s attention. Either way, Bernards maintains they made the right decision – the buzz around the monolith had been disturbing the natural serenity of the desert.
Contributing: Sara M. Moniuszko, Bryan Alexander