Odd monolith appears in Calif., quickly vandalized

LOS ANGELES — Days after the discovery and swift disappearance of two metal monoliths half a world apart, another towering structure has popped up and then quickly vanished, this time from the pinnacle of a trail in California.

After photos were posted on social media, the tall, silver metallic structure drew hikers to the top of the Pine Mountain trail in an Atascadero park, KEYT-TV in Santa Barbara reported Wednesday.

The 3-sided, 10-foot-tall, 200-pound monolith was similar to two others discovered recently in the Utah desert and in Romania. Like those structures, the origin of the California edifice is unknown.

But by Thursday, the California monolith had vanished, apparently torn down by a group of men that traveled from farther south to remove it, the city of Atascadero said in a Facebook post.

Video posted online showed a group of men wearing night-vision goggles toppling what appears to be the monolith before dawn while chanting “Christ is king” and “America First.” One man also is heard saying: “We don’t want illegal aliens from Mexico or outer space.”

The men replaced the structure with a wooden cross, which also disappeared. All that was left Thursday of the monolith were few pieces of supporting rebar.