Utah metal monolith

Utah metal monolith

The Utah monolith was a metal pillar that stood in a red sandstone slot canyon in northern San Juan County, Utah. It was unlawfully placed on public land between July and October 2016. In November 2020, state biologists discovered it during a helicopter survey of wild bighorn sheep. Following intense media coverage, it was covertly removed on November 27, 2020, by four unidentified men.

About Utah metal monolith in brief

Summary Utah metal monolithThe Utah monolith was a metal pillar that stood in a red sandstone slot canyon in northern San Juan County, Utah. It was unlawfully placed on public land between July and October 2016. In November 2020, state biologists discovered it during a helicopter survey of wild bighorn sheep. Members of the public found the pillar using GPS mapping software and made their way to the remote location. Following intense media coverage, it was covertly removed on November 27, 2020, by four unidentified men. Similar metal columns have appeared in many other places throughout the world, including California, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Texas, Colombia, Canada, the United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Romania. Some monoliths in California and the one in Romania were removed; however, one of the California structures, afterwards, was replaced by the original artists. Most artists want some recognition for what they are doing, but this seems to include a mystery as part of the intention of the group of people who have done it so there could not have been one person who could do it alone. The identity of its makers, and their objectives, are unknown. The metal structure stood 3 m tall above the bedrock, with each of the sides being 58 cm wide. A triangular prism, it had three sides, was not magnetic, and appeared to be made of 18th inch stainless steel or aluminium sheets, joined with rivets, with a hollow interior. There was silicone caulk or epoxy along the base, and striking the metal produced dampened sound type of insulation inside.

The pillar was assembled using blind rivets suggesting it was difficult to determine its age, but making it difficult to try and determine its human origins, but a TV show host described it as a concrete monolith and a concrete slab. The monolith has been removed by a group of artists who have some knowledge of it, but have not revealed what they have done with it. It is not known if it will be used as a tourist attraction or as a place to gather information about Native American sites and artifacts. The site has no public services such as parking, restrooms, or cell phone service. The exact location of the object was not disclosed by the Utah Department of Public Safety to prevent people becoming lost while trying to find it. Within hours of the DPS announcement, Reddit user Tim Slane had identified the object on Google Earth. Slane compared the flight path of the state biologists’ helicopter against the red-and-white sandstone terrain from their videos. He was aided by clues like the cliffs’ height, the canyon’s erosion pattern, and a flat floor suggesting it wasn’t frequently flooded. Google Earth satellite images showed that the monolith had been installed between August 2015 and October 2016, and that surrounding scrub vegetation had been cleared. On November 23, the DPS released videos and photographs of theobject, but not its exact location, on their website saying: “DPS Aero Bureau Encounters Monolith in Red Rock Country”