Do you know where the Utah monolith disappeared to?
Utah Department of Public Safety Aero Bureau
When a mysterious 2001: A Space Odyssey-like metal monolith was spotted in the Utah desert last week, social media went crazy trying to figure out who put it there and why. Then suddenly, the unusual object disappeared.
Now it seems Ripley’s wants to get to the truth about the monolith and is willing to pay for it. Ripley’s said Monday it will pay $10,000 to the first person who comes forward as the proud legal owner of the monolith or provides accurate information exclusively to Ripley’s on where to find it.
While another monolith popped up in Romania and then vanished as well, Ripley’s reward is only for the Utah monolith.
Tips can be submitted online at Ripleys.com.
There are already plenty of clues to help would-be sleuths get started on the monolith mystery. Originally, the monolith was spotted by Aero Bureau and wildlife resource officers during an overhead count of bighorn sheep in the Red Rock Country area.
Colorado adventure photographer Ross Bernards said on Tuesday he was visiting the bizarre structure on Friday night when he saw four men dismantle it. He posted photos of the structure on Instagram, as well as a photo taken by Michael James Newlands of the men taking it down.
“As they walked off with the pieces, one of them said, ‘Leave no trace,'” Bernards told The New York Times. The men then put the monolith pieces in a wheelbarrow and carted it off, he added.
Amateur detectives on Reddit made an attempt to uncover the origins of the monolith. After finding the monolith on Google Earth, they used historical imaging data to determine when it first appeared in the desert, which was between August 2015 and October 2016.
Because of the date range, some people believe it could have been a prop for the sci-fi drama Westworld which was filming nearby. But that doesn’t explain who took down the Utah monolith and where it is now.
