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Extreme Sports Pro Claims Responsibility for Removing Mysterious Utah Monolith

On Tuesday, an extreme sports pro claimed responsibility for removing the mysterious metal monolith that recently appeared and then disappeared from the Utah desert.

BASE jumper and slackliner “Sketchy” Andy Lewis, who lives in Moab, UT, shared a YouTube video where he announced he and three others removed the 10-foot tall stainless-steel monolith on Friday.

“On the night of November 27, 2020, at about 8:30pm— our team removed the Utah Monolith,” the “Mr. Slackline” account captioned the short video. “We will not be including any other information, answers, or insight at this time.”

The video starts out with a still image of the men after laying the monolith longways on the ground. Next, the footage shows three people with their faces blurred wheeling the structure away in the night. A fourth person records the removal.

“The safe word is: ‘run,’” one of the men jokingly says in the footage.

The video shows that the monolith is a hollow metal structure, obviously man-made in its creation. Why the monolith was ever put there and who made it still remains a mystery.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6c2EhNtSj4

Monolith Has Gone Unnoticed in the Area for Years

Moab-based slackliner Sylvan Christensen re-posted the 23-second clip on Instagram and TikTok.

“Don’t abandon your personal property on public land if you don’t want it to be taken out #utahmonolith #leavenotrace,” he wrote.

Additionally, a pair of men not with the group witnessed the crew removing the structure. Mike Newlands, 38, and his friend Ross Bernards, a 34-year-old photographer, came across the crew as they took the monolith down. Newlands posted images of the four men at work online and spoke to The New York Times in an article published Tuesday.

“They went out there with the intention to remove it,” Newlands said to the New York Post. “It needed to get out.”

“This is litter on public land,” Newlands added.

Thus, the mystery surrounding the metal structure’s disappearance has been solved. However, many questions remain about who created it and why they left it in the remote area of the Utah desert.

It was spotted on Nov. 18, and quickly made headlines across the nation. Yet, Google Earth imagery searches prove that its appearance dates back to sometime between August 2015 and October 2016.

Since its recent discovery, numerous people have visited the area to take photos of the strange monolith. Unfortunately, the crowds have left behind trash and parked their cars on vegetation, which can be detrimental to the area’s environment.

“People who were going out there to see it, I don’t think understand the customs (of the area),” Newlands explained. “It’s not a place for your art… get it out.”

[H/T NY Post]