Photographers captured removal of the mysterious Utah monolith. Here's why it vanished.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

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.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/photographers-captured-removal-of-the-mysterious-utah-monolith-heres-why-it-vanished/ar-BB1bxfnb?li=BBnb7Kz

[Sneederbunk]

1. How many here think this monolith thing is just about used up?

[cwydro]

2. So what's happening with the one in Romania?

[maveric]

8. They probably built a couple more.

Is basic sheet metal construction. Easy to build.

[Politicub]

3. The power of art. I learned a lot about this area because of this installation.

I scanned the article, but didn’t see what the people who removed the sculpture plan to do with it.

[eppur_se_muova]

4. Sounds like a potentially destructive stunt given the kibosh by concerned Nature lovers.

Good for them, it seems.

[Aristus]

5. Reminds me of a story from Douglas Adams' Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy book series.

There was a beautiful planet populated by large, lovely, flying dragons. The environment, including the silent gliding overhead of beautiful dragons, was so erotically stimulating that sex tourists from around the Galaxy converged on the planet.

Within a few years, the place had turned into a tawdry Vegas-style strip, and the dragons all ended up as hamburgers.

Moral: Please leave pristine places pristine, even, or maybe especially if it means keeping human beings away from it.

[underpants]

6. Sure, they LOOKED LIKE just 4 ordinary men

But we didn’t get a DNA sample did we? NO because aliens don’t have DNA. Seems pretty clear to me.

[cwydro]

9. Totally Twilight Zone!

Or 2020...

[SWBTATTReg]

7. If that spot was so pristine, so raw and unspoiled, why did they ruin it with this sculpture?

I wonder if it was some sort of treasure hunt thing, for its members to find after a series of clues and such, this was the first thing I thought of, w/ all of the treasure hunts that one hears of.