Mysterious monolith in the Utah Desert disappears

The imposing 12ft metal tower sparked a worldwide guessing game last week after it was spotted on November 18 by the Utah Department of Public Safety and Division of Wildlife Resources.

The mysterious monolith that appeared in the middle of the Utah desert has disappeared, officials have said.

The imposing 12ft metal tower sparked a worldwide guessing game last week after it was spotted on November 18 by the Utah Department of Public Safety and Division of Wildlife Resources.

Since then, a number of people have visited the tall structure that has provoked theories about aliens and UFOs and comparisons to the iconic sci-fi movie 2001: A Space Odyssey.

But Utah’s Bureau of Land Management said it had seen reports the object had been removed by an “unknown party”.

A number of social media posts show the object gone and people posing with the remains - a small metal triangle.

Helicopter pilot Ryan Bacher said he saw the monolith on Friday afternoon, he told TV station KSL: "Twenty-four hours later, my close friend, who is also a helicopter pilot, flew his family down to see as well and found it taken down."

It is still not cleared who installed the metal structure or who removed it.

The most plausible explanation to date by art experts is that it might be the work of late artist John McCracken. However, neither the gallerist of the artist or anyone else has come forward to claim knowledge of its origin.  

After the object’s discovery officials at first refused to disclose where it was for fear of people getting lost in remote parts of the desert trying to locate it.

But internet sleuths on Reddit figured out the coordinates, prompting adventurers to visit the eye-catching metal construction.

Tim Slane, the Reddit user who located the monolith through Google Earth and posted the co-ordinates, revealed last week he tracked the path of helicopter which first found the monolith and zeroed in where it went off-radar.  

"I knew that once the location became public knowledge that people would visit the area," said Mr Slane. 

"I have received some angry messages for my revealing of the location. If I had not found it, someone else would likely have found it soon enough."