Slashdot reader Iwastheone quotes CNN:

A tall, silver, shining metal monolith discovered in the desert in southeastern Utah — which prompted theories of alien placement and drew determined hikers to its secret location — has now disappeared, the state’s Bureau of Land Management said Saturday.

The monolith was removed by an “unknown party” sometime Friday night, the agency said in a Facebook post.

“We have received credible reports that the illegally installed structure, referred to as the ‘monolith,’ has been removed” from BLM public lands, the post said. “The BLM did not remove the structure, which is considered private property.”

The monolith was first discovered November 18 by officers from the Utah Department of Public Safety’s Aero Bureau. They were flying by helicopter, helping the Division of Wildlife Resources count bighorn sheep in southeastern Utah, when they spotted something that seemed right out of “2001: A Space Odyssey…” Pilot Bret Hutchings guessed it was “between 10 and 12 feet high…”

In an official statement, the Utah Department of Public Safety emphasized that it’s still illegal to install structures or art on public lands, “no matter what planet you’re from.”

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Source:: Slashdot