Mysterious monoliths have been appearing across the world in remote locations and then disappearing without explanation. The first was found in Utah in November 2020 and attracted many explorers before vanishing. Soon after, another monolith appeared in Romania displaying circles before also disappearing. A third monolith then surfaced in California before being removed. More attempts to copycat the monoliths were done by individuals looking to profit. Additional monoliths found in the Netherlands and UK had no explanation, leading to theories they were placed by aliens scoping out the planet.

1. Monoliths: Aliens or Artists?
In a year full of unexpected events and science fiction headlines, it’s only fitting that mysterious
monoliths would begin popping up across the world. These monoliths have shown up from Utah
to Romania all slightly different than the last, but large and in secluded locations.
The first monolith appeared in Utah, U.S. with the exact location being undisclosed. It was found
by Utah’s wildlife agency Nov. 18 while performing a routine survey of bighorn sheep in Utah’s
Red Rock Country. While the location may have remained undisclosed a picture was still posted
of the 10-12 foot monolith at the base of a canyon. This was all the internet as needed as dozens
of wannabe explorers traversed the desert to find said monolith. By Nov. 27 the monolith had
mysteriously vanished without and trace, it is still unclear how it made it to and from the
location.
To add to the mystery of the first monolith, the day of its disappearance a new monolith was
found in Piatra Neamt, Romania. This monolith stood around the same height as the first, but this
new monolith was covered in circles originally not found on the Utah monolith. By Dec. 1 this
structure had also mysteriously vanished without a trace and with no one taking credit for the
intrigue it sparked.
A day after the Romanian monolith disappeared another was found across the globe in
Atascadero, California on top of Pine Mountain. This one again had about the same size and was
made of stainless steel, no ominous circles though like the one found in Romania. However,
unlike the previous two this monolith was instead torn down by a group of men and replaced
with a wooden cross. No mysterious disappearances here.
After this first wave of mysterious structures, many people began trying to make their own and
erect these monoliths all over to create publicity. One store owner in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
put one in front of his candy shop to create attention and help generate revenue. It’s unsurprising
that people would want to find a way to profit from these mysterious happenings. The lead
mechanic at the Colorado Air and Space Port, Bill Zempel, simply built one as a joke, saying
“We’re a space port after all.”
More monoliths of mystery continue to surface around the globe though, ones without any jokes
or publicity behind them. There was one found in a Dutch nature reserve in the Netherlands,
completely made of steel. No footprints were seen around it and it was covered in ice suggesting

2. it’d been there for a quite a while. Another was found on the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom this
one was around 8-foot-tall and reflective. These were the last two randomly spotted throughout
the world, but with the way this year has gone there are sure to be more.
This leads us to the question of why and how someone or something would do this. We can
easily rule out it being the work of a single person as its borderline impossible to be able to get
halfway across the world with huge monoliths within days of each other. It’s also hard to believe
this could be a group of people dedicated to this huge art project. Surely someone would slip and
want the credit for such a massive feat.
Conspiracy theorists are saying aliens are behind these discoveries; citing the fact that these
monoliths are being placed across the world to decide whether we are suitable for invasion. As
farfetched as this is, in a year unlike any other its almost believable.