Witness claims annoyed group dismantled, removed mysterious monolith in Utah desert as another appears in Romania

An image appearing to show a group removing the Utah monolith.
An image appearing to show a group removing the Utah monolith. Photo credit: Getty/Ross Bernards/Instagram

The mysterious monolith discovered in the Utah desert last week before randomly disappearing was dismantled by a group of men who then used a wheelbarrow to remove it, a witness claims.

And while the bizarre Utah saga continues to unfold, there's been reports a second mysterious monolith has been discovered in Romania. 

Public safety workers discovered the 3-metre-tall Utah monolith last week while counting sheep from a helicopter, sparking an internet challenge for people to try and locate the structure.

But just as quickly as it appeared, Utah's Bureau of Land Management said in a statement on Sunday the monolith had been removed by "an unknown party".

Reacting to the news about the monolith's disappearance, Instagram user Ross Bernards claimed he witnessed a group of men breaking the structure apart and subsequently removing it. Those claims are backed up with an image of the monolith appearing to be sitting horizontally on the desert floor.

"On Friday, three friends and I drove the six hours down to the middle of nowhere in Utah and got to the 'trailhead' around 7 PM after passing a sea of cars on our way in," Bernards wrote.

"We passed one group as we hiked towards the mysterious monolith, while another group was there when we arrived, and they left pretty quick after we got there.

"Four guys rounded the corner and two of them walked forward. They gave a couple of pushes on the monolith and one of them said 'You better have got your pictures.'

"Then all four of them came up and pushed it almost to the ground on one side before they decided [to] push it back the other when it then popped out and landed on the ground with a loud bang. 

"They quickly broke it apart and as they were carrying to the wheelbarrow that they had brought one of them looked back at us all and said 'Leave no trace.'

"If you're asking why we didn't stop them well, they were right to take it out - We could literally see people trying to approach it from every direction to try and reach it, permanently altering the untouched landscape."

Another monolith mystery - this time in Europe

Journalists in Romania are also scratching their heads after claiming they too have found a metal monolith in a northern part of the country.

The Ziar Piatra Neamt newspaper said they had travelled to Bâtca Doamnei hill on Thursday and came across the mysterious find.

"A metal structure appeared in that area, which some call a monolith," the newspaper said, accompanied with images of the curious architecture.

"The object is about 3-4 m high and is stuck in the ground. It looks empty inside.

"Its unusual shape strikingly resembles another steel monolith about which the international press wrote the other day that it was discovered in the Utah desert in the USA."

Police won't investigate Utah monolith disappearance

According to the Utah Land Management Bureau, the structure was considered private property and would be handled by the local sheriff's office.

But the local sheriff's office in San Juan County had said there weren't enough resources for a widespread investigation, The Guardian reports. 

The monolith appeared to be made of steel sheets riveted together, and how it came to be installed remains a mystery. Past satellite imagery suggests it was installed between 2015 and 2016.

Some have speculated it was the work of John McCracken, an artist from New Mexico who was a fan of science fiction.