(CNN) -
A tall, silver, shiny metal monolith discovered in the desert in southeastern Utah, which sparked theories about the alien-made installation and lured determined hikers to its secret location, has disappeared, the Bureau said Saturday. State Land Management Board (BLM).
The monolith was removed by an "unknown group" sometime late Friday, the agency said in a Facebook post.
"We have received credible reports that the illegally installed structure, known as the 'monolith,' has been removed" from BLM's public lands, the publication said.
"The BLM did not remove the structure, which is considered private property."
We have to go see it!
The monolith was first discovered on November 18 by officials from the Aero Bureau of the Utah Department of Public Safety.
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They were flying in a helicopter, helping the Wildlife Resources Division count the bighorn sheep in southeastern Utah, when they saw something that looked like something out of "2001: A Space Odyssey."
LOOK: Some eager explorers have already entered the desert and found the Utah monolith
"One of the biologists ... saw it, and we happened to fly directly over it," pilot Bret Hutchings told CNN affiliate KSL.
"He was like, 'Wait, wait, wait, turn around, turn around!'
And I was like, 'What?'
And he says, 'There's one thing back there, we have to go see it!'
And there it was, in the middle of the red rock was a monolith of shiny silver metal sticking out of the ground.
Hutchings guessed that he was "3 to 3.6 meters tall."
It didn't look like it had been left to chance, he told KSL, instead it looked like it had been planted.
"I guess it's some New Wave artist or something or, you know, someone who was a huge fan (" 2001: A Space Odyssey ")," he said, referring to a scene from the 1968 film where a black monolith appears. .
Despite that, it is illegal to install unauthorized structures or art on public land "no matter what planet it is from," Utah DPS said in a statement issued Monday.
Where is?
The location of the monolith was not disclosed because authorities said they did not want onlookers to be stranded in a remote landscape and in need of rescue.
But of course that didn't stop some.
Several people managed to successfully locate the monolith, hidden in a red rock slot canyon south of Moab.
MORE: Utah Monolith Probably Not Alien Work, But Still A Mystery
The hike involved driving in the dark over rocky terrain and checking the GPS coordinates, according to three people who went to see it.
At least one scout was lost at first.
But the trip was worth it, they said, even if the monolith was not the work of aliens.
David Surber may have been one of the first to see the monolith in person.
The coordinates of the monolith were circulating on Reddit, but none of the users could confirm that they were correct.
Surber volunteered to find out.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by David Surber (@davidsurber_)
The coordinates were actually correct, and Surber enthusiastically shared the results of his visit with 200 Reddit users who flooded his inbox.
Among his findings: The monolith was neither magnetic nor solid (he said it sounded "like a cardboard box" when struck).
He also shared step-by-step instructions for the trip to the monolith.
«At the end of the day, extraterrestrial or made through artistic expression;
the monolith provided an opportunity for thousands of people to come together again behind something positive, "he told CNN in an email.
"It was a nice escape from all the negativity we have experienced in 2020."
CNN's Scottie Andrew and Leah Asmelash contributed to this report.
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