A monolith sighting at the popular hiking trail, Pine Mountain in Atascadero has created quite the buzz.
It's captured international attention and it's shocked locals.
"I joked to another couple, 'Oh my god. Look it. One of those monoliths is up on the top of the hill there.' There was something sticking out but it was far away, we couldn't really tell what it was," said Brian Jeffrey of Atascadero.
Low and behold, when Jeffrey and his wife got to the top of their hike Wednesday morning, there was a 10 foot steel beam sticking out of the ground.
"I think we were probably among the first to see it," Jeffrey said.
It remains a mystery of how it appeared.
"I think that in times like this it's really nice to take our minds off of things and whoever did this, thank you," Jeffrey said.
"It doesn't surprise me that it's happened but with that being this year and all that's happening... what else is there to expect?," questioned Gloria Garcia of Fresno.
But the 200 pound structure disappeared less than 24 hours later.
The city says it received video that's surfaced on social media showing a group of young men from out of the area removing it. Many people arrived to the top of the mountain disappointed to find that the monolith is gone.
"I knew going in that I might travel a couple of hours and have nothing there but some rebar," said Joyce Ann of Fresno.
We came across many who drove for hours and hours to see the unique site.
"We drove actually from all the way from San Francisco," said Shak Kabulov. "We drove 3 and a half hours and when we came we were just disappointed."
"We drove from Orangevale which is really close to Sacramento," said Ana Soward. "It's about a 5 hour drive without traffic."
The theories of who set it up are different.
"I think it's just some kind of artist trying to get popular," Kabulov said.
"I think it's people that have connected throughout the world that are actually like playing this really funny elf on the shelf thing with the world," Joyce Ann said.
Similar monoliths have appeared in Utah and Romania both disappearing too.
Atascadero Police Department is looking into the incident further. If you have any information you're asked to contact the department.
