Metal monolith mystery deepens

Only time will tell if the structure in Southern California will disappear like its two predecessors. A tall, three-sided steely column has appeared at the top of a hill in Atascadero, Calif., KEYT-TV reported Wednesday. It’s the third of such structures—the first was found in Utah two weeks ago, and the second in Romania last week. Both have since vanished.

What do we know about the monoliths? No one knows where the structures came from. Two extreme sports athletes said they were part of a group that removed the roughly 11-foot monolith in Utah out of concern that the hundreds of tourists coming to see it were damaging the area. No one has claimed any of the monoliths, and no one asked permission of U.S. officials to put them up.