UPDATE July 3 at 1:55 p.m.: Colorado farm removes monolith due to overwhelming influx of visitors
UPDATE July 1 at 1:51 p.m.: Monolith could be removed after curious crowds swarm Colorado farm
Summer is always high season for Lori Graves, owner of Morning Fresh Dairy Farm in the Northern Colorado town of Bellvue. But this week, people have been stopping by the dairy’s onsite coffee shop, the Howling Cow Cafe, in search of something other than beverages.
A shiny monolith standing about 9 feet tall, 4 feet wide, and 8 inches deep recently showed up unannounced atop a hill on the dairy’s property. It’s the latest in a series of mysterious installations that have drawn awe and speculation since they captured headlines in 2020.
No one seems to know where the monoliths came from – including Graves.
Graves said she first discovered the rectangular structure on Sunday during an event at the dairy and later learned someone had seen it in Bellvue as early as the preceding Friday. Its appearance garnered interest on social media and curious locals began visiting the property to ask about it.
“People were coming into the cafe saying, ‘What do you know?’ And we knew nothing. So, they started educating us on (how) it must have been aliens that put it there, it was probably a local artist who put it there, the druids must have something to do with it,” Graves said by phone.
“It’s huge and it’s heavy … . Considering where it is on the top of that hill that’s hard to climb up — you slip and slide a little and there are cactus all over — if anybody had an easy time getting it there it would be the aliens,” she added with a laugh.
The Bellvue sighting comes after another, similar monolith was spotted on a remote mountainside in the desert near Las Vegas earlier in June. Others were previously seen in Utah, California and Romania in 2020, before they disappeared as suddenly as they arrived.
Las Vegas police assisted in removing the reflective column from the desert last week, citing safety and environmental concerns. But Graves said she does not intend to remove the monolith. Instead, the Howling Cow Cafe is having fun naming specialty drinks with extraterrestrial themes as long as the structure sticks around.
“Our main feeling is kind of amusement. Somebody with some gumption put a lot of work into this thing and put it up there just to get a rise out of somebody, and it’s working. I hope they’re sitting at home with a big smile on their face,” Graves said.
Originally Published: June 27, 2024 at 10:03 a.m.
