Monolith Photographed Over Lake Tahoe Revealed as Prank
You’ve probably seen the numerous monoliths appearing around the world, beginning with the famed structure found in rural Utah in November. Since then, these structures have appeared all over the place, most likely as pranks for people to gain followers on social media.
That was exactly the case for the monolith “found” over Lake Tahoe, which turned out to be a prank.
David Muther decided to create a copycat monolith and place it above Crystal Bay in order to create a buzz and inspire people to get out of the house to find it. Building the 8-foot structure with wood and wrapping it with metal, Muther and a friend took photos of the fake monolith over the lake and began circulating the images to media and on social media.
After the photos and videos were shared on social media and covered by a local news station, Muther decided to come clean by revealing the prank. Here’s how he did it:
As with most things these days, the prank came with some controversy. Public land officials decried the stunt as they worried people would head out into the wilderness and get lost while looking for the structure. Muther was careful to put the fake monolith near a popular trail and removed it after he was done photographing it.
It’s probably not a surprise to most that the monolith was a prank. The photo certainly lacked the pristine look and size of the original found in Utah. But we’ll give the pranksters a B+ for effort.