Gingerbread Monolith Mysteriously Appears in San Francisco

The 7-foot-tall structure was first spotted in Corona Heights Park on Christmas Day. About 24 hours later, the monolith had crumbled.

December 26, 2020

The 2020 monolith mystery continues—with a holiday a twist.

Weeks after the first unexplained structures were spotted in Utah and Romania, a similarly shaped object was found on Christmas Day in a San Francisco park. But unlike the previous metal monoliths, this one was constructed with a classic holiday treat: sheets of gingerbread seemingly glued together with frosting and gumdrops that looked like rivets.

The Huffington Post reports the 7-foot-tall, three-sided object was placed on a hilltop in Corona Heights Park. The outlet points out that it's unclear how edible the structure is, but Bay Area residents who visited the site confirmed it smelled and felt like the Christmas staple. San Francisco resident Josh Ackerman was one of the first people to share photos of the sweet monolith on social media. He claimed there was one particularly brave observer who licked the object to confirm its authenticity.

"So when I ran up to Corona Heights and saw it was really there, it was pretty surprising," San Francisco resident Josh Ackerman told the BBC. "In a way I felt like the gingerbread monolith totally captured the quirkiness of this city and I thought that it perfectly represented many of the reasons why I love San Francisco."

Phil Ginsburg, the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department General Manager, told KQED News that there were no plans for the city to remove the monolith, as it seemed to bring some joy and amusement to the community.

"Wow. Even makes a Jewish parks director smile ..." Ginsburg said. "Looks like a great spot to get baked. We will leave it up until the cookie crumbles ... We all deserve a little bit of magic right now."

Well, just like the previous monoliths, this one came down as quickly as it was put up. According to several social media users, the gingerbread structure had fallen apart by Saturday.