Delicious New Monolith Discovered in San Francisco on Christmas Day

In a strange year, and in a nation where strange is a legitimate commodity, mysterious monoliths have kicked off a guerrilla art movement like nothing we’ve ever seen before.

The first of these sculptures was spotted by helicopter, deep in the deserts of Utah, by a group of conservationists who were counting sheep.  A day or two later, a similar monolith was spotted in Romania, and then California, and so on and so forth.

The latest, however, may very well be the most inventive – and festive – yet.

In true pop-up art fashion, a nearly 7-foot-tall monolith made of gingerbread mysteriously appeared on a San Francisco hilltop on Christmas Day and collapsed the next day.

The three-sided tower, held together by icing and decorated with a few gumdrops, delighted the city on Friday when word spread about its existence.

During his morning run, Ananda Sharma told KQED-FM he climbed to Corona Heights Park to see the sunrise when he spotted what he thought was a big post. He said he smelled the scent of gingerbread before realizing what it was.

“It made me smile. I wonder who did it, and when they put it there,” he said.

People trekked to the park throughout the day, even as light rain fell on the ephemeral, edible art object. In one video posted online, someone took a bite of the gingerbread.

Local officials were taking the delicious vandalism too seriously.

Phil Ginsburg, head of city’s Recreation and Parks Department, told KQED the site “looks like a great spot to get baked” and confirmed his staff will not remove the monument “until the cookie crumbles.”