Government workers in the US state of Utah have come across a most-bizarre find, a giant metal monolith situated in the remote desert that looks eerily similar to the one seen in the 1968 Stanley Kubrick film 2001: A Space Odyssey.
The workers from the Utah Department of Public Safety spotted the monolith from a helicopter and soon headed to ground to investigate more thoroughly. Standing at about 10 to 12 feet high it has no distinguishing marks. It is believed that it was firmly planted in the ground and not dropped from a height. The department are not giving away the exact location of the monolith at present due to a fear that people may flock to the area, which has a significant number of natural dangers including sharp falls.
Bret Hutchings, who piloted the helicopter that spotted the monolith told KSL-TV:
"One of the biologists is the one who spotted it and we just happened to fly directly over the top of it. He was like, 'Whoa, whoa, whoa, turn around, turn around! There's this thing back there – we've got to go look at it!'"
He added:
"We were thinking, Is this something NASA stuck up there or something? Are they bouncing satellites off it? We were kind of joking around that if one of us suddenly disappears, then the rest of us make a run for it."
Like many other, Hutchings strongly believes the monolith is some sort of modern art installation:
"I'm assuming it's some new wave artist or something or, you know, somebody that was a big [2001: A Space Odyssey] fan."
The @UtahDPS helicopter was assisting the @UtahDWR in counting bighorn sheep in remote southern Utah Wednesday when the crew encountered something entirely 'out of this world'...@KSL5TV #KSLTV #Utah
— Andrew Adams (@AndrewAdamsKSL) November 21, 2020
Photojournalist: @Photog_Steve5 pic.twitter.com/f8P0fayDIS
The Utah desert has been used by avant-garde artists since at least the 1960s with various strange and mysterious pieces being put on public display. One of the most famous of these is the 'Spiral Jetty' which was put in place by artist Robert Smithson in 1970. Made up entirely of mud it tracks a spiral into the desert that is 1,500 feet long.
No one thus far has come forward to claim the monolith, though a large number of people were likely involved given the size and weight of the object and the large distance from any civilisation. This may be also in part because it is illegal to put art pieces into public display in Utah without prior state approval.
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