A strange monolith was discovered jutting out of the rocks in a remote mountain range near Las Vegas and has been removed by authorities.
How it got there is still unclear.
“It remains unclear how this object got to its location or who is responsible,” Las Vegas police said Friday in a series of X posts announcing the removal of the glittering, 6-foot-4-inch-tall prism.
Las Vegas ‘mysterious’ monolith appears in the desert
Its discovery over the weekend and swift removal over public safety and environmental concerns has revived a pandemic-era mystery that captured people’s imaginations when glowing monoliths reminiscent of objects in Stanley Kubrick’s film “2001: A Space Odyssey” began appearing around the world.
Members of the Las Vegas Police Search and Rescue Team found the object near Gass Peak, part of the vast Desert National Wildlife Refuge, home to bighorn sheep and desert tortoises.
This was the latest discovery in a series of mysterious pillars that have appeared since at least 2020.
In November of that year, similar metal monoliths were discovered deep in the Mars-like red rock desert of Utah, and have since been spotted in Romania, central California, New Mexico and on the famous Fremont Street in downtown Las Vegas.
The mysterious monolith was removed Thursday, June 20, 2024, in Gass Peak, part of the Vast Desert National Wildlife Refuge in Nevada. (Las Vegas Police Department, via The Associated Press)
They all disappeared as quickly as they appeared and have joined the legends.
“This is not something from another world,” Lt. Nick Street of the Utah Department of Public Safety said at the time.
The Utah monolith is thought to be the first in the series, but it was embedded in the rock in such a remote area that authorities didn’t immediately reveal its location, for fear of people getting lost or stranded while looking for it. But Internet sleuths soon found the coordinates, and hordes of curious tourists arrived to see and touch the otherworldly object, knocking over vegetation with their cars and leaving human waste in the toilet-less backwater.
Authorities said they demolished the latest monolith on Thursday over similar concerns.
The refuge was illegally built on federal land meant to protect bighorn sheep, and is home to rare plants and desert tortoises. Managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Desert National Wildlife Refuge is the largest wildlife refuge outside of Alaska, covering an area twice the size of Rhode Island.
Krista Wise, the wildlife refuge’s acting manager, confirmed Friday that the monolith had been removed but said she could not comment on whether federal authorities had opened a criminal investigation.
Police officials said the object is being kept in a secret location while authorities figure out how to best dispose of or store the massive structure, made of reflective metal sheets formed into a prism and secured in place with steel and concrete.
Photos accompanying the police department’s social media post showed the object lying on its side after it was removed, with the rebar buried deep in the soil and rocks, leaving a large indentation in the ground.
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“People are being urged not to leave marked paths or leave objects or items behind,” the department said.
“This poses a danger to yourself and the environment,” Las Vegas police said.
In Utah, a hole appeared in the red rock after the monolith was removed. The Bureau of Land Management said Friday that it continues to investigate the Utah incident.
