A mysterious monolith that appeared in the Nevada desert has been removed, years after a similar mysterious, glowing object first appeared in the Utah desert during the COVID-19 pandemic, capturing the imagination of people around the world.
Las Vegas police said Monday they found the monolith, a work of art, in Gas Peak, about 40 miles (64.4 kilometers) north of the city.
“The Mysterious Monolith!” Police Station post X said, “A lot of weird things happen when you go hiking, like not being prepared for the weather, not bringing enough water, etc. But look at this! Over the weekend, [police] We discovered this mysterious monolith near Gas Peak in the north of the valley.
Police said the monolith had been removed Thursday afternoon. update Citing “public safety and environmental concerns,” authorities said Friday that the 10-foot-tall (3-meter) reflective metal prism will be stored in an undisclosed location until officials determine how to dispose of or store it.
“It is unclear how the items got to that location or who the perpetrators are,” police said. “At this time, [police] “An investigation of the object or the circumstances surrounding its existence.”
Discoveries of similar monoliths in Utah, California, Wales and Romania in 2020 have sparked conspiracy theories involving aliens, or that the structures’ emergence is an elaborate, highly orchestrated hoax.
The structure resembles the one featured in Stanley Kubrick’s film 2001: A Space Odyssey.
The first monolith was discovered by chance in the desert near Moab, Utah, in 2020 while wildlife officials were counting bighorn sheep from a helicopter. Its fame spread around the world and soon hundreds of curious onlookers flocked to the site. Shortly after it was discovered, the monolith mysteriously disappeared.
Within a short space of time, a series of monoliths appeared and then quickly disappeared around the world: one appeared near an archaeological site outside the Romanian city of Piatra Neamt, another on a mountaintop in central California, and another in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
After newsletter promotion
Climbers discovered the monolith at the top of Hay Bluff hill in Powys, Wales, earlier this year. “It looked like a UFO so it was a bit of a surprise,” Craig Muir told PA Media at the time.
The Associated Press contributed reporting
