Mysterious metal monolith found in the wilds of Utah by team of biologists
The structure was planted into the ground and made of a smooth metal
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Your support makes all the difference.A strange monolith has been found in the wilds of Utah after a state employee spotted it from a helicopter.
The employee found the structure while counting sheep from the sky.
The monolith is estimated to stand between 10 and 12 feet high, and appeared to be hidden amongst the rocks and planted into the ground.
It is made of smooth, black-grey metal, unlike anything seen in the nearby red rocks.
KSLTV, a local news station, interviewed Bret Hutchings, the pilot who helped discover the monolith.
“That’s been about the strangest thing that I’ve come across out there in all my years of flying,” he told the broadcaster.
Mr Hutchings said a biologists counting bighorn sheep in the helicopter was the first one to spot the structure.
“He was like, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, turn around, turn around!’ And I was like, ‘What?’ And he’s like, ‘There’s this thing back there – we’ve got to go look at it!’” Mr Hutchings said.
He noted the object's similarity to the iconic evolutionary monolith featured in a famous Stanley Kubrick film. Mr Hutchings believes it's likely a work of art.
“I’m assuming it’s some new wave artist or something or, you know, somebody that was a big 2001: A Space Odyssey fan,” he said.
Mr Hutchings and the helicopter crew landed to take a closer look at the monolith, which sits in the center of a small canyon cul-de-sac.
“We were kind of joking around that if one of us suddenly disappears, then the rest of us make a run for it,” he said.
If the monolith is an art installation, it won't be the first time a pop culture reference is built miles away from civilization.
Last year, German-Namibian artist Max Siendentopf constructed an art installation consisting of seven white pillars, an mp3 player, and seven speakers.
The art installation was built in the middle of the Namib Desert in Namibia and plays the Toto song "Africa" on repeat.
The artist refused to give the exact location of the piece, saying it is "like a treasure that only the most loyal of Toto fans can find."
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