While completing a routine wildlife assessment, Utah's Department of Public Safety stumbled upon a mystery. The officers were assisting the Division of Wildlife Resources to count bighorn sheep from a helicopter. While counting, they discovered a mysterious monolith. In a remote canyon in Utah there is a large slab of metal. It is between 10 to 12 feet high and is embedded in the ground.
Facebook | Utah Highway Patrol
Mysterious Monolith-Like Metal Slab Discovered Standing In Utah Desert
The discovery caused quite a commotion among the team.
Bret Hutchings, the pilot of the helicopter explained to KSL (an affiliate of CNN):
"One of the biologists ... spotted it, and we just happened to fly directly over the top of it. [...] 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!'"
The object is remarkably similar to the monolith in *2001: A Space Odyssey*.
Facebook | 2001: A Space Odyssey
This coincidence was not lost on the crew that discovered it. Hutchings told Global News that they made jokes about it being extraterrestrial:
"We were kinda joking around that if one of us suddenly disappears, then I guess the rest of us make a run for it. I am assuming it is some sort of new-wave artist or something, you know. Or someone who was a big 2001 Space Odyssey fan."
The origin of the monolith is likely human-made.
Hutchings said that the object looked man-made and was planted in the ground, not dropped from above. Whoever made it might be in trouble -- it is illegal to install structures or art on public lands. According to the Utah Department of Public Safety, this law applies "no matter what planet you’re from."
Little is know about the monolith.
The Bureau of Land Management will decide if further investigation is required. The exact location of the monolith is not being released. Officials do not want to encourage people to find it. They worry that adventurers could injure themselves in remote areas. So, for now, the monolith is still shrouded in mystery.
h/t: CNN, Global News
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