Mysterious Metal Monolith Found In Desert Fuels Speculation That It Was Created By Aliens

A team of wildlife resource workers discovered a 12-foot-tall metal monolith in the Utah desert last week that has fueled Twitter speculation around the possibility that it was created by aliens, Metro reported.

The mysterious metal object echoed Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey and was cut into the ground with no labels or clear markings.

Pilot Bret Hutchings from the Utah Department of Public Safety claimed that one of the team’s biologists spotted the structure as they flew over it. Despite theories that it was designed by aliens, Hutchings believed it was someone’s 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.

According to Live Science, the structure has many differences from its fictional counterpart, including a different length and a reflective surface. The publication also claimed that the object was not the work of aliens and appeared to support the theory that it was installed by an artist.

“Desert environments have always attracted outsider artists, such as Frank Van Zant, who built a hostel and home out of scrap materials in the desert in Nevada, or Leonard Knight, whose ‘Salvation Mountain’ southeast of Los Angeles was featured in the movie ‘Into the Wild.'”

Per CNN, Jason Wright, a professor of astrophysics at Pennsylvania State University and the director of the university’s Extraterrestrial Intelligence Center, noted that it’s safe to assume the monolith was created by humans. He stressed the common nature of desert art in the American Southwest and argued that the piece is the kind of structure that people frequently design.

Nevertheless, while CNN reported the monolith “probably” wasn’t created by aliens, its origins are still unknown. Interestingly, the publication spoke to I.Q. Hunter, a film scholar and De Montfort University professor who believes that the object should remain a mystery.

“It would be a pity if we discovered what the Utah sculpture was, as that would lessen its mystery.”

The state’s DPS is keeping a lid on the location of the monument, although Live Science noted that some Reddit users have narrowed down possible sites. The department’s website also stated that the installation of art without permission is illegal.

As The Inquisitr reported, Donald Trump was recently pressed to declassify the federal government’s UFO files after media outlets projected that he would not remain in the White House after January. The president previously expressed skepticism at claims of pilots who said they had witnessed these objects.