Back in 2020, a metal monolith was found in the middle of the Utah desert by a helicopter from the Utah Department of Public Safety, as previously reported by the Deseret News. After investigating, the Deseret News found found that it most likely was installed around 2016.
Now there’s a new monolith to add to the list — this time in in Wales.
A new monolith discovered in Wales
The BBC reports that Craig Muir was taking a hike near Hay Bluff when he saw what he thought was “some sort of a UFO.”
But it was a 3-meter-tall silver monolith sticking out of the ground. Muir described the monolith as “like a very fine metallic (material), almost like a surgical steel. The steel structure was almost 10 feet long and looked perfectly leveled and steady, despite the weather being windy,” according to The Guardian.
The location where the monolith was found cannot be reached by car, according to The Guardian, but Muir speculated that the monolith could’ve been carried up by a group or that it could’ve been dropped off by helicopter.
According to Forbes, “Muir suggested to the New York Times the monolith ‘could be some sort of art installation,’ noting there were no visible tracks near it despite some footprints” and that “the monolith had no obvious welding marks on it and had shiny, crisp edges, Muir told the Times.”
Similar monoliths have popped up around the world. As previously reported by the Deseret News, it was found that there had been 244 reports of mysterious monoliths worldwide.
But most of these were just publicity stunts. In fact, there were only three monoliths that were considered to be of mysterious origins, with Utah’s being one of them.
The conspiracy theories
Just as mysteriously as the monoliths appear, some disappear. According to BBC, the monolith found in Utah in 2020 disappeared a few days after its discovery. It’s believed that it could’ve been an art installation or was created by a fan of the movie “2001: A Space Odyssey.”
As the Deseret News previously reported, there are multiple possibilities as to why the monoliths have appeared:
- It’s a play for attention, which could be a signal of our society’s need for attention, especially during the pandemic lockdown. The monolith became a national icon and everyone started using it, from companies joking about it to TikTok videos.
- It could be an art project by John McCracken, who believed in aliens and supposedly would leave his art in remote places to be found, before his death in 2011.
We most likely will never know the true reason why the monolith was placed. But as James Tabery, associate professor of philosophy at University of Utah, told the Deseret News in 2021, “What conspiracy theories do is impose order in a disordered world.”