Mystery monolith appears in Las Vegas -- again
No one has taken credit for setting up the metal art installation in Las Vegas. It looks similar to a series of monoliths that popped up across the world in 2020.
Las Vegas mystery monolith similar to ones found in 2020
Las Vegas Police found a monolith in the desert north of the city recently. It looks similar to ones found in Moab, Utah and Downtown Las Vegas in 2020.
NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nevada – The saying, "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" is not an absolute truth this week because social media is buzzing about a mysterious monolith that appeared in the desert north of the city.
"We see a lot of weird things when people go hiking like not being prepared for the weather, not bringing enough water... but check this out!" posted the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department on social media. "Over the weekend, Las Vegas Metro Search and Rescue spotted this mysterious monolith near Gass Peak north of the valley. HOW did it get up there??"
Mystery monoliths started popping up in 2020
This is not the first time a metal sculpture spontaneously appeared in Sin City. The first one showed up in Downtown Las Vegas near the Golden Nugget Casino.
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In December 2020, this monolith appeared on Freemont Street in Downtown Las Vegas.
(FOX Weather)
The shiny, Fremont Street pillar was just one of many that popped up across the world in 2020. Each one is hollow and made of slabs of metal about 9 to 12 feet tall.
The trend got momentum on Nov. 18, 2020, when a group of biologists from the Utah Department of Wildlife Resources flying over the desert, miles from Moab and near Canyonlands National Park, spotted the structure, according to the Utah Department of Public Safety.
Days later, it was mysteriously removed. The media frenzy started. Searches on Google Earth finally showed that someone placed the sculpture in 2016, according to a Google Doc list, "Tracking the Monoliths" apparently curated by Zebra#125.
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Biologists counting bighorn sheep by air discovered the first of many monoliths to pop up around the world.
(Utah Department of Wildlife Resources / FOX Weather)
Days later, the first monolith was removed and another appeared the same day, this time in eastern Romania.
"This monolith had odd squiggles on one side, and was generally much less well-made than the Utah Monolith," wrote #Zebra125. "Some believed that it was made as a knockoff, others believed that it was the second clue in the larger Monolith mystery. But then, on December 1st, this monolith vanished just like its predecessor."
The very next day, one popped up in Atascadero, California, only to be destroyed by self-proclaimed activists a day later. The Downtown Las Vegas art appeared. Then another in Joshua Tree National Park in California.
Who and why remain a mystery
In 2020 alone, #Zebra125 counted nine similar monoliths that appear to be from the same person or group. Eight on the list are considered questionable, four were "confirmed fakes" and another two were considered fakes but not confirmed.
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Image 1 of 7The ‘monolith’ was discovered on Friday, November 27, on a hill close to Piatra Neamț, and near the archaeological site of an old fortress overlooking the Bâtca Doamnei lake. Local media said it was between three and four meters tall and appeared empty inside. The structure disappeared on November 30. (Credit: Ziar Piatra Neamt via Storyful)
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Image 2 of 7The third monolith in Atascadero, California. (KKFX / KCOY / KEYT)
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Image 3 of 7A view of a metal monolith on Zamkova Hora hill in Kiev, Ukraine on December 11, 2020. Also some media outlets have suggested that the monolith is likely an advertisement for a new Ukraine's postal operator. The sudden appearance of a number of metal monoliths in several parts of the globe provoked a resonance in media and numerous discussions on social networks. Fans of science fiction have compared them to the mysterious extraterrestrial monoliths featured in '2001: A Space Odyssey' by Stanley Kubrick. (Vladimir Shtanko/Anadolu Agency)
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Image 4 of 7People observe and photograph on March 31, 2021 a metal monolith that has popped up on Sa Conca beach in Castell-Platja D'Aro, near Girona, Spain. (JOSEP LAGO/AFP )
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Image 5 of 7A monolith, triangular in shape and metallic in composition, appears at the ancient site of Gobeklitepe, known as the world's oldest temple, in Sanliurfa, Turkey on February 06, 2021. (Yasin Dikme/Anadolu Agency)
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Image 6 of 7A metal structure resembling a metal monolith is seen near the Vistula river in Warsaw, Poland on December 10, 2020. ( Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto)
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Image 7 of 7A photograph taken on December 10, 2020 shows a mysterious metal monolith which was discovered in a field in Assenede, Belgium. ( NICOLAS MAETERLINCK/Belga/AFP)
The actual size and shape vary a little. A monolith that appeared in Span was shaped more like a rectangle. There was one gold monolith in Colombia. Four artists took credit for a second, "stronger" monolith that replaced the initial Atascadero sculpture, according to #Zebra125. The latter is considered a knockoff and is still standing today.
Grandpa Joe's Candy Shop admitted to building the one in front of the Pittsburgh store as a gimmick and for comic relief during the pandemic. He posted this online after the first column was stolen, and he had to build another.
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The shop's owner admitted he had the monolith made for publicity.
(KDKA / FOX Weather)
Another set of artists claimed to be the creators of the original in Utah and the Joshua Tree art, but nothing has been confirmed.
A structure on the Isle of Wight in England has an oblique top, is not shiny and "extremely high quality and dug into the ground very well," according to Tracking the Monoliths.
One man told a FOX 5 Atlanta reporter that he knows who placed a monolith in Newnan, Georgia, in December 2020 but wouldn't reveal the man's name.
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File: A mystery monolith popped up in Newnan, Georgia in December 2022. FOX 5 Atlanta's Janice Wu investigates and talked to resident Branden Thrasher who had to see it for himself.
Monuments have also appeared in Canada, New Mexico, The Netherlands, Belgium, Colorado, Germany, Texas, Poland and Russia.
2001: A Space Odyssey
If this sounds familiar, you might be a sci-fi fan. Aliens placed similar-looking black monoliths across the Solar System in the book and movie "2001: A Space Odyssey."
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A photo from "2001: A Space Odyssey" shows astronauts on the Moon's surface gazing into the hangar containing the monolith.
(Screen Archives / Getty Images)
Astronaut Thomas Jones brought a replica monolith and the book with him on Space Shuttle Atlantis in 2001. He used the monolith to show weightlessness in space and compared Arthur C. Clark's futuristic version of space travel to the real thing, according to the National Air and Space Museum.