Sorry, sci-fi-lovers: Your chances of seeing a monolith reminiscent of "2001: A Space Odyssey" are over — that is until another one appears amid this recent strange trend.
The mysterious mirrored monolith that appeared north of Las Vegas over the weekend has been removed, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said Friday. Yet, how it got there and who's responsible for it are still unknown.
Officials first shared news of the puzzling discovery, which they removed due to public safety and environmental concerns, on Monday. Two photos showed the reflective, rectangular slab of metal standing 77 inches tall amid the remote desert landscape near Gass Peak.
"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!" the post said.
In announcing its removal, Las Vegas Police said the structure is made out of "reflective sheet metal folded into a triangle and secured with rebar and concrete to the ground."
The monolith was just the latest similar structure to appear around the world since at least 2020, when a nearly 12-foot structure was found deep in Utah's desert and vanished days later. The event manifested into a pandemic-era internet craze, with online sleuths trying to discover its origins.
Then came monoliths appearing and quickly disappearing in Romania, California, Colorado and again in Las Vegas, that time on Fremont Street, all in the same year. Most recently, a 10-foot steel structure appeared in Wales in March.
It's still unclear who's responsible for most of the installations. An anonymous group of artists took credit for the California and Utah monoliths, but when the BBC asked if they were the masterminds behind one found on an island off England's southern coast, the collective said, "The monolith is out of my control at this point. Godspeed to all the aliens working hard around the globe to propagate the myth."
Las Vegas officials said the most recently discovered monolith is being kept at an undisclosed location until authorities decide the best plan of action in disposing or storing it. It said that city police are currently not investigating the object or the "circumstances surrounding its existence" and urged the public to not leave any objects behind in the same area, which is part of Desert National Wildlife Refuge, to protect the sensitive wildlife who call it home.
