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Several metal monoliths have mysteriously appeared around the world in recent months, intriguing the public about their origin and purpose.
The first one was found in the middle of a desert in Utah last November. It was accidentally spotted by personnel from the state’s wildlife resources center who were observing the desert from a helicopter. The stainless-steel structure, which stood about 3 to 3.6 meters tall, was taken down a few days later. Soon after, a second monolith appeared in Romania. It was around 2.7 meters tall and looked similar to the first one. The resemblance between the two structures made people speculate that they may be related.
The sudden appearance of the steel pillars did not end in Utah and Romania. A third one was discovered on top of a mountain in California. Following this discovery, monoliths were also found in several other places, including a forest in California and a beach in England. There was also one that appeared in front of a design studio in North Carolina and another in the midst of an entertainment district in Nevada.
The structures’ similarity to the monolith in Stanley Kubrick’s sci-fi film, 2001: A Space Odyssey led to various speculations and conspiracy theories. Some have even attributed the monoliths’ appearances to aliens.
But while the origin of some monoliths is unclear, others have been traced to certain individuals or artist groups. For instance, the Romania monolith was said to be made by a welder. Likewise, a group of four men owned up to the monolith on the California mountain, saying that it was intended to be a piece of installation art.