Monolithic structure retrieved from mountain ranges near Las Vegas: enigma of origin remains unsettled.
Enigma unraveled yet unsolved.
“The origin and the culprit behind this mysterious object's placement remain a mystery,” the Las Vegas police stated on X last Friday, announcing the removal of the dazzling, 6-foot-4 prism-shaped artifact.
Its discovery during the previous weekend, followed by a prompt removal due to public safety and ecological issues, rekindled a pandemic-era enigma that gripped the public's attention when shiny, alien-like structures emulating the object from the Stanley Kubrick movie "2001: A Space Odyssey" started mysteriously appearing worldwide.
The Las Vegas police search and rescue squad stumbled upon the object near Gass Peak, within the expansive Desert National Wildlife Refuge -- an area inhabited by bighorn sheep, desert tortoises, and various rare flora.
This wasn't the first mysterious installation to be unearthed, with sightings dating back to at least 2020.
First, a similar metal structure was found entrenched in Utah's Mars-like, red-rock desert landscape. Then, there were reports from Romania, central California, New Mexico, and, intriguingly, Fremont Street in downtown Las Vegas.
Just as they sprung up, they vanished, feeding into the lore.
"This thing didn't fall from outer space," Lt. Nick Street of Utah's Department of Public Safety claimed at the time.
The Utah monolith, which was most likely the series' first instance, had been anchored in a secluded location, so remote that authorities initially withheld its location to prevent people from getting lost or stranded while searching for it. However, internet detectives swiftly decoded the coordinates, and throngs of intrigued tourists hoping to lay eyes on the seemingly extraterrestrial object descended, damaging vegetation with their vehicles and leaving behind human waste in the facility without restrooms.
The same concerns prompted officials to demolish the latest structure on Thursday.
Installed illegally on federal land designed to safeguard bighorn sheep and home to uncommon plants and desert tortoises, the Desert National Wildlife Refuge, administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, is Alaska's largest wildlife refuge, twice the size of Rhode Island.
Christa Weise, acting manager of the wildlife refuge, confirmed on Friday that the object had been eliminated but could not comment on whether federal authorities had launched a criminal investigation.
The police department stated that the object was being kept in a concealed location while they determined the optimal method for disposing of or storing the massive, reflective sheet-metal prism, secured with rebar and concrete.
Images accompanying the department's social media posts showed the object on its side after its removal, having caused a significant depression in the ground due to its rebar foundation being buried deep into the earth and rocks.
The department advised people against straying from designated trails or leaving objects behind.
"This is dangerous for you and the environment," the Las Vegas police warned.
In Utah, the removal of the monolith also left a scar in the red rock. The Bureau of Land Management announced on Friday that they were still actively investigating the case in Utah.
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The disappearance and reappearance of these monoliths have sparked debates among art critics and enthusiasts, with some seeing them as a commentary on environmental conservation and public spaces.
