New Monolith Emerges: Is It Extraterrestrial Art, Prank, or Another Enigma?
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"Got a real strange one for ya, folks! While there's no lack of ill-prepared hikers leaving us scratching our heads, check out this mind-boggling mystery," the department wrote in a Facebook post this Tuesday, sharing photos of a shiny, mirrored object. "How on earth did it get up there?"
The peculiar structure was discovered over the weekend, nestled near Gass Peak, just north of Las Vegas.
The LVMPD hasn't responded to CNN's request for comment yet.
This odd contraption bears a striking resemblance to several other similar structures that sprouted up all over the globe just after a 10-foot-tall mirror-like monolith was discovered by a helicopter crew in a Utah desert in late 2020. Similar objects were spotted on a California mountaintop, a Romanian forest, and the Isle of Wight off England's coast, to name a few.
Although sightings have slowed, a local builder in Wales stumbled upon one in March during a hill walk. He told the BBC that it looked like it had been carefully planted, with no surrounding mess to be found.
Regarding the Las Vegas hiking trail monolith, some social media users claim it's not new, with comments like, "Anyone who lives on the west side sees this weekly," or "Been seeing this for years!" There are jokes about aliens, pranks, and even portals to other dimensions.
However, others suspect it could be a piece of art, a theory put forth for previous monoliths. Gallerist David Zwirner argued in 2020 that the Utah monolith was the creation of the late minimalist sculptor John McCracken, but later retracted the claim when he noticed inconsistencies in the construction. Designer Tom Dunford admitted to erecting the Isle of Wight monolith "for fun" in 2020.
Amid this intriguing mystery, the LVMPD urges hikers to stay safe - bring food, water, a first aid kit, a light source, check the weather, and inform others about your hiking plans and expected return time. They leave the internet sleuths to unravel the enigma.
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The discovery of this mystifying object in Las Vegas has sparked conversations about its origin, with some suggesting it could be a contemporary work of art, drawing comparisons to the global appearance of similar structures in recent years. The mirrored monolith that was found on a California mountaintop in 2020 was later revealed to be a creation of designer Tom Dunford as an artistic expression.
