Of all the things you can expect to find in the mountains, this is probably not on the list: a metal, probably man-made monolith planted into the ground.
On November 18, a team comprised of members of the Utah Department of Public Safety Aero Bureau and biologists from the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources boarded a helicopter and headed out to count sheep. Not as a means to fall asleep, but to keep track of the bighorn sheep population in the area.
Since the area is remote and rocky, using a helicopter was a must. As the team kept counting, they spotted a shiny object on the surface that looked entirely out of place, so they decided to land and investigate.
The hilariously narrated video at the bottom of the page tells the whole story, but the DPS also issued a statement on the strange occurrence. The structure was a monolith, made of metal and measuring between 10 feet and 12 feet in height (about 3 meters), and probably man-made. It hadn’t been dropped from the sky but was planted into the ground.
Helicopter pilot Bret Hutchings believes it’s either alien in origin, or some new wave art work because it bears a clear resemblance to a monolith shown in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey. The DPS is backing the alien hypothesis on social media, though they’re clearly doing it in jest.
Alien or not, the DPS is clear on this point: you can’t put your monoliths on federal public land.
“It is illegal to install structures or art without authorization on federally managed public lands, no matter what planet you’re from,” the Department notes in the statement. “The Bureau of Land Management will be determining if they need to investigate further.”
Because the location is so remote, the Department has chosen not to make it public, lest tourists would flock to see the strange structure and end up stranded. It is uncertain yet whether the monolith still stands or what it will take to remove it. But there’s definitely a story behind it that we’d like to hear.
Since the area is remote and rocky, using a helicopter was a must. As the team kept counting, they spotted a shiny object on the surface that looked entirely out of place, so they decided to land and investigate.
The hilariously narrated video at the bottom of the page tells the whole story, but the DPS also issued a statement on the strange occurrence. The structure was a monolith, made of metal and measuring between 10 feet and 12 feet in height (about 3 meters), and probably man-made. It hadn’t been dropped from the sky but was planted into the ground.
Helicopter pilot Bret Hutchings believes it’s either alien in origin, or some new wave art work because it bears a clear resemblance to a monolith shown in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey. The DPS is backing the alien hypothesis on social media, though they’re clearly doing it in jest.
Alien or not, the DPS is clear on this point: you can’t put your monoliths on federal public land.
“It is illegal to install structures or art without authorization on federally managed public lands, no matter what planet you’re from,” the Department notes in the statement. “The Bureau of Land Management will be determining if they need to investigate further.”
Because the location is so remote, the Department has chosen not to make it public, lest tourists would flock to see the strange structure and end up stranded. It is uncertain yet whether the monolith still stands or what it will take to remove it. But there’s definitely a story behind it that we’d like to hear.
The @UtahDPS helicopter was assisting the @UtahDWR in counting bighorn sheep in remote southern Utah Wednesday when the crew encountered something entirely 'out of this world'...@KSL5TV #KSLTV #Utah
— Andrew Adams (@AndrewAdamsKSL) November 21, 2020
Photojournalist: @Photog_Steve5 pic.twitter.com/f8P0fayDIS