The mysterious metallic monolith conspiracy seems to have halted its viral internet parade, but how did all this start in the first place? Some have suggested a movie prop in the desert that was left behind brought the beginning of these strange occurrences, while others have claimed that this is a similar phenomenon akin to crop circles – hinting that some alien entity was responsible for leaving behind these bizarre monoliths. Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey featured a similar monolith that hinted at an alien consciousness, and that particular similarity only helped people believe non-humans were behind the mystery. In any case, there are many more that sprung up in the wake of the Utah monolith, and it has since faded from the news. But is this still happening?

A similar monolith was found in California mere days after the Utah structure went viral, at the summit of Pine Mountain Loop at Stadium Park in Atascadero. Of course, people interested in the first monolith were transfixed with the new addition, wondering if there was a particular hidden message associated with the monoliths. At this point, the crop-circle-like E.T. communication theories were reaching a critical mass of excitement, and conspiracies featuring extraterrestrials were all over the news.

The very first monolith was found in Utah by biologists in a helicopter doing a sheep survey, and once the news broke of the bizarre nine-foot-tall metallic monolith, people raced to find the exact location and have a look for themselves. The original monolith near Moab, Utah was peculiar in more ways than one. Google satellite images reviewed over the past several years of its’ discovery gave proof that this particular mystery had been in the desert since mid-2016. Oddly enough, it was not an easily accessible area, and initially, there didn’t appear to be many footprints or tracks surrounding the site of the Utah monolith. It was first reported that there were no human tool marks on the metal structure and it was pristine in all ways, with no natural wear from the weather. Shortly thereafter, videos began emerging from individuals that saw the monolith firsthand, and their direct evidence refuted those initial claims – as it appeared there were rivets visible and ‘saw marks’ near the base of the structure.

In hindsight, the whole fiasco seems extremely odd. Many people admitted to hoaxing these monoliths for publicity as similar structures appeared all over the world – in Utah, Romania, California, the Isle of Wight, the Netherlands, Washington DC, Las Vegas and more. This batch of oddities is a great lesson regarding viral interest in a particular story, and how quickly hoaxers and copycats follow the leader for notoriety. Although most of these monoliths were determined to be hoaxes, with many people claiming they were just having some fun, a grand mystery still remains. The original Utah monolith was never claimed by any group or person, and satellite images confirm the existence of the metallic structure as being four years old when it was discovered. So what is the truth here? Is it possible the original was a clandestine meeting location for some secret society carrying out rituals by dark of night to avoid attention? Is it possible this was actually left by some non human entity? Was this just a theatrical movie set that was abandoned in the desert? What do you think?