Topline
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department announced in a series of tweets Friday it removed a mysterious monolith from a mountain range north of the city, marking the latest monolith to pop up in the U.S. and raise further questions about who or what is behind the appearances.
The monolith was removed Thursday. (Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department via AP)
Key Facts
Las Vegas police said it helped with the removal of the monolith Thursday afternoon, citing public safety and environmental concerns as the structure was found near Gass Peak—a mountain peak about 20 miles north of Las Vegas that is part of Nevada’s Desert National Wildlife Refuge.
Police photos of the three-sided, 6-foot-4 mirrored object show it was placed into the ground using rebar and concrete, with authorities noting the monolith was made out of reflective sheet metal folded into a triangle.
The monolith has been transported to an undisclosed location as authorities figure out how to properly dispose of it, LVMPD tweeted, adding there is no investigation into the monolith or how it appeared near Gass Peak.
The Las Vegas monolith’s dimensions are smaller than a monolith that was spotted in Wales more than three months ago, as that structure measured 10 feet tall.
It is possible the monolith has been in the mountain range for years, as Monolith Tracker, an unofficial website allowing users to report the strange structures, says the Las Vegas object was first spotted in December 2020.
The tracking website links to a 2020 YouTube video showing aerial views of what appears to be the same monolith confiscated by police Thursday.
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Big Number
245. That’s how many monoliths the tracking site has identified since 2020, though it is unclear how many of those objects have been verified by law enforcement.
Key Background
The Las Vegas monolith is one object in a long line of strange, mirrored structures that began appearing around the world since 2020. The first notable monolith that captured viral attention was first spotted in Utah in November 2020. That object was nearly 10 feet tall and was dismantled just 10 days after it was spotted. One of the most recent monolith sightings this year came in March, when Welsh builder Craig Muir discovered a monolith while on a hike. The monolith was located on a muddy hill inaccessible to cars, which provoked Muir to believe the object was placed by people or a helicopter. Online speculation has theorized that aliens, pranksters or artists are behind the objects. The Most Famous Artist, a conceptual art group, has taken credit for monoliths that appeared in the U.K., Romania and Utah, though followers of the monolith phenomena believe the group is capitalizing off the interest around monolith appearances. The collective once sold $45,000 “authentic” alien monoliths on its website.
Further Reading
10-Foot-Tall Monolith Appears In Wales—What We Know About The Mysterious Object (Forbes)
An artist collective says it is selling monoliths for $45,000, causing speculation that it created the bizarre phenomenon (Business Insider)