SALT LAKE CITY — Deep in the Mars-like landscape of Utah's red-rock desert lies a mystery: A gleaming metal monolith in one of the most remote parts of the state.
The smooth, tall structure was found during a helicopter survey of bighorn sheep in southeastern Utah, officials said Monday.
A crew from the Utah Department of Public Safety and Division of Wildlife Resources spotted the gleaming object from the air Nov. 18 and landed to check it out during a break from their work.
They found the three-sided stainless-steel object is about as tall as two men put together. But they discovered no clues about who might have driven it into the ground among the undulating red rocks or why.
"This thing is not from another world," said Lt. Nick Street of the Utah Highway Patrol, part of the Department of Public Safety.
Still, it's clear that it took some planning and work to construct the 10- to 12-foot (3- to 4-meter) monolith and embed it in the rock.
The exact location is so remote that officials are not revealing it publicly, worried that people might get lost or stranded trying to find it and need to be rescued.
The monolith evokes the one that appears in the Stanley Kubrick movie "2001: A Space Odyssey." Because it's on federal public land, it's illegal to place art objects without authorization.
Bureau of Land Management officials are investigating how long it's been there, who might have created it and whether to remove it.
Sustain our coverage of culture, arts and literature.
Chuck Woolery, the affable, smooth-talking game show host of "Wheel of Fortune," "Love Connection" and "Scrabble" who later became a…
John Leguizamo has appeared in more than 100 films while also telling a distinctly Latino story in documentaries, one-man shows…
In death, Leonard Cohen is having a rebirth. The legendary singer is being remembered by older and younger generations alike…
Alec Baldwin's Western "Rust" had its world premiere Wednesday at a film festival in Poland, three years after the shooting…
In her new collection of columns from The Wall Street Journal, Pulitzer Prize-winner Peggy Noonan takes readers on a journey…
If you've ever wanted to own a piece of Hollywood history, now's your chance. A pair of Dorothy's ruby slippers…
When Centurion was founded, it was the first group of its kind working to overturn wrongful convictions for people facing…
As major American museums reexamine their collections to ensure diversity and inclusion, there's a growing realization that they need more…
As a dancer, choreographer, director and speaker, Jamison's distinguished career leaped over barriers of race and gender.
In the 1980s, about 70 percent of clothes sold in the U.S. were made in the country. Today, it's down…
This is her first time receiving nominations in the country and Americana categories.
For many Muslim and Arab Americans, Israel's wars in Gaza, Lebanon, and the wider Middle East are personal, and so…
A giant in the music and entertainment industry has died. Quincy Jones, known to many as 'Q,' was revered as…
Jones rose from music school dropout to the very heights of show business, becoming one of the first Black executives…
