Why the mysterious Utah monolith is making many of us think about ‘2001’
A 10 to 12-foot tall monolith discovered last week in Utah is inflicting a stir and has invited comparisons to the monolith made well-known by filmmaker Stanley Kubrick in the film “2001: A Space Odyssey.”
That black monolith makes a number of appearances in the 1968 film — from the obvious daybreak of man to a mission on the moon — and has given start to a variety of theories about Kubrick’s and author Arthur C. Clarke’s intent.
The chrome steel monolith has impressed many questions, too, since being found by the Department of Public Safety’s Aero Bureau and the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources on Nov. 18 whereas conducting a rely of massive horn sheep in a portion of southeastern Utah.
Where is the Utah monolith?
The Utah Department of Public Safety will not disclose the precise location of the monolith, besides that it is in a troublesome to entry, barren canyon in Red Rock Country.
Red Rock is one of 5 mountaineering areas distinguished by the Utah Travel business. The space is southern Utah canyon nation, which incorporates all 5 of Utah’s nationwide parks and many of its monuments and state parks.
What does the monolith seem like?
Utah state officers do not think otherworldly beings are behind the monolith.
“It’s stainless steel. It’s put together with pop rivets,” Utah Department of Public Safety spokesperson Lt. Nick Street instructed USA TODAY. “That kind of says it was definitely put together by humans.
“As far as the timeline, for all we all know, it might have been positioned there 50, 60 years in the past and since of the materials it’s made out of it hasn’t weathered – it was meant to not. It’s positively an attention-grabbing set up.”
Why people are comparing it to ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’
Just the restrained statement from the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources alone might serve as the opening to the next installment in the “2001” saga:
“While on this mission, they noticed an uncommon object and landed close by to research additional. The crew members discovered a metallic monolith put in in the floor in a distant space of pink rock.”
There is something eerily similar between the Utah slot canyon and the spare landscapes in scenes where the “2001” monolith appears.
Early in the movie, it’s in an African plain where tribes of apes fight over meager vegetation for sustenance. Later, the monolith is discovered in a crater on the moon.
Check out this video to see how the two compare.
Alien art? Mysterious metal monolith found in Utah desert
Workers with Utah’s Department of Public Safety discovered a giant hunk of metal in the Utah desert. They don’t know where it came from.
Buzz60
Not the first mysterious monolith
This isn’t the first unexplained monolith that’s appeared in the U.S. in recent years, including one that seems much more closely connected to Kubrick’s film.
On the eve of 2001, a steel monolith was discovered on “a windswept hilltop” in Seattle’s Warren Magnuson Park, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The monolith measured 1 foot by 4 feet by 9 feet — a tribute to the first three prime numbers squared and an understanding of mathematics, as described in Clarke’s book.
Three days after the monolith appeared in the park, it disappeared just as mysteriously.
With all the attention the Utah monolith has garnered in recent days, it might not be unreasonable to speculate that it might disappear — mysteriously or not.
The Utah Department of Public Safety statement reminds the public that it is illegal to install “buildings or artwork with out authorization on federally managed public lands, it doesn’t matter what planet you’re from.”
Contributing: Sara M. Moniuszko
