The appearance of a metal monolith has baffled many in the
western desert of Utah, where it was found last Wednesday, sparking chatter
about alien intrusion, fancy artwork, and the obvious comparisons with Stanley
Kubrick classic ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’, AFP reported.

The metal obelisk, about 10-12 feet high and triangular in shape,
was found by local officials flying to counting bighorn sheep from the air.

The object has given food for thought to conspiracy
theorists and also common folks, who made light of the incident on Twitter and
elsewhere.

“It is illegal to install structures or art without
authorization on federally managed public lands, no matter what planet you’re
from,” Utah Department of Public Safety commented in a press release
Monday, according to AFP.

Speculation went round that the obelisk could be a fancy
artwork of some avant garde artist. Some other made jokes insisting that this
was nothing out of order in such a year as 2020.

“This is the ‘reset’ button for 2020. Can someone
please press it quickly?” joked one Instagram user.

“Up close it reads: ‘Covid vaccine inside'” wrote
another.

A Twitter user claimed that the structure could be installed
there since 2016 and posted some satellite images with the post.

“4chan has discovered the location of the Utah monolith. It
sat there for over 4 years unnoticed,” Paul Joseph Watson, a British YouTuber,
wrote.

AFP said the officials haven’t yet disclosed the location of
the obelisk out of fear that the site may be overrun by a curious populace.

Bret Hutchings, the pilot who happened to fly over the
obelisk, speculated that the obelisk had been planted by “some new wave
artist.” It reported.

It was also pointed out that the metal obelisk could be the artwork
of late artist John McCracken, who lived in New Mexico and died in 2011.

His representative David Zwirner provided cushion to the
speculations saying that the structure “definitely” was by McCracken.

Hutchings said it was the “strangest” thing he had seen in
his life.

“We were kind of joking around that if one of us suddenly
disappears, then the rest of us make a run for it,” he told a local channel according
to AFP.