About
Metal Monolith in Utah is a metal monolith of unknown origin discovered in November 2020 in Canyonlands National Park in Utah. The news about the discovery received viral spread on social media, spawning memes and theories on the monolith’s possible origin.
Origin
On November 18th, 2020, the Aero Bureau of Utah Department of Public Safety reported discovering a monolith of unknown origin during while counting big horn sheep, posting a photograph on its Instagram on November 20th (shown below).
On November 23rd and 24th, the department posted more photographs of the object to Instagram. Also on November 23rd, the department issued a press release about the discovery.
On November 18, 2020, the Utah Department of Public Safety Aero Bureau was working with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources to conduct a count of big horn sheep in a portion of southeastern Utah.
While on this mission, they spotted an unusual object and landed nearby to investigate further.
The crew members found a metal monolith installed in the ground in a remote area of red rock.
The crew said there was no obvious indication of who might have put the monolith there.
The exact location of the installation is not being disclosed since it is in a very remote area and if individuals were to attempt to visit the area, there is a significant possibility they may become stranded and require rescue. We are encouraging anyone who knows the location of the monolith to not attempt to visit it due to road conditions.
UPDATED 11/24/20: Official Statement from the Bureau of Land Management: “Although we can’t comment on active investigations, the Bureau of Land Management would like to remind public land visitors that using, occupying, or developing the public lands or their resources without a required authorization is illegal, no matter what planet you are from.”
Spread
On November 20th, 2020, local news network Fox 13 first reported about the monolith. On the same day, Fox 13’s Twitter account @fox13 posted a tweet about the discovery that gained over 280 retweets and 1,300 likes. A quote tweet by user @NickHintonn received over 240 retweets and 1,500 likes.
On November 21st, KSL TV ran a news segment on the discovery, including video footage of the object and an interview with a member of the crew that discovered the object (shown below). The video, tweeted by KSL TV reported Andrew Adams, received over 445,500 views, 6,400 retweets and 9,500 in three days.
The
UtahDPS</a> helicopter was assisting the <a href="https://twitter.com/UtahDWR?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">UtahDWR in counting bighorn sheep in remote southern Utah Wednesday when the crew encountered something entirely ‘out of this world’…KSL5TV</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/KSLTV?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#KSLTV</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Utah?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Utah</a><br><br>Photojournalist: <a href="https://twitter.com/Photog_Steve5?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">Photog_Steve5 pic.twitter.com/f8P0fayDIS— Andrew Adams (@AndrewAdamsKSL) November 21, 2020
The news achieved further spread online after on November 23rd, 2020, New York Post reported about the discovery, also posting a tweet that gained over 300 retweets and 1,200 likes. Later that day, Redditor paycheck_day made a post about the monolith in /r/interestingasfuck subreddit, gaining over 4,100 upvotes.
In late November 2020, the discovery received significant attention from social media users, who responded to it with memes and theories on the origin of the monolith (examples shown below). Multiple comparisons to the opening scene of 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey, in which a group if hominids discovers an alien monolith, were made.
Location Discovery
On November 24th, Redditor Quadrenaro created /r/FindTheMonolith subreddit with the purpose of finding the location of the monolith. On the same day, Redditor Bear__Fucker made a post containing the exact coordinates of the object, discovered in the North-Eastern part of the Canyonlands National Park in Utah.
Various Examples
Search Interest
Know Your Meme Store
External References
Source: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/metal-monolith-in-utah