This Nov. 18, 2020 photo provided by the Utah Department of Public Safety shows a Utah state worker inspecting a metal monolith that was found installed in the ground in a remote area of red rock in Utah. The smooth, tall structure was found during a helicopter survey of bighorn sheep in southeastern Utah, officials said Monday. State workers from the Utah Department of Public Safety and Division of Wildlife Resources spotted the gleaming object from the air and landed nearby to check it out. 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. (Utah Department of Public Safety via AP)
By Lindsay Whitehurst
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.
Thanksgiving is all about spending time with family and friends, but it also comes with social obligations. Dr. Sheree Sekou, principal consultant at Sheree Sekou Consulting, joined Cheddar News to discuss how to navigate holiday etiquette and answered questions from Cheddar News staff.
As Americans prepare for their family feasts Thursday, a new survey named some of the most popular dishes on the table. Plus, Vogue released some of the top TV episodes to watch with family after dinner.
November is when Haiti commemorates becoming the first independent Black republic in the world. And 120 years later, the country's development continues. Haitian-American actress and humanitarian Garcelle Beauvais and Alex Cantave, senior program officer for Haiti at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation spoke with Cheddar News about their partnership to help the country's Pockets of Hope campaign, which looks to generate $90 million for education, health, and economic development initiatives in Haiti over the next three years.
A happy ending for a deer trapped in barbed wire for two days as the rescue played out on video caught on body cam footage from deputies at the Columbia County Sheriff's office in Wisconsin.
