Dry humor? Mysterious monolith appears in Nevada desert

LAS VEGAS, Nevada — Paging Stanley Kubrick.

A mirrored monolith has been found in the desert near Las Vegas, leading to questions as to how it got there and why.

“We see a lot of weird things when people go hiking, like not being prepared for the weather, not bringing enough water … but check this out!” the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department says in a post on social media.

Police say the monolith was spotted last weekend near Gass Peak by a search and rescue team. “HOW did it get up there??” the post says.

That’s a mystery the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said it was trying to solve after learning about the monolith through a social media post. Gass Peak is part of the Desert National Wildlife Refuge, reaching nearly 7,000 feet.

The monolith’s location recalls the iconic scene from Kubrick’s film “2001: A Space Odyssey.” It’s the latest in a series of mysterious shiny columns popping up around the globe since at least 2020.

In November 2020, a similar metal monolith was found deep in Utah’s red-rock desert. Then came sightings in Romania, central California and on the famed Fremont Street in downtown Las Vegas. All of them disappeared as quickly as they popped up.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says it is concerned people trying to find the monolith could cause damage to the wildlife refuge.

“People might come looking for it and be coming with inappropriate vehicles or driving where they shouldn’t, trampling plants,” said Christa Weise, the refuge’s acting manager.

(The Associated Press contributed to this story.)