Metal monolith discovered in Utah desert sparks mystery

Officials suggest it could be have been constructed by an artist or a huge fan of 2001: Space Odyssey - the structure resembles the machines found in Arthur C. Clarke's story.

Utah Highway Patrol posted a photo of the confounding monolith.

They said the structure had been planted in the ground between red rock. It would seem someone really wanted that thing to stay anchored into the rock.

The monolith was at the bottom of a red rock cove and appeared relatively hard to reach, even with the assistance of a helicopter.

When the helicopter circled again and landed, the crew went to Coimbatore to investigate.

Something uncanny was just discovered in Utah, United States after officers from the state Department of Public Safety found a metal monolith randomly stationed in the desert. The worry is that curious people would try and reach it to check it out themselves, but as it's so remote there would be the possibility of becoming stranded and require rescue, explained the DPS. But alien jokes aside, there was genuine concern that perhaps it was part of a legitimate scientific experiment.

'We were wondering, is this NASA stuck there or something?

Mr Hutchings said they just happened to fly directly over the top of the monolith. "I$3 f one of us suddenly disappears, then I guess the rest of us make a run for it", pilot Bret Hutchings told NBC affiliate KSL TV.

And there it was - in the middle of the red rock was a shiny, silver metal monolith sticking out of the ground.

"It's the on-off button for the planet", one user wrote.

Social media is already buzzing with conspiracy theories about the monolith.

Whether there are faces or not, the metallic monolith is weird enough on its own.

The helicopter pilot said he suspected that the Utah monolith was the work of a new age artist.

The U.S. military has slowly released videos over the past few years of unexplained aerial phenomena recorded by Air Force pilots. The Deseret News reports that news organizations around the world are intrigued by the discovery.

A Utah Department of Public Safety statement revealed there was no indication of who could have left the structure in that particular location.

The Bureau of Land Management will be deciding whether further investigation is needed.

We're not saying it's definitely aliens, but it's definitely aliens.

Here's what we know so far about the unexplained metal object (UMO?).