Visitors flock to the puzzling Utah monolith after the location is decoded

If you drop a mysterious metal monolith in the middle of the desert, they will come.

Daring travelers sailed through a remote part of Utah to get a first-hand glimpse of a 10-foot-tall monolith that was planted in the ground in the middle of a rock formation.

The structure – which appears to be an art project in homage to a plot device in the film “2001 A Space Odyssey” – was first discovered last week by wildlife officials who were counting sheep from a helicopter .

Workers shared photos of their strange find, but did not disclose its contact details, hoping to deter people from looking for the structure and getting lost in the remote area.

Their caution could not deter determined detectives who combed satellite maps to resolve the case and locate the structure 16 miles southwest of Moab.

David Surber, 33, a former U.S. Army infantry officer, drove six hours overnight to find him after reading his supposed contact details on Reddit.

He posted a video with the caption: “Great trip to the monolith today. It doesn’t matter who built it or where it came from. It was a positive escape from today’s world. Some for many people to come together and have fun together.

Surber said after making the discovery he was alone in the dark for just about 10 minutes before other intrepid adventurers arrived, warned by information from Reddit user Tim Slane, who followed the radar. helicopters, then used Google Earth to find the exact one. location.

“I knew that once the location went public, people were going to visit the area,” Slane told the BBC. “I got angry messages for revealing the place. If I hadn’t found it, someone else probably would have found it soon enough.

It’s still unclear who made the monolith and planted it, and why – but Google Earth images show it appeared between August 2015 and October 2016.