Another day, another strange monolith showing up out of nowhere — except this one has a point.
A fourth metallic structure has been discovered under mysterious circumstances in the United Kingdom, amid a viral trend that’s looking less alien with each copycat case.
The new metal monolith was spotted on Compton Beach on the Isle of Wight on Sunday, BBC News reports. The object appears similar to the three-sided monoliths previously found in Utah, Romania and California, though it’s slightly shorter and has a dramatic point at the top.
The new object stands about 2.2 metres tall, making it smaller than the others, which measured about three metres in height.
Social media posts show the object had been hastily planted in the sand and supported by rocks in a seemingly slapdash effort to secure it on the uneven beach.
Wooden feet were visible beneath it, and it appeared to be listing to one side within a few hours of its discovery.
Tom Dunford, 29, told Sky News that he discovered the monolith early Sunday while walking his dog on the beach.
“It’s really reflective,” he told the news outlet. Dunford added that the object has attracted a lot of attention on the small island south of the U.K. mainland. Yet he’s not worried that it’ll attract extraterrestrial or otherworldly forces any time soon.
“It’s someone playing a practical joke. I don’t believe any of these conspiracy theories,” he said.
Local Alexia Fishwick said she was “dumbstruck” when she discovered the object on the beach. She told BBC that the mirror-like monolith was “really quite magical” to witness up close.
The U.K.’s National Trust, which owns the site, says it’s investigating the incident.
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The monoliths have become a sudden viral fad since the first one was discovered in the Utah desert last month. The objects have frequently been compared to the alien monoliths in 2001: A Space Odyssey, which were used to accelerate the progress of Earth’s civilization.
Unlike the 2001 monoliths, the 2020 ones appear to be designed for capturing attention on social media.
Utah state officials spotted the first object during a helicopter flyover near Moab, where it had apparently been in place for years. The mysterious object sparked wild speculation that it had been built by artists or aliens, and has since spawned a number of copycats.
It was reportedly removed overnight on Nov. 27 by a group of people who wanted to destroy it.
A second monument briefly appeared in Romania in late November. That monolith was similar in general size and shape to the original, although its surface was covered in markings and marred by crude welding mistakes. It also disappeared after a few days.
A third monolith cropped up on a hilltop in California last week, with a design similar to the first.
Pranksters toppled the California object within 24 hours of its discovery.
A collective called The Most Famous Artist has claimed credit for the two U.S. monoliths, though their claims have not been verified. The group says it will not speak to anyone except podcaster Joe Rogan.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the Isle of Wight monolith.
The object was still in place Monday afternoon, according to users on a community Facebook group.
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