--- title: "Utah Authorities Say Mysterious Monolith Is Illegal, Even If Aliens Put It There" description: "Utah public safety officials are calling for the removal of an \"illegal\" metallic monolith eretced in the middle of the Utah wilderness." date: "2020-11-24" modified: "2020-11-24" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/mysterious-metal-monolith-illegal" categories: - "Future Society" tags: - "the digest" --- # Utah Authorities Say Mysterious Monolith Is Illegal, Even If Aliens Put It There ![Utah public safety officials are calling for the removal of an "illegal" metallic monolith eretced in the middle of the Utah wilderness.]() *\Image: Utah Department of Public Safety\* ## Mysterious Monolith While counting bighorn sheep from a helicopter in the Utah wilderness, Utah Highway Patrol pilot Bret Hutchings made an eyebrow-raising discovery: a [shiny metal monolith]() about ten to 12 feet tall. It looked like something straight out of the 1968 film "2001: A Space Odyssey," prompting humor and wild speculation on social media. https://twitter.com/WilliamHPerkins/status/1330918230219698177 ## Rural Politics Was it an extraterrestrial species coming to send a message or was it a particularly ambitious art installation in the middle of nowhere? Either way, the Utah Department of Public Safety would please like for it to not be there, as local news station [*KDVR* reports](). ## Illegal Installation "It is illegal to install structures or art without authorization on federally managed public lands, no matter what planet you’re from," read an official and amusingly tongue-in-cheek statement. "The Bureau of Land Management will be determining if they need to investigate further." Officials still have no clue where the monolith came from or who it belongs to. "We were kind of joking around that if one of us suddenly disappears, then the rest of us make a run for it," Hutchings [told *KSLTV*]() over the weekend. ## Nothing to See Here The Utah Department of Public Safety — which referred to it as an "installation" in its statement — is keeping the exact location a secret. "The exact location of the installation is not being disclosed since it is in a very remote area and if individuals were to attempt to visit the area, there is a significant possibility they may become stranded and require rescue," the statement reads. **READ MORE:** [“No matter what planet you’re from” this monolith is illegal in Utah]() \[*KDVR*\] **More on the monolith:** *[Scientists Discover Mysterious Metal “Monolith” in Utah Wilderness]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()