# Mysterious 2001-like monolith discovered in Utah **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 23, 2020, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-2001-like-monolith-discovered-in-utah/926298 "2020-11-23T21:34:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2020, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-2001-like-monolith-discovered-in-utah/926298/42 "2020-11-26T22:17:46Z")
With GPS and the internet, it’s not that hard to do, although I’m sure we all know that. I saw a reference to its coordinates, to about 15 decimal places. 🤐 ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2020, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-2001-like-monolith-discovered-in-utah/926298/43 "2020-11-27T01:12:45Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > > [@dtilque](#): > > > > Unfortunate that someone posted the location, though. > > With GPS and the internet, it’s not that hard to do, although I’m sure we all know that. Only if someone actually knows where it is. The people who found it did not release that info. Someone must have done a lot of searching with Google Maps aerial view. ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2020, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-2001-like-monolith-discovered-in-utah/926298/44 "2020-11-27T01:12:47Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > I saw a reference to its coordinates, to about 15 decimal places Everyone reading this thread saw the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2020, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-2001-like-monolith-discovered-in-utah/926298/45 "2020-11-27T04:22:16Z")
OK, I saw it, from Crafter Man. But I’m pretty sure this isn’t the only place where I saw them posted. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2020, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-2001-like-monolith-discovered-in-utah/926298/46 "2020-11-27T06:14:50Z")
It’s a little-known fact that Stanley Kubrick wanted to send an old minivan into space. It would have been a 2001 Space Odyssey. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2020, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-2001-like-monolith-discovered-in-utah/926298/47 "2020-11-27T15:45:48Z")
You sir, should be banned from the thread. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2020, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-2001-like-monolith-discovered-in-utah/926298/48 "2020-11-27T17:09:20Z")
😱 You’re awful. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2020, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-2001-like-monolith-discovered-in-utah/926298/49 "2020-11-27T17:17:23Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Alas, not stone, but two tons of carved acrylic. It was repurposed (defaced, really) for the Queen’s Silver Jubilee in 1977. According to the article, that’s not the one from the movie - that was a rejected prototype ---
**Author:** ![bobsmom101](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobsmom101/32/2867_2.png) [@bobsmom101](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobsmom101)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2020, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-2001-like-monolith-discovered-in-utah/926298/50 "2020-11-27T18:59:34Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > To make this perfect, they would have sunk a duplicate SE of Madagascar on the exact opposite side of the world. I wonder whether anyone has checked? ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2020, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-2001-like-monolith-discovered-in-utah/926298/51 "2020-11-27T21:31:39Z")
The antipodes of the “monolith” is in the Indian Ocean, probably a couple-three thousand meters deep. It’s SE of Madagascar, but not really all that close to that island. ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2020, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-2001-like-monolith-discovered-in-utah/926298/52 "2020-11-27T23:07:04Z")
I heard that David Bowie was working with Kubrick on the new theme song: Also Sprach Space Oddity. Tripler Not as good as @siam_sam, but I had to try. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2020, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-2001-like-monolith-discovered-in-utah/926298/53 "2020-11-28T04:24:19Z")
Threadjack: I got to hear all of “Also Sprach Zarathustra” during the derecho-induced power outage, on my battery-powered radio. I knew that the tune we all call “2001” wasn’t the whole thing, but I had not known it’s 35 minutes long in its entirety. Back to our regularly scheduled programming, it’s really not as isolated as initial reports made it out to be. There’s a graded dirt road 1/3 of a mile away. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2020, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-2001-like-monolith-discovered-in-utah/926298/54 "2020-11-28T16:14:20Z")
> **[Some eager explorers have already hiked into the desert and found the Utah...](https://www.cnn.com/style/article/utah-monolith-found-trnd/index.html)** > > If aliens had really been behind that mysterious monolith found in the Utah desert, they probably would've made it more difficult to find. ---
**Author:** ![Retzbu\_Tox](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/retzbu_tox/32/11829_2.png) [@Retzbu\_Tox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Retzbu_Tox)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2020, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-2001-like-monolith-discovered-in-utah/926298/55 "2020-11-29T04:41:44Z")
… and now it is gone. BLM denies taking it down. Someone left a small pyramid and some rocks in its place. [Fox23 article](https://www.fox13now.com/news/local-news/monolith-removed-from-southern-utah-desert-by-unknown-party) [KSL article](https://www.ksl.com/article/50057437/mysterious-monolith-disappears-from-remote-southeast-utah-desert) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2020, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-2001-like-monolith-discovered-in-utah/926298/56 "2020-11-29T13:31:49Z")
> [@Retzbu\_Tox](#): > > … BLM denies taking it down. … Of course they would! Those anti-American evil socialist dark-skins and their Commie sympathizers would always deny destroying something in a public park! They have no respect for property! … whisper whisper … Oh … they meant the _other_ BLM. [Emily Latella voice]_Neveeer miiiind!!!_[/Emily Latella voice] \* PSA: This post is meant as pure sarcasm for those who missed it. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2020, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-2001-like-monolith-discovered-in-utah/926298/57 "2020-11-29T13:58:23Z")
It’s probably on the moon now. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2020, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-2001-like-monolith-discovered-in-utah/926298/58 "2020-11-29T16:13:07Z")
Keep in mind, putting the monolith in place involved a bunch of federal crimes. Removing it probably did too. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2020, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-2001-like-monolith-discovered-in-utah/926298/59 "2020-11-29T16:38:10Z")
I wonder if they (whoever that is) didn’t remove it out of concern for the local environment, not wanting the area to be overrun by wannabe frat bros who would try to tip it over, and failing that would take it out on the surrounding rocks. While I’m here, can someone explain the logic of this sentence to me, from one of the linked articles? “Finch said because the structure is on public lands it is considered private property, meaning the BLM does not have the authorization to remove it.” ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2020, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-2001-like-monolith-discovered-in-utah/926298/60 "2020-11-29T18:17:34Z")
I gotta ask the peanut gallery, out of genuine curiosity–_what laws_? LIttering? There was no graffiti or destruction of property. . . Tripler Our space-faring overlords are gonna get a citation. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2020, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-2001-like-monolith-discovered-in-utah/926298/61 "2020-11-29T18:21:29Z")
I imagine that one reason for removing it would be to reduce the chances of yahoos going out there and getting lost/injured/stuck and having to go out and rescue them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-2001-like-monolith-discovered-in-utah/926298.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-2001-like-monolith-discovered-in-utah/926298.md?page=4)