New monolith north of Las Vegas revives mysterious trend from late 2020

The mysterious trend from 2020 has resurfaced with the appearance of a new mirrored column near a peak north of Las Vegas in mid-June.

"Over the weekend, Las Vegas Metro Search and Rescue spotted this mysterious monolith near Gass Peak north of the valley," the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Force posted on Facebook. "HOW did it get up there??"

Gass Peak is about 20 miles north of Las Vegas and is easily visible throughout most of the Las Vegas Valley.

Other monoliths were placed around the world during a two-week stretch in late 2020 — including one at Las Vegas' Fremont Street Experience, one in California, one in Utah and one in Romania.

Another of the columns appeared amid a cluster of casinos on Dec. 4, 2020, the fourth to appear around the world during a two-week stretch in late 2020.

Early that morning, someone planted the shiny metallic structure under the Fremont Street canopy, Fremont Street Experience spokeswoman Cassandra Down told the Reno Gazette Journal.

The monolith was not tied to the Fremont Street Experience company, she said.

The 3-sided monolith, approximately 10 feet tall, was similar to three others discovered in the Utah desert, in Romania and on a hiking trail in Atascadero, California. Like those structures, the origin of the Las Vegas object was also unknown.

Utah monolith removed by athletes

Another of the monoliths appeared in the Utah desert before Thanksgiving 2020, drawing hundreds of visitors to the state's Red Rock Country.

Those visitors damaged ecologically sensitive areas with vehicles and human waste in the remote backcountry, prompting two Utah outdoorsmen to remove the structure from the landscape.

Sylvan Christensen and Andy Lewis, who built a large online following for their slacklining and BASE jumping videos, posted to social media that they removed the structure in a wheelbarrow. They described it as hollow and made of stainless steel.

Christensen said those who placed the monolith cut into rock to place the monolith, calling it an "ethical failure."

Romanian monolith appeared near archeological site

At about the same time in November 2020, a monolith appeared in northern Romania. The monolith was placed on Batca Doamnei HIll in Piatra Neamt, near a fortress built by the Dacians more than 2,000 years ago.

According to a Reuters report, the monolith had disappeared by Dec. 1.

"The 2.8 metre (9ft) tall structure disappeared overnight as quietly as it was erected last week," wrote local journalist Robert Iosub.

Monolith in California removed, replaced with cross

The earliest of the monoliths appeared on a hiking trail in Atascadero in southern California.

The structure had attracted hikers to the area, according to The Atascadero News, which reported that the 10-foot-tall "Atascadero obelisk was not attached to the ground, and could be knocked over with a firm push."

The monolith disappeared in early December. In a social media post from December 2020, several men removed the monolith and erected a plywood cross in its place.