Mysterious metal object found in the middle of the desert

Government workers have encountered a bizarre metal structure in a “very remote area” normally home to nothing but sheep and giant red rocks.

A team was last week conducting a count of big horn sheep via helicopter in southeastern Utah, in the United States, when one spotted something peculiar below.

The tall metal figure was jokingly coined a piece of “alien life form” in a video shot by one of the members of the taskforce comprised of Utah Department of Public Safety Aero Bureau and Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.

“One of the biologists ... spotted it, and we just happened to fly directly over the top of it. He was like, 'Whoa, whoa, whoa, turn around, turn around!' And I was like, 'What?' And he's like, 'There's this thing back there - we've got to go look at it!',” pilot Bret Hutchings told news network KSL.

“We were kind of joking around that if one of us suddenly disappears, then the rest of us make a run for it.”

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He said the monolith appeared to be between three and four metres in height, and as though it had been deliberately planted there.

“I'm assuming it's some new wave artist or something or, you know, somebody that was a big (2001: A Space Odyssey) fan,” Mr Hutchings said.

He was referencing a scene in the 1968 movie in which a black monolith randomly appeared.

A Utah Department of Public Safety statement revealed there was no indication of who could have left the structure in that particular location.

“The crew members found a metal monolith installed in the ground in a remote area of red rock. The crew said there was no obvious indication of who might have put the monolith there,” the statement read.

They said the location would not be disclosed due to the risk of curious individuals becoming stranded and requiring rescue.

“It is illegal to install structures or art without authorisation on federally managed public lands, no matter what planet you’re from,” the department said.

“The Bureau of Land Management will be determining if they need to investigate further.”

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