Commotion: Monolith Madness

Citizens of the internet had their collective curiosity piqued when a reflective metal object (misleadingly dubbed a monolith, which is defined as “a large single upright block of stone, especially one shaped into or serving as a pillar or monument”) appeared in the Utah desert on November 18th.

Observers in the media and online quickly made comparisons to the famous monolith in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, with speculation that the object had been placed there by an extraterrestrial. The plot thickened when the Utah object disappeared ten days after being initially discovered, only for a similar one to pop up in Piatra Neamt, Romania.

Now there appears to be a third monolith which has recently appeared on top of a mountain in California, bearing a strong similarity to the other two. With all the mystery surrounding these objects, discussion and memes concerning them have been plentiful on social media spheres.