PHOENIX — 2022 is already giving us 2020 vibes and it all started with a viewer email.
Staring at my inbox this morning, one email stood out from the rest. In the body of the electric correspondence were only eight words.
"Monolith next to the l-17 mysterious Christmas tree."
My eyebrows popped up with intrigue. "Are they back?" I thought to myself. In 2020, similar metallic installations appeared in places around the globe, including Utah and California.
The world was captivated by these metal objects for months as the media and social sleuths tried to uncover their mystery.
But now it appears these metallic objects are making a comeback. So to verify the claim made by our eagle-eyed viewer, we sent one of our photographers to the scene.
After a quick drive north of Phoenix, he arrived near Sunset Point along I-17 and identified the monolith near the side of the road. He got out of the car and snapped a photo to show the newsroom what he found:
Further investigation revealed that this particular monolith wasn't even metal. According to our photographer, it was made out of some type of reflective tape over wood material.
So it doesn't look like it's an other-worldly memento or some technologically-advanced messaging device. It looks like it just appeared to be some elaborate prank by someone trying to get a little creative with the Arizona landscape. Mystery solved.
PHOTOS: Monolith near Sunset Point
On Tuesday, the Arizona Department of Transportation released the following statement about the monolith:
"This object is not a part of any ADOT project. It appears to have been placed there by a member of the public. We will determine if it's a memorial of some sort and try to find who placed it there just to make sure it is handled appropriately."
If you happen to see this as you drive on I-17, rest assured you aren't seeing some extraterrestrial message or artifact.
But hey, you can't help but wonder...
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