Another mysterious monolith pops up — in a North Carolina flower bed, photos show
Another monolith has popped up, this time sparking a mystery in North Carolina.
A metal object suddenly appeared in a flowerbed in the heart of downtown Fayetteville last week, photos from the Cool Spring Downtown District show. The structure, which protrudes 3 feet into the air along Hay Street, has piqued the curiosity of many.
“When I came in to open the shop, the shiny, tall structure in the flowerbed caught the light and surprised me,” Angela Malavé, who owns The Coffee Cup, said in a Downtown District news release Monday. “I thought, is it public art or holiday décor?”
It turns out, not much is known about the origin of the monolith.
“There’s likely a very logical reason for our monolith’s appearance,” Bianca Shoneman, president and CEO of the Downtown District, said in the release. “But while we wait to find out if there’s a human or alien motivation behind it, we’re adopting downtown’s newest art installation as one of our own.”
The mystery comes as metal structures have appeared in landscapes all over the world.
One 10-foot structure found towering over a remote Utah desert in November sparked a series of internet memes and led some to joke that other-worldly forces were involved. In recent weeks, more monoliths have been discovered in California and Europe.
When Fayetteville joined the trend last Thursday, speculation still swirled about an alien connection.
“While we love to welcome visitors from all over the world, we’ve never been able to claim an extraterrestrial one,” Shoneman told McClatchy News in an email. “(That) may have just changed.”
Some social media users may have similar thoughts.
“Aliens are here,” one person wrote on the Facebook page for the Downtown District, which says it partners with the city of Fayetteville to manage an area that focuses on arts and entertainment.
This story was originally published December 8, 2020 at 1:25 PM with the headline "Another mysterious monolith pops up — in a North Carolina flower bed, photos show."
