By Tim Binnall
In a case reminiscent of the monolith craze of 2020, an eight-foot-tall totem pole has mysteriously appeared on a clifftop pathway in England. The curious wooden piece was reportedly discovered late last month at a spot along a lengthy national walking trail known as North Downs Way in the county of Kent. Carved from a single tree, the totem pole features the name of the Baltic god of thunder, Perkūnas, inscribed on its side. As this name for the deity is specifically used in Lithuania, it is theorized that the piece is somehow connected to that country, though it remains a mystery as to who created it and why as well as how they managed to install it without being noticed.
Despite the many questions surrounding the peculiar totem pole, the organization which oversees the walking trail have embraced the unusual addition to the popular pathway. "The artwork seems to be a hit with the walkers who have taken selfies and congratulated us on the installation," Ian Rickards of Kent Wildlife Trust said, "but we had no idea how it came to be there." Expressing appreciation for the considerable amount of work that undoubtedly went into crafting the sizeable piece, the group has called for the artist to reveal themselves, but the individual has opted to remain anonymous for now.
Be that as it may, Rickards indicated that "we are keen to keep it on our reserve" and, as such, they are working on getting the piece retroactively approved by the local government so that it can remain where it stands along the trail. The mysterious appearance of the totem pole brings to mind the proverbial monolith madness which swept across the globe at the end of 2020 when a ten-to-12-foot tall rectangular metal piece was found in the Utah desert and its discovery spawned countless copycats which popped up in countries around the world shortly thereafter. Fortunately, unlike the many monoliths which contributed to the craze and then were subsequently taken down, the Perkūnas pole is poised to become a permanent fixture along the walking trail.