By Tim Binnall
In an unexpected throwback to a craze from a few years ago, a mysterious monolith has appeared at a scenic overlook near the city of Phoenix. The out-of-place piece is located along highway I-17 at a spot known as Sunset Point and was reported to an Arizona television station by a viewer last week. For those who may have forgotten life before the pandemic, 'mystery monoliths' were all the rage following the discovery of the first such object in a remote corner of the Utah desert in November of 2019. The intriguing piece captured the imagination of the public and, over the next few weeks and into the start of 2020, a plethora of the odd objects began popping up in locations all over the planet.
Like most fads, the monoliths exited the zeitgeist nearly as quickly as they entered it, since the world soon had more pressing concerns in the form a mysterious new virus known as 'COVID-19' that seemed to be spreading at an alarming rate. However, it would appear that someone out in Arizona did not get the proverbial memo about the peculiar pieces being a thing of the past. An investigation by the Phoenix TV station tipped off to the object determined that the sizeable piece is crafted out of "some type of reflective tape over wood material" rather than being made out of metal as most of the previously discovered monoliths had been.
Asked about the oddity found on the side of the interstate, the Arizona Department of Transportation indicated that the piece was not their handiwork and that it "appears to have been placed there by a member of the public." The department went on to say that they will attempt to "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." Time will tell if the newly discovered piece winds up sparking a 'mystery monolith' revival or if it's merely a one-off incident that serves as a reminder of a more innocent time that seems so long ago now.