Mysterious pillar in Utah desert becomes mass tourist attraction

A mysterious pillar in the middle of the Utah desert has become a tourist attraction with Instagrammers searching out the 3.6m object in the middle of nowhere.

A mysterious metal pillar has become a tourist attraction.

A mysterious metal pillar in the middle of the Utah desert has become a hit tourist attraction, with Instagrammers tracking down the 3.6m monolith for photo bragging rights.

The bizarre structure, which looks like something out of a sci-fi movie, was discovered last week by wildlife officers counting sheep from a helicopter.

But the mystery of how it got into the desert has now deepened, amid revelations it has been standing unnoticed for years.

News of the find sent UFO spotters and conspiracy theorists into a frenzy with some even claiming the tower was a secret alien antenna or homing beacon.

Now it has been revealed the huge metal oddity has been in its remote hiding place for at least four years – and possibly longer.

One Reddit user said they had managed to geolocate the obelisk by closely studying the surrounding rock formations, claiming the bizarre structure was first captured on Google Earth in 2016.

RELATED: Mystery creature washes up on Greek island Crete after storm

The strange pillar in the Utah desert. Picture: Utah Department of Public Safety/AFP

RELATED: Loch Ness monster ‘spotted on sonar’ again as mysterious shape detected

However, some satellite images of it date back to around a year earlier.

And Lieutenant Nick Street, a spokesman for the local Department of Public Safety, said it’s possible the structure has been there for “40, 50 years, maybe more”.

“It’s the type of material that doesn’t degrade with the elements. It may only be a few years old, who knows,” he said.

“There’s no real way based on the material it’s made out of to tell how long it’s actually been there.”

With all the hype around the pillar, adventure-seeking hikers have made it their mission to locate the object, with some posting the discovery to social media. Some of the tourists climbed the object and snapped photos with it, even though officials didn’t disclose its exact location for fear people would get lost searching for it.

Emery House and her friends were visiting Utah from Minnesota when they learned of the mysterious monolith that had appeared in the desert.

The group decided to go out and see the mysterious metal pillar, which took a two hour drive and a 20 minute hike from Moab.

Speaking to Caters, Ms Emery said, “We had heard about the monolith from an article and as we were packing our parachutes away my friend thought they found where it would be on a map so we went to investigate.

“We aren’t sure how it got there but we think it might just art, it just looks really cool in that spot at the end of a wash and there are neat acoustics with how the wall is.

“It was 100% unique and we were impressed by how well made it was, not something that would get damaged easily by climbing it

“There were just a few footprints around but it was largely an untouched area, the ground was littered with quartz and other pretty rocks that weren’t picked over.”

RELATED: Loch Ness monster spotted again in tourist’s photo of ‘big fish’

Curious tourists have flocked to the strange object.

Before snapping photos to post to social media.

The mystery has sparked a number of bizarre theories about how it got there – while some pointed to a more simple explanation.

Some say it closely resembles the work of artist John McCracken, who lived for a time in nearby New Mexico.

The pillar has become a tourist attraction. Picture: Utah Department of Public Safety/AFP

McCracken – who died in 2011 – was known for his freestanding sculptures in the shape of pyramids, cubes and shiny slabs.

Those who first spotted the oddball object last Wednesday said they were stunned by what they found.

“One of the biologists is the one who spotted it and we just happened to fly directly over the top of it,” said pilot Bret Hutchings, who flew the chopper to help the wildlife officers count bighorn sheep in the area.

“He was like, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, turn around, turn around!’ And I was like, ‘What?’” said Hutchings. “And he’s like, ‘There’s this thing back there – we’ve got to go look at it!’”

When they turned around, they couldn’t believe what they saw.

The mysterious pillar has become a social media hit.

Experts say they have no idea how the pillar got there.

Hutchings and his crew still have no idea how the object came to be there.

“We were, like, thinking is this something NASA stuck up there or something,” Hutchings said. “Are they bouncing satellites off it or something?”

They also guess that it could be a reference to a scene in a movie.

“I’m assuming it’s some new wave artist or something or, you know, somebody that was a big [2001: A Space Odyssey] fan,” Hutchings said.

The exact location of the metal structure is remaining a closely guarded secret to stop hikers risking their lives travelling to the hard-to-access site.

“That’s been about the strangest thing that I’ve come across out there in all my years of flying,” Hutchings said.

- with The Sun