[“Also Sprach Zarathustra” intensifies]

More than 50 years after its premiere, 2001: A Space Odyssey remains one of the most popular and debated science-fiction movies in history. Its influence can be seen everywhere from the worlds of fashion and design, to an extremely remote corner of the Utah desert, where someone (or something!) deposited a large rectangular prism that looks a whole lot like 2001’s monoliths — the black objects in the film placed on Earth and the Moon and in orbit around Jupiter eons ago for some unknown purpose.

That’s according to a report from Salt Lake City TV station KSL-TV, who bring word that a Department of Public Safety helicopter spotted the strange item while on a routine assignment “assisting Utah Division of Wildlife Resource officers counting bighorn sheep.”

The crew landed their helicopter (bravely, in my opinion, cause I would have gotten the hell out of there) and examined the 10-to-12-foot-high metal object. Although they considered whether it could be part of some scientific experiment, they ultimately decided “it didn’t appear there was any scientific purpose to it.” Instead, they suspect “it was manmade – perhaps more of an art form than any kind of alien lifeform.” Indeed, given its obvious similarities to the 2001 monoliths, one of which was depicted in Stanley Kubrick’s film in an Earth desert not too visually dissimilar to this one in Utah, they suspect it may have been placed there by a 2001 mega-fan.

You can watch KSL-TV’s report below:

KSL says none of those involved in the discovery are revealing the exact location of the monolith because it’s “in an area the crew feared amateur adventurers might get stuck.” Uh huh, uh huh, sure, what a convenient excuse. Yes, that’s definitely the reason they want to keep it quiet. There’s definitely nothing strange going on in the Utah desert right now.

Look, this is fun, but if SpaceX astronauts suddenly find another one of these in orbit en route to the International Space Station, I am officially freaking out.

Gallery — Every CinemaScore “F” Movie, Ranked From Worst to Watchable: 

More From 97.7 KCRR