'Mysterious' Las Vegas monolith appears in desert

A "mysterious monolith" has appeared in a desert north of Las Vegas. 

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department says the shiny, reflective structure – similar to one found in Utah years ago – was spotted by its search and rescue unit near Gass Peak over the weekend. 

"We see a lot of weird things when people go hiking like not being prepared for the weather, not bringing enough water... but check this out!" police wrote on X alongside an image of the monolith. 

The discovery comes months after a hiker in Wales captured a video of a mysterious "UFO"-like monolith on top of a hillside along the country’s border with England.  

‘UFO’-LIKE MONOLITH IS FOUND IN WALES BY HIKER, VIDEO SHOWS 

Craig Muir recorded footage showing the shiny object in March while hiking Hay Bluff near Hay-on-Wye, according to Storyful.  

"I come up here most days and I've never seen this before," Muir says in the video, adding that it "almost looks like a UFO."  

Similar monoliths also have been found in Belgium, Romania and the Isle of Wight – an island in the English Channel.  

MONOLITH VANISHES FROM REMOTE UTAH DESERT 

In November 2020, one of the monoliths, estimated at between 10 feet and 12 feet high, was found by Utah state wildlife employees who were counting sheep from a helicopter.  

Bret Hutchings, the helicopter pilot, said it was "about the strangest thing that I’ve come across out there in all my years of flying," according to Salt Lake City's KSL-TV.   

Authorities said at the time that the mysterious object was installed in the ground in a remote area with "no obvious indication" of who might have put it there, according to a press release from the Utah Department of Public Safety.  

Then a week later, another monolith was discovered in Atascadero, California, which is north of Los Angeles.  

It’s unclear who is behind the placement of the monoliths. A New Mexico artist collective claimed responsibility years ago.