The Third Monolith has now emerged in California

We had the monolith of Utah first. Then in Romania, we had the one. Now on Pine Mountain at Atascadero, California, a third monolith has emerged. 

On Wednesday morning, the 10-foot high metal structure was found on top of the mountain, with hiker Ray Johnson saying “The Atascadero News was unknown the day before.” Like its predecessors, there is no hint of how or for which reason the Californian monolith has arrived – other than to fuel rampant speculation. 

The monolith architecture tends to be a rectangular, three-sided structure with a triangular footprint, similar to that of its children in Utah and Romania. It also tends to be made of rivets and welding reflective stainless steel.

However, unlike its predecessors, the monolith of California was not cut to the ground. It might also theoretically tip over if anyone moved it but we’re stressing that this isn’t a problem. It is estimated that the monolith weighs a few hundred pounds, and could seriously hurt anyone if it were to fall. As such, it’s probably the wisest place to give it a wide berth. 

The local authorities are aware of this latest monolith, but they do not currently have any plans for it. 

“Just heard about it a few minutes ago,” said Atascadero Mayor Pro Tem Charles Bourbeau in an email to Mashable. “I’ll have to check it out.” 

It’s just as well though—if the last two monoliths are something to go by, this one is likely to vanish mysteriously in the next few days.

It is still unclear whether these structures are linked to each other. They might just be copycats who heard about the first monolith and had some scrap metal lying around. It’s also possible that they’re all part of a big marketing stunt, and that some brand will tell us to buy their new Monolith energy drink by the end of the year. 

Either way, the attention of our distraction-seeking brains has certainly been caught during this pandemic. According to the analytics firm Talkwalker, 168,000 monoliths have been mentioned on Twitter over the last week, generating 1.5 million commitments.