Isle of Wight monolith: West Sussex artist claims responsibility for structure after its sudden appearance

The metallic structure was spotted on Compton Beach by a dogwalker over the weekend.

Its appearance on the Isle of Wight followed the sightings of similar monoliths in Utah, Romania and California in recent weeks.

The News’ readers offered a number of theories for what could be behind it – including aliens.

However the mystery behind the Isle of Wight monolith may have been solved, with a very terrestrial conclusion, as a designer has claimed to be responsible for the creation of mirrored structure on the island.

Tom Dunford, 29, from Fishbourne, West Sussex, told the BBC that he created the structure ‘purely for fun’.

He said: ‘If the aliens were to come down I think they’d go for the safest place which is the Isle of Wight in Tier 1 (Covid restrictions).

‘When I saw the first one pop up (in Utah) I thought it was brilliant, the second one popped up and I had a text from a friend which said ‘You’re the man that can do this on the island’.’

SEE ALSO: ‘Aliens…an art installation’: Here’s what our readers think mysterious monolith on Isle of Wight is

The National Trust said it has placed rangers at the beach to prevent any overcrowding as people have been travelling to the site to take photographs.

The first metal edifice was found planted in the ground in a remote part of Utah at the end of November.

It disappeared just days later, and two other shining metal towers later appeared in Romania and Southern California, with others turning up in other countries including Spain, Germany and Colombia.

An anonymous collective called The Most Famous Artist has taken credit for the monoliths in Utah and California.

It posted an image of the Utah monolith on Instagram, with a 45,000 US dollar (£34,000) price tag.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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