New Year mystery as 'alien' monolith appears in flooded Oxford park
Monolith mystery as 'alien' column appears in flooded Oxford park
By Tim Hughes @OxMailTimHughes Features and Music Editor
WALKERS stretching their legs on New Years Day were left rubbing their eyes after a mysterious monolith appeared in a flooded Oxford park.
The enigmatic object appeared to have popped up overnight in Oatlands Park, West Oxford.
It follows the appearance of similar monoliths around the world starting, in early November, with a steel structure in a remote area of the American state of Utah.
They have since cropped up everywhere from the Isle of Wight and Glastonbury to Romania and Australia, with a gingerbread version discovered in San Francisco.
Among those scratching their head over the origin of the pillar in deep water, just off Botley Road, was popular DJ Dominic Utton who lives nearby.
He said: "It definitely wasn't there on New Year's Eve so it must have arrived overnight.
"It's out in the middle of the flooded field, too far and too deep to get to with wellies, so whoever did it must have had a boat.
"From what you can see from dry land it's about six foot tall out of the water – so maybe nine feet altogether. It's a tall rectangle shape, and silver-ish, like it's made of aluminium.
Monolith has aooeared in West Oxford. Picture by Dominic Utton
"Whatever it is, and whoever did it, it's very cool. Just how they did it is amazing in itself – out in the middle of a flooded field, in the dark and freezing cold, on New Year's Eve of all nights.
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"It's got everyone around here stumped. But then like Sherlock Holmes said: 'Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth,' so I reckon the only rational explanation is that it's definitely alien technology."