By Katy Savage
Theories are circulating that aliens have landed since a mysterious monolith, at least 8 feet tall, appeared 1,800 feet up a hill in Pittsfield last week.
“It’s like a giant just grabbed onto it and stuck it in the ground at the top of the mountain,” Riverside Farm General Manager Peter Borden said. “It’s incredible.”
Borden heard about it from a frequent hiker and saw it inserted in the ground, surrounded by a blanket of 2 feet of fresh snow with no tracks after a snowstorm on Dec. 17.
No one has claimed the monolith yet.
“Someone should have claimed it, but not a word, which makes it even more mysterious,” Borden said. “It’s perplexing how it got up there.”
Borden said the large rectangular structure is made of metal or stainless steel and the inside is hollow. It’s unclear how heavy it is.
“If you talk next to it, you can actually hear your voice inside it,” Borden said.
The area, near Riverside Farm, is the birthplace of Spartan Races, where some of the worlds greatest athletes have come to compete.
The area is usually host to hundreds of athletes who compete in the Spartan Death Race, but given the pandemic, most Spartan events were canceled this year.
Borden said some of the Spartan athletes could have put it there.
“It actually 100% could be one of the athletes who just decided to put something on the mountain,” Borden said. “Whoever did it is extremely talented.”
It’s also a popular hiking place. It takes about 45 minutes to hike up to the top of the mountain where the monolith is situated on the Green Mountain Trails, near Shrek’s Cabin.
“Someone went through a great deal of work to make this happen at the top of a hill,” Borden said.
Mysterious monoliths have been popping up on public lands and state parks across Europe and in New Zealand — each of them are similar, but not exact replicas. A monolith with coordinates on it, including coordinates for Trump Tower in New York, appeared in Australia on Dec. 10. The first known monolith appeared in a desert in Utah on Nov. 18. More monoliths were found near Joshua Tree in California shortly thereafter.
Some believe it is the work of aliens. Borden is entertaining every theory.
“Probably Santa put it up there as a beacon for all children of Killington and Pittsfield,” he said. “Or maybe it was put up there by his elves and used for Santa’s navigation.”
The Most Famous Artist, an art collective in Santa Fe, Mexico, has claimed to be behind some of the mysterious monoliths, which it sells for $45,000. The monoliths are currently sold out on the website.
“We did not expect to see one in Pittsfield,” Borden said.
The snowshoe trail is well-worn now and a few people ventured up just to see the structure. Access the trailhead from the top of Tweed River Drive.
“The reactions range from ‘oh my lord, that’s incredible,’ to ‘no way I can’t believe that’s up there,’” Borden said.
This isn’t the first time artwork has mysteriously appeared on the hill in Pittsfield.
Earlier this year, about 50 small painted rocks mysteriously appeared on stone steps leading up the mountain from Riverside Farm. Borden said new rocks were discovered every week. Some were painted as frogs, some were dogs, some had hearts on them.
“It’s not much of a reach to say maybe they put it up there,” Borden said. “Whoever the artist is, he or she is very talented.”
It’s unclear how long the structure will stay there. The Utah monolith disappeared three days after it was discovered. Borden said it’s a fun way to end what has otherwise been a dreary year.
“It definitely changed the conversation toward the end of the year, between Christmas and all the shut downs, it’s been a fun couple of days talking about something different,” Borden said.
