Monolith found in Isle Of Wight after mysteriously appearing in Utah, California and Romania

A new monolith has cropped up on the Isle of Wight’s Compton Beach
Lee Peckham/@WightLawyer/Twitter

A fourth monolith has appeared on the Isle of Wight, joining similar structures in California, Utah and Romania.

The gleaming metal pillar was discovered by local resident Tom Dunford, 29, who was out walking his dog with his fiancee and sister on the island’s Compton Beach on Sunday morning.

Having followed recent press coverage of the mysterious objects cropping up around the world, Mr Dunford said he recognised it as a monolith straight away.

He told Sky News: "The person who put it there knows what they're doing.

“It's someone playing a practical joke."

Since the first emerged in Utah’s red-rock country on November 18, the towering pillars have cropped up on a hill in Romania, atop a Californian mountain and, now, the British seaside.

The enigma has fuelled imaginations across the world, with many people likening the creations to the imposing silver monolith in Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey”.

Mr Dunford described the moment he and his companions stumbled across the latest addition to the baffling global collection just after 7.30am on a crisp winter’s day.

"We went down the steps and to the right about 100 yards in front us we saw this big reflection of the sun,” he told Sky News.

As the day rolled on, more people encountered the puzzling appendage to the landscape, with islander Lee Peckham asking the public if they had “any ideas” whence it came.

But so far no one has come forward to claim responsibility for the Isle of Wight installation.

An anonymous account called The Most Famous Artist has taken credit for its predecessors in Utah and California.

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

However, when asked about the newest structure, it responded: “The monolith is out of my control at this point. 

"Godspeed to all the aliens working hard around the globe to propagate the myth.”

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