Mystery monolith pops up at South Island adventure park

A mysterious structure has appeared at Christchurch Adventure Park. Photo / Supplied

The latest addition to a Christchurch park has left people scratching their heads.

The global “mystery monolith” trend has reached New Zealand, with one of the geometric sculptures spotted at the Christchurch Adventure Park in the Port Hills.

The adventure park has asked the public for help determining what the structure was and where it came from.

A spate of tongue-in-cheek theories from Facebook users followed.

One person said it could be a marketing campaign, another person guessed it could be a “6G mobile tower” while another said pseudonymous UK-based street artist Banksy could be behind it.

A strange metal monolith was found in the Utah desert by a helicopter crew while counting sheep. Photo / Supplied

Geometric sculptures have popped up in random locations around the world including California, Utah, and the Isle of Wight.

Isle of Wight residents stumbled across the mirrored obelisk while going for a stroll on the beach in December.

Alexia Fishwick said the experience was “really quite magical,” describing the discovery to the BBC.

It was at least the fourth sculpture to be found in a public place at the time.

The Isle of Wight discovery came just days after a similar discovery in a desert in Utah, as well as in California and Romania.

The BBC has since identified the creator of the monolith erected in the Isle of Wight as 29-year-old Tom Dunford.

However, the monolith has since been removed and was found for sale on eBay.

Dunford told the BBC he was “disappointed someone had decided to cash in on a broken monolith”.

“If I’d have known it was going to be so epic then I would have made it from more robust materials and some good could have come out of it.

Earlier in the month, Santa Fe-based artist collective named “The Most Famous Artist” claimed to be behind the original stunt in Utah.

The group’s website also began advertising an “Authentic Alien Monolith” for sale at a whopping US$45,000 ($63,850).

A series of three, plus one prototype have already been sold, according to the group.

However, when the collective was asked if it was behind the stunt that followed on the beach in England, the group was stumped.

Group director Matty Mo told the New York Post that the idea of was to “start a global phenomenon”.

“I’d say mission accomplished. I hope every city gets a monolith. It brings people together and spreads joy.”

However, like the structure in the Isle of Wight, the Utah version didn’t last very long either.

AP reported that the gleaming structure in Utah has since been toppled by a group of men who loaded it into a wheelbarrow and took it away.