Mystery monolith appears in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where we love aliens

I'll admit to having monolith envy ever since Utah and a bunch of other locations around the world got to host their own mysterious metal statues. Now my town of Albuquerque, New Mexico, can lay claim to a monolith. And I'm stoked.

Here's everything we know about the monoliths so far, but the ultimate purpose and origin isn't clear yet. Art? Possibly. Aliens? Not likely. Still, the New Mexico appearance is fitting considering the state's history with UFOs dating back to the infamous Roswell incident.

Albuquerque mayor Tim Keller tweeted a photo of the shiny object with the city's scenic Sandia Mountains in the distance on Monday. "We want to believe," Keller wrote, dropping an X-Files reference. "Monolith has been spotted in ABQ! What do you think it means?"

Though the monolith doesn't have an extraterrestrial link (as far as I know), it feels like the sort of object that belongs in this quirky, enchanting state where we have UFO festivals and Meow Wolf, and where green-alien lawn art sculptures are standard home decor. 

Now that a monolith has appeared within reach, I'm going out to investigate. Will I make contact? Stay tuned.