By Chris Cornford
It arrived, it was seen – and nearly conquered. The Compton Beach Monolith, which has brought global attention to the Island, was turned into pile of rubble but has been resurrected again!
The mirrored structure designed by Island designer Tom Dunsford, 29, arrived in a veil of secrecy in the early hours of Sunday morning and sparked worldwide conspiracy theories.
Tom initially claimed to have spotted it on an early Sunday morning walk saying he had no idea of who put it there, but on Tuesday, after a global ‘whodunnit’, he confessed.
The mirrored structure on Compton Beach was around 7.5ft high by 2ft wide and stood on a wooden plinth. Similar monoliths have appeared in Utah and Romania, prompting speculation they had been put there by aliens, and these were the inspiration for Tom’s structure.
However, things quickly started to go wrong and graffiti was sprayed on the structure overnight on Tuesday and by yesterday morning (Thursday) it had toppled over onto the sand. However, he turned up in the afternoon to clean it and put it back upright.
Tom, a designer for the Meeting Pod Company at Westridge Business Park, Ryde, owned up to how he set up the prank.
He said: “I knew about the other monoliths and I got a text from a friend who said I was the man to do something on the Island. I was walking back to the office recently when I noticed we had a sheet of mirrored Perspex and I had this ‘light bulb’ moment and it went from there.
“I’ve always had a creative streak and just wanted to give it a go. Once it was built, I got a few friends together and we drove down to Compton around 4am on Sunday morning to set it all up. I never imagined this whole scheme would go global.”
The monolith was visited by crowds of people throughout the week and once again, for now, is back looking at its best.
Press Release