SEATTLE (AP) - A 9-foot-tall steel monolith mysteriously appeared in a city park, just in time for 2001.

Denny Sargent couldn't resist humming the theme to 2001: A Space Odyssey, when he walked up to touch the imposing object, which stands on a grassy knoll in Magnuson Park like the movie's enigmatic extraterrestrial guardian.

"I feel my intelligence increasing by the moment," he said.

The unmarked sculpture appears to have been put in place on New Year's Eve.

There is no plaque or other clue to the sculptor.

Sod was carefully tamped into place around the object's base, but several plastic bottle-cap rings littered the ground, suggesting it was thirsty work for whoever installed it.

John Thoe paused to contemplate the structure as he retrieved a boomerang Monday.

"It's cool," he said. "Especially on the first day of 2001."