Devils Tower
Devils Tower is a colossal columnar igneous monolith rising 386 meters (1,267 feet) above the Belle Fourche River valley in northeastern Wyoming, USA. It holds historic significance as the very first designated U.S. National Monument (established in 1906). Formed of striking vertical phonolite columns, the formation serves as a sacred cultural sanctuary for indigenous tribes and a global icon of pop culture and ufology.
The legend
Danger Level: Yellow (Anomalies are observed, but no one is harmed) In the folklore of the Lakota, Kiowa, and Cheyenne, the landmark is known as Mato Tipila ("Bear's Lodge"). Legend tells of seven young girls pursued by a giant bear; they climbed a rock and prayed to the spirits, who caused the ground to surge skyward. The beast clawed furiously at the rising stone, carving deep vertical gouges into the sheer cliffs, while the girls were placed in the heavens as the Pleiades constellation. In the 20th century, especially following the film Close Encounters of the Third Kind, the tower became a magnet for UFO lore, with reports of luminous aerial orbs, strange glowing coronas over the summit, and electromagnetic interference.
What actually happened?
Geologically, Devils Tower is an igneous intrusion (a volcanic neck or laccolith) formed roughly 50 million years ago during the Paleogene epoch. Molten magma intruded into sedimentary strata and cooled slowly underground, contracting into symmetrical hexagonal and polygonal columns known as columnar jointing. Over millions of years, water and wind erosion stripped away the surrounding softer sandstones and shales, leaving the dense igneous core standing tall. The ominous moniker "Devils Tower" originated in 1875 when a translator accompanying Colonel Richard Dodge's expedition mistakenly rendered the native name as "Bad God's Tower" instead of "Bear's Lodge."
History
For centuries, more than 20 Native American tribes held sacred ceremonies, vision quests, and Sun Dances around the formation. In 1893, local ranchers William Rogers and Willard Ripley made the first documented ascent of the sheer summit by pounding wooden stakes into a vertical rock fissure. In 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt declared it the nation’s first National Monument under the Antiquities Act. In 1977, the site gained enduring worldwide fame as the alien landing zone and climax location in Steven Spielberg’s sci-fi film Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
Where is it?
Crook County in northeastern Wyoming, USA, within the Black Hills region along Wyoming Highway 24, approximately 28 miles (45 km) northwest of Sundance.
Can you visit?
Yes, the national monument is open to visitors year-round under the stewardship of the U.S. National Park Service (entry requires a standard park fee or annual pass). A paved walking path, the 1.3-mile (2.1 km) Tower Trail, encircles the base alongside a visitor center and campgrounds. The monument is also a premier destination for traditional crack climbing, although a voluntary climbing closure is observed every June out of respect for Native American cultural rituals.
Mount Ararat
A mountain in eastern Turkey that biblical tradition names as the resting place of the ark. Searches have run since the nineteenth century and have not stopped: in 1949 aerial photography recorded a dark structure on the glacier, known as the Ararat Anomaly, whose images were only declassified in 1995. Geologists explain it as an outcrop. The mountain is closed to unrestricted climbing, which has not deterred anyone.
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