Devil's Tower is a mysterious monument in the heart of the Great Plains (USA, Wyoming) not far from Yellowstone National Park. Scientists argue over its origin, and local residents invent legends. Some believe this is a UFO landing site. Where could this huge rock in the middle of the plain come from?
But first things first.
Enlarged map of Devil's Tower. (Google maps)
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Devil's Tower on Google maps
The Devil's Tower is located at an altitude of 1556 meters above sea level and rises 386 meters above the surrounding area. It is the first "national monument" of the United States, receiving its status from President Roosevelt in 1906. Every year, 400,000 tourists visit Devil's Tower.
The lines on the tower are so straight that it is difficult to believe that it was not created by man.
In winter, snow practically does not linger on the slopes due to their steepness.
The tower is shrouded in fog and it seems that it is hanging in the air.
The color is highly dependent on lighting and varies from orange to white.
It seems that aliens from other worlds are somewhere nearby.
There is a very beautiful view from the airplane window.
With this lighting, the tower became white.
At night it looks even more mysterious and mystical.
In the Lakota language, the monument is called Mato Tipila, which means House of the Bear or Bear's Den. It received its current name by mistake. In 1875, during an expedition led by Colonel Richard Dodge, the translator mistranslated the words of the Indians. As a result, the monument was first called the House of the Bad God, and later - the Devil's Tower. In 2005, several Native American tribes proposed renaming the monolith Bear Lodge, but their proposal was rejected.
Geologists agree that the tower is formed from volcanic material. But they cannot agree on how it was formed.
According to one version, the territory of the Great Plains was once covered by the sea and sedimentary layers formed at its bottom. At the site where the Devil's Tower is now, molten magma penetrated into the sedimentary rocks from the bowels of the earth. Having pushed apart the sandstones, shales and limestones that made up the seabed, the magma solidified before reaching the surface in the form of a columnar basalt body. After millions of years, the sea gave way to land and rain and wind began to destroy softer sedimentary rocks. And the harder volcanic stock began to rise upward little by little. The basalts from which it is composed, during cooling, turned into picturesque vertical formations, similar to hexagonal pillars. Due to this, the mountain seems to have been created by human hands, or by the hands of the devil, but certainly not by nature.
Other scientists believe that Devils Tower is all that remains from a volcanic eruption. Erosion processes continue to this day, so that part of the tower hidden underground is still waiting in the wings.
The Indians have their own version of the origin of Devil's Tower. According to legend, seven girls were walking in the forest and were attacked by huge angry bears. The girls ran for a long time from the angry animals, but the bears did not lag behind. With the last of their strength, the children climbed onto a small rock and began to utter prayers for salvation to the Great Spirit. The spirit heard the girls' pleas and the stone began to grow rapidly. Thus, the girls began to move away from the bears. Enraged, the animals tried to climb the rock, but they failed. And on the rock forever there were traces of their huge claws. At the same time, the mountain grew and grew upward until the girls were able to step into the sky, where they turned into the stars of the Pleiades.
Nowadays, people continue to engage in myth-making. According to the beliefs of some local residents, the top of the rock is a landing site for UFOs. There are good reasons for this. Unidentified flying objects have been repeatedly spotted in the vicinity of the mountain, and strange light phenomena have been spotted on the top of the rock. Lightning very often strikes the top of the Devil's Tower. And the fact that this damn rock is the only object towering over the area is not an argument for them.
Devil's Tower was considered impregnable for a long time. It was first climbed by two local farmers at the end of the 19th century. They used ladders rather than climbing equipment to climb. The climber's ascent took place only in 1938. It was Jack Durance. The third person to climb the inaccessible rock was professional parachutist George Hopkins, who reached the top of the mountain from above in 1941. He jumped out of the plane with a parachute. The landing was successful, but getting down from the Tower was not as easy as Hopkins thought. The ropes that were dropped to him from the planes fell by or were damaged by hitting the rocks. It was not possible to use a helicopter or airship due to bad weather conditions. The paratrooper was captured on a rock.
Jack Durance before jumping to Devil's Tower.
In my opinion, in 1941 the Americans didn’t have these yet.)))
All of America was talking about this news. As it turned out, none of the climbers could climb to the top of the rock. I had to look for Jack Durance. In the end, he saved Hopkins by climbing the mountain again.
Today the Tower is very popular among climbers and climbers. And interest in it continues to grow. A considerable number of routes have already been laid to the top of the Tower. The structure of the rock is very unusual, and therefore the climbing technique also requires additional skills. For example, the ability to move across terrain in a spread and crack climbing.
Video: “Conquest of the Devil's Tower”
Of the 400,000 tourists who visit Devil's Tower each year, only one percent decides to climb to the top. But the Indians are against crowds of tourists climbing to the top of the rock, since it is sacred to them. Therefore, most climbers do not climb here in June. At this time, the Indians hold their ceremonies.
You can get to Devil's Tower: in the USA by any (road, air, rail) mode of transport to the city of Rapid City (or Gillette in the northeast of Wyoming); then only by car up to the hill.
At the end, as always, I bring to your attention a short video.
Finally, I would like to say that this mountain appears in films about aliens. Such as: “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” (1977) - Steven Spielberg and “Paul” (2011) - Greg Mottola.
That's it for sure now!!! And to hell with it, with this tower!
We didn't go to Wyoming to go to Sundance and learn about history.
Sundance Kid. Twenty-seven miles from the city of Sundance rises an amazing
and a mysterious rock called Devil's Tower.
This unique natural structure is a high, about 400
meters, an unusual looking rock that resembles a giant stump,
or a giant fortress tower. The diameter of the rock at the base is
three hundred meters, at the top about eighty meters.
But even more than the unusual appearance of this rock, people are always
I was struck by the absolute illogicality of the appearance of the Devil's Tower among the endless
plain, which stretches here for many hundreds of kilometers. After all, it
there is only one here and there are no other rock formations in the area. Scientists
Such mountains are called “geological units.”
The rock has such a regular shape that it’s hard to believe
in the naturalness of its origin. Devil's Tower was a place
religious worship of the American Indian tribes even before the advent of
they have writing.
The Indians believed that the devil lived on the top of this mountain and when he
gets angry with people, then he arranges his dances with thunder and lightning upstairs.
Even the Egyptian pyramids seem like very small structures
compared to this tower-like rock.
The Indians called this rock Mateo Tepi, which means Grizzly Bear's Den.
The first white surveyors who discovered it in 1875 gave it the name
Devil's Tower, based on another Indian name, Tower of Bad
God.
The Indians have a number of legends associated with the mysterious origin
Devil's Towers. Several tribes inhabited this area throughout
many years, and they all tell similar legends about the emergence
miracle rocks.
According to one of them, seven girls were walking in the forest when they
a giant bear attacked. The children tried to run away, but the bear did not lag behind.
In desperation, they climbed onto a low rock and prayed for salvation.
Great Spirit. And the Great Spirit heard them: suddenly a stone slab, on which
the girls climbed up and began to rapidly grow upward. The grizzly roared from
rage, and, scratching the rock with his claws, tried to get to the children, but
he failed, but traces of his sharp claws remained on the Tower
Devil. At the same time, the mountain grew and grew upward until the girls could not
step into the sky, where the Pleiades turned into stars.
By the way, since Devil's Tower is the tallest building
given area, then lightning very often strikes its top, which causes
the appearance of various light anomalies. In addition, at its top there are local
residents have repeatedly seen a strange glow. All this gave rise to
ufologists and lovers of the unknown hypothesis that this rock is
cosmodrome for UFO landing.
In the 20th century, mystical theories of the origin of the rock were replaced by scientific
fantastic.In 1977, Devils Tower acquired an international
fame, becoming a landing site for representatives of extraterrestrial civilization
in Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
Stills from the film "Close Encounters of the Third Kind".
Geologists quite easily solved the mystery of the origin of the Tower
Devil. The fact is that 200 million years ago this area was
seabed. The bottom of this sea consisted of a huge thickness of sedimentary rocks.
Once upon a time, molten liquid was introduced into this thickness from the bowels of the earth.
magmatic mass. After the magma solidified, it formed
a columnar basalt body, which in science is called a stock.
Several million years passed and the sea retreated, sedimentary
the rocks were destroyed, gradually exposing the basalt formation.
Other scientists believe that Devils Tower is all that remains
from a volcanic eruption. Erosion processes continue to this day
day, so part of the tower is hidden underground and still waiting in the wings.
For many years, Devil's Tower remained inaccessible to climbers
largely due to its unusual structure. The first time it was conquered by a local
resident at the end of the 19th century. It is not known how, but he, with practically no equipment,
climbed to the top of the rock. Unfortunately, the name of this daredevil was erased
time.
The next time a person visited the top of the Tower was only in 1938.
This time the ascent was made by a fairly experienced climber, Jack Durance.
And many years later, the already elderly Durrance had to conquer the peak a second time.
He led a group of rescue climbers who were supposed to remove
parachutist landing on top of Devil's Tower.
Parachutist George Hopkins (pictured) wanted to gain world fame,
becoming the third conqueror of the top of the Devil's Tower. Moreover, he did not intend
climb a rock along steep walls, but decided to land on it with a parachute.
Although Hopkins was warned about the danger of his plan, he decided to take the risk
and successfully landed at the very top. And then it turned out that the experienced parachutist
clearly overestimated his strength and cannot go down to the plain. Remove him using
It was not possible to get a helicopter because a hurricane wind was constantly blowing at the top of the rock.
So he became a prisoner of the rock. The news of this spread throughout America.
Crowds of people surrounded the Tower, and the captive TV star poured out witticisms in a live
radio broadcast. Everyone liked the joke that all he needed was Eva, so that if
there, below, the flood will give rise to a new branch of humanity. Soon there will be dozens
planes circled in the air, dropping food and equipment on Hopkins.
Tired of dodging falling objects, the parachutist began to beg on the radio
stop the bombing, especially since most of what is dropped anyway
flew into the abyss. Despite the abundance of food, the strength quickly left the prisoner.
To his horror, it turned out that the inaccessible smooth granite rock was inhabited by rats,
who became more and more impudent every night. A specially created Committee
to rescue Hopkins, called in an experienced climber for a rescue operation
Ernst Field and his partner Gorrell from Colorado. But the climbers after
hours of visual reconnaissance and three hours of ascent were forced to return
and give up further attempts. Field admitted: “We need this damn
the boulder is too tough!" It seemed incredible - these professionals conquered the peaks
height of more than 8000 m, but were powerless in the face of a height of only 400
meters. The committee began looking for Jack Durrance through the press and only later
day they found him. Soon he arrived and began preparations for climbing the
the old route, known to him alone. At exactly noon the assault began,
and, although the summit was shrouded in fog, the climbers, led by Durrance
got to the top, and then lowered down on a climbing cradle
exhausted parachutist. In total, Hopkins was a prisoner
Towers for about a week.
Years have passed, and today, the previously impregnable Devil's Tower is one of the most
popular objects among climbers.
This became possible thanks to the emergence of a new, more modern
equipment, as well as increased professionalism among the climbers themselves.
The steep walls of the rock are literally dotted with a variety of routes,
along which several hundred ascents to the top have already been made.
On the day of our arrival, we also observed one of these ascents
and I even tried to take a few pictures at that moment. But, probably
these climbers were not experienced, since all their attempts were unsuccessful
success.
For many Indian tribes, this rock was deeply revered as a saint.
a place of search and acquisition of sacred knowledge. The Indians still come
to the Devil's Tower to conduct their sacred rituals. The most famous
The festival, the Sun Dance, is held here in June, around the solstice.
In this regard, there is even an unofficial agreement among climbers
Do not come to Devil's Tower at this time.
The sign reads: "The tower is considered sacred by the American Indians.
and is highly valued by other peoples. Respect this place..."
When you look at the edges of a mountain from below and see debris piled up at the foot
and the columns leaning here and there, it seems that the structure is very unstable.
However, according to scientists, the last break of such a column occurred around
ten thousand years ago.
Despite the notoriety, or maybe precisely because of it, every year to the Tower
About five hundred thousand tourists from all over the world come to the Devil. Of course,
not all of them climb to the top of the rock, but mostly inspect
from below or from sightseeing planes.
The area around Devil's Tower became the First National Park of the United States.
This status was awarded to him by President Roosevelt in 1906.
Devils Tower (Devils Tower)
Devil's Tower is a natural monument in the Belle Fourche River valley in Wyoming, USA.
It is a monolith of volcanic origin with a height of 1558 m above sea level (386 m above the river valley) and a relative height of 265 m. It is the first object to be recognized as a “national monument” in the United States, receiving its status from President Theodore Roosevelt on September 24, 1906.
The “Devil's Tower” was formed from a magmatic melt that rose from the depths of the Earth and froze in the form of graceful columns. The age of the most ancient geological deposits present on the territory of the natural monument is estimated from 225 to 195 million years. The host rocks are dark red sandstones and silts with shale layers.
The Devil's Tower rock is rightfully considered one of the most mysterious and mysterious places on Earth. In addition to its ancient origin, the rock’s unusual location makes it colorful: it is located on a plateau, and there is not even anything resembling a hill nearby. Thus, the rock stands out against the background of its surroundings. There are other, more mysterious versions of the origin of the Devil's Tower.
By the way, this extraordinary rock has several names... According to one of the Indian legends, one day, seven local girls walking in the forest were attacked by a bear. The ferocious, enraged animal chased the children, not lagging behind them for a moment. Desperate girls climbed onto a small rock and began to pray to the Great Spirit for salvation. The spirit heard the girls and helped their trouble: miraculously the stone began to grow and the innocent children standing on it moved away from the animal to a safe distance. The bear tried fiercely to climb the rock, but failed. Nowadays, traces from the claws of a fierce beast serve as reminders of this legend. The mountain grew upward until it hit the firmament. Then the girls moved from her to the sky and became the stars of the Pleiades. This legend gave rise to the mythical name of the mountain - Bear's Den.
This is not the only Indian legend. There is another one, according to which the rock was created by an evil demon. This evil one sat on top and beat a drum, creating thunder and lightning. Most Indians believed in the dark essence of the mountain, so representatives of the Indian people tried not to settle near the Tower of the Bad God. The rock officially received the name “Tower of the Bad God” back in 1875, thanks to explorer Richard Dodge. It is surprising that in some Indian tribes, on the contrary, the rock was treated with respect.
Modernity has given rise to science fiction views on the origins of the rock. So, some people, not unreasonably, began to assume that at its top there is a landing strip for a UFO to land. More than once, inexplicable flashes of light and unidentified flying objects nearby in the sky were discovered at this place. This version was even filmed by the famous director Steven Spielberg in the film Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
The inaccessible rock was first conquered by local daredevils at the end of the 19th century. His feat was not repeated soon. In 1938, professional climber Jack Durrance climbed the rock. For the third time, skydiver George Hopkins conquered the mountain by parachuting to its top. However, his rejoicing did not last long, because... The conqueror of the rock was unable to descend from it on his own. Ropes were dropped from planes to Hopkins, but they broke when struck by rocks or fell by altogether. Bad weather conditions ruled out rescue options by air force. So, the rock captivated the would-be parachutist.
Because of this news, all of America went wild. Some companies began to use the parachutist’s deplorable situation for advertising purposes, selling him products under their brand. Heavy rains and wind completely exhausted the prisoner, whom even experienced climbers Ernst Field and Gorrell tried to save... In the end, Hopkins' savior turned out to be Jack Durrance, the same one who was the previous conqueror of the ill-fated rock. Jack and a team of professional climbers stormed it, and soon the cradle with the weakened paratrooper was lowered to the ground. Hopkins was held captive for about 7 days.
In 1906, the current US President Theodore Roosevelt ordered the establishment of a park in the area surrounding the Devil's Tower. This is how the country’s first National Park appeared, and the unique rock was established as a national monument.
Hundreds of thousands of tourists visit the Devil's Tower every year. And only a few thousand brave mountaineering travelers decide to conquer its peak.
Or Devils Tower- a rock of volcanic origin. It is located in the northwestern United States, in the state of Wyoming, not far from Yellowstone National Park.
The height of the monolith reaches 1558 meters above sea level. Mysterious appearance Devil's Towers resembles a giant stump or a fortress tower located in the middle of the American prairie.
Indian legends
The indigenous inhabitants of these places, the Indians, believed that an evil deity lived on the top of the mountain, instilling fear in people. Sometimes it dances and beats its drum, the sounds of which create peals of thunder that turn into thunderstorms. Only realizing that lightning strikes could destroy him, the demon stops his witchcraft dances. Some Indians claimed that strange glows were sometimes visible on the top of the mountain.
Having heard such a legend from the Indians, European settlers called the mountain Devil's Tower. Lightning during a thunderstorm actually strikes it, since it is the only hill among the plains and therefore serves as a lightning rod.
Another Indian belief told about seven girls walking through the forest who were attacked by angry bears. While fleeing, the girls saw a small stone and climbed onto it. The bears approached them and then the girls said prayers of salvation to the Great Spirit. Suddenly the stone began to grow high up. The bears tried to get the girls, but they were unsuccessful. Only their clawed paws left bear footprints on the newly formed rock. The rescued girls never returned to earth. They turned into stars and remained in the heavens.
Origin of the mountain
Devil's Tower was formed 50 million years ago. At that time, the sea splashed across the Great Plains. Its bottom was covered with thick sediment. Magma began to advance through the seabed to the surface, but before reaching it it solidified. This process took place exactly in the place where the Devil's Tower is now located. After millions of years, the sea retreated and a cone-shaped basalt rock remained on the exposed seabed. As the basalt cooled, it turned into mighty vertical columns. As a result of erosion, they began to separate from the top of the rock and fall down. As a result, a hill formed at the base of the rock. By analogy, one can compare it with a pedestal, and the mountain itself with a monument.
Conquest of Devil's Tower
The unusual appearance of the basalt creation of nature attracted climbers who dreamed of conquering its peak. Basalt rock has sheer walls, so this is not so easy to do. The first conqueror of the peak was a local resident whose name is not known. It also remains a mystery how he managed to do this without any equipment. The next conquest of the ominous mountain occurred in 1938 by professional climber Jack Durrance. After him, no one climbed the Devil's Tower for a long time. The new daredevil was parachutist George Hopkins, who decided to conquer the mountain from the air, landing there with his parachute. But he never managed to get down from the top. With the help of a helicopter, food and medicine were delivered to the top, but the same helicopter or airship could not land, or simply lower the rope due to the strong wind. As a result, the same Jack Durrance became the savior for the unlucky parachutist. He organized a rescue operation, climbing the mountain the same way, conquering it a second time. The parachutist was lowered down using a cradle. He said that at the top of the mountain there were many rats that attacked him and grabbed his food. How they could get there and what they ate there remains a mystery....
Devils Tower is a columnar rock resembling a tower consisting of individual stone pillars stacked in a bunch, located in Wyoming. This mountain of unusually regular shape, which arose 200 million years ago, for a long time gave the impression of an artificial structure, but not of human, but of diabolical origin. It is worth noting that the rock is 2.5 times larger than the Cheops pyramid.
The mountain has long been an object of reverent worship and a source of fear among the local population, and it has been claimed that strange, mysterious light phenomena have been repeatedly observed at the very top.
The Indians say that one day seven beautiful girls climbed to the flat top of a mountain to escape a huge, scary bear. The beast, desperate to catch the girls, left deep claw marks on the slopes as it tried to climb up. When the bear finally managed to reach the top, the girls jumped onto a small rock and escaped the fate of dying in the claws of the monster, soaring into the sky.
According to another myth, the Devil's Tower got its mystical name because of an evil demon who beat a drum at the top, generating thunder. Be that as it may, the rock really amazes with its size and bizarre shape. This is the highest point for many kilometers around; on clear days it can be seen from 160 km away.
This peak was conquered only twice: by a local resident in the 19th century and by rock climber Jack Durrance in 1938. An airplane cannot land on the top, and helicopters are literally blown away from a small area. Experienced skydiver George Hopkins expected to become the third conqueror of the summit.
The landing was successful, but all the special ropes that were dropped from the planes became unusable when they hit the rocks. The parachutist became a prisoner of the rock. The news of this spread throughout America. Soon dozens of planes were circling the air, dropping free food and equipment on Hopkins. But most of them didn’t make it.
It turned out that the inaccessible smooth granite rock was inhabited by rats, which became more impudent every night. A specially created committee to rescue Hopkins called in experienced climber Ernst Field and his partner. But the climbers, after 3 hours of climbing, were forced to return. Field admitted: “We can’t handle this damn block! Professionals conquer peaks higher than 8 km, but are powerless before a height of 390 meters!”
The committee began to look for D. Durrance through the press. Two days later he arrived and began preparing for the ascent along a route known to him. The climbers, led by Durrance, reached the top and lowered the exhausted parachutist down. In total, Hopkins remained a prisoner of the Tower for about a week.
Photo - Devil's Tower
Video - the mystery of the Devil's Tower
