In addition to its ancient origins, the cliff's unusual location adds to its colorfulness: it is located on a plateau, and there is not even anything resembling upland in its vicinity. Thus, the rock stands out against its surroundings. There are other, more mysterious versions of the origin of the Devil's Tower. By the way, there are several names for this extraordinary rock.
According to an Indian legend, once upon a time, seven local girls walking in the woods were attacked by a bear. The ferocious furious animal chased the children, not for a moment lagging behind them. The desperate girls climbed up on a small rock and began to pray to the Great Spirit for salvation. The spirit heard the girls and helped them in their distress: miraculously, the stone began to grow and the innocent children standing on it moved away from the animal to a safe distance. The bear fiercely tried to climb the rock, but failed. Now the claw marks of the fierce beast serve as a reminder of this legend. The mountain grew upward until it reached the firmament. Then the girls moved from it to the sky and became the stars of the Pleiades. This legend gave rise to the mountain's mythical name, Bear's Den.
This is not the only Native American legend. There is another, according to which the rock was created by an evil demon. This unclean man sat on top and beat a drum, creating thunder and lightning. In the dark essence of the mountain believed most Indians, so near the Tower of the Bad God representatives of the Indian people tried not to settle. The name "Tower of the Bad God" the rock officially received back in 1875, thanks to explorer Richard Dodge. Surprisingly, in some Indian tribes the rock, on the contrary, was treated with reverence.
Modernity has given rise to scientifically fanciful views of the origins of the rock. For example, some people have reasonably begun to believe that on top of it is a landing strip for UFOs. More than once at this place unexplained flashes of light and unidentified flying objects nearby in the sky. This version was even screened by the famous director Steven Spielberg in the movie "Close Encounters of the Third Degree."
For the first time the impregnable rock was conquered by local daredevils in the late XIX century. His feat was repeated a few years later. In 1938, the rock was climbed by professional climber Jack Durrance. The third time the mountain was conquered by parachutist George Hopkins, jumping with a parachute to its summit. However, his jubilation did not last long, because the conqueror was not able to descend the cliff by himself. Hopkins had been dropped from airplanes, but the ropes broke from hitting the rocks or even fell away. Bad weather conditions ruled out air rescue options. Thus, the rock captured the grief-stricken parachutist.
The whole of America was up in arms over the news. Some companies began to use the sorry state of the parachutist for promotional purposes, dropping products under their brand to him. Heavy rains and wind exhausted the prisoner, even the experienced climbers Ernst Field and Gorrell tried to save him ... Finally, the savior of Hopkins was Jack Durrance, the same one who was the previous conqueror of the ill-fated cliff. Jack and his team of professional climbers went to storm the cliff, and soon the cradle with the weakened parachutist was brought down. Hopkins was held captive for about seven days.
In 1906, acting U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt ordered the establishment of a park in the area surrounding Devil's Tower. Thus the first National Park of the country appeared, and the unique rock established itself as a national monument.
Hundreds of thousands of tourists visit the Devil's Tower every year. And only a few thousand brave hikers-climbers dare to conquer its summit.
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