Devil's Tower National Monument

Devil's Tower is located on the plains of Wyoming. It looks like a gigantic tree stump turned to stone. Actually, it's phonolite, a volcanic rock that rings when struck. The strangest thing about Devil's Tower is the deep vertical lines going down its sides.

The Indian name for Devil's Tower is Mateo Teepee, or "Bear Lodge." An Indian legend says that three girls who were picking flowers were chased by bears. The girls scrambled onto a rock, but the bears followed. To protect the girls, the Great Spirit raised the rock high into the sky. The bears tumbled off, and as they did, their claws scratched the sides of the rock.

More recently, Devil's Tower figured in another legend. For his film, Close Encounter of the Third Kind, director Steven Spielberg wanted a special place for a meeting between humans and beings from another planet. Fascinated by its shape, and by the way it glows at sunrise and sunset, Spielberg chose Devil's Tower.

Randee Falk: Spotlight on the USA; Oxford University Press, 1993, page 129 f.