Devil’s Tower
Devil’s Tower is a huge rock, which is located in the middle of the plain. It is located in the United States, in the state of Wyoming. Perhaps, if there were mountains nearby, the “tower” would not cause such a stir. However, there are no elevations near the rock at all. Therefore, the ancient people who lived in these territories, perceived the Devil’s Tower as a creation of divine hands or the devil’s machinations. For a long time, no one could believe that the tower was a natural formation.
Video: Devil’s Tower
Legends of Devil’s Tower
There are quite a few legends about this place. Local Indian tribes tell of seven sisters who were walking around the neighborhood, in the woods. When they were about to return home, they were attacked by a bear. The girls climbed a tiny rock and prayed to God, begging him to save their lives. Suddenly the rock began to grow and grew very tall, and the angry grizzly scraped the rock with his claws, but could not reach the sisters. From the claws of the bear and left characteristic marks on the Devil’s Tower, which became another of its mysteries. After all, they look like evenly scrawled stripes and even have sharp corners. The mountain after this story was nicknamed Bear’s Den. And the girls, by the way, never returned to the earth, they became stars.
.There is another Native American legend that says that a demon lived on the mountain. He liked to beat a drum and scare people. On them he sent lightning, from which it is impossible to hide. By the way, even now you can see how during a thunderstorm lightning strikes the Devil’s tower. This is quite impressive even for a modern man, what to say about the ancient Indians, who believed that the mountain – the place of residence of the demon. So the tribes settled as far away from the unusual rock as possible. Although there were some Indians who considered the Devil’s Tower divine and worshipped it.
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Modernity has spawned other stories about Devil’s Tower. Many are convinced that there is a high probability of meeting aliens here. Unusual light phenomena can often be seen on the rock, so ufologists assumed that the Devil’s Tower is a real alien spaceport. Such stories could not be overlooked by moviegoers. Therefore, the Devil’s Tower can be seen in many movies devoted to UFOs. One of the most famous ones was filmed by Spielberg.
.Conquering the summit
The height of the rock is only 398 meters, but for a long time no one could conquer the tower. Its walls are steep, the ascent is very steep, and the fame of the mountain, in general, ominous. The first to conquer the Devil’s Tower was an unknown local resident who climbed the rock without the necessary equipment. How he managed to do it, no one knows until now, because even now not all climbers dare to climb even with advanced modern equipment. The first professional to climb Devil’s Tower was Jack Durrance. He did so in 1938.
.After that, several years passed, but no one dared to climb. And then George Hopkins, an experienced skydiver, showed up. He decided to become famous as the conqueror of the Devil’s Tower from the air. He descended on his parachute to the top almost without any problems, but, as it turned out, getting down from the top is much more difficult than getting to the top. There was no way George Hopkins could get down from the top. He was airlifted food and medicine. He could not be picked up by airplane because of the strong air currents. Helicopters also could not land on the summit, strong winds did not even give the unsuccessful conqueror a rope to drop so that he could climb into the cabin of the helicopter on his own.
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In general, the only thing left to do was to ask climbers to climb to the top, and then to lower the parachutist. But as it turned out, no one wanted to risk their lives. A few climbers, after thinking about it, decided that they would not be able to cope with the task. They had to find and call for help from the very same Jack Durrance. He led the rescue team up his route and was able to conquer the summit once again, and the parachutist was lowered down in a cradle. He was terrified of the Devil’s Peak. For, as it turned out, it was inhabited by whole packs of rats who attacked him at night and stole his food. So for a whole week, while he was there, he had to stay awake and fight with hordes of rats, who not only climbed there in an incomprehensible way, it is not even known what they were eating there and what they were doing at such a height.
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After this incident, the Devil’s Tower’s notoriety only grew stronger. Now, however, there are still those who want to climb to the top and even laid special routes, but there are not so many daredevils, although the height for professionals is ridiculous. Much more ordinary tourists, just coming to look at the rock, which according to the definition of scientists is not so mysterious, just it was formed from magma in the ancient sea, and then when it receded, polished by winds for more than 200 million years, so it has such an unusual shape.
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