Est. 1906 · First U.S. National Monument · Lakota Sacred Site · Native American Cultural Heritage · UFO Cultural History
The geology of Devils Tower is unambiguous: the formation is a laccolithic butte of igneous phonolite porphyry, the neck of an ancient volcanic intrusion exposed over millions of years as the surrounding sedimentary rock eroded. The vertical columns — which created the distinctive fluted profile that inspired every bear-claw legend — formed as the cooling magma contracted.
Human relationship with the formation is considerably older than any Western name for it. At least twenty Plains tribes consider the site sacred. The Lakota name Mato Tipila translates roughly as Bear's Lodge or Bear's Tipi. The Cheyenne call it Noaha-vose. The Kiowa know it as Tso-aa. Each tribe maintains its own traditions, ceremonies, and oral histories connected to the site — vision quests, sweat-lodge ceremonies, and the annual Lakota Sun Dance have all been conducted here.
The Western encounter begins with the 1875 Colonel Richard Irving Dodge expedition, which produced the name in use today through a mistranslation. The Dawes Act and subsequent land seizures disrupted traditional access to the site throughout the late 19th century.
Roosevelt's 1906 designation as the first National Monument acknowledged the site's significance but did not resolve the tension between federal management, recreational use, and Indigenous ceremony. That tension remains. The National Park Service maintains a voluntary climbing closure during June, the month of the most intensive Lakota ceremonies, and the Prayer Bundle Program asks visitors not to disturb the offerings left along the trail.
The tower gained a different kind of cultural weight in 1977 when Steven Spielberg filmed Close Encounters of the Third Kind here, embedding the formation in the iconography of UFO encounter. Visitors began reporting unusual lights in the sky around the tower in the film's aftermath, and the site has since attracted a dedicated community of UFO enthusiasts.
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devils_Tower
- https://www.nps.gov/deto/learn/historyculture/americanindians.htm
- https://www.nps.gov/deto/learn/historyculture/reverence.htm
- https://www.nps.gov/deto/planyourvisit/hours.htm
ApparitionsPhantom sounds
The most widely cited origin legend comes from the Kiowa and Lakota traditions. In this account, a group of young girls were playing outdoors when they were spotted by giant bears. They ran and climbed atop a low rock, praying to the Great Spirit for protection. The Spirit heard them and caused the rock to grow upward, lifting the girls out of reach. The bears, attempting to climb, scored the sides of the column with their claws — the marks visible today.
Variations of this narrative exist across at least twenty tribal traditions, each with different specifics and ceremonial weight. The bears in some accounts number seven; the girls in some versions become the Pleiades star cluster. The site is not a curiosity to these communities — it is a living ceremonial location. Prayer bundles, tobacco ties, and fabric offerings are regularly placed along the base trail and on the rock face itself.
The UFO dimension is entirely modern. When Spielberg used the monument as the contact point in his 1977 film, the formation acquired a second mythology. Visitors subsequently began reporting unusual aerial phenomena — lights that moved without apparent aircraft pattern, objects that appeared and vanished. The reports remain anecdotal and unverified.
The NPS does not promote or engage with the paranormal dimension of the site. The agency's interpretive materials focus on geology, ecology, Indigenous cultural significance, and recreational climbing history. The sacred-site dimension receives careful institutional attention, including the June voluntary closure.
Media Appearances
- Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977 film)
