Close Encounters Wyoming

Audio

Language Level: Advanced

Standard Accent: American

Source: www.speakup.com.br Edition253, pag 17

 As you stand at the foot of Devils Tower and gaze upward at this mightily monolith rising high above the Wyoming plains, it is easy to feel a sense of awe and wonder. Like a giant tree stump forced out of the ground by some unseen force, it has a mysterious, otherworldly quality, which made it the perfect choice as the location for the contact point between aliens and humans in the film Close Encounters of the The Third Kind. With its flat top – as if the rest of the structure had been sawn off – and strange “scratch” marks running down its sides, Devils Tower has stood as a beacon of meaning for local people for centuries.

THE SEVEN SISTERS

It is sacred to many Native American tribes – in a similar way to Uluru, or “Ayers Rock,” in Australia – and there are numerous myths and legends surrounding its creation. Justin Gaskin, lead guide at Devils Tower, grew up in the area and is familiar with these stories:

Justin Gaskin (Standard American accent)

Probably the most famous is that there were seven sisters who were out picking berries, probably along the Belle Fourche River, and, as they were picking berries, their brother came along and turned into a bear and began to chase them. And, of course, as they were running away from him, they jumped up onto a large rock and they prayed, and the great spirit – of course, in the American Indian tradition – allowed that rock to grow up out of the ground and offer them some protection. And, of course, the bear was just able to jump and claw at the sides, and, when you look at the tower, you can still see those claw marks, those striations, all the way down it.

LOST IN TRANSLATION

The legend has it that as the rock continued to push upward, the girls were placed In the night sky, forming the cluster of stars known as Pleiades, or “the Seven Sisters.” Because of these stories some Native American tribes called the rock “Bear’s Lodge.” The current name came about in 1875 because of a misinterpretation of this as “Bad God’s Tower,” which then became “Devils Tower.”

There is a controversy to this day over the name, with Native Americans considering “Devils Tower” to be an affront to the sacredness of the place. But whatever you call it, the mystery of this remarkable obelisk extends to its geological origins.

Geologists still debate exactly how it was formed, but they do agree that it began with molten, volcanic rock being forced up through other rock formations. Justin Gaskin reckons that the rock was formed underground between 55 and 60 million year ago, and that its “exposure” – that is the process of emerging – took place between 12,000 and 15,000 years ago.

THANK YOU, TEDDY

Devils Tower was designated as the nation’s first National Monument in 1906 by then president Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt. It had already been climbed by this time. In 1893 a couple of local ranchers strung a ladder up a long crack in the slide of the tower. On July 4^th – Independence Day – they climbed the tower and unfurled an American flag on top, to the wild cheers fo the assemble crowd of a thousand people!

THE WOW FACTOR

Devils Tower now receives more than 400,000 annual visitors. Some come for the challenger of climbing the rock, others for a more spiritual experience, and others just to have a picnic in its shadow. Yet Devils Tower exerts a fascination in all who see it.

Justin Gaskin:

I think that, when you look up there and just get an idea of, how enormous it is and how different it is from the landscape. I think that is from the landscape. I think that there’s a definite sense of a “wow factor,” or an awesome feeling, about it. And I think that anybody coming in, from any nationality, any part of the world, any  age level, can look up there and feel that wonder and…and awe about it, and I think that’s probably the biggest draw.

DEVILS TOWER

Wyoming

The Magic of Movies...

If you’re seen the 1977 Steven Spelberg film, Close Encouters of the Third Kind, Devils Tower may well look familiar to you. In this landmark science fiction movie the main character, played by Richard Dreyfuss (pictured right), has a “close encounter” with a UFO and becomes obsessed with an image of a strange, flat-topped mountain. Although he’s never seen this place, he makes models of it in his house. When he sees Devils Tower, Wyoming on the TV news he heads there, along with others who have been haunted by the same images. The movie’s final scenes, in which the UFO mother ship lands and contact is made, take place at Devils Tower

Several hundred locals appeared as extras in the film, and tourist numbers subsequently increased by over 50 per cent. Thirty years later, the park rangers at Devils Tower are still asked about the film every single day.