Los “encuentros” con alienígenas pusieron este monumento de aspecto extraño en el mapa turístico

The 1977 film Close Encounters of the Third Kind significantly transformed the profile of Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming, turning the geological formation into a global tourist attraction.

The monument, an 867-foot monolith that rises above the surrounding Wyoming prairie, played a central role in the Steven Spielberg film. The movie follows the character Roy Neary, played by Richard Dreyfuss, a resident of the Midwest who becomes obsessed with an enigmatic shape after an encounter with an unidentified flying object.

In a well-known sequence from the film, Neary constructs a replica of the tower using mashed potatoes on his dinner plate before eventually traveling to the actual formation.

The production of the film involved filming approximately 12 minutes of footage at the monument in 1976, prior to the movie’s release in 1977.

The cinematic exposure led to a substantial increase in visitation to the national monument. According to Brian Cole, an interpreter ranger at Devils Tower National Monument, the site experienced a surge in visitors following the film’s debut.

Vimos un enorme aumento de visitantes después de que salió esa película: un aumento de más del 76% en las visitas, de unas 153.000 a más de 270.000 visitantes. Así que realmente nos puso en el mapa, y la gente incluso hasta el día de hoy viene al parque por haber visto esa película, ‘Encuentros en la tercera fase’.

Brian Cole, interpreter ranger at Devils Tower National Monument

The film was a commercial success, grossing more than $300 million worldwide, which further solidified the monument’s association with the story of alien encounters in the public imagination.

The impact of the film persists decades later, with tourists continuing to visit the monolith due to its appearance in the movie.

In a separate conversation with CNN Travel, an individual identified as Driskill mentioned being in El Paso, Texas, while discussing the topic.