Giant Rock is a large freestanding

boulder In geology, a boulder (or rarely bowlder) is a rock fragment with size greater than in diameter. Smaller pieces are called cobbles and pebbles. While a boulder may be small enough to move or roll manually, others are extremely massive. In c ...

in the

Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert ( ; mov, Hayikwiir Mat'aar; es, Desierto de Mojave) is a desert in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the Southwestern United States. It is named for the indigenous Mojave people. It is located primarily in ...

near

Landers, California Landers is an unincorporated community in the High Desert region of the Mojave Desert, in San Bernardino County, Southern California. Landers' population, as of 2017, is 2,982 people. Its residents are sometimes referred to as "Landroids"—an ...

, and the

Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms The Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center (MCAGCC), also known as 29 Palms, is the largest United States Marine Corps base. It was a census-designated place (CDP) officially known as Twentynine Palms Base located adjacent to the city of Twentynin ...

(location ). The boulder covers {{convert, 5800, sqft, m2 of ground and is seven stories high. Giant Rock is the largest freestanding boulder in North America and is purported to be the largest free standing boulder in the world. Native Americans of the

Joshua Tree ''Yucca brevifolia'' is a plant species belonging to the genus ''Yucca''. It is tree-like in habit, which is reflected in its common names: Joshua tree, yucca palm, tree yucca, and palm tree yucca. This monocotyledonous tree is native to the ar ...

area consider it to be sacred. In the 1930s, Frank Critzer moved to Giant Rock. Inspired by desert tortoises that dig holes in which to cool themselves, Critzer dug out a home on the north side of the rock using dynamite. He engineered a rainwater collection system and a tunnel for ventilation. The underground home was reportedly never hotter than {{convert, 80, F and never cooler than {{convert, 55, F. Critzer built an airstrip on the nearby ancient lakebed, which averaged a plane per day by 1941. Critzer perished in a self-detonated dynamite explosion in his underground rooms on July 24, 1942, while being investigated by local police. In the 1950s, Giant Rock was a gathering point for

UFO An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are id ...

believers. It is located on land which was at that time leased by

George Van Tassel George Washington Van Tassel (March 12, 1910 – February 9, 1978) was an American contactee, ufologist and author. Early life Van Tassel was born in Jefferson, Ohio in 1910, and grew up in a fairly prosperous middle-class family. He finished ...

, a friend of Critzer's, a purported flying-saucer

contactee Contactees are persons who claim to have experienced contact with extraterrestrials. Some claimed ongoing encounters, while others claimed to have had as few as a single encounter. Evidence is anecdotal in all cases. As a cultural phenomenon, c ...

and organizer of UFO conventions.{{cite news, last1=Gumbel , first1= Andrew , url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/life-on-other-planets-the-house-the-venusians-built-6101817.html , title=Life on other planets: The house the Venusians built, date=May 5, 2006, newspaper=

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

, access-date=2019-01-13 In 1947, Van Tassel, a former aircraft inspector, leased the property from the

Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands. Headquartered in Washington DC, and with oversight over , it governs one eighth of the country's la ...

and left Los Angeles and moved to Giant Rock with his wife and three children. Van Tassel also built the nearby

Integratron The Integratron is a tall cupola structure with a diameter of designed by ufologist and contactee George Van Tassel. Van Tassel claimed the Integratron was capable of rejuvenation, anti-gravity and time travel. He built the structure in Lan ...

and a cafe, store, gas station and the Giant Rock Airport, which he operated from 1947 to 1975. The Giant Rock Airport was certified by the

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...

for emergency use by commercial airliners. In the early 1960s it experienced traffic of about one flight per day. Between November 1961 and October 1962, it served as the launch site for helium-filled balloons used by R. F. Miles, Jr. to measure the density of neutrons in the Earth's atmosphere at altitudes between {{convert, 8000-115000, ft. In early 2000, Giant Rock fractured in two, revealing an interior of white granite.{{cite magazine , last1=Archibald , first1= Sasha , title= Mass Effect , url= http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/53/archibald.php , access-date=15 January 2019 , magazine=

Cabinet Magazine ''Cabinet Magazine'' is a quarterly, Brooklyn, New York-based, non-profit art and culture magazine established in 2000. ''Cabinet Magazine'' also operates an event and exhibition space in Brooklyn. In 2022, ''Cabinet'' transitioned its magazine t ...

, year= 2014 , issue= Spring The exterior surface of the rock is partially covered in graffiti.

In popular culture

Fictionalized versions of Giant Rock and Van Tassel figure heavily in the plot of the novel ''

Gods Without Men ''Gods Without Men'' is Hari Kunzru's fourth novel, first published in 2011. The title is taken from a quote by Honoré de Balzac. The novel is set in the American southwest, and contains elements of magical realism. Plot Although there are many ...

'' by

Hari Kunzru Hari Mohan Nath Kunzru (born 1969) is a British novelist and journalist. He is the author of the novels '' The Impressionist'', '' Transmission'', ''My Revolutions'', ''Gods Without Men'', ''White Tears''David Robinson"Interview: Hari Kunzru, a ...

. Australian artists

Tina Havelock Stevens Tina Havelock Stevensis an Australian multi disciplinary artist known for her drumming, documentaries and video works. She often combines improvised live music performances with striking locations that explore spirituality of place. Music Have ...

won the

Blake Prize The Blake Prize, formerly the Blake Prize for Religious Art, is an Australian art prize awarded for art that explores spirituality. Since the inaugural prize in 1951, the prize was awarded annually from 1951 to 2015, and since 2016 has been a ...

with a video work depicting her drumming at the site. ''Live at Giant Rock'', a live album by

Yawning Man A yawn is a reflex lasting 4-7 seconds, and is characterized by a long inspiratory phase with gradual mouth gaping, followed by a brief climax (or acme) with muscle stretching, and a rapid expiratory phase with muscle relaxation. For fish a ...

, was recorded with the band performing next to the boulder. Giant Rock plays a major role in the

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

book ''Stolen Skies'' by

Tim Powers Timothy Thomas Powers (born February 29, 1952) is an American science fiction and fantasy fiction, fantasy author. Powers has won the World Fantasy Award twice for his critically acclaimed novels ''Last Call (novel), Last Call'' and ''Declare''. ...

.{{cite web, url=https://www.baen.com/stolen-skies.html, title=Stolen Skies - Tim Powers, website=

Baen Books Baen Books () is an American publishing house for science fiction and fantasy. In science fiction, it emphasizes space opera, hard science fiction, and military science fiction. The company was established in 1983 by science fiction publisher an ...

, date=January 4, 2022, access-date=August 13, 2022

References

{{reflist{{Inland Empire Mojave Desert Rock formations of California Landforms of San Bernardino County, California {{SanBernardinoCountyCA-geo-stub