There are lots of stories about the large boulder (seven stories high and about 5,800 square feet across) that lays in the Mojave Desert near Landers, California. Most of these stories describe a vague history of the boulder, called “Great Stone” by local Native Americans. According to George Van Tassel, the local natives called the boulder the Great Stone, “because it symbolized the Great Spirit, as it was the largest single object in the area.” Accordingly, the natives held rituals and ceremonies at the Great Stone. Records regarding the Morongo Basin native population suggest that the local tribes represented a division of the Shoshoneans known as Serranos, as well as the Cahuilla and the Chemehuevi. Eventually, the United States government overtook the land where the Great Stone lay, and renamed it “Giant Rock.”

The most famous story about the Giant Rock revolves around Frank Critzer. Critzer dug a 400 square foot home under the rock, where he made his home. Due to his German heritage and all the radios and antennas he surrounded himself with, many believed him to be a German spy. In 1942, three federal agents arrived to take Critzer in for questioning. They found Critzer barricaded in his subterranean home. One version of the story claims that one of the agents launched a grenade into Critzer’s home, which exploded the dynamite he held inside. Another version of the story claims that Critzer exploded the dynamite himself. Either way, he died in the explosion.

Local resident George Van Tassel later converted the airplane landing Critzer had created into a small airport, held weekly mediations in his former subterranean home, and held frequent UFO conventions at Giant Rock. During one of these weekly meditations, Van Tassel purportedly received the instructions to build the Integratron.

Critzer’s former subterranean home has since been filled in by the Bureau of Land Management, the airport has been demolished, and the rock has been vandalized and split on one side, said to signal mother earth opening her arms to mankind.