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For some, the enormous boulder in the Mojave Desert is a sacred site. For others, it’s a gathering spot to camp, climb, off-road or party. On a recent afternoon, the aptly named Giant Rock is the first stop on a tour from a UFO convention whose guides tout it as the place where, in 1953, extraterrestrials visited a man and instructed him to build a time machine that is now one of the area’s main tourism draws, helping to spawn a movement of “contactees” who still periodically gather there.

A woman kicks off her shoes and buries her feet in the sand. Some wrap their arms around the rock’s worn face or press their faces into its sun-warmed surface. “This is a very big landmark for ufology ,” says Julio Barriere, 75, as he lights sticks of palo santo.



The retired actor traveled from Queens, N.Y., to attend the Contact in the Desert Convention .

He carries a bag with crystals, a singing bowl and a tuning fork designed to activate the pineal gland, which some believe can enhance telepathic abilities. “If there was a history book of this stuff, you would put Giant Rock in it.” But the seven-story rock on federal public land has also become a tinderbox of tensions over who gets to enjoy this patch of desert, which has rapidly gentrified since the COVID-19 pandemic .

There’s no signage to inform people of its beloved status. Its face is often splashed with graffiti. Unsanctioned concerts and parties have left it littered with trash and human waste.

And recently, t.

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