According to the traditional beliefs of Native American peoples, the Kiowa and Lakota, a group of girls went out to play and were spotted by several giant bears, who began to chase them. In an effort to escape the bears, the girls climbed atop a rock, fell to their knees, and prayed to the Great Spirit to save them.

The "true story" of Devils Tower (Mata Tipila) is a blend of fascinating igneous geology and deep Indigenous sacred history. Geologically, it is an igneous intrusion—likely the neck of an ancient volcano or a laccolith—formed about 40 million years ago. As the magma cooled underground, it contracted and cracked into the stunning hexagonal columns we see today; erosion eventually stripped away the softer surrounding sedimentary rock to reveal the tower. To the Lakota, Cheyenne, and Kiowa people, the tower's "story" is much older. The most famous legend tells of several young girls pursued by a giant bear. They climbed onto a small rock and prayed to the Great Spirit, who caused the rock to rise into the sky. The bear, trying to climb the rising tower, left the deep "claw marks" seen in the columns today. The girls became the Pleiades star cluster. This is why many Indigenous groups find the name "Devils Tower"—a 19th-century mistranslation by Colonel Richard Dodge—offensive, as they view the site as a place of profound spiritual connection rather than something demonic.