Giant Rock

This huge rock was a checkpoint in one of the Big Bear Runs. Some claim it's the largest single piece of granite in the world -- it is also "big" with local history buffs. Until the early 80s, a restaurant and airport were located near the rock. During WWII, a German immigrant and miner named Critzer was living under the big rock. When local deputies came out to question him about rumors that he was a Nazis spy, Critzer resisted, so the deputies tossed a few tear gas canisters into his underground home. But the canisters ignited the dynamite Critzer was using for mining ore, and he was killed. During the fifties, a scientists named Van Tassell saw the big rock as a place where UFOs landed and transported people to and from an alien spacecraft. Van Tassell sponsored dozens of UFO Seminars near the rock.