What’s a Psychedelic 50-Foot Mountain Doing in the Middle of the Desert?
Remembering One Man and His Candy Land-Colored Monument to Redemption By the Salton Sea
In 1984, Leonard Knight started building a mountain to proclaim his love of God on a strip of desert near Niland, California, on the east side of the Salton Sea. It began modestly with 500 bales of straw.
Over the years he transformed his mountain into a 50-foot edifice, topped with a cross and the phrase “GOD IS LOVE.” The words “Jesus I’m a sinner please come upon my body and into my heart,” which Leonard called The Sinner’s Prayer, appeared on the mountain in huge letters. Molded across its flank …
