Tallest Skyscraper In San Fransisco Becomes Eye Of Sauron For Halloween

New Line Cinema

As many people count down to clocking off work, whacking on some fancy dress and heading out to a Halloween party, it seems it’s not just people who celebrate the pagan festival.

Nope, this year a building got involved too, and probably won Halloween while it was at it.

The Salesforce Tower – the tallest building in San Francisco – dressed itself up as the Eye of Sauron from the Lord of the Rings trilogy, casting an ominous, fire-y glow over the city.

The idea came from an online petition, which gained more than 11,000 signatures in support of the creative Halloween move.

The creator of the petition, Red Rainey, wrote:

We invite the organization who has redefined the San Francisco skyline and, in the process, contributed to small and large business worldwide, to stand not only as a beacon for capitalist pursuit but to tip their hat to the people, culture, and community of this great city.

A city built on creativity, exploration, and burning self-expression. We invite the organization to fly a flag for all who dare to dream, uniting the districts, strengthening the ties, and fortifying the bridges by lighting an LED fire atop this sanctuary city. In the process embracing a fun, artistic, and timely show of creativity that the whole city can enjoy – for one night only.

It has been said that bonds are formed through shared experiences, the strongest of which are forged in fire. We ask of you to help us unite the city, and raise the torch on Halloween night as one community, together.

Oakland can come, too.

-The Fellowship

#eyeofsf

After such an overwhelming show of support, the 1,070-foot-tall tower thankfully obliged, and for Halloween it did indeed light the torch and transform itself into the Eye of Sauron.

Check it out:

If that’s put you in the mood to dive back into Middle Earth, you’re in luck because Netflix has just made the trilogy available on their streaming service.

As the dark nights draw in, all 11 hours and 22 minutes of Gandalf, Frodo, Gollum and the gang are now ready for us to binge from the comfort of our beds or sofas.

Clearly knowing their audience, the streaming giants announced the fact that LOTR was coming to Netflix through the medium of emojis.

Take a look at the tweet below:

Not everyone understood the cryptic tweet unfortunately, so Netflix did later clarify with a simple:

the Lord of the Rings trilogy is now streaming (if you have a spare 9/10 hours)’. [sic]

The original movies should serve fans of Mordor well as they wait patiently for Amazon to release their small screen version of the epic tale.

The new adaptation is said to focus on a young Aragorn, rather a retelling of the original story, serving as a jumping-off point for the show’s creators to delve deeper into Tolkien’s world.

No cast has been announced just yet, but however they choose to play it, it’s fair to say Amazon are going all out for the new series. It was recently reported the new LOTR is going to be the most expensive TV show ever made.

Can’t wait.

If you have a story you want to tell send it to UNILAD via [email protected]

Charlie Cocksedge

Charlie Cocksedge is a journalist and sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in Creative Writing, where he learnt how to write in the third person, before getting his NCTJ. His work has also appeared in such places as The Guardian, PN Review and the bin.