THE GEORGIA GUIDESTONES EXPLODE
The mysterious structure erected in 1980 has now met an equally mysterious end
Dubbed “America’s Stonehenge”, despite only being erected in 1980, the structure known as the Georgia Guidestones ( FT322:5) attracted curiosity, speculation and controversy in equal measure until a large explosion at the possibly significant time of 3.33am on 6 July destroyed one of the monument’s panels and destabilised the remainder of the structure so badly that it had to be demolished later that day.
The Guidestones were shrouded in mystery right from their origin. They were 19ft 3 in (5.87m) tall and consisted of six massive granite pieces standing close to the town of Elberton, Georgia, 100 miles (160km) east of Atlanta, apparently chosen because of the quality of the granite quarried nearby. They had been commissioned from a local granite company by a mysterious individual who gave his name only as “RC Christian”, which he made clear was a pseudonym. “Christian” provided 10 pages of detailed specifications for the monument, that required it to function as a compass, calendar, and clock and to be capable of “withstanding catastrophic events”; Stonehenge was cited as an inspiration. On it he specified that the same inscription was to be etched in eight languages: English, Spanish, Swahili, Hindi, Hebrew, Arabic, Chinese and Russian (with shorter versions in Babylonian cuneiform, Egyptian hieroglyphics, Sanskrit, and classical Greek). This appeared to be a set of basic instructions for reconstituting civilisation after a catastrophic event, presumably, given the period when they were erected, a nuclear war. There were also several other texts including “Let these be Guidestones to an Age of Reason”, which gave the monument its name. Christian also purchased the land on which the monument was built, and later arranged for it to be passed to the care of the county of Elberton. “Robert Christian” also published a book in 1986 called Common Sense Renewed in which he explained the ideology of the Guidestones saying: “I am the originator of the Georgia Guidestones and the sole author of its inscriptions. I have had the assistance of a number of other American citizens in bringing the monument into being. We have no mysterious purposes or ulterior motives. We seek common sense pathways to a peaceful world, without bias for particular creeds or philosophies.” While the stones attracted a good deal of speculation about their origin and meaning, for most of their life they were a relatively uncontroversial curiosity that primarily functioned as a roadside attraction drawing around 20,000 visitors a year.
In the 21st century, though, the Guidestones started to attract a different kind of attention. In 2005 rightwing Christian activist Mark Dice called for the Georgia Guidestones to “be smashed into a million pieces, and then the rubble used for a construction project”, claiming that they “have a deep Satanic origin and message” and that “the New World Order is written all over them”. He also asserted that RC Christian belonged to “a Luciferian secret society”. Several other similarly aligned commentators also took exception to the monument, calling it “the Ten Commandments of the Antichrist”, and conspiracy shock jock Alex Jones asserted that it was the work of “The Illuminati”. They took particular exception to one of the instructions on the stones – “Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature” – which
was believed to be evidence that the “New World Order” was planning to cull humanity. As it was probably written with a nuclear apocalypse in mind, this was most likely an exhortation to survivors to avoid uncontrolled population growth, not a plan for mass murder. In 2008, the stones were defaced with polyurethane paint and graffiti with slogans such as “Death to the New World Order”, while in 2014 another graffiti incident defaced the stones with slogans including the phrase: “I Am Isis, goddess of love”. These incidents led to CCTV being installed at the site.
It was this CCTV that the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) says showed a person running towards the structure early on 6 July and then heading away after leaving an “explosive device”, fleeing the scene in a silver sedan, which the GBI are now seeking. District attorney Parks White called the incident “domestic terrorism” and appealed for anyone with information to contact the GBI. He said that the perpetrator would face a minimum of 20 years in prison without the possibility of parole, the penalty for destroying a public building with an explosive. However, by late July, police had to admit that they were no closer to finding the bomber and had received very little response from the public following their appeal for information.
It is thought that the bomber might have been inspired to destroy the Guidestones by the campaign of a recent candidate for Georgia Governor, Kandiss Taylor, who was running on a platform of “Guns, Babies, Jesus”. On her campaign website she explicitly calls the Guidestones’ message “Luciferan” and says, “On my first day as Governor of Georgia, I will move to DEMOLISH the Demonic plans of our enemy. The Satanic agenda is NOT welcome in our state. Support my fight by contributing, and watch as I turn the Georgia Guidestones into dust!” No one, though, is directly linking Taylor to the crime. After their destruction, Taylor said that, if it was vandalism, those individuals should be brought to justice; but she also added: “So, until I see a video that shows me anything other than what looked like lightning or the hand of God moving on a situation, I’m going to believe it was God.” Local reaction has been one of shock and outrage, with the stones being viewed as a source of tourist income and a testament to the skills of the local granite industry, and several granite quarries have already offered to provide stone if it is decided to reconstruct the monument.
After the Guidestones’ destruction, authorities searched the site for the time capsule that an unfinished inscription on the monument suggested had been buried six feet beneath the structure, but came up with nothing. “There was no hole. There was no nothing. It was a slab of concrete on top of dirt,” said Police Liutenant Shane Allen, although one wag tweeted that the capsule had been found and contained “a single eight track tape of Saturday Night Fever, a Peterbilt emblem, an October 1979 Playboy magazine signed by Burt Reynolds, and a bag containing 1,734 Quaalude pills”. fox5atlanta.com, 6 Jul; wsbtv.com, 7 Jul; independent. co.uk, 7 Jul; smithsonianmag. com, 8 Jul; abcnews.com, 8 Jul 2022; iflscience.com, 11 Jul 2022.
For more on the Georgia Guidestones, see p22.
He called for the Guidestones to be smashed into a million pieces