A predawn bombing destroyed one of the monument’s four granite panels, destroying a controversial monument in rural Georgia that some conservative Christians called satanic and others dubbed “America’s Stonehenge.” The monument was demolished on Wednesday.
According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the Georgia Guidestones monument near Elberton, Georgia, was damaged by an explosive device and was later knocked down “for safety reasons,” leaving a pile of rubble.
At around 4 a.m., surveillance footage showed a powerful explosion obliterating a panel of the building. A silver sedan seen leaving the monument on surveillance video was also released by the authorities.
The Elbert Granite Association Executive Vice President Chris Kubas said that after previous vandalism, video cameras linked to the county’s emergency dispatch center were stationed at the location.
Built in 1980 by an unidentified person or group using the pseudonym R.C. Christian, the enigmatic roadside attraction is made of locally quarried granite.
Anti-Defamation League researcher Katie McCarthy says that the Guidestones have a “shroud of mystery” around them because they don’t know who commissioned them or what their motives were.
“As a result, over the years, a great deal of speculation and conspiracy theories about the Guidestones true intent has been stoked.”
In eight languages, a 10-part message was displayed on the 16-foot-high (5-meter-high) panels, which included advice for living in an “age of reason.”
According to one section, we should “guide reproduction wisely — improving fitness and diversity,” and we should keep the global population at 500 million or less.
Sundial and Astronomical Calendar were also included in the design. They were targeted by far-right conspiracy theorists because of their mention of eugenics and global government.
According to Kubas, the monument’s fame skyrocketed with the advent of the internet, and it is now a popular roadside attraction visited by tens of thousands of people annually.
On May 24, Republican gubernatorial candidate Kandiss Taylor claimed the Guidestones were satanic and pledged to demolish them if elected to the office of governor of Georgia.
In late May, John Oliver ran a segment on the Guidestones and Taylor. Alex Jones and other right-wing personalities had previously discussed Taylor, but “they sort of came back onto the public’s radar” because of McCarthy, he explained.
McCarthy said the monument had been vandalized before, including in 2008 and 2014. When it comes to real-world impact, she asserted that the bombing is yet another illustration of how conspiracy theories “do and can have,”
It has been demonstrated with QAnon and other conspiracy theories, according to McCarthy, that these ideas can inspire people to take action in furtherance of their beliefs. McCarthy said. It is possible for them to target the people and institutions at the heart of these false beliefs.”
After the apocalypse, Kubas and many others saw the stones as a sort of blueprint for reviving society.
