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”,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 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.
