A rural Georgia monument that some conservative Christians have criticized as satanic and that others have dubbed “America’s Stonehenge” was bombed before dawn Wednesday in an attack that reduced one of its four granite panels to rubble.
The Georgia Guidestones monument near Elberton was damaged by an explosive device, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) said. The Elbert County Emergency Management Agency said the explosion was seen on video cameras shortly after 4 a.m. Aerial photos and video show the destroyed panel on the ground.
On Wednesday night, the GBI released surveillance video showing the violent explosion and a silver sedan speeding away from the scene. Investigators are asking for the public’s help in identifying the perpetrators. No suspect descriptions or possible motive have been released. It is unclear how many suspects may be involved.
(2/3) Video footage shows the explosion and a car leaving the scene shortly after the explosion. No one was hurt. pic.twitter.com/8YNmEML9fW
— GA Bureau of Investigation (@GBI_GA) July 6, 2022
After previous vandalism, video cameras linked to the county’s emergency dispatch center were deployed at the site, said Elbert Granite Association Executive Vice President Chris Kubas.
The enigmatic roadside attraction was built in 1980 from local granite by an unknown person or group under the pseudonym RC Christian.
“It gives the guidelines a sort of shroud of mystery around them because the identity and intentions of the people who ordered them are unknown,” said Katie McCarthy, who researches conspiracy theories for the Anti-Defamation League. “And so that has helped fuel a lot of speculation and conspiracy theories over the years about the true intent of the guidelines.”
The 16-foot-tall panels carry a 10-part message in eight different languages with guidelines for living in an “age of reason.” One section calls for keeping the world’s population at 500 million or less, while another calls for “wisely directing reproduction – improving fitness and diversity.”
It also serves as a sundial and astronomical calendar. But it was the mentions of eugenics, population control and global government in the panels that made them the target of far-right conspiracists.
The monument’s notoriety grew with the rise of the Internet, Kubas said, until it became a roadside tourist attraction visited by thousands each year.
An explosion on July 6, 2022 damaged the Georgia Guidestones, a monument near Elberton, Georgia. (Georgia Bureau of Investigation)
The site received renewed attention during the May 24 Georgia gubernatorial primary, when third-place Republican candidate Candace Taylor said the waystones were satanic and made their destruction part of her platform. Comedian John Oliver introduced the guidelines and Taylor in a segment in late May. McCarthy said that right-wing figures, including Alex Jones, had spoken out about them in previous years, but that “they kind of came back on the public radar” because of Taylor.
“God is God in himself. He can do ANYTHING he wants to do,” Taylor wrote on social media Wednesday. “This includes the removal of satanic guiding stones.”
The monument has previously been vandalized, including when it was spray-painted in 2008 and 2014, McCarthy said. She said the bombing was another example of how conspiracy theories “do and can have real-world impact.”
“We’ve seen this with QAnon and a host of other conspiracy theories, that those ideas can drive someone to try to take action to support those beliefs,” McCarthy said. “They can try to target the people and institutions that are at the center of these false beliefs.”
Kubas and many others interpret the stones as some sort of guide to rebuilding society after an apocalypse.
“It depends on your own interpretation of how you want to see them,” Kubas said.
Law enforcement officials walk around the damaged Georgia Guidestones monument near Elberton, Ga., Wednesday, July 6, 2022. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said the monument, which some Christians believe to be Satanic, was damaged in a pre-dawn explosion. Rose Scoggins/AP
The site is about 7 miles north of Elberton and about 90 miles east of Atlanta, near the South Carolina state line. Granite mining is a leading local industry, employing about 2,000 people in the area, Kubas said.
Elbert County sheriff’s deputies, Elberton police and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation are among the agencies trying to figure out what happened. Bomb squad technicians were called in to search for evidence and a state highway that runs near the site was closed for a time.
Kubas said the association has helped fix previous vandalism and will likely look to stabilize the damage. He said local officials and community leaders may have to decide who, if anyone, should pay for the restoration.
“If you didn’t like it, you shouldn’t have come to see it and read it,” Kubas said. “But unfortunately someone decided they didn’t want anyone to read it.”
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