The Georgia Guidestones, dubbed “America’s Stonehenge,” were built in 1980 in the state of Georgia, USA located about 90 miles to the east of Atlanta. These stones are a bit of a puzzle, like ancient stone structures but made more recently. It is unknown who erected this structure, but it was seen as a guide to re-establish human civilization in case of apocalypse. This tall monument was inscribed with messages in 8 languages for future generations. It was situated in an open field in Elbert County, in a small village with 4,000 people.
On July 6, 2022, just before sunrise, some “unknown individuals” placed explosives on it and completely destroyed one of the 19-foot-tall slabs. Whatever was left standing was taken away by the authorities to keep people safe.
Who built it?
In June of 1979, a company called Elberton Granite Finishing was asked to build a big stone monument by a few loyal Americans. A man under the pseudonymous Robert C. Christian or R.C. Christian, who seemed fancy, came to their office in Elberton, Georgia. He had a strange idea: he wanted a huge structure made of 16-foot stones to be like a compass, clock, and calendar. He said it should be able to survive any kind of disaster. Christian said he was from a group outside Georgia who wanted to remain anonymous.
Thomas Lake of CNN revealed that R.C. Christian had authored a book in 1986 under his fictional name. Titled “Common Sense Renewed,” the book purportedly outlined his vision for humanity. Despite efforts to obtain it, the book proved elusive, with no copies available on Amazon or in local libraries. Although listed in the catalog of Ave Maria University in Florida, it could not be located there either. Subsequently, it was reported missing. (Source)
Thomas writes, “I kept looking until I found another copy listed in the online catalogue of an obvious place: the public library in Elberton. It wasn’t on the shelf there either, but when I asked a librarian, she retrieved it from a room behind the desk. The book had a hard gray-blue cover, with the title and author’s name in gold lettering. I opened it and began to read.”
“I am the originator of the Georgia Guidestones and the sole author of its inscriptions,” Christian wrote. “I have had the assistance of a number of other American citizens in bringing the monument into being. We have no mysterious purpose or ulterior motives. We seek common sense pathways to a peaceful world, without bias for particular creeds or philosophies. Yet our message is in some areas controversial. I have chosen to remain anonymous in order to avoid debate and contention. Our guides must stand on their own merits.”
The 10 guidelines suggested creating a “world court” to solve problems between countries and using a new language to bring everyone together. Christian also proposed some rules that might restrict personal freedoms. He said people who want to vote should pass tests on economics and history and prove they can contribute to the economy. Christian believed healthcare shouldn’t cover everything, and certain individuals should receive better treatment than others.
“We establish social environments in which many talented and productive individuals are constrained to limit their reproduction,” Christian wrote, “while at the same time we provide subsidies that encourage childbearing by the indigent, the lazy, the irresponsible and the inadequate.”
It seems like Christian was troubled by “overpopulation” and during that time the global population was then about 4.5 billion. According to NPR, “Some people keyed in on other guides like “Keep the population below 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature” and to “Guide reproduction wisely.” That’s led to protests, plenty of conspiracy theories about ties to Satan and sometimes, light vandalism.”
Conspiracy theories have been around for a long time, and sometimes people act on them. Jared Holt, who studied extremism, said the Guidestones showed how common these ideas have become. He explains, “Whether it’s elected officials appealing to online conspiracists or online conspiracists trying to become elected officials, we’re really starting to see the effects of that in clear and obvious ways.”
Cameras were set up around the Georgia Guidestones after it was vandalized several times between 2008 and 2014. Some graffiti on the building said things like “Death to the New World Order” and “I am Isis, goddess of love.” These incidents added to the idea that the place might be linked to Satanic worship or the occult.
Kandiss Taylor, who ran for governor in Georgia, said the same thing. In her campaign on May 1, 2022, she promised to get rid of the monument if she won, saying it was “Satanic.” Soon after that, the monument was destroyed on July 6.
Some people think the stones have the “Ten Commandments of the Antichrist” or are a special place for people who worship the sun. Some worry that they promote bad ideas like eugenics, euthanasia, and genocide. But there isn’t much proof for any of these theories. However, the idea that the stones were made to guide people after a big disaster, like a nuclear war, might have some truth to it.
Holt described that the internet blurs the line between online talk and real actions. Extreme speech is often rewarded in today’s politics. When these things happen in real life, they can cause a lot of harm, and it lasts a long time, even after the damage is fixed. This is especially true in Elberton, known as the “Granite Capital of the World.” The Guidestones attracted many tourists to the area. Now, fewer people are eating at local restaurants, shopping at local stores, and staying at the town’s hotel.
What was written on the slabs?
The stones had several languages on them. It is widely believed they were picked because they were the dominant languages for Judo-Christians across the globe. Many likened the stones to a modern-day Rosetta Stone.
The English portion of the inscription reads:
“Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature.
Guide reproduction wisely — improving fitness and diversity.
Unite humanity with a living new language.
Rule passion — faith — tradition — and all things with tempered reason.
Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts.
Let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a world court.
Avoid petty laws and useless officials.
Balance personal rights with social duties.
Prize truth — beauty — love — seeking harmony with the infinite.
Be not a cancer on the Earth — Leave room for nature — Leave room for nature.”
The English slab was at the far north and working around the structure clockwise, those same phrases were reportedly repeated in Spanish, Swahili, Hindi, Hebrew, Arabic, Traditional Chinese, and Russian. Officials said it was the slab containing Swahili and Hindi that were destroyed in the bombing.
Mystery man behind Georgia Guidestones
Thomas Lake speculated that Herbert H. Kersten, a doctor from Fort Dodge, Iowa, might be the one behind the building of Georgia Guidestones. He provided three reasons why some people believe that Kersten is their man.
- Kersten was born on May 7, 1920, and thus would have been 78 on July 14, 1998, the date of the letter in which Robert Christian said he was 78.
- Kersten lived for many years at the same address seen on one of the envelopes sent to Wyatt Martin.
- Kersten wrote a lot of letters that were published in newspapers, and in those letters, he sounded strikingly similar to Robert Christian.
When filmmakers looked into Kersten’s life, they found out some troubling things. They talked to people who knew Kersten. One person said Kersten used to talk proudly about being friends with William Shockley, who was known for his racist beliefs.
Shockley thought that some races were better than others and wanted to stop certain people from having babies. Kersten even supported a politician, David Duke, who had racist and Nazi beliefs.
The filmmakers thought Kersten might be the mysterious Robert Christian. But when they asked Kersten’s son, James Kersten, he didn’t know anything about it. The leaders of Elberton, where the Georgia Guidestones are, didn’t want to talk much about the filmmaker’s discoveries. They said they didn’t know Kersten and didn’t agree with people like Shockley and Duke.
