Georgia Guidestones blown up: Early morning explosion damages controversial monument

A rural Georgia monument that some conservative Christians have criticized as satanic and that others have dubbed “America’s Stonehenge” was bombed earlier than daybreak Wednesday in an assault that turned one in every of its 4 granite panels into rubble.

The Georgia Guidestones monument close to Elberton was broken by an explosive gadget, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation mentioned. The Elbert County Emergency Management Agency mentioned the explosion was seen on video cameras shortly after 4 a.m. Pictures and aerial video present the destroyed panel on the bottom.

The bureau on Wednesday night launched surveillance video displaying the violent explosion and a silver sedan rushing away from the scene. Investigators are asking the public for assist figuring out the perpetrators. No suspect descriptions, or a doable motive, have been launched. It’s unclear what number of suspects could have been concerned.

The company has “many leads,” Northern Judicial Circuit District Attorney Parks White said on Facebook. He mentioned the monument may very well be thought-about a public constructing, and the penalty for utilizing explosives to destroy a public constructing was a minimal of 20 years in jail with out the potential of parole.

“Regardless of your feelings about the origin of the Guide Stones, their meaning, or the intention of the person who commissioned and erected them, they are a historical landmark, and this destructive act was an assault upon our community,” White mentioned.

After prior vandalism, video cameras related to the county’s emergency dispatch heart have been stationed on the web site, mentioned Elbert Granite Association Executive Vice President Chris Kubas.  

The enigmatic roadside attraction was in-built 1980 from native granite, commissioned by an unknown individual or group beneath the pseudonym R.C. Christian.

“That’s given the guidestones a sort of shroud of mystery around them, because the identity and intent of the individuals who commissioned them is unknown,” mentioned Katie McCarthy, who researches conspiracy theories for the Anti-Defamation League. “And so that has helped over the years to fuel a lot of speculation and conspiracy theories about the guidestones’ true intent.”

The 16-foot-high panels bear a 10-part message in eight completely different languages with steering for dwelling in an “age of reason.” One half requires preserving world inhabitants at 500 million or under, whereas one other calls to “guide reproduction wisely — improving fitness and diversity.”

It additionally serves as a sundial and astronomical calendar. But it is the panels’ point out of eugenics, inhabitants management and international authorities which have made them a goal of far-right conspiracists.

The monument’s notoriety took off with the rise of the web, Kubas mentioned, till it turned a roadside vacationer attraction, with hundreds visiting every year.

The web site obtained renewed consideration throughout Georgia’s May 24 gubernatorial main when third-place Republican candidate Kandiss Taylor claimed the guidestones are satanic and made demolishing them a part of her platform. Comedian John Oliver featured the guidestones and Taylor in a segment in late May. McCarthy mentioned right-wing personalities together with Alex Jones had talked about them in earlier years, however that “they sort of came back onto the public’s radar” due to Taylor.

“God is God all by Himself. He can do ANYTHING He wants to do,” Taylor wrote on social media Wednesday. “That includes striking down Satanic Guidestones.”

The monument had beforehand been vandalized, together with when it was spray-painted in 2008 and 2014, McCarthy mentioned. She mentioned the bombing is one other instance of how conspiracy theories “do and can have a real-world impact.”

“We’ve seen this with QAnon and multiple other conspiracy theories, that these ideas can lead somebody to try to take action in furtherance of these beliefs,” McCarthy mentioned. “They can attempt to try and target the people and institutions that are at the center of these false beliefs.”

Kubas and plenty of different folks interpret the stones as some form of information to rebuilding society after an apocalypse.

“It’s up to your own interpretation as to how you want to view them,” Kubas mentioned.

The web site is about 7 miles north of Elberton and about 90 miles east of Atlanta, close to the South Carolina state line. Granite quarrying is a high native trade, using about 2,000 within the space, Kubas mentioned.

Elbert County sheriff’s deputies, Elberton police and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation are among the many companies attempting to determine what occurred. Bomb squad technicians have been referred to as out to search for proof, and a state freeway that runs close to the location was closed for a time.

Kubas mentioned the affiliation has helped take away earlier vandalism and can seemingly search to stabilize the injury. He mentioned native officers and neighborhood leaders could need to determine who, if anybody, pays for restoration.

“If you didn’t like it, you didn’t have to come see it and read it,” Kubas mentioned. “But unfortunately, somebody decided they didn’t want anyone to read it.”