The Georgia Guidestones contain instructions for humans in a post-apocalyptic world, but the story of its origins and demise are still a mystery.
Fox 5 AtlantaGeorgia Guidestones, the 88,000-pound structure containing instructions for post-apocalyptic humans.
Sometimes called the “American Stonehenge,” the Georgia Guidestones are just as mysterious as their name suggests. These massive slabs arranged into a monument in rural Georgia have confounded writers and tourists for decades. What we do know about the origins of the Georgia Guidestones hardly makes the picture any clearer.
The man responsible for the project called himself Robert Christian. This wasn’t his real name, and only two people ever met him face-to-face: a granite finisher and a banker.
He insisted on building a mega structure rivaling Stonehenge, stating that it would serve as a guideline for future humans. It stood for over 42 years before an act of vandalism brought the mysterious structure crumbling down.
Robert Christian Commissions The Georgia Guidestones
When Robert Christian walked into the offices of Elberton Granite Finishing in Elbert County, Georgia, in June 1979, he explained to company president Joe Fendley that he represented an anonymous group who had been secretly planning a stone monument for 20 years and that he'd come to Elbert because their quarries had the best granite on Earth.
Fendley soon found that Christian's plan befit such grand preparations. He wanted five upright outer stone slabs that would end up weighing a little more than 42,000 pounds each — about two-and-a-half times the weight of an elephant. These stones would encircle a center pillar that would end up weighing almost 21,000 pounds, which would itself be topped with a capstone weighing almost 25,000 pounds.
Christian needed such stones, he explained, because he was building a monument that could withstand the end of the world. Human civilization was about to destroy itself, Christian believed, and his monument would provide instructions for whatever was left of humanity after the apocalypse.
"I was thinking, 'I got a nut in here now. How am I going [to] get him out?'" Fendley later said of that first meeting. Get Christian out is precisely what Fendley did, by passing him along to local banker Wyatt Martin on the off-chance that Christian might actually be able to produce the enormous funds necessary for such an enormous project like the Georgia Guidestones.
When Martin insisted that Christian provide his real name in order to keep the transaction above board, Christian insisted that he only reveal it to Martin, who had to sign a non-disclosure agreement and destroy all the paperwork afterward. Furthermore, Christian gathered the money from a number of banks all across the country so that his origins couldn't be traced.
Martin and Fendley were skeptical, but sure enough, a $10,000 deposit arrived and they soon set to work. Fendley found the stones and helped Christian secure a location for his monument. Once things were underway, Christian stopped by Fendley's office to say goodbye, adding, "You'll never see me again."
And they never did.
The Georgia Guidestones Find Their Place
WYFF4News clip from the Guidestone's unveiling in 1980.
From then on, Christian only resurfaced to write letters to Martin in order to ask that ownership of the land be transferred to the county. The letters came from cities all over the country, never from the same place twice.
But with Christian in the wind, construction nevertheless carried on, and by March 1980, the Georgia Guidestones — coming in at more than 19 feet tall and almost 240,000 pounds — were ready to be unveiled.
Now the public would see that the monument was as strange as the man who commissioned it. Just as Christian specified, the Georgia Guidestones featured — in eight languages (English, Spanish, Swahili, Hindi, Hebrew, Arabic, Chinese, and Russian) — instructions for humans in a post-apocalyptic world:
- 1. Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature.
2. Guide reproduction wisely — improving fitness and diversity.
3. Unite humanity with a living new language.
4. Rule passion — faith — tradition — and all things with tempered reason.
5. Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts.
6. Let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a world court.
7. Avoid petty laws and useless officials.
8. Balance personal rights with social duties.
9. Prize truth — beauty — love — seeking harmony with the infinite.
10. Be not a cancer on the earth — Leave room for nature — Leave room for nature.
Beyond these instructions, called the "Ten Commandments of the Antichrist" by opponents, the Georgia Guidestones feature astronomical specifications so particular (a hole through which the North Star would always be visible, a slot aligned with the rising sun at solstices and equinoxes) that Fendley had to bring in a specialist from the University of Georgia. In addition to the post-apocalypse instructions, you see, Christian made sure that the Georgia Guidestones could serve as a kind of calendar as well.
Robert Christian And His Mission
Theories about Robert Christian's identity have varied. Some believe he was a religious fanatic, others say he was involved in the New World Order, a conspiracy theory that believes agents across the globe are working to establish a global totalitarian government.
What we do know is that Robert Christian's name first appeared as an author for a book titled Common Sense Renewed.
This book detailed Christian's many guidelines for a better world, writing:
"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 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."
He detailed his ideas for political and economic testing for voters, creating population control policies, and providing healthcare on a preferential basis.
And while the book laid out Christian's philosophies clearly, it gave no clues as to his real identity. These clues would come in 2015 with the creation of a documentary about the Guidestones.
In Dark Clouds Over Elberton, director Christian J. Pinto met with Wyatt Martin, the banker who was the sole keeper of Christian's secret. With some convincing, Martin disclosed that he hadn't destroyed the documents as he originally promised. They still remained locked in his basement.
The film crew managed to get their hands on the files and discovered that many of the letters Christian sent to Martin came from Fort Dodge, Iowa.
With a little research, the film crew hypothesized that the real identity of Robert Christian was Herbert H. Kersten from Fort Dodge, Iowa.
Photo of Herbet Kersten in the October 11, 1987 edition of the Des Moines Register.
Kersten was an elderly physician who wrote strikingly similar letters that later appeared in newspapers:
"Most important of all, America should now begin to direct the attention of the world to solving the fundamental problem which threatens to engulf all humanity in social and economic catastrophe," Kersten wrote to the Des Moines Register on January 25, 1981. "I refer to the uncontrolled reproduction of our species, which has already caused human numbers to far exceed the level which our planet can support in decency."
Unfortunately, Kersten passed away in 2005 and his living family members have denied his involvement with the Georgia Guidestones.
Controversy, Conspiracy, And Vandals At The Georgia Guidestones
FOX 5 AtlantaConstruction crew clears away the remains of the Guidestones.
Although Robert Christian made his intentions clear, that hasn't stopped conspiracy theorists, vandals, and the like from speculating. Some believe that the Georgia Guidestones might actually be a landing site for alien visitors, an edict of the "New World Order" set on controlling the populace through genocide, or a giant monument to Satan.
In 2002, Kandiss Taylor, a gubernatorial candidate in Georgia, declared that the Guidestones were Satanic and that her first job as governor would be to destroy them.
In a Facebook post, Taylor draws connections between the 500 million rule and the COVID-19 vaccine.
Other figures like Alex Jones, an American radio host known for his far-out claims, stated that the Illuminati controlled the stones and that they stood there as a reinforcement for eugenics.
Amid all the speculation, Christian never re-emerged to correct anyone, although he did stay in touch with Martin over the years, even meeting him for dinner several times. But still, Christian never revealed anything more about the Georgia Guidestones.
As Christian always said, according to Martin, "If you want to keep people interested, you can let them know only so much."
The conspiracy theories permeated so many conversations around the Georgia Guidestones that locals now believe they are responsible for their destruction.
On July 9, 2022, security cameras captured an explosion at the site. The force of it destroyed one slab of granite and rendered the entire structure unstable. The footage also showed a silver car speeding from the scene although no arrests were ever made.
Workers later removed the entire structure in light of safety concerns.
"My initial reaction was heartbreak and anger, frustration," Daniel Graves, the mayor of Elberton, stated to NPR. "And I think that's consistent with the community's reaction."
Experts in extremism state that the destruction of the Georgia Guidestones, once a beloved community staple, is a perfect example of the dangers of conspiracy theories. Jared Holt, an extremism researcher with the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, told NPR:
"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."
Remnants of the Georgia Guidestones are currently on display at the Elberton Granite Museum for viewing pleasure of guests interested in one of Georgia's biggest mysteries.
After this look at the Georgia Guidestones, discover the mysteries of crop circles. Then, check out five bizarre structures and findings uncovered by Google Earth.
