The 19-foot tall Georgia Guidestones, have been drawing curious visitors to Elberton, Ga., since 1979. In a former cow pasture on a hilltop in east Georgia, four towering granite stones offer advice in eight languages on how to conserve mankind and the earth. A handful of people know who put them there. But 18 years after the stones were erected, their origin remains a well-guarded secret
The Georgia Guidestones, a sort of modern-day Stonehenge, attract UFO buffs, spiritualists and the just plain curious to their hilltop in Elbert County, which calls itself the Granite Capital of the World. “This pile of stones on this hill renders a response from everyone who sets foot there,” said Christy Gray of Watkinsville, who is fascinated by the monument and visits it often.
The stones’ message (See Below) encourages population control, a single world language and harmony with nature.
“Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts,” it says. “Balance personal rights with social duties.”
Each of the 10 precepts is repeated in English, Russian, Hebrew, Arabic, Hindi, Chinese, Spanish and Swahili, in addition to archaic Sanskrit, Babylonian cuneiform, Egyptian hieroglyphics and classical Greek. The four main stones are topped by a capstone with an astronomical calendar. A center stone has an eye-level, oblique hole drilled so that the North Star is always visible. The stones weigh 119 tons.
A mysterious man calling himself by the pseudonym R.C. Christian commissioned the structure in 1979, saying he represented an out-of-state group that wanted to remain anonymous. Few people in Elberton met Mr. Christian, and those who did say he never revealed his true identity.
Wyatt C. Martin, the now-retired bank president Mr. Christian chose as his local agent, and Joe H. Fendley Sr., president of the granite company that did the work, insisted they didn’t know his real name, said Carolyn Cann, editor of the Elberton Star.
“I witnessed a lie-detector test between Fendley and Martin saying they didn’t know who he was,” she said.
Ms. Cann has written extensively about the stones and is one of Elberton’s few Georgia Guidestones experts.
“I’ve met some really unusual people out there,” she said. “It’s kind of a catchall for all people. There’ve been two weddings and a number of meditations. And there are also people who just want to care for the place itself.”
She said one benefactor who wants to remain anonymous paid to have rose bushes planted around the stones and now wants to pay for benches nearby.
The original plan for the hilltop called for eight other stones to be added, repeating the precepts in other languages, Ms. Cann said. But that was never done.
“No money has ever come forth from Mr. Christian or any others,” she said. “There’s been talk about it, but nothing has ever happened.”
Some Elberton residents see the stones as evil; graffiti recently scrawled on them attributed their words to the devil. But Ms. Cann said she’s never felt anything evil there.
“To me, it’s just a peaceful place.”
The Guidestones are four large slabs made of Granite, standing upright in the form of an X. The center cluster was erected in 1980. On the four sides of the top, center piece is written in four languages the phrase….”Let these be Guidestones to an age of reason.” On the face of each granite slab, both front and back, is another message (below) engraved in eight world languages.
There have been many rituals performed at this site. Witches, Druids, Ceremonial Magicians, Native American, Christian, and Neo-Pagan groups have all made use of the site for their own purposes over the last ten years. It was no accident that the Guidestones were located near a major geodetic alignment and over a Power Point.
This project was both expensive and time-consuming, yet the authors chose to give it a “mystical” feel by not putting their names to it and asking the museum to keep it from the public. Notice the ideals which are enumerated. It is interesting to note that the authors and creators of this modern monument chose to engrave into the granite a pseudonym (false name) with which to be known by.
The name they curiously chose was R.C. CHRISTIAN.
Looking further at the evidence of their creation, one may wonder if there is any significance to the choice of 8 languages out of the many there are to choose from. The only thing that stands out is that Hebrew was chosen even before French, Italian, Greek or German which respectively have 124, 63, 12, and 120 million speakers.
It was even chosen before Zulu, Swedish or Afrikaans which claims 8, 9 and 10 million speakers:
In millions of speakers in the world 1,000+
English 463
Hindi 400
Spanish 371
Russian 291
Arabic 214
Swahili 47
Hebrew 4
The Georgia Guidestones are located on the farm of Mildred and Wayne Mullenix on Georgia State Highway 77, 7.2 miles North of Elberton Georgia, 1.3 miles South of Hart-Elbert County Line, 7.8 miles South of Hartwell Georgia.
Here is the story behind the construction of “The Guidestones” as related in the Elberton Museum Pamphlet:
Elberton Granite’s reputation as one of the world’s best monumental stones, Elbert County’s geographic location, and fate seem to be the key elements in why one of the nation’s most unusual monuments was unveiled near Elberton, March 22, 1980. Already called “America’s Stonehenge,” after the mysterious monuments in England which have puzzled men for ages, THE GEORGIA GUIDESTONES has attracted nationwide publicity and promises to become a major tourist attraction.
Overwhelming in size and steeped in enigma, the GUIDESTONES were revealed to the nation in the Winter, 1979, ELBERTON GRANITEER — and is as much a mystery now as it was then – and probably still will be when man ceases to record his history.
The gargantuan, six-piece monument stands 19-ft. high in the beautiful hill country eight miles north of Elberton and proclaims a message for the conservation of mankind. Its origins and sponsors are unknown; hence, the mystery.
CHALLENGING PROJECT
The components were manufactured from ELBERTON GRANITE FINISHING COMPANY, INC.’s “Pyramid Blue Granite”, and the firm’s President, Joe H. Fendley, Sr., said the project was one of the most challenging ever for his quarrying and monument manufacturing concern – partly because of the magnitude of the materials and partly because of the exacting specifications from the mysterious group of sponsors,
“and those specifications were so precise that they had to be compiled by experts on stone as well as construction,” said Fendley.
He said it all began late on a Friday afternoon in June when a well-dressed and articulate man walked into his offices on the Tate Street Extension in Elberton and wanted to know the cost of building a large monument to conservation.
He identified himself as “Mr. Christian.” He told Fendley that he represented a small group of loyal Americans living outside Georgia who wished to remain anonymous forever, and that he chose the name “Christian” because he was a Christian. He inquired where Fendley banked and Joe put him in touch with both local banks. Wyatt C. Martin, President of the Granite City Bank, was selected by “Mr. Christian” to be the intermediary for the mysterious project.
According to Martin, the man showed up at his office 30 minutes later, explained the project, and said after completion he hoped other conservation-minded groups would erect even more stones in an outer ring and carry the monuments message in more languages. He told Martin that he wanted the monument erected in a remote area away from the main tourist centers.
The gentleman also said that Georgia was selected because of the availability of excellent granite, generally mild climate, and the fact that his great-grandmother was a native Georgian.
ELBERT COUNTY, GEORGIA CHOSEN
Martin persuaded the mystery man that Elbert County was the ideal location for the memorial; and he agreed, provided a suitable location could be found. He returned later and he and Martin inspected sites. “Mr. Christian“, who now called himself “R. C. Christian”, chose a five-acre plot on the farm of contractor Wayne Mullenix. It is the highest point in Elbert County. A few weeks later, Martin contacted Joe Findley and told him that funds for the project were in an escrow account and to start work immediately. Martin promised that when the project was completed, he would deliver his file on the affair to the anonymous sponsors and that the secret would never be known.
He said “Christian” told him that the sponsors had planned the monument for years and that the ten “guides” for the conservation of mankind and the earth were carefully worded as a moralistic appeal to all peoples of nationality, religion, or politics.
The guides are brief maxims espousing population control and other conservation messages in eight languages. The guides are inscribed in eight different languages on four huge stones set in a paddlewheel arrangement with the center stone carved and drilled so that the sun will mark the time of day and the seasons.
The guides, which were accompanied by ten explanatory precepts in the specifications, are:
“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; and , Be not a cancer on the earth – leave room for nature – leave room for nature.”
If you perform a little research on the BROTHERHOOD OF THE ROSY CROSS and the ROSICRUCIAN ORDER of today, you will see why the mysterious gentleman in the preceding story called himself “R. C. Christian.” The selection of “Pyramid Blue Granite” will also start to make a lot of sense.
The headquarters for the Rosicrucians in the USA is San Jose, California. Call them up and order some of their literature. If you look up their order in an encyclopaedia of freemasonry, you can get a feel for their belief system.
The following technical information was taken from a descriptive pamphlet from the Elberton Museum. Here are the facts:
Overall Height: 19 feet., 3 inches
Amount of Granite – 951 cubic feet
Weight (Grand Total) – 237,746 pounds or about 119 tons
Four Upright Stones – 6 feet, 6 inches wide – 16 feet, 4 inches high – 1 foot, 7 inches thick – About 42,437 pounds each, or 169,750 pounds total.
One Center Stone The Gnomen Stone – 1 foot , 7 inches thick – 20,957 pounds
One Cap Stone – 6 feet, 6 inches wide – 9 feet, 8 inches long – 1 foot, 7 inches thick – 24,832 pounds
Four Support Stones Bases – 7 feet, 4 inches long, – 2 feet, 0 inches long – 1 foot, 4 inches thick – About 4,875 pounds each, or 19,500 pounds total.
One Support Stone Base – 4 feet, 2 1/2 inches long – 2 feet, 2 inches wide – 1 foot, 7 inches thick – 2,707 pounds
Lettering Over 4,000 sandblasted characters, each about 4 inches high.
The four large upright blocks pointing outward are oriented to the limits of the migration of the moon during the course of the year.
An eye-level, oblique hole is drilled from the South to the North side of the center, Gnomen stone, so that the North Star is always visible, symbolizing constancy and orientation with the forces of nature.
A slot is cut in the middle of the Gnomen stone to form a window which aligns with the positions of the rising sun at the Summer and Winter Solstices and at the Equinox, so that the noon sun shines to indicate noon on a curved line.
The cap stone includes a calendar of sorts, where sunlight beams through a 7/8 inch hole at noon, and shines on the South face of the center stone. As the sun makes its travel cycle, the spot beamed through the hole can tell the day of the year at noon each day.
Allowances are made because of variations between standard time and sun time to set the beam of sunlight at an equation of time.
The site was chosen because it commands a view to the East and to the West and is within the range of the Summer and Winter sunrises and sunsets. The stones are oriented in those directions.
THE GUIDESTONES EXPLAINED
A massive granite monument espousing the conservation of mankind and future generations.
Sources for the sizable financing of the project choose to remain anonymous. The wording of the message proclaimed on the monument is in 12 languages, including the archaic languages of Sanscrit, Babylonian Cuneiform, Egyptian Hieroglyphics and Classical Greek, as well as English, Russian, Hebrew, Arabic, Hindi, Chinese, Spanish, and Swahili.
The guides, followed by explanatory precepts, are as follows, the words are exactly as the Sponsors provided them:
Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature
Note: Means the entire human race at its climax level for permanent balance with Nature.
Guide reproduction wisely – improving fitness and diversity
Note: Without going into details as yet undiscovered, this means humanity should apply reason and knowledge to guiding its own reproduction. “Fitness” could be translated as “health.” “Diversity” could be translated as “variety”
Unite humanity with a living new language
A “living” language grows and changes with advancing knowledge. A “new” language will be developed “de novo” – and need not necessarily be adopted from any languages now in existence.
Rule Passion – Faith – Tradition – and all things with tempered reason
“Faith” here may be used in a religious sense. Too often people are ruled by blind faith even when it may be contrary to reason. Reason must be tempered with compassion here – but must prevail.
Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts
Courts must consider justice as well as law.
Let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a world court
Individual nations must be free to develop their own destinies at home as their own people wish – but cannot abuse their neighbors.
Avoid petty laws and useless officials
Self explanatory.
Balance personal rights with social duties
Individuals have a natural concern for their personal welfare, but man is a social animal and must also be concerned for the group. Failure of society means failure for its individual citizens.
Prize truth – beauty – love – seeking harmony with the infinite
The infinite here means the supreme being – whose will is manifest in the working of the cosmos – if we will seek for it.
Be not a cancer on the earth – Leave room for nature – Leave room for nature
In our time, the growth of humanity is destroying the natural conditions of the earth which have fostered all existing life. We must restore reasoned balance.