WEBVTT - The Georgia Guidestones: The Elite Have a Laugh 0:00:01.440 --> 0:00:04.240 Welcome to Stuff you Should Know, a production of I 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:13.280 Heart Radio. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh, 0:00:13.280 --> 0:00:15.920 and there's Chuck and Jerry's here to the whole gang. 0:00:16.320 --> 0:00:19.680 And this makes this an official episode of the Stuff 0:00:19.680 --> 0:00:23.640 You Should Know. Please disregard some previous ones where it 0:00:23.680 --> 0:00:28.800 was just me and Chuck. Just disregard him. I don't 0:00:28.800 --> 0:00:31.160 even listen to them, And if you have listened to them, 0:00:31.200 --> 0:00:37.360 actively forget what you learned. Have you ever seen before well, 0:00:37.520 --> 0:00:40.000 let'sen not reveal what's happened. Did you ever see the 0:00:40.000 --> 0:00:43.800 Georgia guidestones. I was a bit of a schlub and 0:00:43.880 --> 0:00:48.600 assume that I would just be able to some other time. Okay, 0:00:49.200 --> 0:00:54.040 did you No? I never had any interest. I wasn't 0:00:54.080 --> 0:00:56.520 like passionately interested, but I thought i'd be kind of cool. 0:00:56.560 --> 0:00:58.160 And then I looked on a map. I was like, oh, 0:00:58.160 --> 0:01:00.320 that's where they are. I don't really feel like going 0:01:00.360 --> 0:01:02.600 over there, so I'm just going to put it off 0:01:02.640 --> 0:01:05.080 and put it off. I always thought it was kind 0:01:05.080 --> 0:01:07.360 of silly, and I still do even more so probably, 0:01:07.360 --> 0:01:09.520 but sure it's fun to talk about. No, for sure, 0:01:09.640 --> 0:01:12.320 like this is um I think if you don't take 0:01:12.360 --> 0:01:17.160 it as partially silly. You are being a little too serious. 0:01:17.760 --> 0:01:19.959 But that's also not to say like they were intended 0:01:20.000 --> 0:01:22.520 and as any sort of joke or with any sort 0:01:22.560 --> 0:01:25.720 of silliness. I think the earnestness with which they were 0:01:25.760 --> 0:01:29.120 put up, along with the earnestness which with which some 0:01:29.160 --> 0:01:32.000 people took them, that's what really kind of makes it silly. 0:01:32.000 --> 0:01:35.640 From like an outside observer's point of view, I think, yeah, 0:01:35.840 --> 0:01:39.000 I agree. And what we're talking about are what's known 0:01:39.120 --> 0:01:44.440 as the Georgia Guide Stones a k a. America's Stonehenge. 0:01:45.360 --> 0:01:49.800 Are are ancient, going all the way back to the 0:01:49.880 --> 0:01:53.280 nineteen eighties. That's why I always thought it was kind 0:01:53.280 --> 0:01:57.640 of silly anytime they say like something sort of hyperbolic 0:01:57.720 --> 0:02:01.520 like that, like this is our stone hinge erected in 0:02:02.600 --> 0:02:07.480 right circa forty two years before present? What is that? Ghostbusters? 0:02:07.480 --> 0:02:10.320 There's six years before Ghostbusters? Oh we are we doing 0:02:10.360 --> 0:02:14.959 that again? No? Maybe just this one time, you know, okay? Um. 0:02:15.160 --> 0:02:19.320 I get why they call them America's Stonehenge though, because 0:02:20.200 --> 0:02:24.519 they look a bit like Stonehenge, these giant granite slabs 0:02:25.160 --> 0:02:28.600 uh set on end with cap stones and such. But 0:02:28.760 --> 0:02:31.079 I think maybe we should go back now. That we've 0:02:31.120 --> 0:02:33.040 at least told people what the heck these things are. 0:02:33.120 --> 0:02:37.160 They're inscribed with words. Uh. And that's all we'll give 0:02:37.160 --> 0:02:38.560 you for now, and then let's go back and talk 0:02:38.600 --> 0:02:40.760 about the history, because the story of it is is 0:02:40.800 --> 0:02:43.560 kind of interesting, I think, definitely interesting. I mean there's 0:02:43.560 --> 0:02:46.880 a lot of mystery that was um purposefully I think, 0:02:46.960 --> 0:02:49.880 kind of generated around the whole thing, and that mystery 0:02:49.960 --> 0:02:53.000 starts at the very beginning when a guy named R. C. 0:02:53.320 --> 0:02:56.800 Christian showed up in Alberton, Georgia. I believe it's the 0:02:56.840 --> 0:03:00.280 county seat of albert County, which is in the I 0:03:00.320 --> 0:03:05.959 think extreme east of Georgia, close to the South Carolina border. Correct. Uh, 0:03:05.960 --> 0:03:09.400 it's it's about thirty five miles sort of east and 0:03:09.520 --> 0:03:12.480 north of Athens, Georgia, which is, if you don't know 0:03:12.520 --> 0:03:15.720 where Athens is out there, it's about a hundred miles 0:03:15.760 --> 0:03:18.960 Athens isn't But Elberton itself is about a hundred miles 0:03:19.000 --> 0:03:22.440 north and east of Atlanta, so it's headed towards South Carolina, 0:03:22.480 --> 0:03:24.440 but it's not like on the border. Okay, And for 0:03:24.440 --> 0:03:26.760 those who aren't familiar with Atlanta, chuck, how far is 0:03:26.800 --> 0:03:31.840 Atlanta from? Uh? From Montgomery, Alabama. Oh boy, let me 0:03:31.840 --> 0:03:34.720 get up my map. So it's in the east of Georgia. 0:03:34.760 --> 0:03:37.200 It's in as One, I think the publisher of the 0:03:37.240 --> 0:03:40.400 local paper put it. It's as rural as rural can be. 0:03:41.240 --> 0:03:43.480 And um, there's like at the time that all this 0:03:43.560 --> 0:03:46.520 happened nineteen seventy nine, when Narci Christians showed up, there 0:03:46.560 --> 0:03:49.080 were not even six thousand people in the whole town, 0:03:49.440 --> 0:03:52.520 nineteen thousand people in the entire county. And it seems 0:03:52.520 --> 0:03:54.080 like the kind of place where there are probably more 0:03:54.120 --> 0:03:57.640 cows than people at the time. Yeah, I mean, Athens 0:03:57.680 --> 0:04:01.360 is a great city and a great call down and 0:04:01.800 --> 0:04:04.680 there's some the classic city uh and there are some 0:04:04.960 --> 0:04:08.960 great little uh towns outside of Athens, but you know 0:04:09.040 --> 0:04:11.840 they're small towns in the further creep outside of Athens 0:04:11.840 --> 0:04:15.640 against superbural. Have you ever been to Madison, Georgia? Sure, 0:04:15.760 --> 0:04:18.320 Madison is great. It's gorgeous. Man, it is just this 0:04:18.520 --> 0:04:23.000 hidden littles And yeah, okay, So back to Alberton, right 0:04:23.040 --> 0:04:26.159 and R. C. Christian in particular summer of nineteen seventy nine, 0:04:26.320 --> 0:04:28.320 and he shows up in Alberton and probably stuck out 0:04:28.400 --> 0:04:31.760 like a sore thumb he wore a very expensive suit. 0:04:32.120 --> 0:04:35.039 He had a certain air of refinement around him. He 0:04:35.200 --> 0:04:38.000 seemed to be a little erudite. And he showed up. 0:04:38.040 --> 0:04:42.200 He presented himself at the offices of Alberton Granite Finishing Company. 0:04:42.680 --> 0:04:44.520 And we should tell you a little bit about Albert 0:04:44.600 --> 0:04:48.039 County and Alberton in particular. They consider themselves the granite 0:04:48.040 --> 0:04:50.839 capital of the world, and they make a pretty good case. 0:04:51.320 --> 0:04:54.719 They are apparently sitting on some of the finest granite 0:04:54.960 --> 0:04:58.680 in the world in in like right, in like fifty 0:04:58.720 --> 0:05:01.479 different quarries in the air. You so, if you wanted 0:05:01.480 --> 0:05:05.200 to get something done in granted, say like America's Stonehenge, 0:05:05.400 --> 0:05:08.840 this is where you would logically show up. And R. C. 0:05:09.000 --> 0:05:11.040 Christian did show up, and he talked to the president 0:05:11.040 --> 0:05:15.400 of Alberton Grant Efficient Finishing Company, Joe Finley, who welcomed 0:05:15.480 --> 0:05:19.279 him with open arms and got on board immediately. Yeah. 0:05:19.320 --> 0:05:22.839 I mean I think Joe Finley, as he probably should 0:05:22.880 --> 0:05:26.839 have been, was a little um well, he was two things. 0:05:26.920 --> 0:05:29.720 A like you said, he was impressed with this sort 0:05:29.760 --> 0:05:33.360 of finely dressed, intelligent gentleman, but he was also once 0:05:33.400 --> 0:05:36.239 he started to hear what this gentleman wanted a little 0:05:36.240 --> 0:05:39.120 wary of him and thought, all right, this guy is 0:05:39.160 --> 0:05:42.000 a little weird to me here in Elberton, and maybe 0:05:42.040 --> 0:05:46.000 some kind of crackpot because Mr Christian, who we would 0:05:46.080 --> 0:05:49.479 find out that's a pseudonym, uh, said, I represent a 0:05:49.480 --> 0:05:52.840 small group of loyal Americans and I would like on 0:05:52.880 --> 0:05:58.080 their behalf to be the liaison to commission a massive 0:05:58.160 --> 0:06:02.560 structure built out of these huge granite stones that will 0:06:02.640 --> 0:06:08.320 be here for millions of years. Irony upcoming just put 0:06:08.360 --> 0:06:11.200 it been in that and it was for the purpose 0:06:11.240 --> 0:06:16.040 of guiding humanity after the apocalypse. And Finley was like, 0:06:16.240 --> 0:06:18.480 m you said a little strange to me in his head, 0:06:18.920 --> 0:06:22.120 but here's what I'll do. I'll do it for this price. 0:06:22.680 --> 0:06:24.599 And I don't know, I mean, he named a very 0:06:24.600 --> 0:06:28.600 expensive price, apparently a few times higher than anything he'd 0:06:28.640 --> 0:06:30.760 ever worked on. And I think it was probably in 0:06:30.800 --> 0:06:32.920 part because it was one of the bigger jobs he'd 0:06:32.920 --> 0:06:35.200 ever worked on, and and there may have been a 0:06:35.200 --> 0:06:38.480 little city boy, country boy thing where he was like, oh, well, 0:06:38.520 --> 0:06:41.320 I can take this guy for some money. Yeah. Apparently 0:06:41.560 --> 0:06:43.919 it was far and away the biggest project that the 0:06:44.480 --> 0:06:48.520 Alberton had ever seen. The next biggest project was the 0:06:48.560 --> 0:06:51.840 town's bicentennial memorial fountain that they put in the middle 0:06:51.839 --> 0:06:53.680 of the town, which is nothing to sneeze at, but 0:06:53.720 --> 0:06:57.080 compared to these Georgia stone projects, it's yeah, it's a 0:06:57.080 --> 0:07:01.320 little aputian um. Compared to the Georgia guidestones, it's it 0:07:01.440 --> 0:07:03.520 is you could sneeze all over it. So it was 0:07:03.560 --> 0:07:06.040 a big project. So it was smart that he was like, 0:07:06.240 --> 0:07:08.880 I need a lot of money for this um, because 0:07:08.880 --> 0:07:10.640 he ended up needing a lot of money for it. 0:07:10.680 --> 0:07:12.640 But I get the impression that he made out pretty 0:07:12.640 --> 0:07:17.400 well too. Yeah, so uh, Finley of the rock Query said, 0:07:17.600 --> 0:07:21.680 go see my buddy, Whyatt Martin, he's the president of 0:07:21.720 --> 0:07:24.320 the local bank here, the Granite City Bank, and go 0:07:24.520 --> 0:07:26.800 talk to him about how we can finance this thing. 0:07:27.440 --> 0:07:30.360 And Finley called ahead apparently and told Martin, like, this 0:07:30.400 --> 0:07:33.480 guy coming over as a little cookie, but you ought 0:07:33.520 --> 0:07:35.720 to see the suit just way, which is way to 0:07:35.880 --> 0:07:39.480 you smell. The guy so fine and he's so intelligent. 0:07:39.960 --> 0:07:42.880 And Martin apparently was also impressed with the guy as well. 0:07:43.520 --> 0:07:47.280 And this is the point in the story where um, 0:07:47.360 --> 0:07:50.920 we learned that Wyatt Martin, of the president of this bank, 0:07:51.040 --> 0:07:55.560 is basically the only person who ever learned the truth 0:07:55.680 --> 0:07:59.960 about who R. C. Christian really was, because you can't 0:08:00.320 --> 0:08:04.440 do banking and do this sort of high profile transactions, uh, 0:08:04.640 --> 0:08:09.000 with pseudonyms. So he tells him his real name, but said, 0:08:09.040 --> 0:08:11.720 here's the deal, man, I gotta we gotta keep this quiet. 0:08:12.200 --> 0:08:14.640 I can never be known. Who I'm doing this on 0:08:14.680 --> 0:08:17.280 behalf of can never be known. And you gotta promise 0:08:17.360 --> 0:08:19.840 me you're never gonna tell anyone. And once we get 0:08:19.880 --> 0:08:22.400 all this stuff done and it's settled, you gotta you 0:08:22.400 --> 0:08:25.480 gotta burn all these documents so it can remain a secret. Yeah, 0:08:25.520 --> 0:08:28.200 And I mean he chose the right guy to confide 0:08:28.240 --> 0:08:30.480 and because Wyatt Martin later said in an interview I 0:08:30.480 --> 0:08:32.839 think in two thousand thirteen that even if you put 0:08:32.840 --> 0:08:34.600 a gun to his head, he wouldn't tell you the 0:08:34.920 --> 0:08:38.600 actual I love that part, right, the ideality. Sure, I'm 0:08:38.640 --> 0:08:41.439 on board. Yeah, he really, he really went full board. 0:08:41.520 --> 0:08:44.440 From everything that I've ever read, he didn't even tell 0:08:44.480 --> 0:08:47.160 his wife, like he just took the secret to his grave. 0:08:47.200 --> 0:08:51.880 He died I think in um and uh he never 0:08:51.960 --> 0:08:55.640 told a single person. And so after that um RC 0:08:55.800 --> 0:08:59.200 Christian went back to the Alberton Granite finishing company gave 0:08:59.280 --> 0:09:02.959 Joe Finley a U shoebox with like a little wooden 0:09:03.000 --> 0:09:06.320 model of what they were looking for, with some Fisher 0:09:06.400 --> 0:09:09.520 Price people in there for scale, and then there was 0:09:09.559 --> 0:09:13.199 like ten pages of instructions that were that were accompanied 0:09:13.200 --> 0:09:15.800 at and he said to Finley, Uh, you'll never see 0:09:15.800 --> 0:09:18.480 me again. But he did keep in touch with Martin 0:09:18.559 --> 0:09:22.160 because Martin agreed to be his and then in turn 0:09:22.320 --> 0:09:26.840 that group of sponsors representative overseeing the project as as 0:09:27.080 --> 0:09:29.719 as well as the money man and so um. They 0:09:29.800 --> 0:09:32.000 ended up becoming pen pals over the years. They kept 0:09:32.000 --> 0:09:34.880 in touch, um, and they would go to dinner every 0:09:34.880 --> 0:09:38.280 once in a while UM in Athens. Uh. And yeah 0:09:38.320 --> 0:09:41.439 they were. They got to be pretty close actually, but um, 0:09:41.480 --> 0:09:44.120 at the time it was just Martin who was running 0:09:44.160 --> 0:09:46.640 the show, and just Finley, who was the only other 0:09:46.679 --> 0:09:51.040 person who had knowingly met this RC Christian guy. Yeah, 0:09:51.080 --> 0:09:53.960 you know, I waited tables in Athens during the years 0:09:54.000 --> 0:09:59.280 of I guess that was probably And I always wondered, 0:09:59.400 --> 0:10:03.040 like that I served this guy one night. Could I 0:10:03.080 --> 0:10:06.040 have met this mysterious stranger. I do remember a man 0:10:06.080 --> 0:10:09.120 that smelled really nice in a soup one time, MEXICALI 0:10:09.160 --> 0:10:11.679 girl did you. Yeah, did you ever serve a stone 0:10:11.800 --> 0:10:14.680 silver fox in like a nice suit once with another 0:10:14.679 --> 0:10:17.480 guy who seemed to be a bank president. I did, 0:10:17.640 --> 0:10:21.040 and he he signed his name anonymous so on this check. 0:10:21.120 --> 0:10:24.079 So it was very very weird. Like that seems suspicious, 0:10:24.160 --> 0:10:28.880 but it's college, so I don't care. But here's what happened. 0:10:28.880 --> 0:10:30.520 This is a very big job for this company. Like 0:10:30.559 --> 0:10:35.040 we mentioned, um, these stones were not small like you said. 0:10:35.320 --> 0:10:39.040 They ended up having to jackhammer fourteen feet into the 0:10:39.040 --> 0:10:44.800 pyramid quarry quarry, which is it quarry Corey? All right? 0:10:45.040 --> 0:10:48.800 I always say like k w O R r y quarry, Yeah, 0:10:48.840 --> 0:10:51.480 because query sounds like a query that you said someone. 0:10:51.559 --> 0:10:53.920 It sounds like the way arc Christian probably said it. 0:10:54.400 --> 0:10:57.319 Yeah query. I don't know why I said it southern, 0:10:57.360 --> 0:10:59.079 because we really have no idea where he was from. 0:10:59.080 --> 0:11:00.640 He could have been from Boss and for all I know, 0:11:00.800 --> 0:11:04.199 we have potentially an idea. Well that's true, would have 0:11:04.240 --> 0:11:06.839 been in that too. Uh. So they had to jackhammer 0:11:06.880 --> 0:11:10.240 down fourteen ft Uh. They had to use a hundred 0:11:10.360 --> 0:11:13.360 foot tall crane uh to put these stones where they 0:11:13.360 --> 0:11:16.600 needed to go. And they needed a location, and it 0:11:16.600 --> 0:11:19.000 turns out there was a local I don't know if 0:11:19.040 --> 0:11:20.680 he was a real farmer, but he had cattle at 0:11:20.760 --> 0:11:23.200 least in a lot of land. And it was a 0:11:23.240 --> 0:11:25.760 point at the highest elevation in the county. Um. It's 0:11:25.760 --> 0:11:29.040 not you know, some big mountain or anything, because it's 0:11:29.240 --> 0:11:32.199 pretty flat land over there, but it is the highest 0:11:32.240 --> 0:11:36.679 elevation and very importantly had really clear views um all 0:11:36.720 --> 0:11:39.360 around it. Because that'll come into play with sort of 0:11:39.400 --> 0:11:42.080 the purpose of what these things. What they ended up 0:11:42.120 --> 0:11:44.839 needing them for. Uh. And so we got five acres 0:11:44.920 --> 0:11:48.440 for five grand and said here, you and your family 0:11:48.480 --> 0:11:51.480 forever more can still graze your cattle here. I just 0:11:51.520 --> 0:11:54.360 want to put these guide stones up. Yeah. Um. And 0:11:54.400 --> 0:11:56.240 I think the guy, the guy he bought it from, 0:11:56.240 --> 0:11:58.360 his name was mullen Ax and he wasn't just a 0:11:58.360 --> 0:12:00.760 straight up farmer. He was a contract or and part 0:12:00.760 --> 0:12:03.960 of the deal was his company got to um build 0:12:04.000 --> 0:12:06.400 the base that the whole thing was put on. Just 0:12:06.440 --> 0:12:09.920 to swen Yeah, there's like a molinex Ford. I'm like, 0:12:09.920 --> 0:12:13.240 there's no way they're not related. Somehow, I don't know 0:12:13.280 --> 0:12:15.280 what to school some mullonexis. You never know. Well look 0:12:15.360 --> 0:12:17.520 him up, chuck on Facebook, friend them and get to 0:12:17.559 --> 0:12:20.480 the bottom of this mystery. I'm not on Facebook. I'll 0:12:20.520 --> 0:12:22.840 have to send a letter via carrier pigeon like I 0:12:22.920 --> 0:12:25.079 used to. There there's one other thing I just want 0:12:25.120 --> 0:12:27.680 to point out real quick, like this, we said that 0:12:27.760 --> 0:12:31.120 this project was the biggest that this this county had 0:12:31.160 --> 0:12:35.520 ever undertaken, and it served as like a point of 0:12:35.559 --> 0:12:38.120 civic pride from like that point on, Like, no matter 0:12:38.160 --> 0:12:42.439 how anybody in town felt about the guidestones themselves, they 0:12:42.480 --> 0:12:48.360 were probably prideful about the amazing job that this this county. 0:12:48.400 --> 0:12:51.400 The workers in this county came together to produce when 0:12:51.400 --> 0:12:54.320 they were called upon to do so. That was definitely 0:12:54.400 --> 0:12:56.960 part of it because it was a huge, massive undertaking. 0:12:57.200 --> 0:12:59.360 And it also not only does do you have like 0:12:59.400 --> 0:13:01.680 hats off to the people of Albert County for having 0:13:01.679 --> 0:13:04.760 done this, think about people who used to quarry stuff, 0:13:04.800 --> 0:13:08.920 like the people who made Stonehenge without like hundred foot 0:13:08.960 --> 0:13:12.440 cranes and jackhammers to go fourteen feet into the ground 0:13:12.520 --> 0:13:15.040 like that. It's just mind boggling when you think of 0:13:15.080 --> 0:13:18.480 it like that too. Absolutely uh. And as far as 0:13:18.520 --> 0:13:22.080 Albert County goes, they got a a genuine tourist attraction 0:13:22.120 --> 0:13:25.560 which they didn't have before and so this was sort 0:13:25.559 --> 0:13:28.400 of one of the reasons apparently that Christian picked this 0:13:28.480 --> 0:13:31.280 spot because he kind of figured and was right that 0:13:31.320 --> 0:13:34.800 they would be prideful and kind of take care of it. Um. 0:13:34.840 --> 0:13:37.280 Apparently he had some ancestors that were from the region 0:13:37.320 --> 0:13:41.000 to um. But he also said, you know, our wishes 0:13:41.080 --> 0:13:44.640 that maybe one day the people of Albert County will 0:13:44.640 --> 0:13:48.559 come together or maybe just conservationist in general and uh 0:13:48.640 --> 0:13:51.880 and do some more big stone rings around this thing. Uh. 0:13:51.920 --> 0:13:54.360 That never happened. He never got that wish, But like 0:13:54.440 --> 0:13:56.319 you said, they did take care of very good care 0:13:56.320 --> 0:13:59.600 of it. Yeah, and like he helped he helped established 0:13:59.640 --> 0:14:02.640 that by by transferring the rights to that land over 0:14:02.679 --> 0:14:05.280 to the people of Albert County, so that that was 0:14:05.320 --> 0:14:07.280 like they would have even more pride in it because 0:14:07.320 --> 0:14:09.800 they owned it. It was public land. From that point on, 0:14:10.679 --> 0:14:13.480 should we take a break, Um, Yeah, let's take a break, 0:14:13.679 --> 0:14:16.320 and well then we'll talk about the monument, right, yeah, 0:14:16.360 --> 0:14:18.080 and it's about it's about to get a little sinister 0:14:18.200 --> 0:14:35.360 right after this stop. Maybe I overstated it doesn't quite 0:14:35.440 --> 0:14:39.280 get sinister. Uh, But from the beginning of this project, 0:14:39.400 --> 0:14:43.120 the local townsfolk, while prideful, there were some that were 0:14:43.120 --> 0:14:45.600 a little worried about it, and this said, you know, 0:14:45.960 --> 0:14:47.720 when you're out in the country and Georgia like that, 0:14:47.920 --> 0:14:51.760 it's nineteen seventy, Like, what do you mean you're gonna 0:14:51.760 --> 0:14:55.400 build this big monument? This sounds to me like, you know, 0:14:56.000 --> 0:14:58.160 the occult or the work of the devil or something. 0:14:59.000 --> 0:15:02.560 And there was a sandblaster that worked on the job 0:15:02.640 --> 0:15:04.840 named Charlie Clamp who will come up a little bit later, 0:15:04.920 --> 0:15:07.640 but he, for one, said that when he was working 0:15:07.680 --> 0:15:10.760 on carving these characters in the stone, that he heard 0:15:10.800 --> 0:15:15.200 strange music and disjointed voices. Uh. And you know, once 0:15:15.320 --> 0:15:19.400 these things were up, apparently some some Wiccans and some 0:15:19.440 --> 0:15:22.240 Pagans did come out and do like some dancing and 0:15:22.360 --> 0:15:25.320 chanting every now and then, which I'm sure was very harmless, 0:15:25.360 --> 0:15:29.120 but would spook the locals. Oh yeah, I mean good lord. Yeah. 0:15:29.400 --> 0:15:32.200 Like I think it happened almost immediately, like this thing 0:15:32.240 --> 0:15:34.720 went up in March of eighty. I think like the 0:15:34.760 --> 0:15:40.400 Atlanta pagan community had adopted by there's like public land, 0:15:40.440 --> 0:15:44.200 what are you gonna do? Exactly? So another thing that 0:15:44.240 --> 0:15:47.160 makes this whole feat um so amazing is that you 0:15:47.200 --> 0:15:49.080 know R. C. Christians showed up with the idea in 0:15:49.120 --> 0:15:51.840 the summer of nineteen seventy nine, and they dedicated the 0:15:51.880 --> 0:15:55.120 thing on March twenty second night, two days after the 0:15:55.200 --> 0:15:59.200 Spring equinox. No, that is fast turnaround, because not only 0:15:59.240 --> 0:16:01.160 did they have to were it, they had to do 0:16:01.320 --> 0:16:03.360 a lot of other stuff to it. These are not 0:16:03.640 --> 0:16:09.320 schlubby slabs. Slubby they are, they were. They were pretty neat. 0:16:09.360 --> 0:16:11.760 They required a lot of extra work. Rather than just 0:16:12.120 --> 0:16:15.600 quarrying and cutting and polishing. There was more too, it 0:16:15.640 --> 0:16:19.840 wasn't there. Yeah. Absolutely, Uh, they had a big grand opening. 0:16:19.920 --> 0:16:22.240 There were you know, quite a few people, like three, 0:16:22.400 --> 0:16:25.280 three or four hundred folks apparently showed up for the christening. 0:16:25.880 --> 0:16:27.800 And uh, like you said, it was, it was a 0:16:27.840 --> 0:16:32.080 big deal. They were um, not only large, Uh, they 0:16:32.080 --> 0:16:34.960 were you know, very I believe, like nineteen feet tall each. 0:16:35.200 --> 0:16:37.680 Is that how tall they stood? Yeah, which is I mean, 0:16:37.720 --> 0:16:42.160 that's taller than Stonehenge. So take that England Stonehenge, take 0:16:42.200 --> 0:16:46.760 that ancient people's uh so nineteen tall. They weighed about 0:16:47.040 --> 0:16:49.880 close to a hundred and twenty tons and like we 0:16:49.960 --> 0:16:54.880 mentioned earlier, four thousands sand blasted letters and characters about 0:16:54.880 --> 0:16:57.640 four inches high. Piece that we'll get to what these 0:16:57.640 --> 0:17:02.080 all said. But they're also some cool strological features, right, Yeah, 0:17:02.320 --> 0:17:06.879 So um, Fendley went to the University of Georgia and said, 0:17:07.000 --> 0:17:09.280 I need an astronomer because I'm being asked to do 0:17:09.359 --> 0:17:11.399 some stuff that I do not know how to do. 0:17:12.119 --> 0:17:15.560 UM and the guide stones were considered a clock, calendar, 0:17:15.600 --> 0:17:19.600 and compass, all kind of ingeniously built into one because 0:17:19.600 --> 0:17:21.879 you've got those four slabs that were arranged in an X. 0:17:21.920 --> 0:17:24.760 Like you said, there's a center stone known as the 0:17:24.840 --> 0:17:27.600 nomen stone, and then on top of it all is 0:17:27.600 --> 0:17:30.760 a capstone, a square capstone that covered the nomen and 0:17:30.920 --> 0:17:34.240 parts of all four of the other slabs that radiated 0:17:34.240 --> 0:17:37.679 out from the nomen And so they had UM you 0:17:37.720 --> 0:17:40.240 could tell what day of the year it was, and 0:17:40.320 --> 0:17:43.840 that it was noon. Um you could see the um 0:17:44.160 --> 0:17:47.840 summer solstice, and I believe the winter solstice as well. 0:17:48.160 --> 0:17:51.159 Like the x is were the like the X or 0:17:51.200 --> 0:17:53.359 the edges of the X word position so that it 0:17:53.520 --> 0:17:57.680 followed the sun or the moon's migration annual migration across 0:17:57.720 --> 0:18:00.199 the sky. There was a lot going on that like 0:18:00.640 --> 0:18:04.159 the average person, including Fendley, could not just just you know, 0:18:04.320 --> 0:18:08.119 guess at it needed to be really precise. Yeah. Absolutely, 0:18:08.359 --> 0:18:11.960 they're cutting these holes basically, uh, and these little slots 0:18:12.000 --> 0:18:14.560 all around this thing to where you can peek through 0:18:14.600 --> 0:18:19.200 and see those uh sun rises and things during the solstice, uh, 0:18:19.640 --> 0:18:22.119 winter and summer. You can look through one hole and 0:18:22.160 --> 0:18:24.679 look at the North Star. So, like you said, it's 0:18:24.680 --> 0:18:28.560 super exact. Um. There was a plaque on site that 0:18:29.440 --> 0:18:33.439 listed R. C. Christian as the author of these words, 0:18:33.920 --> 0:18:36.359 and it said a small group of Americans who seek 0:18:36.760 --> 0:18:40.840 the age of reason. Uh, And then basically says, there's 0:18:40.840 --> 0:18:43.879 like a time capsule here, here's where the time capsule is. 0:18:44.680 --> 0:18:48.240 And they left this central message that said, let these 0:18:48.320 --> 0:18:51.840 be guidestones to an age of reason. And that was 0:18:51.880 --> 0:18:59.399 in Egyptian hierocliphics, Babylonian Cuneiform, Classical Greek, and Sanskrit. And 0:18:59.400 --> 0:19:01.200 then it lists did and we're gonna read these out, 0:19:01.240 --> 0:19:09.200 but it listed ten guides and eight different languages Arabic, Chinese, Hebrew, English, Russian, Hindi, Spanish, 0:19:09.240 --> 0:19:13.040 and Swahili. Yeah. And so each side of those four 0:19:13.119 --> 0:19:17.679 slabs that radiated from the Noman the center stone had 0:19:17.720 --> 0:19:21.000 a language, so that all all four had two languages 0:19:21.040 --> 0:19:24.439 on each side, right, and in English these were what 0:19:24.560 --> 0:19:28.600 these these rules or guidelines or guides, however you want 0:19:28.600 --> 0:19:31.840 to call them, that were inscribed on the stone. What 0:19:31.880 --> 0:19:35.600 they said? The first one, chuck, was maintained humanity under 0:19:35.680 --> 0:19:41.720 five hundred million in perpetual balance with nature. You here's 0:19:41.720 --> 0:19:43.280 another one. If you don't like that one, you're not 0:19:43.320 --> 0:19:47.840 gonna like this one either, Guide reproduction wisely improving fitness 0:19:47.960 --> 0:19:52.080 and diversity. Yeah problematic? Okay, Well how about this one. 0:19:52.080 --> 0:19:58.120 You're gonna love this. Unite humanity with a living new language. Uh, 0:19:58.119 --> 0:20:01.600 it could be problematic unless we're sucking. Uh. What is 0:20:01.640 --> 0:20:07.000 that one language we did on the years ago? Esperano? Esperanto? 0:20:07.080 --> 0:20:08.440 Did we do one on? I think we did a 0:20:08.560 --> 0:20:09.920 video on it. I don't think we ever did this, 0:20:10.600 --> 0:20:12.800 did we do? Yeah? It gets confusing once you get 0:20:12.800 --> 0:20:15.560 back to two thousand eleven twelve, that kind of thing. 0:20:16.080 --> 0:20:17.920 We were all confused. Shall I go on? Or you 0:20:17.960 --> 0:20:21.440 want to take over? Go ahead? This is fun? Okay Um. 0:20:21.480 --> 0:20:25.520 The next one says rule, passion, faith, tradition, and all 0:20:25.640 --> 0:20:31.080 things with tempered reason. Down with that protect down meaning 0:20:31.119 --> 0:20:33.560 like you're down with it or down the opposite. I'm 0:20:33.560 --> 0:20:35.719 down with it. No, that sounds great. Up with that. 0:20:35.800 --> 0:20:39.359 I'm down with that. Protect people in nations with fair 0:20:39.440 --> 0:20:43.920 laws and just courts. Sure, who wouldn't let all nations 0:20:44.040 --> 0:20:49.040 rule internally, resolving external disputes in a world court. M 0:20:49.480 --> 0:20:52.840 that sounds a little creepy potentially. The next one is 0:20:52.880 --> 0:20:56.520 something the libertarian and all of us can appreciate, avoid 0:20:56.600 --> 0:21:01.840 petty laws and useless officials. I love that one. I 0:21:01.880 --> 0:21:07.440 wonder what that sounds like in HINDI. Uh, drain the swamp. Right. 0:21:08.040 --> 0:21:12.240 There's also balanced personal rights with social duties. It's a 0:21:12.240 --> 0:21:15.960 great one too, if you balance it correctly. Uh. The 0:21:16.000 --> 0:21:20.120 next one is prize truth, beauty, love, seeking, harmony with 0:21:20.160 --> 0:21:23.480 the infinite. Pretty new ag. Yeah, I like it though. 0:21:23.720 --> 0:21:26.880 And then be not a cancer on Earth, Leave room 0:21:26.920 --> 0:21:30.679 for nature, Leave room for nature. And then the last 0:21:30.760 --> 0:21:38.800 one Sabbath rules for the z. I thought you're gonna say, 0:21:38.960 --> 0:21:45.000 Megadeth rules Metallica drules Metallica does not drouble. Well, I 0:21:45.040 --> 0:21:48.359 thought Megadeth fans didn't like Metallica. I think that old beef. Sure, 0:21:48.400 --> 0:21:54.000 but it's totally unnecessary because both are great, Okay, especially 0:21:54.080 --> 0:21:56.720 eighties both were great? How about that? Oh? Sure, yeah, 0:21:56.880 --> 0:21:59.879 we're yeah, absolutely so what I'm talking about give me 0:21:59.880 --> 0:22:05.639 some credit. Um. So from the beginning, the people that 0:22:05.680 --> 0:22:08.640 heard about this and uh sort of took it as 0:22:08.680 --> 0:22:13.960 maybe what to do after the apocalypse. But apparently Christian 0:22:14.000 --> 0:22:17.000 had written a little pamphlet like guide book kind of 0:22:17.040 --> 0:22:22.240 thing that talked about, um, not necessarily after the apocalypse, 0:22:22.280 --> 0:22:25.800 but here's how we might can avoid catastrophe more along 0:22:25.840 --> 0:22:28.000 those lines. Yeah, I found a quote from one of 0:22:28.040 --> 0:22:30.280 the from that book that he wrote that said, we 0:22:30.359 --> 0:22:33.919 are like a fleet of overcrowded lifeboats confronted with an 0:22:33.920 --> 0:22:38.040 approaching tempest. And then he says there are alternatives to armageddon. 0:22:38.280 --> 0:22:41.560 And I couldn't find out what those alternatives were. Um, 0:22:41.600 --> 0:22:44.400 but if he didn't provide alternatives, then that's just letting 0:22:44.440 --> 0:22:48.760 everybody's imagination run wild. The other thing that a lot 0:22:48.760 --> 0:22:50.880 of people point out to is that this was These 0:22:50.880 --> 0:22:55.679 were inscribed in nineteen smack dab in the middle of 0:22:55.720 --> 0:22:58.639 the Cold War, which at that time had no ending 0:22:58.680 --> 0:23:01.320