Georgia Guidestones
The Georgia Guidestones are a granite monument erected in 1980 in Elbert County, Georgia, in the United States. A set of ten guidelines is inscribed on the structure in eight modern languages and a shorter message is inscribed at the top of the structure in four ancient language scripts. The monument stands at an approximate elevation of above sea level, about east of Atlanta, from Athens, Georgia and north of the center of the city of Elberton. One slab stands in the center, with four arranged around it. A capstone lies on top of the five slabs, which  are astronomically aligned. An additional stone tablet, which is set in the ground a short distance to the west of the structure, provides some notes on the history and purpose of the guidestones. The structure is sometimes referred to as an "American Stonehenge". The monument is tall, made from six granite slabs weighing in all. The anonymity of the guidestones' authors and their apparent advocacy of population control, eugenics, and internationalism have made them an object of controversy and conspiracy theories. History. In June 1979, a man using the pseudonym R. C. Christian approached the Elberton Granite Finishing Company on  behalf of "a small group of loyal Americans", and commissioned the structure. Christian explained that the stones would function as a compass, calendar, and clock, and should be capable of "withstanding catastrophic events". Joe Fendley of Elberton Granite assumed that Christian was "a nut" and attempted to discourage him by providing a quote for the commission which was several times higher than any project the company had previously taken, explaining that the guidestones would require additional tools and consultants. To Fendley's surprise, Christian accepted the quote. When arranging payment, Christian said that he represented a group which had been  planning the guidestones for 20 years and which wanted to remain anonymous. Christian delivered a scale model of the guidestones and ten pages of specifications. The site was apparently purchased by Christian on October 1, 1979, from farm owner Wayne Mullinex. Mullinex and his children were given lifetime cattle grazing rights on the guidestones site. On March 22, 1980, the monument was unveiled before an audience variously described as 100 or 400 people. Christian later transferred ownership of the land and the guidestones to Elbert County. In 2008, the stones were defaced with polyurethane paint and graffiti with slogans such  as "Death to the new world order". "Wired" magazine called the defacement "the first serious act of vandalism in the guidestones' history". In September 2014, an employee of the Elbert County maintenance department contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation when the stones were vandalized with graffiti including the phrase "I Am Isis, goddess of love". Description. Inscriptions. A message consisting of a set of ten guidelines or principles is engraved on the Georgia Guidestones in eight different languages, one language on each face of the four large upright stones. Moving clockwise around the structure from due north, these languages are : English, Spanish, Swahili, Hindi, Hebrew, Arabic, Traditional Chinese, and Russian. Explanatory tablet. A few feet to the west of the monument, an additional granite ledger has been set level with the ground. This tablet identifies the structure and the languages used on it and lists various facts about the size, weight, and astronomical features of the stones, the date it was installed, and the sponsors of the project. It also refers to a time capsule buried under the tablet, but blank spaces on the stone intended for filling in the dates on which the capsule was buried and is to  be opened have not been inscribed, so it is uncertain if the time capsule was ever actually put in place. The complete text of the explanatory tablet is detailed below. The tablet is somewhat inconsistent with respect to punctuation and misspells the word "pseudonym". The original spelling, punctuation, and line breaks in the text have been preserved in the transcription which follows (letter case is not). At the top center of the tablet is written: Immediately below this is the outline of a square, inside which is written: Around the edges of the square are written translations to four ancient  languages, one per edge. Starting from the top and proceeding clockwise, they are: Babylonian (in cuneiform script), Classical Greek, Sanskrit and Ancient Egyptian (in hieroglyphs). On the left side of the tablet is the following column of text (metric conversion added): The words appear as shown under the time capsule heading; no dates are engraved. Physical data. On the right side of the tablet is the following column of text (metric conversions added): Guidestone languages. Below the two columns of text is written the caption "GUIDESTONE LANGUAGES", with a diagram of the granite slab layout beneath it. The names of  eight modern languages are inscribed along the long edges of the projecting rectangles, one per edge. Starting from due north and moving clockwise around so that the upper edge of the northeast rectangle is listed first, they are English, Spanish, Swahili, Hindi, Hebrew, Arabic, Chinese, and Russian. At the bottom center of the tablet is the following text: Astronomical features. The four outer stones are oriented to mark the limits of the 18.6 year lunar declination cycle. The center column features a hole drilled at an angle from one side to the other, through which can be seen the North  Star. The same pillar has a slot carved through it which is aligned with the Sun's solstices and equinoxes. A -in (22 mm) aperture in the capstone allows a ray of sun to pass through at noon each day, shining a beam on the center stone indicating the day of the year. Interpretations. Yoko Ono said the inscribed messages are "a stirring call to rational thinking", while "Wired" stated that unspecified opponents have labeled them as the "Ten Commandments of the Antichrist". The guidestones have become a subject of interest for conspiracy theorists. One of them, an activist named  Mark Dice, demanded that the guidestones "be smashed into a million pieces, and then the rubble used for a construction project", claiming that the guidestones are of "a deep Satanic origin", and that R. C. Christian belongs to "a Luciferian secret society" related to the New World Order. At the unveiling of the monument, a local minister proclaimed that he believed the monument was "for sun worshipers, for cult worship and for devil worship". Conspiracy theorist Jay Weidner has said that the pseudonym of the man who commissioned the stones – "R. C. Christian" – resembles Rose Cross Christian, or Christian Rosenkreuz , the founder of the Rosicrucian Order. One interpretation of the stones is that they describe the basic concepts required to rebuild a devastated civilization. Author Brad Meltzer notes that the stones were built in 1979 at the height of the Cold War, and thus argues that they may have been intended as a message to the possible survivors of a nuclear World War III. The engraved suggestion to keep humanity's population below 500 million could have been made under the assumption that war had already reduced humanity below this number. The guidestones were briefly shown and discussed in the  documentary films "Sherman's March" (1986) and "Endgame: Blueprint for Global Enslavement" (2007), and were featured extensively in a 2012 episode of "Mysteries at the Museum", a "Monumental Mysteries Special" featuring Don Wildman.