ELBERT COUNTY, Ga. — Georgia will mark one year since the destruction of a historic landmark that stood in a field in Elberton for decades.
Georgia Guidestones used to stand near the South Carolina state line. For 42 years, the mysterious monoliths towered as a state monument. Now the area is just gravel and weeds after an explosion sent them toppling down.
"They’re gone that’s all I can tell you- they’re gone,” said Wayne Mullinex, who owns the property where the Guidestones were placed, and actually dug the foundation and erected them there himself. "I put them up, but it wasn't my idea."
The stones themselves were a mystery, paid for by an unknown person who called themselves R.C. Christian back in 1979.
They were 19 feet high, a quarter of a million pounds and built to withstand an earthquake. Each stone was etched with guiding principles in languages from across the world.
Mullinex says they were controversial from the start.
“Population shouldn’t be over 100,000, it was things like that on it," explained Mullinex. He said that not everyone agreed with the guiding principles listed on the granite slabs but they did attract a crowd, bringing thousands of tourists each year.
"The day that we unveiled them there was a wedding here," Mullinex recalled.
But weddings weren't the only kind of ceremony happening near what was nicknamed "America's Stonehedge."
"One night, got a call they’re gonna sacrifice one of my cows up here," Mullinex said. "Some guy sent his picture, and told me to meet him at 12 o’clock at night, the worlds fixin' to come to an end."
All that ended July 6 of last year, when someone blew up the Guidestones.
"I was asleep," Mullinex said. "I heard it, it rocked my house."
Their destruction caused more conspiracies to swirl.
"I’ve heard lightning, I’ve heard it just blew up on its own and obviously we heard it was a bomb that blew the Guidestones up," said Elbert County Administrator Allen Hulme.
GBI released surveillance video showing the explosion and a car leaving the area in a cloud of smoke along with a video showing a person leaving a device and the subsequent explosion.
But investigators have never named a suspect.
The rest of the stones were removed for safety soon after the explosion but Mullinex says that hasn’t entirely stopped the tourists.
“You will see people out here with a little shovel and paper bag and they’re picking up some of the grit out here,” said Mullinex.
And while Mullinex says he’s sad the stones were destroyed he has no plans to ever bring them back.
What was left of the stones was donated to the Elberton granite museum, operated by the Elberton Granite Association.
As for the criminal investigation, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation is still looking into who is behind the explosion. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Elbert County Sheriff’s Office at (706) 283-2421 or the GBI Athens Office at (706) 552-2309.