Elberton, Georgia - The Georgia Guidestones, known as the American Stonehenge, were demolished for safety reasons on Thursday after an explosion damaged the bizarre monument.

The explosion took place early Wednesday morning, with surveillance video showing an unknown suspect planting an explosive device at the scene that destroyed a large portion of the monument, before taking off in a silver car.

The damage was so severe that the structure had to be demolished on Thursday, with videos of it being torn down shared to Twitter.

The Guidestones consisted of large, 42,000 pound stone slabs that displayed "a 10-part message espousing the conservation of mankind and future generations in 12 languages."

It also served as a kind of astronomical calendar, and "every day at noon the sun shines through a narrow hole in the structure and illuminates the day’s date on an engraving."

It's fair to say that the monument attracted a bit of controversy over the years, with officials being forced to install surveillance cameras at the site a few years ago after several incidents of vandalism.

But things recently escalated to another level. During the state's gubernatorial primary on May 24, Republican candidate Kandiss Taylor claimed the site was Satanic, vowing to demolish it if she won – which she never even came close to doing. Her weird fixation with the Guidestones, however, brought them into the national spotlight.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigations and local Elbert County Sheriff’s Office are conducting an investigation into Wednesday's bombing.