Conspiracy file · 1848–1884

Washington Monument

The marble obelisk on the National Mall honoring George Washington, begun in 1848 and finished in 1884: 555 feet 5⅛ inches tall. Freemasons laid its cornerstone, which is all a good theory needs.

Also known as Washington National Monument

On the record Timeline From the comics In Paranoid American comics Sources & further reading

From Time Samplers #4

The story

The private Washington National Monument Society chose Robert Mills's design, and on July 4, 1848, the cornerstone was laid with Masonic rites: Grand Master Benjamin B. French wore George Washington's own Masonic apron and used the gavel Washington had used on the Capitol in 1793. The money ran out in 1854 at about 156 feet, and the stump stood unfinished through the Civil War.

Congress took over in 1876, and the Army Corps of Engineers under Thomas Lincoln Casey finished the job. The capstone and its aluminum tip went on December 6, 1884, and the monument was the tallest structure in the world until the Eiffel Tower opened in 1889. The change in the marble's color about a third of the way up marks the long pause.

The theories start with the Masons and the shape. Obelisks were Egyptian sun monuments, so this one is read as a pagan or Masonic symbol at the heart of a capital supposedly laid out with pentagrams and owls. Numerologists go further: 555 feet is 6,660 inches. The official 555 feet 5⅛ inches spoils the math.

Memorandum for the recordSubject: Washington Monument

On the record

The cornerstone was laid on July 4, 1848, with Masonic rites led by Grand Master Benjamin B. French, using Washington's own Masonic apron and gavel.
Work stalled after 1854 at about 156 feet; Congress took the project over on July 5, 1876.
The capstone was set on December 6, 1884, topped with an aluminum tip; the monument was dedicated on February 21, 1885.
Official height: 555 feet 5⅛ inches. A 2013–14 NOAA survey, measuring to today's standard, got 554 feet 7 11/32 inches.
896 steps climb to the 500-foot observation level; they have been closed to the public since 1976.
A magnitude 5.8 earthquake on August 23, 2011, cracked stones throughout; it reopened on May 12, 2014.
It weighs more than 80,000 tons above ground and contains more than 36,000 stones.

The theory

The obelisk is an ancient Egyptian sun symbol, and the Masons put one at the heart of the capital on purpose.
Washington's street plan hides a pentagram and an owl, with the monument at a key point.
Numerology: 555 feet is 6,660 inches; round the height up to 555.5 feet and you get 6,666.
Some say it works as an antenna over the capital.
It stands 666 feet tall. It doesn't: that one is our joke, from the Time Samplers #4 blurb.

Timeline

1783Congress votes for a statue of Washington; it is never built
1791Pierre L'Enfant draws his plan for the federal city
1833The Washington National Monument Society is founded
1848The cornerstone is laid with Masonic rites (July 4)
1854Work stalls at about 156 feet
1876Congress takes over the project (July 5)
1884The capstone is set (December 6); the tallest structure in the world
1885Dedicated (February 21)
1889The Eiffel Tower takes the title of world's tallest
2011A magnitude 5.8 earthquake cracks the stonework (August 23)
2014Reopens after repairs (May 12); NOAA re-measures it

Who's who

George WashingtonFirst president, a Freemason, and the man it honors
Robert MillsArchitect of the original design
Benjamin B. FrenchMasonic Grand Master who laid the cornerstone in 1848
Thomas Lincoln CaseyArmy engineer who finished the monument (1876–1884)
Pierre Charles L'EnfantPlanner of the city's street layout, where some see a pentagram and an owl

Sources & further reading

Related files

From the comics

Panels straight from the page. Click one to read it full size.

From Time Samplers #4: Blowing Out the Candle · Page 12

The Tallest Candle

The crew finds a pentagram and an owl in the street map of Washington, D.C., with the Washington Monument right below the star: the "tallest candle on the tip of the falling star". If the obelisk is an antenna, the plan is to overload it with a hurricane. The real monument is a 555-foot marble memorial with a Masonic cornerstone.

Pentagram and owl: favorite finds of D.C. symbol hunters. The pentagram is traced along the avenues north of the White House, laid out in Pierre L'Enfant's 1791 plan (one of its lines is missing); the owl is read into the street pattern near the Capitol. The plan is real. The symbols are in the eye of the beholder.
Tallest obelisk: when it was finished in 1884 it was the tallest structure in the world, until the Eiffel Tower in 1889. Official height: 555 feet 5⅛ inches. A 2013–14 NOAA survey, measuring to today's standard, got 554 feet 7 11/32 inches. Neither is 666.
Egyptian obelisks were sun monuments, tied to the sun god Ra and usually raised in pairs at temple gates. Psychic lighthouses and radio antennas are the comic's.

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