The history of Coral Castle is quite extensive. It probably is one of the most mysterious and well known sites across the country and definitely in the state of Florida. When I moved down here I kept saying how one day I would make a trip up here to see it and finally was able to make it come true.

The nice thing about being on our team is that when we go somewhere to investigate a place we also try to make a vacation of it. So I am going to share photos from my trip working my way up to Coral Castle and After our journey as well here. I spent the entire weekend in the area as we had other places to investigate but they did not work out as planned. I did however get to swim in the Bermuda Triangle something I have always wanted to do. Not sure the life guard was to happy with me because I swam almost out to the reef lol.

Anyways Coral Castle was built by a Latvian named Ed Leedskalnin for his 16 year old Fiancée Agnes Scuffs. Leedskalnin was waiting to marry Agnes Scuffs so he left for America one day before the wedding calling it off. Strangely when he arrived down here he came down with Tuberculosis but miraculously healed something so many do not recover from. They say he used magnets to conquer the disease. Magnet therapy is today a new age way of healing. He came to Florida to help his condition however when he arrived in 1918 he had lived in Texas, California and even Canada.

Love makes you do crazy things and so he spent 28 years building the castle to impress his true love. He would never allow anybody to view him while he worked on it. Rumor has it that a few teenagers spied on him one time and reported that the giant blocks he was moving had moved like hydrogen balloons. Leedskalnin never spoke much about his tools that were used to move the heavy coral except of a perpetual motion holder.

The castle was named Rock Gate Park and was located in Florida City till around 1936. The building did not start till about 1923 of the castle 5 years after he had resided in America. Florida City was located quite a ways from its current location. The land that Rock Gate Park was built on was purchased from Ruben Moser whose wife did help assist him when Leedskalnin was ill with the Tuberculosis. If you want to know more about Florida city it borders the Florida Everglades...and is the southermost city in the United States that is not an island. At the time that was a very remote location and even today its fairly secluded with plenty of skunk ape sightings.

In 1936 Leedskalnin decided to move and take the castle with him. The mystery to it is all is why would he move tons and tons of rock so far away. Some say he moved to protect his privacy others say he moved for security reasons to a more populated area since one night he was badly beaten by a group of robbers in Florida City. He spent 3 years moving the Coral Castle pieces and structures 10 miles north of Florida City to its present location in Homestead Florida.  He never had a car he road his bicycle into town for food. He used a friends tractor which towed the pieces on a chassis of an old republic truck down two rails he laid out. People seen the pieces being transported but nobody seen them being loaded or unloaded since the work was donate at night with lantern serving as their light.

He kept adding on and working on the castle till his death in 1951. The coral pieces that are part of the newer castle and were not among the transported ones were quarried right on the property only a few feet from the southern wall.

He would never disclose how he made the castle but he would give tours. He would charge 10 cents to enter the castle when people would ring the bell twice at the gates. He would tell others that building the castle is not difficult if you know how. When others asked why he would tell them it was for his Sweet Sixteen. Sadly we live in a time period where people are not driven by love so the castle does have a love story behind it all the more reason for others to visit it.  Leedskalnin did live in the castle and had a second story living quarters area. Today one can see it as it like when he resided here.

In 1951 Leedskalnin became ill and put a sign on the front gate that said "Going to the Hospital" he took a bus to the Miami Hospital. The doctors had discovered he suffered from malnutrition and passed away three days later. Leedskalnin got caught up so much with his work that he never took care of himself.  It sort of has a tragic story behind it all he never ended up marrying Agnes Scuff....he spent his years in solitude....he died of something that could have been prevented...and on top of it he took with him his secrets. He was never a big man just under 5' tall and weighing in at around 100lbs.

After his death the property was inspected and $3,500 was found amongst his belonging. He made all his money conducting tours, selling pamphlets about various subjects such as magnetic currents...and the sale of a portion of his ten acres of property for the construction of U.S. 1 he did not have a will so the property was given to the closest living relative in the United States...a nephew in Michigan named Harry.

Harry was also in poor health so he ended selling the castle to an Illinois family in 1953. But then the story differs based on an obituary of the former owner....which stated that Julius Levin a retired jeweler from Chicago IL that states he purchased the land from the state in 1952 and was not or may not have been aware of the castle that existed on it. The new owners would change the name from Rock Gate Park to Coral Castle and it was turned into a tourist attraction.

In 1981 Levin sold the castle to Coral Castle. Inc. for $175,000 and they are the owners today. In 1984 the site was added to the National Register Of Historic Places. In my opinion its worth visiting but at the same time they have disgraced Leedskalnin's death by charging others $11 dollars just to walk around inside.

With over 1100 tons of rock Leedskalnin claimed he knew the secrets of the construction of the pyramids. Where as some monuments took thousands of slaves Ed designed Coral Castle himself.  All the stones were used to form walls, carvings, furniture and the tower. The most common material was Coral which is made up of Oolite Limestone. Most people can find this sort of rock beneath just a few inches of top soil such as the current Coral Castle site.

The stones are all fastened together without any mortar. The weight holds them in place on top of one another locking them in. If you examine the castle carefully you will notice that not even light passes between the seams. All the vertical stones have inform height even with the many hurricanes that passed through the area such as 1992's Hurricane Andrew which damaged everything in the area but the castle.

The castle contains a two story tower, an accurate sun dial, a Polaris Telescope, a BBQ area, water well, fountain, pieces of furniture, celestial stars...and planets, and even an obelisk. Some of the furniture pieces here are tables, chairs, twenty five rocking chairs, chairs resembling quarter moons, a bathtub, beds, a royal throne, a heart shaped table, a table in the shape of Florida and even a rock garden.

Some of the stones weigh more then the stones found in the Pyramids of Egypt. The largest stone weighs 30 tons which is over three times the size of the heaviest stone found in the Great Pyramid of Giza. The stones in the castle are monolithic slabs. They do not come in pieces because they are single pieces of stone. The 30 ton stone is capped by a stone that closely resembles the gabled roof of the King's Chamber in the Pyramid of Khufu. Two of the stones are so monolithic and stand 25' high above the ground which makes them taller then any stone found in Stonehenge.

The 9 ton revolving gate is the most famous structure of the castle its been on television a few times. The gate is carved so precisely that it fits within a quarter inch of the walls on both sides. Its so well balanced a child could push it up with a finger. Despite the gates well balanced axis and ease it lasted many decades up until 1986 when it stopped working.

A group of engineers had to be called in which took six men and a fifty ton crane. Once it was removed the engineers discovered that Ed Leedskalnin had drilled a hole from top to bottom of the eight foot tall gate with no electric tools and inserted a metal shaft. The rock then rested on an old truck bearing. The bearing had rusted out which resulted in the gates failure. That same year a new shaft and bearing were put into place...and the majestic gate worked again up until 2005.

What makes the entire site mysterious is how such a short frail man could move just large stones at night with just a small lantern to guide his way. The castle had numerous look outs  but the wall was put into place to protect his work and privacy.

I think Ed built the site out of guilt he called of his wedding...left to America and he was in love. I think that sometimes in life we all make mistakes and we try to make up for them which shows in our work we do. Leedskalnin used the old ways...the secret knowledge of the ancients and when he died the blueprints of nature died with him.

There is alot of skepticism and mystery as to the success of traditional methods of tripods equipped with pulleys and chains that are in Leedskalnin's photos. Analyst point out that the tripods appear to only rise 20 feet while the largest stone is 25 feet high.  The tripods appear to be made out of telephone poles and could not support such large stones. There are not enough pulleys to lessen the weight of the stones enough that a 100lb man could exert enough force to lift them. The 3/8' thick chains can still be found in the tool room of the castle tower which are also seen in the photographs can can only hold 3.5 tons of weight and would not be able to support most of the stones here. So how the hell did this man build the castle that is the mystery?

I suppose if you knew the laws of physics, weight and leverage almost anything is possible. Ed was what he was a damn good engineer. The mystery to the site perhaps is how did he do it was there more to what this man ever revealed? How was he able to build the site with such precision. Ed Leedskalnin was involved with Masonic and lumber work before the castle ever was built perhaps with this knowledge and the understanding of physics Ed was able to build Coral Castle.

© By

Lord Rick

My Visit To Miami & The Bermuda Triangle

Coral Castle

Photos From Reef Diving Over A Ship Wreck South Of Coral Castle (Underwater Camera)

Cannon On Seafloor

The Florida Everglades (Not What You Expected Huh?)