The Mystery of Coral Castle and Edward Leedskalnin.
The story of the Coral Castle and its enigmatic creator is that of an architectural masterpiece, lost love and mystical techniques of building that are surrounded by rumours, myth and speculation.
The Coral Castle.
The Coral Castle, located in Miami-Dade County in Florida, USA, is currently a privately run tourist attraction but was originally built by its creator as a memorial to lost love. The structure is built from huge megalithic oolite limestone rocks that fit together perfectly to create the delightfully eccentric monument.
Totalling over 1000 tonnes of rock, there has long been speculation, rumours and myths as to how its creator, a 5 foot tall, 100 pound man was able to complete the works with no outside assistance and without the use of any heavy machinery.
The Creator of Coral Castle — Edward Leedskalnin.
Edward Leedskalnin was born in Riga, Latvia, on the 10th August 1887. Little is known about the early life of this private and enigmatic man except that at the age of 26 he proposed to his true love, Agnes Scuffs.
However, Leedskalnin’s hopes for a happy future with his ‘sweet sixteen’ were dashed when she called off the wedding just one day before the ceremony.
Distraught and heartbroken Ed he left his home and set off to see the world. After living and working in Canada, Texas and California as a lumber jack and stone mason he decided to move to the warmer climbs of Florida City after he developed tuberculosis.
From 1918 until the middle of the 1930s he lived a quiet private life on his property in the outskirts of Florida City, however, in 1936, he heard that a nearby subplot had been sold to new comer. Ed decided immediately to move to the nearby Homestead, around 10 miles away, to avoid having any neighbours and continue his reclusive life without any potential outside interference.
Work on Coral Castle Begins.
At the age of 49 Ed was settling into his new home which included moving the building work he had completed at his former address in Florida City.
Ed didn’t own a car and lived a very simple life and so moving the rock sculptures that he had already built from his old home 10 miles away was difficult but with the help of a friend’s tractor he was able to drag them on the chassis of an old Ford truck to their new location, and although it took 3 years to complete the task, once it was done he could begin the next chapter in his life for which he would become a legend.
Ed was an extremely retiring person and although people saw him moving his giant coral carvings down the highway on the chassis of a Ford truck, being towed by a tractor, no one ever saw him load or unload them.
To maintain his privacy, Ed worked by night by the light of lanterns, and in fact, at his new site in Homestead, Florida, he set up ‘lookout’ towers to spot anyone from a distance who might be approaching.
Once the coral carvings were in place, Ed began work on the walls of his castle in approximately 1940.
Coral Castle — the Work Goes On.
Ed went on to build an impressive 8 foot wall around his 10 acres of land in Homestead using blocks that were 4 foot wide by 3 foot thick and weighed more than 50 tons each. As well as the walls he built a two story tower, in which he made his home, that weighed a total of 240 tons.
He lived alone on the second floor of the tower with hand carved stone tables, chairs and a bathtub.
In the garden of Coral Castle, originally known as Rock Gate Park, he created an eclectic assortment of sculptures including two 28 ton obelisks and a huge 30 ton rock that had stone decorations on the top. He also crafted an accurate sundial, a fountain, a water well, a barbecue and a memorable sculpture of the stars and planets.
Throughout the entire complex none of the buildings he constructed used mortar and it was only Ed’s expert craftsmanship which held the structures together for the decades to come.
The joints are so tightly put together that light does not even pass through the enormous blocks.
The Coral Castle is built from stones that weigh an average of 15 tons each, with the largest weighing over 30 tones. Each of the monoliths are over 25 feet tall and every object was carved, crafted and put into position by a 5 foot tall man without the use of any heavy machinery.
Officially Ed only used basic pulleys and winches to construct the Coral Castle although he also built a fully functioning AC generator and there were constant rumours that he had developed a Free Energy device that could levitate the huge stones into position using sound frequencies.
There is a reported story, recalled by two boys at the time, who claimed that they sneaked up to the Coral Castle one night and saw Ed using a strange black box to levitate the stones into the air! These rumours were fuelled by many far away neighbours reporting that they heard bizarre sounds coming from the complex during the night!
The Gate to Coral Castle.
The gate that leads into the strange world of the Coral Castle is one of the marvels of the structure. It is so well constructed that the 8 foot tall stone block revolves effortlessly on an old truck bearing that, rumour has it, was easy enough to push open by a child with just a single finger!
Over the years the bearings deteriorated and eventually had to be replaced in 1986 when the truck bearing began to rust. To conduct the repairs it took a team of 6 men and a 50 ton mechanised crane to remove the stone and replace it! Later in 2005 the gate needed repairs again and since it’s recent renovation it has never functioned as smoothly as Ed’s original design.
However, the mere fact in the 1980's it took a team of 6 men and a 50 ton crane to replace the gate naturally makes one wonder exactly how Ed managed to do it all on his own by the light of dim electric lanterns.
Ed originally named his creation after the stone gate, calling it Rock Gate Park. Ed used to lead tours around his creation, charging a dime per person. To enter his sanctuary, visitors had to ring on the doorbell twice, and only twice. If they rung more than twice he would ignore them entirely.
How the Story of Edward Leedskalnin Ends.
Just as he lived his life, Ed’s death was quiet and understated. One day in December of 1951, he left Rock Gate Park leaving a note on the door. The note said simply, ‘Going to the hospital’. Three days later he died in his sleep aged 64.
Following the death of Edward Leedskalnin his property was sold and during the handover process a small metal safe was found in which he had stored 35 $100 dollar bills. In today’s money that would be $35,000, saved in cash.
After a mysterious life of reclusive solitude, Ed Leedskalnin left the world a truly unique architectural treasure in a small corner of Florida that is still to this day a popular tourist attraction in the city of Homestead. It’s likely that nobody will ever know for sure how Ed managed to construct his castle but because of the mystery that still hangs over his life and his work, Ed Leedskalnin has become something of a cult hero among truth seekers everywhere.
