http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coral_Castle
Coral Castle is a stone structure created by
the Latvian-American eccentric Edward Leedskalnin
north of the city of Homestead, Florida in Miami-Dade
County at the intersection of U.S. 1 (South Dixie
Highway) and Southwest 157th Ave. The structure
comprises numerous megalithic stones (mostly limestone,
formed from coral), each weighing several tons.[2]
Contents
[hide]
* 1 History
* 2 The Castle
* 3 Controversy surrounding its construction
* 4 In popular culture
* 5 References
* 6 External links
[edit] History
Edward Leedskalnin was jilted by his 16-year-old
fiancée Agnes Scuffs in Latvia, just one
day before the wedding. Leaving for America, he
came down with allegedly terminal tuberculosis,
but spontaneously healed, stating that magnets
had some effect on his disease.
Edward spent over 28 years building the Coral
Castle, refusing to allow anyone to view him while
he worked. A few teenagers claimed to have witnessed
his work, reported that he had caused the blocks
of coral to move like hydrogen balloons. The only
tool that Leedskalnin spoke of using was a "perpetual
motion holder."
Leedskalnin originally built the castle, which
he named Rock Gate Park, in Florida City, Florida
around 1923. He purchased the land from Ruben
Moser whose wife helped assist him when he had
a very bad bout with tuberculosis.[3] Florida
City, which borders the Everglades, is the southernmost
city in the United States that is not on an island.
It was an extremely remote location with very
little development at the time. The castle remained
in Florida City until about 1936 when Leedskalnin
decided to move and take the castle with him.
The Coral Castle website states that he chose
to move in order to protect his privacy when discussion
about developing land in the area of the castle
started.[4] The second commonly held notion was
that he wanted to relocate to a more populous
locale after being badly beaten one night by hooligans
looking to rob him.[5] He spent three years moving
the Coral Castle structures 10 miles (16 km) north
from Florida City to its current location in Homestead,
Florida.
Leedskalnin continued to work on the castle up
until his death in 1951. The coral pieces that
are part of the newer castle, not among those
transported from the original location, were quarried
on the property only a few feet away from the
southern wall.
Leedskalnin charged visitors ten cents a head
to tour the castle grounds. There are signs carved
into rocks at the front gate to "Ring Bell
Twice" and a second sign just inside the
property that says "Adm. 10c Drop Below".
He would come down from his living quarters which
were the second story of the castle tower and
are close to the gate and conduct the tour. Leedskalnin
never told anyone that asked him how he made the
castle. He would simply answer "It's not
difficult if you know how." If asked why
he had made this castle, Leedskalnin would vaguely
answer it was for his "Sweet Sixteen."
When Leedskalnin became ill in December 1951,
he put a sign on the door of the front gate "Going
to the Hospital" and took the bus to a Miami
hospital. The doctors discovered Leedskalnin was
suffering from malnutrition. He died in the hospital
three days later.
While the property was being investigated, $3,500
was found among Leedskalnin's personal belongings.
Leedskalnin had made his income from conducting
tours, selling pamphlets about various subjects
(including magnetic currents) and the sale of
a portion of his 10-acre (4.0 ha) property for
the construction of U.S. Route 1.[4] Having no
will, the castle became the property of his closest
living relative in America, a nephew from Michigan
named Harry.[6]
The Coral Castle website reports that the nephew
was in poor health and he sold the castle to an
Illinois family in 1953. However, this story differs
from the obituary of a former Coral Castle owner,
Julius Levin, a retired jeweler from Chicago,
Illinois. The obituary states Levin had purchased
the land from the state of Florida in 1952 and
may not have been aware there was even a castle
on the land.[7]
The new owners changed the name of Rock Gate
Park to Coral Castle and turned it into a tourist
attraction.[8]
In January 1981, Levin sold the castle to the
Coral Castle, Inc. for $175,000.[9] They remain
the owners today.
In 1984, The National Register of Historic Places
added Rock Gate, also known as Coral Castle, to
its list of historic places.[10]
[edit] The Castle
A view from within Leedskalnin's Coral Castle.
The grounds of Coral Castle consist of 1,100
tons of stones found in the forms of walls, carvings,
furniture and a castle tower. While commonly referred
to as being made up of coral, it is actually made
of oolite, also known as oolitic limestone. Oolite
is a sedimentary rock composed of small spherical
grains of concentrically layered carbonate that
may include localized concentrations of fossil
shells and coral. Oolite is found throughout southeastern
Florida from Palm Beach County to the Florida
Keys.[11] Oolite is often found beneath only several
inches of topsoil, such as at the Coral Castle
site.
The stones are fastened together without any
mortar. They are simply set on top of each other
using their immense weight to keep them together.
However, the craftsmanship detail is so skillful
that the stones are connected with such precision
that no light passes through the joints. The eight
foot tall vertical stones that make up the perimeter
wall have a uniform height. Even with the passage
of decades and a direct hit on August 24, 1992
by the Category 5 Hurricane Andrew, which leveled
everything in the area, the stones have not shifted.
Many of the features and carvings of the castle
are notable. Among them are a two-story castle
tower that served as Leedskalnin's living quarters,
walls consisting entirely of eight foot high pieces
of coral, an accurate sundial, a Polaris telescope,
an obelisk, a barbecue, a water well, a fountain,
celestial stars and planets, and numerous pieces
of furniture. The furniture pieces included are
a heart-shaped table, a table in the shape of
Florida, twenty-five rocking chairs, chairs resembling
crescent moons, a bathtub, beds and a royal throne.
The Thirty Ton Stone.
What is most remarkable about the contents of
the Coral Castle is the massive size of the stones
used throughout the construction, all the more
remarkable when one considers that a single man
assembled the entire site using only primitive
tools. With few exceptions, the objects are made
from single pieces of stone that weigh on average
15 tons each. The largest stone weighs 30 tons
and the tallest stones are two monolithic stones
standing 25 feet (7.6 m) high each.
A nine-ton revolving gate is the most famous
structure of the castle and was documented on
the television programs In Search of..., and That's
Incredible! The gate is carved so precisely that
it fits within a quarter of an inch of the walls
on both sides. It was so well-balanced that a
child could open it with the push of a single
finger. The mystery of the gate's perfectly balanced
axis and the amazing ease with which it revolved
lasted for decades until the gate suddenly stopped
working in 1986. At that time, a team of engineers
was brought in for consultation. In order to remove
the gate, six men and a fifty ton crane were utilized.
Once the gate was removed, the engineers discovered
how Leedskalnin had centered and balanced the
nine-ton piece of rock. 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 rested on an old truck bearing.
It was the rusting out of this bearing that resulted
in the gate's failure to revolve. The nine-ton
gate, complete with new bearings, and a replaced
shaft was lifted and set back into place on July
23, 1986.[12] The gate failed again in 2005 and
was subsequently repaired, however it does not
rotate with the same ease it once did.
[edit] Controversy surrounding its construction
The structure is considered mysterious by some,
mainly because it is said that one man assembled
the entire structure. Leedskalnin seems to have
gone to great lengths to ensure that he was not
observed working. The Castle's official site states
that "Ed did much of his work at night by
lantern light. The Coral Castle has numerous lookouts
along the Castle walls that were designed to help
protect his privacy."[4]
There are various theories that hold that Leedskalnin
constructed the Castle using some unknown form
of science. For example, one website claims that
"Ed Leedskalnin left behind the blueprints
of nature, a Secret Knowledge of the Ancients".[13]
Such theories seem to be discounted by evidence,
such as photographs showing Leedskalnin working,
apparently using traditional methods like block
and tackle.[14]
There is skepticism as to the success of the
traditional methods of tripods equipped with pulleys
and chains that are in the photographs of Leedskalnin
at work. Some point out that the Tripods appear
to only rise about 20 feet (6.1 m), while the
largest stones are 25 feet (7.6 m) long and stand
vertical. They claim that tripods that are made
from wooden telephone poles and could not support
the larger stones. There are not enough pulleys
to lessen the weight of the stones enough that
a 100-pound man could exert enough force to lift
the stones. The chains, with links 3/8 inch thick,
which can still be found in the Tool Room of the
Castle Tower and are seen in the photographs,
are only rated with a 3.5 ton workload and may
not be able to support the weight of the stones.[15]
However, these claims have not been rigorously
analyzed by either engineers or scientists[16].
The Coral Castle site states that "if anyone
ever questioned Ed about how he moved the blocks
of coral, Ed would only reply that he understood
the laws of weight and leverage well." [4]
He also stated that he had "discovered the
secrets of the pyramids"[16], which of course
could be interpreted in either esoteric or engineering
terms.
Despite the skepticism of traditional building
methods at least one person, W. T. Wallington,
has shown that he can produce feats of this nature
using only simple tools. Given this type of construction
method, the statements of Leedskalnin and the
evidence surrounding its construction this could
be the way Leedskalnin built coral castle.
The Coral Castle site claims that "[Ed Leedskalnin]
has baffled engineers and scientists!"[4]
Although, no doubt baffling, the Coral Castle
information booth was unable to identify a single
scientist or engineer who had specifically examined
the castle, despite the information on their Web
site[16].
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrljSjQqArU&feature=related |
