The Mysterious Coral Castle

I have been a person who thinks that if anyone could pull off such a thing as this.
He would have to be extraordinary indeed.
I hear of a man who used his voice to get people to give him money to further his greed.He pretended to be a religious man who had a dream of a church in Arizona.
He got his place and made a mint.Some people who were a part of this realized this and got out.
So I'm a believer,ever since I heard of it in the late 70's early 80's.
And if you don't believe you sooner or later you will !!
If I had the money I wish I could go and visit there !

Alan,that is a possiblity, just about anything is at this point, but they have photographs of where he supposedly quarried the stone, a whole lot of symmetrical squares dug down in the rock to not produce any blocks?!?!? Which is a type of lodestone,(the type is in my research somewhere I just can't put my hands on it) Which was said, to have different properties than either natural limestone or a poured limestone or coral slurry. Cause that is one of the theories. They say it is not actually coral, and he didn't name it that originally. It was 1st named Rock Gate Park.

I also got the impression from everything I've read, that he was not as charming as some would think a person holding tours should be. He often wouldn't come to the door at all and would let people stand and wait or leave without so much as an explanation. He didn't strike me as a fellow that knew how to market himself or his place. As a matter of fact, the serious tours of today didn't start till well after his death. He was however, very concerned about getting Agnes (the woman it was built for) to see his creation. He sent one invitation after another, to no avail.

Not long before his death, a family member of his went to her home in another state to extend yet another offer. She said,"I didn't want to marry him then, I don't want to see him now!" and when she was told about the castle, and asked wouldn't she like to see what he built for her? She said, "If I don't want to see him, I don't suppose I want to see what he built!"

But, none of this really makes any difference, a lot of evidence points to him learning how to magnetize the stones and using large magnets to move that much weight, which really isn't that far fetched. I can take a needle and if I rub a magnet over it long enough, it will become a magnet itself (yeah, I know, a really, really,really tiny magnet, and only a ferromagnet but, still a magnet),so, really I don't quite understand all the poo pooing over the magnetic theory. Most stone has some degree of metals in them, iron for one. But with lodestone, it is a naturally occuring magnetic stone, used as early as the 12th century by the Chinese to make a compass. I just don't think it is that odd, to think a man with little book education, could figure out that the stone in his yard was magnetic. I have known some really stupid people with 100's of 1,000's of dollars spent to educate themselves, and by the same token, I have also known completely uneducated (books, school) people, that were smarter than a building full of bio chemical physicists combined! I think education is a lot of overblown phooey. You are only as smart as you care to be, same goes for stupid. If a person really wants to know something they will find a way!

And who knows, he could have been siting outside one day drinking a beer, and dropped the top on the ground and it stuck, all it takes from there is the hhmmmmmm...... what if I..........

Sorry didn't mean to prattle on for days, just fascinated with all the possibilities. Thanks for reading and responding, I love a good debate!!

"Sorry didn’t mean to prattle on for days, just fascinated with all the possibilities. Thanks for reading and responding, I love a good debate!!"

So I suppose that's why my last two posts did not show up?

@Mark
Hi there, we've just started using a new spam filter, which sometimes eeks out non-spam stuff too, so please do comment again and we'll keep an eye out for you. We get so much spam it's easy to get washed away in the tide.
Cheers
Linda

Sorry Mark, I didn't know you had commented again, please rewrite your comment as it must have been spammed!! Sorry again, would love to hear what you had to say.

Hmm, funny, mine didn't too. Seems that your new "spam" filter is a common sense filter.

Hi kids,
Well I had written an answer to the Coral Castle article, but can't get editorial approval. So I have posted it on my blog at http://stuffwedidntknow.blogspot.com/
So any comments you have on either you can leave here or there!! Thanks, Luann

Thanks for a really interesting article. This is the first time I have seen this website, and I will certainly be looking over more of your work. Good stuff.

Hi kids, i havw written an answer to Coral Castle, but alas, cannot get editorial approval. So if you are interested, go to my blog http://stuffwedidntknow.blogspot.com/ and check it out. You can leave comments on that or on EG. Thanks for reading!
Luann

Thanks, Dave- I appreciate the nice comment! This was a really cool subject, I was in some sort of a trance while researching it, couldn't get enough. I am still finding new things about it, as I research for my own comments to everyone here! I guess, I'm gonna have to give it up and visit the place. When I do, I will write about that and see where that one gets us! lol I also write for examiner.com, a little different from the angle here, so if you like, check me out, just type in my name on the search bar. Thanks, for reading! Always happy to have "fresh meat"! lol

Guys, I promise you I did not remove any comments from this post!! If I was gonna take comments out, I would have taken all the nasty comments and left only the complimentary ones!!!! Please, re-post what your missing comments were, I am now, totally intrigued!!

It is easy to convert electromagnetic field into strong levitation.if ancient civilisations knew it,we should know it as well. I KNOW :)

Good Place to visit.

This article reads like the author was armed with only a fourth grade education.

Wow, that sounds so cool. I wonder if there is any real science behind it.

The thing that amazes me most is the staggering weight of gullibility displayed by the people in the article. I am astounded that anyone can believe such absurd things with any educational beyond kindergarten. If you know a 100lb man lifted a 1000lb stone, then your first guess ought to be that he uses block and tackle, winches and levers. Concluding immediately that he sings to magic magnets shows a distinct want of reason.

I could not say it better myself:
"This article reads like the author was armed with only a fourth grade education."

Somewhat interesting, but please don't just copy verbatim from what some nut tells you. Or if you do, say so: "The following was related to me by Jon Depew."

I've been there. It's a pretty neat place to see. Amazing that one guy built the whole thing by himself.

The stones are very heavy for 1 man to move and position.
That alone is impressive.

thanks from tony

I don't get what's so impressive here. Please, environmentalgraffiti, dial back on the magical thinking. The real science is tough enough.

A great article. I don't know why it inspired so much anger in the idiots posting their fourth grade comments. Self hatred? "In Search Of...", hosted by Leornard Nimoy, did a great show on it.

Seriously - you guys need your heads examined. The guy obviously either had fantastic sets of levers and pulleys, or lots of help. There's no secret magic laws of science involving magnetism. Period. If this guys can do what he claims, let's see him do it in person with video recording equipment. He won't, and he'll give some excuse, like it doesn't work when others are watching, or he can't concentrate, or he's just too wise for us all and thinks we shouldn't know it. How convenient. In any event, it's total BS, and if you really believe this nonsense it's no wonder why ignorance keeps the world at war and the environment in peril.

I had to look up and check to see if this was World Weekly News or some other tabloid... or perhaps an old April Fool's Day article. What a load of gullible, poorly written crap. What on earth is a sentence such as:

"the importance of such a feat is nonetheless awe-inspiring"

supposed to mean anyway? Luann is just plain looney.

Wow, what inspiring comments. Glad to know you people are breathing. For those of you that enjoyed my article, Thank you, I enjoyed researching and writing it. For the rest of you, boy are you people nasty. dedringer, I possess much more than a fourth grade education, you apparently only got far enough in school to learn to read, not philosophize, try a little harder if you want to really upset me! Sierra, the people around Edward Leedskalnin were indeed gullible, but he was a very small man, and the stones weren't 1,000 lb stones, they were 30 tons and there is a misprint above, they weighed 5 times the weight of the largest stone in the Pyramid of Giza.

Since the building of Coral Castle began in the 1920's and was not complete until Edward's death in 1951, the block and tackle that was photographed on the property in the 50's was not analyzed until the 80's. At which time, scientists determined, the pulleys, tripod, block and tackle was not of sufficient size or weight to have moved any of the blocks.

Mark, the only part related to me by Jon Depew is paragraph six and it is so stated. I hear doing puzzles increases memory retention, you should try a few.

Tony, I agree this is an impressive feat, I dare say there isn't a single one of our naysayer's that could duplicate such a feat with a 100 man crew and modern construction equipment.

s'fer, the scientist's that have studied Coral Castle, actually believe the building of it, was more science than anything else. Magnets have enormous force, if the force is correctly harnassed, they can move anything! Do some research on them, you will be amazed!

Yoda, check out some of the links attached to this article, you will find that Mr. Leedskalnin, has been dead since 1951. You can video him if you like, but you will probably be dissapointed.

And Craig, you are just not a nice person, if I wasn't as nice as I am, I would say what I'm thinking, but my Mother always said, "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything." Mark that was related to me by, Katherine S. Bowen when I was 5 years old.

The rest of you again, I thank you for your nice comments, this just goes to prove, some people just can't be pleased. Oh well, maybe I can get it right next time!

I've been there. To those that haven't shut up and listen. EVERYTHING there is made from coral slabs of two types of limestone, nothing poured or pulverized. Got that, Alan?
Look at an aerial view of the place and by the south wall you can see where he quarried the slabs for his walls and ramparts. There is scarring on each wall slab from where he pounded hot leaf-springs into the limestone. When the springs cooled tension returned with enough force to snap the chiseled slab.
Yoda, you need to physically check the place out before making any comments on something you know absolutely nothing about. And if you keep both eyes & mind open you might learn something and would no longer post ignorant remarks.

I lived and worked in Homestead for a year in 1990 and have been to Coral Castle ,it really is amazing. Anyone going anywhere near there should go to see it. Truly amazing.

Yeah ultimately you're right Luann, these people are just pricks. I enjoyed your article. And J.Sherwood is right, these guys are just self-hating losers projecting their own intellectual insecurities onto others! I've heard about this story before and it doesn't matter how you look at it, the science behind the feat must be amazing, magic or no magic!

I think this was a very informative article. I had never heard of this place until your article. I would like to take a weekend trip to go see it. I am excited to see what you will write about next.

THis is neat. I have never heard of this before. Thanks for sharing!

Luann,
I don't care what those people say, this is an awesome find. If people were more interested in how Ed did it rather than how you wrote it, maybe we'd live in a happy, peaceful place.

Thank you for the new comments, I appreciate your kind words. It is not easy to relate a story as complicated as this one, in a limited amount of space. I encourage everyone reading this article to check out the attached links, the information on this is vast and intriguing! And if there is anything else you would like to know, beyond the links, e-mail me, I have tons of research that I was only able to vaguely relate to you, in this article. I would be happy to share all.

Great article Mom!! Keep up the good work! For some of you people, didn't your mothers teach you if you can't say somethng nice then don't say anything at all! I would hate to have to be rude!

Love ya, Jenna

This may be one of the most interesting things i have found on the internet. I wish they knew a little more or if they had more of an understanding. this is very impressive

"the scientist’s that have studied Coral Castle, actually believe the building of it, was more science than anything else. Magnets have enormous force, if the force is correctly harnassed, they can move anything! Do some research on them, you will be amazed!"

This is nonsense, pure an simple. No scientist believes that a human being is controlling magnetism - Xmen was a movie and a comic, and Magneto doesn't really exist I'm afraid to tell you. Any "scientist" who claims otherwise is purporting pseudo-science, and is therefore no scientist. These so-called "sources" you used are terrible contrived crap written by hucksters and delusional people with no empirical evidence to support their extraordinary claims. That, contrary to their assertion, is not science. Science is based on scientific method, which requires that quantifiable evidence be produced that logically supports a theory. That is not the case in this instance - they are not trustworthy sources.

Look, you seem like a nice person, but you really need to be a lot more critical of the source information you use if you want to become a journalist. You will never find anything resembling the claims being made by these people in any respectable scientific journals - where you should be looking at in the first place for sources. I understand these are typically not for laypeople, but try looking at something like Scientific American for more digestible science.

Good luck.

Thanks, M. Bruce.... I see chivalry is still alive and well, good to know!

Edward Leedskalnin's secret was that he used "ancient concrete" made from coral slurry to pour or cast the blocks. He didn't move anything but small amounts of liquid.

The ancient Egyptians apparently did the same thing when they built the pyramids. It is impossible to distinguish between natural limestone and the "cast" limestone of the pyramids without some sophisticated testing, see the article "Pyramids were built with concrete rather than rocks, scientists claim" at timesonline.co.uk

Mr Leedskalnin used the same technique; but that wouldn't have sold tickets to view his castle, so he invented more interesting ideas to marvel the "more educated" visitors. He obviously understood the invention of the emperor's tailors ("The Emperor's New Clothes").