Wednesday, September 07, 2005

The Mystery of Coral Castle

For thousands of years we have wondered how the Great Pyramid was built. For perhaps the first time in thousands of years a man who seemed to have understood the Pyramid's secret demonstrated that knowledge by constructing the amazing Coral Castle in Homestead Florida. Was he proclaimed by the masses? Were his methods studied by engineers? No and No. He unfortunately died, forgotten, in a small Miami Florida hospital in 1951. The mystery of how he managed to build Coral Castle died with him and now modern engineers are baffled by how this one man could manage to construct this marvel of design and functionality.

In his superb book, "Waiting For Agnes,” Joe Bullard treats the reader to a wonderful story which drawers on information taken from a diary that Ed himself left behind, that follows Ed, as both reader and author try to uncover the mystery of this mans unusual life.

The story shows how Ed's genius has been regarded by the world's elite. With only a fourth grade education, Ed designed a 9-ton swinging gate in Coral Castle's east wall. (9 tons of coral rock is mounted on the wheel bearings of a 1920 Ford Model A truck. It is so perfectly balanced that even a child can push it open with just one finger) The huge block of coral is extremely uneven in its proportions. Ed faced the problem of finding the stone's exact center and running a rod down through the center in order to connect the gate to the wheel bearings of an old truck so the gate would spin. The hole had to be perfectly drilled-if it was off even a frog's hair, the rod would not go through. The weight of the stone finally wore down the bearings and the gate stopped opening in 1986.

Ed also built a perfectly shaped heart-table weighing 5,000 pounds that, according to Ripley's Believe-It-Or-Not, is the largest Valentine table in the world. Ed said that if he forgot to get Agnes a Valentine's card, now she could look at the table and have her card. He also planted an Ixora bush in the table's center so Agnes could have fresh flowers everyday; the plant is still alive.

Another interesting feature that Ed built is called the Throne room. The Throne room has a platform that contains the 5,000 lb. "Kings" chair which rocks without rocker arms; Ed made it rock based on it's own gravity.

Coral Castle is the finest example of massive stone construction in the United States. A study of the immense sizes and weights of the coral rock excavated, moved, and used in its construction establishes it as an authentic wonder of the world. That it was built entirely by one man makes it unequaled in all history.

There were approximately 1,000 tons of coral rock used in the construction of the walls and tower alone. In addition, over 100 tons of coral rock were used in the carvings of the artistic objects found throughout the entire park.

Ed's tower, where he lived, contains 243 tons of coral rock made up of huge blocks of stone weighing up to 9 tons each. The average weight of the stones used in the construction of Coral Castle is greater than those used in the Great Pyramid of Giza. Additionally, several of the stones used are taller than those found in Stonehenge in England. In weight, they exceed greatly the stones used in many other famous stone works around the world.

In Latvia in 1912 Ed Leedskalnin a 26 year old was jilted on the eve of his wedding by his 16- year-old fiancée, Agnes Scuffs. Broken-hearted, Ed wandered the world, visiting Canada and Europe before settling in Florida City, near Miami.

During his wandering in Europe, Ed noticed one outstanding feature-the land was covered with castles. This gave him a romantic notion to build a castle for Agnes and to send her pictures of it in hopes that she might come to Florida and marry him. Working only from midnight to sunrise so that no one could see how he moved the great coral stones weighing more than those of the Great Pyramid, Ed built Coral Castle for Agnes. When he finished it, he gave tours, telling his visitors that he was "Waiting For Agnes.




Coral Castel and the mysteries surrounding it are just another example of why I invite you to keep an open mind and to keep walking in this big weird world of ours!

I’m Average Joe


No comments: