JiveTurkey
05-19-2008, 12:50 AM
About 30 miles south of Miami, Florida, in a town called Homestead, lies an unusual—some would say impossible—structure, composed of coral rock. Called the Coral Castle, it has a colorful past. It was the life's work of a reclusive Latvian immigrant named Edward Leedskalnin, who built the complex after being jilted by his sixteen-year-old sweetheart on their wedding day.
As a tribute to his love, Leedskalnin allegedly cut, quarried, and raised the castle, consisting of more than 1,000 tons of coral rock formed into furniture and large slabs. He began his work in 1920 and continued until his death in 1951.
Under any circumstances the castle is a remarkable feat, though how exactly the man did it has puzzled many, for he supposedly worked without assistance or the use of modern machinery.
Many sources suggest that the castle is scientifically inexplicable. One typical magazine article claimed, "The question that has perplexed engineers and scientists for decades is how such a tiny, uneducated man single-handedly built such a place." According to the castle's Web site, "Coral Castle has baffled scientists, engineers, and scholars since its opening in 1923."
http://www.livescience.com/history/060328_coral_castle.html
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, aka Oolitic Limestone. Oolite is a sedimentary rock comprised with concentrations of fossilized mollusks and coral. Oolite is found throughout southeastern Florida from as north as Palm Beach County to as south as the Florida Keys.[10] 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 between the seams. The eight foot tall vertical stones that comprise 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 sun dial, 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.
What is most remarkable about the contents of the Coral Castle is the massive size of the stones used throughout the construction. Even more so when you consider the assembly was performed by one man with crude tools. With few exceptions, the objects are made from single pieces of stone. The stones on average weigh more than 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.[11] Leedskalnin may have well been aware of this as 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.[12] Two of the stones are monolithic and stand twenty-five feet high above the ground which make them taller than any stone found in Stonehenge.[13][14][15]
A nine-ton revolving gate is the most famous structure of the castle and was documented on TV's 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 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 23rd, 1986.[16] The gate worked as it did before but once again in 2005 it ceased revolving and has yet to be repaired.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coral_Castle
The Theories
* One story says that some curious neighbors did see how Leedskalnin moved the stones. They say he placed his hands on the stone to be lifted... and sang. Somehow this levitated the great rocks.
* According to an article in Fate magazine, “some teenagers spying on him one evening claimed they saw him ‘float coral blocks through the air like hydrogen balloons,’ but no one took them seriously.”
* Frank Joseph, in the Fate magazine article, also writes, “Alternative science investigators suggest that Leedskalnin somehow learned the secret of the ‘world grid,’ an invisible pattern of energy lines surrounding the Earth which concentrates points of telluric power where they intersect. It was here, at one of these intersections of Earth energy, that he was supposedly able to move his prodigious stone blocks using the unseen power of our planet.” Yet that still does no explain how Leedskalnin was able to tap this power, and others cannot.
* Coral Castle quotes J. Cathie, a captain flying with National Airways Corp. of New Zealand, as saying: “Measurements from the Coral Castle position to the zero-degree and 90-degree longitude lines, when they passed through the equator, also yielded harmonics related to light and gravity. The final check of the distance between Coral Castle and grid pole A in the north, dispelled any doubt about the site being in an ideal position to allow Leedskalnin to erect the huge blocks of coral with relative ease. Measurements from all major points gave the geometric harmonics necessary for the manipulation of anti-gravity.” Cathie also believes that this energy grid is also responsible for many UFO sightings.
* In an article by called "The Coral Castle Mystery" in Atlantis Rising, author Christopher Dunn asserts: “What if there’s no such thing as gravity? And the natural forces we already know about are sufficient to explain the noted phenomena we have labeled as gravity? Perhaps Leedskalnin’s means of working with the Earth’s gravitational pull was nothing more complicated than devising a means by which the alignment of magnetic elements within his coral blocks was adjusted to face the streams of individual magnets he claims are issuing forth from the Earth with a like repelling pole.”
* When he was personally asked how he managed the feat, Leedskalnin replied only that he understood the laws of weight and leverage. He is quoted as saying, “I have discovered the secrets of the pyramids. I have found out how the Egyptians and the ancient builders in Peru, Yucatan, and Asia, with only primitive tools, raised and set in place blocks of stone weighing many tons.”
* According the The Enigma of Coral Castle, “Ed flatly disagreed with modern science, and claimed that the scientists were wrong, ‘that nature is simple.’ He believed all matter consisted of individual magnets, and it is the movement of these magnets within materials, and through space, that produce measurable phenomena, magnetism, and electricity. These concepts ‘involved the relationship of the Earth to celestial alignments.’ He claimed to see beads of light which he believed to be the physical presence of nature’s magnetism and life force, or what we term today, chi.”
Was Leedskalnin being deceptive when he talked about magnetism and electricity, trying to make his accomplishment more mystical and mysterious than it actually was? Had he merely found a very clever way to manipulate the great stones with levers and pulleys? We may never know the answer. Leedskalnin took his secrets with him to his grave in 1951... secrets that await to be rediscovered.
http://paranormal.about.com/library/weekly/aa071999.htm
As a tribute to his love, Leedskalnin allegedly cut, quarried, and raised the castle, consisting of more than 1,000 tons of coral rock formed into furniture and large slabs. He began his work in 1920 and continued until his death in 1951.
Under any circumstances the castle is a remarkable feat, though how exactly the man did it has puzzled many, for he supposedly worked without assistance or the use of modern machinery.
Many sources suggest that the castle is scientifically inexplicable. One typical magazine article claimed, "The question that has perplexed engineers and scientists for decades is how such a tiny, uneducated man single-handedly built such a place." According to the castle's Web site, "Coral Castle has baffled scientists, engineers, and scholars since its opening in 1923."
http://www.livescience.com/history/060328_coral_castle.html
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, aka Oolitic Limestone. Oolite is a sedimentary rock comprised with concentrations of fossilized mollusks and coral. Oolite is found throughout southeastern Florida from as north as Palm Beach County to as south as the Florida Keys.[10] 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 between the seams. The eight foot tall vertical stones that comprise 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 sun dial, 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.
What is most remarkable about the contents of the Coral Castle is the massive size of the stones used throughout the construction. Even more so when you consider the assembly was performed by one man with crude tools. With few exceptions, the objects are made from single pieces of stone. The stones on average weigh more than 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.[11] Leedskalnin may have well been aware of this as 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.[12] Two of the stones are monolithic and stand twenty-five feet high above the ground which make them taller than any stone found in Stonehenge.[13][14][15]
A nine-ton revolving gate is the most famous structure of the castle and was documented on TV's 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 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 23rd, 1986.[16] The gate worked as it did before but once again in 2005 it ceased revolving and has yet to be repaired.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coral_Castle
The Theories
* One story says that some curious neighbors did see how Leedskalnin moved the stones. They say he placed his hands on the stone to be lifted... and sang. Somehow this levitated the great rocks.
* According to an article in Fate magazine, “some teenagers spying on him one evening claimed they saw him ‘float coral blocks through the air like hydrogen balloons,’ but no one took them seriously.”
* Frank Joseph, in the Fate magazine article, also writes, “Alternative science investigators suggest that Leedskalnin somehow learned the secret of the ‘world grid,’ an invisible pattern of energy lines surrounding the Earth which concentrates points of telluric power where they intersect. It was here, at one of these intersections of Earth energy, that he was supposedly able to move his prodigious stone blocks using the unseen power of our planet.” Yet that still does no explain how Leedskalnin was able to tap this power, and others cannot.
* Coral Castle quotes J. Cathie, a captain flying with National Airways Corp. of New Zealand, as saying: “Measurements from the Coral Castle position to the zero-degree and 90-degree longitude lines, when they passed through the equator, also yielded harmonics related to light and gravity. The final check of the distance between Coral Castle and grid pole A in the north, dispelled any doubt about the site being in an ideal position to allow Leedskalnin to erect the huge blocks of coral with relative ease. Measurements from all major points gave the geometric harmonics necessary for the manipulation of anti-gravity.” Cathie also believes that this energy grid is also responsible for many UFO sightings.
* In an article by called "The Coral Castle Mystery" in Atlantis Rising, author Christopher Dunn asserts: “What if there’s no such thing as gravity? And the natural forces we already know about are sufficient to explain the noted phenomena we have labeled as gravity? Perhaps Leedskalnin’s means of working with the Earth’s gravitational pull was nothing more complicated than devising a means by which the alignment of magnetic elements within his coral blocks was adjusted to face the streams of individual magnets he claims are issuing forth from the Earth with a like repelling pole.”
* When he was personally asked how he managed the feat, Leedskalnin replied only that he understood the laws of weight and leverage. He is quoted as saying, “I have discovered the secrets of the pyramids. I have found out how the Egyptians and the ancient builders in Peru, Yucatan, and Asia, with only primitive tools, raised and set in place blocks of stone weighing many tons.”
* According the The Enigma of Coral Castle, “Ed flatly disagreed with modern science, and claimed that the scientists were wrong, ‘that nature is simple.’ He believed all matter consisted of individual magnets, and it is the movement of these magnets within materials, and through space, that produce measurable phenomena, magnetism, and electricity. These concepts ‘involved the relationship of the Earth to celestial alignments.’ He claimed to see beads of light which he believed to be the physical presence of nature’s magnetism and life force, or what we term today, chi.”
Was Leedskalnin being deceptive when he talked about magnetism and electricity, trying to make his accomplishment more mystical and mysterious than it actually was? Had he merely found a very clever way to manipulate the great stones with levers and pulleys? We may never know the answer. Leedskalnin took his secrets with him to his grave in 1951... secrets that await to be rediscovered.
http://paranormal.about.com/library/weekly/aa071999.htm