In the town of Homestead, Florida stands one of the most unique and amazing castles ever built. The Coral Castle is a miracle in that a single man who stood 5 ft tall and only weighed 100 lbs., managed to construct this landmark out of huge blocks of coral rock, some of them weighing as much as 30 tons, using only common tools. He and he alone quarried, constructed, and transported these monolithic stones.

Who was this man? The story starts in Latvia. Edward Leeskalnin proposed to the love of his life, Agnes Scuffs, who he called his sweet sixteen. On the eve of their marriage she called off the wedding saying that Edward was “too old and too poor.”

Edward immigrated to the United States and after a few years of wandering about, and having been diagnosed with tuberculosis, settled in Florida City. In 1920, he started to build a miraculous home in hopes that Agnes would change her mind and rethink his marriage proposal.

It is estimated that over 1,000 tons of coral rock was used to construct the walls and towers of Coral Castle, and that an additional 100 tons was carved into furniture or other objects.

Edward worked at night by the light of a lantern, and no one ever brought evidence of how he moved the massive stones, some weighing twice as much as the largest blocks in the Great Pyramid of Giza. The only witnesses were a couple of teenage boys, who while spying on Edward during a night adventure, swore that the blocks moved through the air like giant helium balloons, and some curious neighbors who claimed Edward placed his hands on the stones and sang, and the rocks levitated.

However, the facts remain that not only did he single handedly create the castle, in 1936, when homesteaders threatened his privacy, he moved the entire castle 10 miles to Homestead, Florida, with only a borrowed truck. He unloaded and loaded the truck at night, and again no one observed how he managed to load and unload the rocks weighing several hundred tons. He continued to work on the castle until 1940, and lived there alone until his death in 1951.

Some of the wonders of Coral Castle include:

* A 28 ton obelisk

* A wall which surrounds the castle and consists of large stone blocks weighing several tons each.

* Large stone crescent moons which perch on top of 29 ft high solid stone walls.

* A 9 ton stone entrance gate which is 80 inches wide, 92 inches tall, and 21 inches thick. It fits within a quarter of an inch of the walls on either side and pivots through an iron rod resting on an automobile gear.

* A stone weighing 35 tons, the largest on the property.

* A tower, with a flight of stone steps which lead to a small room at the top, this chamber holds the tools thought to have been used to help construct the castle, primitive chains, saws, drills, wedges, hammers, chisels and crowbars. This tower encompasses approximately 243 tons of coral cut into blocks weighing four to nine tons each. The roof of the tower consists of 30 one ton blocks neatly meshed together. Further gracing this tower is a sleeping chamber with twin beds, outdoor cookery, and a bathroom, although Coral Castle does not have modern day electricity or plumbing. There is also a low, but massive alter set against the south wall.

* Oversized chairs made of coral, each weighing half a ton. These rocking chairs are perfectly balanced and do not have any visible tool marks.

* A lensless telescope which weighs 20 tons and is 25 feet tall. This telescope is aligned with Polaris, the North Star.

* A sun dial calibrated to noon of the Winter and the Summer Solstices, next to a fountain which shows representations of the moon in its various aspects, and a wall sculpted with images of Saturn and Mars.

Leedskalnin wrote several booklets which he sold to tourists. You can access one called “Magnetic Current" by following the link connected to this article. The article points to the assumption that perhaps Edward used magnetic Earth energies to accomplish his mind boggling feats.

When Edward was asked directly how he built his castle he replied 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.” He spoke of magnetism and the Earth’s relationship to celestial alignments.

After Coral Castle was completed, Leedskalnin opened it to restricted tours costing 25 cents per visitor. Edward was a simple man who cared little for material pleasures. He ate a diet of sardines, crackers, eggs and milk. He had a small garden and trapped a rabbit now and then. He spent most of his day reading about magnetic current and cosmic forces, even though he only had a fourth grade education. His working hours on the castle always stayed the same, sunset to sunrise, with a few hours of rest in the late afternoon.

Edward passed away in 1951 from malnutrition and kidney failure. His only living relative Harry inherited the castle, and he in turn sold the property to a Chicago family. Currently, the castle is on the National Register of Historic Places.