Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum

Figure :1.:
A view of the
Coral Castle
with its various
structures and
vignettes.
44
"Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on
which to place it, and I shall move the world."
-Archimedes
How QUICKLY IT IS THAT "HOW CAN HE DO THAT?"
becomes "he couldn't possibly do that;' which then
morphs into "a mysterious entity or force must have
helped him do that." In reality, it is quite remarkable what one human being can achieve when
armed with ingenuity, perseverance, the right tools,
and time. In fact they could even build themselves a
castle. And that's exactly what Edward Leedskalnin
did, creating one of the most curious and intriguing
of all folk art constructions. It is located in Homestead, Florida, 1 just south of Miami. Homestead
bills itself as the "Gateway to the Keys" -an archipelago of islands that arc into the Gulf of Mexico that
are strung together along Highway 1, ending with
Key West.
Homestead is perhaps best known as the site of
devastation wreaked by Hurricane Andrew on the
24th of August, 1992. 2 Much of that destruction resulted from the vulnerability of the wooden trailer
homes-which at that time characterized the
area-to hurricane-level winds. However, there was
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volume 18 number 1 2013
one place in Homestead that was built solid enough
to withstand the ravages of such natural disasters,
and indeed it survived the storm virtually untouched. This monument is commonly known as
the Coral Castle. Certainly a regional, and arguably
a national tourist attraction, 3 the Coral Castle is
presently located on a site adjacent to Highway 1,
although the current location is not its original one.
Even a brief glance at the structure is enough to
suggest that it is no small achievement. However, as
newspaperman and author Damon Runyon would
have remarked, "a story goes with it" -and what a
story it is. In fact, the conception, origin, and manufacture of the Coral Castle is so amazing that the
site is slowly turning into the stuff of legend. Here I
look at both the history and the emerging myth.
The True History of the Coral Castle
At one time, Edward Leedskalnin's structure was
known as "Rock Gate Park:' While the majority of
its construction took place between the 1920s and
the 1950s, much of the work on the larger components of the monument was actually accomplished
in the first few years of this period.
Leedskalnin was born in Latvia on August
(Left) Figure 2: Edward Leedskalnin with some of his extensive, homemade equipment with which he quarried and fabricated the Coral Castle.
(Below) Figure 3: A corner of the Coral Castle intended for
gossip and repentance. Leedskalnin had very fixed ideas on
the teaching and raising of children, even though he never
had any himself.
10th, 1887. The pivotal event of his early life ocCUlTed in 1913 when he was 26 years old when he
was reportedly jilted on the eve of his wedding by
his fiance, Agnes Scuffs (Skuvst). 4 He referred to
her as "Sweet Sixteen;' by which he meant her purported virginal state, not her chronological age. 5 Although she told him the reason for the breakup was
because he was too old, Ed suspected later that it
was because of his poverty and limited education,
which offered only a bleak and impoverished future. From this point of view the impetus for the
Coral Castle is very much like that for the Taj
Mahal-a tribute to lost love. However, from Ed's
own account much of the motivation seems directly
related to lost sexual innocence. Following this rejection, Ed emigrated to North America where he
worked at a variety of different occupations. This
included, as we shall see, critical experiences as
both a logger in Canada and a ranch hand in Texas.
Working as a lumberjack in particular would have
introduced him to the basics of moving objects
weighing thousands of pounds by hand with rigging
and pullies. Both of these occupations made arduous physical demands on the diminutive Leedskalninand. Despite his prolonged acquaintance
with strenuous manual labor, Ed Leedskalnin could
never have been described as a muscular giant. He
was estimated to be only approximately 5 ft. tall and
weighing between only 100 and 120 lbs. Indeed, its
Ed's diminutive size that helps fuel the legend, and
you will find a life-size cardboard cut-out of Ed in
the Coral Castle today to remind you of this fact.
Sometime toward the end of the First World
War, Ed received another blow when he was diagnosed (most probably incorrectly) with tuberculosis. In searching for a suitable climate for his
recovery, Ed relocated to southern Florida and
bought a one-acre lot for $12 in Florida City, ten
miles south of the Coral Castle's present site in
Homestead. It was there that he began his sculpting
efforts. Even though they were created on a very
large scale, many of Ed's sculptures were essentially
utilitarian in nature. Using the local coral, which he
quarried on-site, Ed sculpted things like rocking
chairs, tables, baths, and couches which he could
actually use as well as display. The early motivation
for his work he personally attributed to his desire to
build a castle for "Sweet Sixteen;' for his now long
lost but never forgotten love. As we see them today,
most of the carvings have a clear air of domesticity
about them that supports the idea that the Castle
was built primarily as a shrine of living remembrance. There are beds for the fantasized married
couple and their three children, all carved in stone.
There is a children's play area and corners for both
gossip and repentance.
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Figure 4: Contrary to Coral Castle mythology that suggests Ed
worked in secret and only at night, photos do exist of Ed moving
stones. Here Ed is beginning to lift a large block of coral with a
multiple pulley or hoist system and a tripod form of "A" Frame.
Two "A" frames are needed to move blocks sideways.
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The Big Move
Between 1936 and 1937, Ed decided to move his castle. By then it included most of the structures that
can be seen in Homestead today. Various reasons
have been given for this move. One biographer,
Orval Irwin, claimed that Ed realized no one would
come to his remote site just outside the sleepy community of Florida City to see his creation. In contrast, the present printed tour guide claims the
complete opposite-that Ed being a very private
person moved to avoid being to close to a new subdivision that was planned near his existing site.
Some of the more recent and fanciful accounts concerning the Coral Castle claim that Ed had made a
mistake in his original alignment with so-called
"earth energies" and had to relocate the whole edifice to take advantage of the proper focus of these
esoteric forces. Whether Ed had an eye for future financial profit, desired greater privacy, or was seeking to tap more accurately into unknown "earth
forces;' he was now faced with the problem of moving over a thousand tons of sculpture to the new
ten acre site situated on the cheap land he had acquired in Homestead.
It is at this time that mythical qualities first
begin to be associated with the site in earnest. Up
until then, Rockgate Park (as it had been known)
was a remarkable yet very terrestrial phenomenon. The transition associated with the move
proved pivotal in changing perceptions. Since Ed
was such a private man, he used virtually no
helpers for this astounding relocation process. 6
Reportedly by himself, he would load a trailer that
was subsequently towed using a friend's tractor to
the new site. Under the cover of darkness, Ed
would then unload the trailer himself and prepare
for the next load. It is the case that because no one
generated a written account of having seen Ed
performing these feats of disassembly, loading, unloading and reassembly that the subsequent
mythos of the place began to take off. In an anecdotal story, some local teens are supposed to have
seen Ed in control of "floating" blocks of coral, although as we shall see there is an eminently rational explanation for such observations. At the
new site, Ed had to re-erect all of his major pieces
and then subsequently built a curtain wall around
his castle from coral sections that were eight feet
in height, four feet in width and three feet thick,
which were quarried at the new location. Each
section of wall is reported to weigh 13,000
pounds, or six and a half tons. Ed built his spartan
living quarters in a corner turret to the castle. His
tool room was located below while his bedroom
was the single room above.
From Merely Extraordinary
to Proto-Mythological
Ed pursued his solitary work and was regarded as a
somewhat suspicious character by the locals, until
an ambiguously fortuitous circumstance when his
stone buildings were able to be used by the locals to
survive a threatening Florida hurricane. After this
event, Ed was accepted as merely a colorful eccentric. He would offer tours of the growing attraction.
Despite claims of his possessing other forms of income, it appears that Ed satisfied his very limited
personal needs through the contributions derived
from these tours. In fact, he was a particularly private individual who devoted much of his life to his
creation, which in itself fostered an ambience of secrecy and mystery. While many individuals witnessed the transit of his major sculptures from the
old to the new site, it appears that no one observed
Ed's working methods. Such secrecy is the breeding
ground for myth. As most individuals would have
been unable to accomplish the feats performed by
Ed Leedskalnin, some commentators began to attribute esoteric and even magical powers to him,
rather than pursue more prosaic, everyday explanations. The current biographical evidence indicates
that Leedskalnin, as well as having lumberjack and
ranching experience, was also an accomplished
stonemason. The latter would have been essential
in his original quarrying and working of the coral,
while the former experience would be critical for
the movement and manipulation of these exceptionally heavy and large objects. That Ed was quite
an effective practical engineer can be seen from the
photographic record we have of him at work. Leedskalnin himself appears to have been cryptic but
clearly not untruthful when asked flow he accomplished his feats. He said, simply, that he "understood the laws of weight and leverage."
There are many interesting individual pieces
that make up the fabric of the Coral Castle. Probably the largest piece is the Obelisk. It stands 40 feet
above ground with some several additional feet further below the surface and is estimated to weigh
57,000 pounds, or over 28 tons. However, amongst
the whole collection, perhaps the most interesting
and most memorable is the "nine-ton gate;' most
probably the original gate of the "Rock Gate Park."
The stone block which creates the gate measures
So by 92 by 21 inches, weighs approximately
18,ooo pounds, and when originally seated, turned
Figure 5: The nine-ton gate. Perhaps the most
memorable of all of the elements of the Coral Castle since, in earlier days, it was reported that a
three-year old child was able to rotate the gate with
no difficulty. The secret of its functioning was only
revealed years later when the ball bearings upon
which it rotated had to be replaced. The original,
and surprisingly small mechanism, can be seen in
the Castle gift shop today.
at the touch of a finger. It was observed that even
children as young as three years old were able to rotate it, although the present day version is now a little harder to turn. Since the stone clears its outer
frame of rock by much less than an inch it was, for
a long time, difficult to establish exactly how this
"gate" had been balanced. Again, this engineering
feat added not simply to Ed's reputation but was
further fuel to the belief that some mysterious
forces must have been employed. Eventually, in
1986, long after Ed's death in 1951, the stone ceased
to rotate and had to be replaced by a contract engineering firm. When dismantled for this maintenance, the "secret" was revealed. Ed had used
ballbearings and an old truck bearing to create this
remarkable effect. The original apparatus is still visible in the Castle's gift-shop.
On December 4th, 1951, Ed checked himself
into Jackson Memorial, a Miami Hospital. Sadly, he
died there three days later of malnutrition from
uremic poisoning resulting from kidney failure. He
was 64 years of age. The myth that was begun before
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Figure 6: The so-called "Polaris Telescope" is 25 feet high and
weighs over 20 tons. It is one of the features that is explicitly
related to astronomical interests.
Ed's death now began to swell as he, the original
builder and owner, was now no longer there to refute or deny the more outlandish claims. These
claims have been fostered by the comments of individuals such as Ray Stoner, for example, who in the
early eighties stated that: "with his passing went
the secret of the Coral Castle's construction."
How Did He Do It?
Natural to Supernatural Explanation
When visiting the Castle we immediately imagine
ourselves performing such feats and quickly dismiss
our capabilities to do so. Then we consider the disadvantage of Ed's diminutive form, since surely such
a structure required enormous muscles exerting
much physical energy to erect. How is it that so much
work could be accomplished by such a diminutive individual? Finally, we consider Ed's impoverished education and the drawbacks that we may perceive that
limited formal schooling would bring.
As we have seen, Ed moved his major sculptures and this took approximately one year to complete. As was his usual working habit, Ed would
load the moving trailer himself during night time
hours. When a particular load was ready (after several nights of effort), Ed's farmer friend, Bob Biggers would tow the trailer to the new site, position
it according to Ed's instructions then wait for a call
for the next trip. Part of the process of myth-making has changed Ed's move from being done at night
to the whole move being accomplished in one night.
Moving the entire castle in one night might well
have required mysterious powers. However, persist-
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ent and prolonged physical labor combined with
native engineering expertise over a one year period
represents a far less appealing basis for myth.
The on-site literature associated with Ed's
monument to his lost love also informs us that he
was very interested in astronomy. 7 Indeed, it is
clear that several parts of the monument are designed for astronomical observations. In one such
pamphlet, Ray Stoner compares the Coral Castle
with other "megalithic" sites such as Stonehenge in
England, the pyramids of Giza in Egypt, and Teotihuaca.n in Mexico. 8 Given this nominal association
with sites traditionally linked to mysterious and
mythical properties, it is now a short step to a speculation concerning the "supernatural" capacities
that Ed must have invoked in the Coral Castle's
construction. Quickly we go from engineering Aframes to esoteric forces and anti-gravity control.
Consider the following quote from a B.J. Cathie, a
captain flying with the National Airways Corporation, who asserted that: "The final check of the distance between the Coral Castle and grid pole in the
north dispelled any doubt about the site being in an
ideal position to allow Leedskalnin to erect huge
blocks of coral with relative ease. Measurements
from all major points gave the geometric harmonics
necessary for the manipulation of anti-gravity."
From the invocation of anti-gravity we immediately find Ray Stoner proposing that Ed may have
been able to accomplish his work because he was
actually an extra-terrestrial!
This twentieth century addition (the Coral Castle) to
the megaliths from antiquity, all serving as astronomical observatories of the highest precision, can only
be viewed with bewilderment, for only recently have
the mathematical truths of these sites been understood. It was not conclusively proven that Stonehenge was an astronomical computer until Gerald
Hawkins published his findings in 1965 in Stonehenge
Decoded. How, then, could Coral Castle been built
using all of this knowledge, plus the mathematics,
when the knowledge was not published until14 years
after Ed's death? There are three possibilities:
1. This knowledge has not been completely lost;
2. Ed was a time traveler or an interdimensional being;
3· Ed was an extra-terrestrial. (p. 28)
To do Ed full justice and to see the genesis of
myth in its most early flowerings, we need to examine these wild assertions in a little more detail. In
regard to education, a formal fourth grade education is not directly indicative of someone's intrinsic
Figure 8: The Crescent of the East at Coral Castle, one of
several crescents, shares its wall with Mars and Saturn.
Figure 7: A picture of Ed Leedskalnin in the process of
moving one of the blocks that compose the present day
Coral Castle. The only forces evidently at work here are the
known principles of engineering. That one man could
achieve so much using these principles is wonder enough.
Invocations of mysterious, esoteric Earth energies are unnecessary.
intellectual capabilities. Certainly at turn of the century
Latvia, it may well be expected that poorer children were
sent out to work at an early age, regardless of their intellectual promise. There are reports that in Florida, Ed spent
much time in the local library and with a degree of native intelligence combined with access to more formalized engineering knowledge, there is no reason why Ed would not be
able to find enough information to complete his construction. This despite Ed's own comments on education. For example, he observed; "You know we receive an education in
the schools from books. All those books that people became
educated from twenty-five years ago, are wrong now, and
those that are good now, will be wrong again twenty-five
years from now. So, if they are wrong then, they are also
wrong now, and one who is educated from the wrong books
is not educated he is misled." 9
Ed's experience with moving large scale, unwieldy objects as part of his logging career would certainly stand him
in good stead. In this respect his physical stature need be no
bar to achievement since, as Leedskalnin himself rightly
noted, it is the application of the principles of leverage, not
the size of the individual that is crucial. In claiming to know
the "secrets of the pyramids" Leedskalnin might very well
have understood the principles of levers and fulcrums. Recently, Benjamin Radford noted that: "There is one detail
that virtually all agree on: since the reclusive Leedskalnin
worked mostly at night and away from prying eyes, no one
actually saw him move the coral." 10 He rightly observed,
however, that there exist a number of photographs showing
Ed moving the large coral blocks. Such photographic evidence shows that Ed used precisely these forms of technique,
including the use of sophisticated 3-block metal chain
hoists. 11 This apparatus, which Ed is shown operating, is illustrated in Figure 7· In the impoverished observational conditions of night, it might well appear to a naive observer that
a lighter-colored coral block being moved in this fashion
might well appear to "float;' rather than being obviously supported by a set of chains and pulleys. Perhaps such a possibility
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49
lies behind the observation of Ed by some inquisitive Floridian teenagers? Since the attraction was most probably Ed's
primary source of income by that time, there would be perhaps both financial and privacy reasons why Ed would not
disillusion them.
Lest some should now be tempted to see Ed in the light
of an untrammeled hero of rational engineering, it is worth
considering a few of the observations from one of his own
texts that to today's ear sound positively grinding. 12 "It is not
sound to allow the weaklings to vote. Any one who is too
weak to make his own living is not strong enough to vote,
because their weak influence weakens the state and a degenerated state cannot exist very long." (p. 24). Or, "A normal
male is always ready to strive for perfection, the female is
not. It is not only with human beings, it is the same with
every living thing." (p. 8). Ed Leedskalnin was most certainly
a man of his own time and place.
Summary
As represented in the present references, much of the information that can be gleaned about the Coral Castle is given in
privately published memoirs of some of Ed's visitors, 13 combined with a number of pamphlets from Ed himself that appear to be available only from the attraction's gift-shop.
Reliable information is rather difficult to come by. Growth of
myth is always more prevalent in circumstances that show a
dearth of factual information. Nevertheless, the Coral Castle
is a most interesting monument. It sits in Homestead today
and for a modest admission fee is open to inspection by anyone. Founded in the fixated emotions of a solitary and lonely
man, it has burgeoned into a significant tourist site and a
going financial concern for both its original builder and subsequent owners. Many attractions require the boost of showmanship, and while the Castle is startling enough in itself,
there is always the subtle temptation to add the arcane and
mysterious to provide just that little extra that attracts
crowds. That Leedskalnin achieved this monumental feat by
himself, using known engineering principles, is demonstrable. No additional source of esoteric forms of earth energy
need be invoked, 14 and it is disingenuous to continue to
protest that "the question that has perplexed engineers and
scientists for decades is how such a tiny, uneducated man
single-handedly built such a place." 15 Hopefully these observations will help dissolve the growing but highly problematic
mythical explanations of Ed's achievement.
That the structure became more to its builder than simply an ersatz representation of a European castle in which to
house his lost love is evident from the several components
that focus on astronomical observations. Given Ed's spartan
living conditions it is not unexpected that he would find
some pastime for the long evenings alone. Ed clearly had a
manifest degree of practical knowledge, mixed with anumber of far less conventional ideas. 16 It is tempting to attribute
the very special structure we see today to those more unusual
facets of Ed's understanding since it is virtually unique. While
it is natural to make this assumption, the more prosaic linkage, between the Castle's fabrication and known construction
techniques is far less appealing and unfortunately promises to
sell fewer tickets. However, it is one to which we should adhere until evidence of the intervention of supernatural agencies is thoroughly and unequivocally demonstrated. To date,
no such proof has been forthcoming. 11'1
REFERENCES
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
50
See Grimes, D., & Becnel, T. 2003.
Florida Curiosities. Guilford, CT: Globe
Pequot Press, 153-156. See also
Pohlen, J. 2004. Oddball Florida.
Chicago Review Press. Coral Castle
(undated). English Tour Guide. 28655
South Dixie Highway, Homestead,
Florida, 189-190.
See http:/jen.wikipedia.orgjwikijHurricane_Andrew and http://www.sptimes
.comj2002/webspecials02/andrew1
Moran, M., & Sceurman, M. 2004.
Weird U.S. New York: Barnes & Noble
Publishing, pp. 158-160. See also:
McClure, R., & Heffron, J. 2009. Coral
Castle: The Story of Ed Leedskalnin
and his American Stonehenge. Dublin,
Ohio: Ternary Publishing.
See Stansfield, W. 2006. "The Enigma
of the Coral Castle." Skeptic, 12 (2),
22-29. See also: Stollznow, K. 2010.
"Coral Castle: Fact and Folklore."
Skeptical inquirer, 34 (1), 49-53.
Billy Idol's song "Sweet Sixteen" was
inspired by Ed Leedskalnin's experi-
SKEPTIC MAGAZINE
ences. A video tour of the Castle with
this sound track can be found at:
http:/jwww.youtube.comjwatch?v=6D
PNUXBHiMM
6. Anonymous. 1939. "Ed is Doing a
Colossal Job of Moving, But he Wants
no Help Thank You." The Red/and District News, July.
7.
Irwin, O.M. 1996. Mr. Can't is Dead:
The Story of the Coral Castle. SelfPublished.
8. Stoner, R.N. 1983. The Enigma of the
Coral Castle. Bradford Institute of
Ultra Science. Cape Coral, Florida.
9. See the collection of books: Leedskalnin, E. 1936. A Book in Every
Home. Privately Printed, Homestead,
Florida; Leedskalnin, E. 1945. Magnetic Current. Privately Printed, Rock
Gate, Homestead, Florida.
10. Radford, B. 2006. "Mysteries of the
Coral Castle." Skeptical inquirer,
MayjJune, 25.
11. See: Thomson, P. 2005. "Coral Castie." Ancient History, Fact or Fiction.
volume 18 number 1 2013
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
Peter Thomson, 1 Jan. Web. 24 Jan.
2010. http:;jwww.peterthomson.co.ukjcoralcastlejcoralcastle.html
See Texts referred to in note 10 and 17.
Coral Castle. 2000. Coral Castle: An
Engineering Feat Almost Impossible to
Believe. Coral Castle, 28655 South
Dixie Highway, Homestead, Florida.
See: Joseph, F. 1998. Mysteries of
Coral Castle. Fate, 51 (7), 18-25,
Dunn, C. (1997). The Coral Castle
Mystery. Atlantis Rising, Issue 12,
and the text of McClure, R., & Stern,
D. (2009). Cincinnatus: The secret
plot to save America. Ternary Publishing: Bookmaster Publishing Group.
See also: http:/jvaticproject.blogspot
.comj2011/02jworld-leaders-flock-toafghanistan.html
Diaz, A. 2005. "Florida's Mysterious
Coral Castle." Mysteries, 3 (4), 65-70.
Leedskalnin, E. 1945. Mineral, Vegetable, and Animal Life. Privately
Printed, Rock Gate, Homestead, FL.