Episode 322: Coral Castle: Tourist Trap or Modern Pyramid?
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On this episode of The Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the mystery of the Coral Castle. This modern-day wonder is found in Florida and was built in the 1940s and 1950s. It is made of massive blocks of stone, averaging 14 tons each, and it was built to the same exacting specifications as the Great Pyramid of Giza. The big mystery about the castle, however, is how one frail, sickly, malnourished man clocking in at Five Foot Tall was able to build this structure by cover of night with no cranes of elaborate tools…by himself.
Edward Leedskalnin is the man in question, a Latvian emigre who moved to America after his “Sweet Sixteen” dumped him at the altar. He came to the States, contracted terminal tuberculosis and was allegedly cured by magnets. After that, he was given a parcel of useless land in Florida and began work on his castle, which he called Rock Gate.
Why is this castle such a mystery? Well, for one, nobody knows how he quarried the stones. Nobody knows how me moved the stone. Nobody knows how the stone was exact enough in its measurements that even light won’t come through the cracks (like the pyramids, he used no mortar).
He claimed that in building the Coral Castle, he used the same techniques that were used on the pyramids and said that it was simple if you knew what it was. But, why did he only work at night, so nobody could see him? How did he afford the construction when he had no real means of employment? What were his strange theories on magnetism? How did it tie to his “Perpetual Motion Holder? What does all of this have to do with an awesome Billy Idol song? Listen, laugh, learn.
Magnet Description: https://gizmodo.com/how-one-man-created-a-1-000-ton-coral-castle-in-1923-1443356836
Good photos: http://www.thebohemianblog.com/2014/12/the-coral-castle-masonic-mystery-in-the-sunshine-state.html