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The Coral Castle is a mysterious stone structure created by the Latvian American eccentric, Edward Leedskalnin, in Homestead, Florida. The structure is comprised of numerous megalithic stones each weighing several tons.
The structure is considered mysterious mainly because one man was able to assemble the entire structure by himself with no outside help. This has led to numerous theories on the method Leedskalnin used to construct it.
Some suggest that he used a form of antigravity device (he himself was just 100 lb (45 kg) and too weak to physically build the castle with ordinary means). Numerous designs have been suggested for this device, some using harmonic sound waves, some using magnetism, and numerous other proposals. Leedskalnin himself claimed that he knew the "secret" of the ancient Egyptian pyramids and some allege he used those secrets to assemble the structure. However, it's likely Leedskalnin constructed the Castle using more mundane means, as pictures exist of him constructing the Castle with block and tackle.
Billy Idol wrote and recorded the song "Sweet Sixteen" and filmed the video in the Coral Castle. The song was inspired by the story of Leedskalnin's former love, Agnes Scuffs, who is believed to be the main reason Leedskalnin built the structure.
As is noted in Joe Bullard's work, Waiting for Agnes, Leedskalnin was jilted by his sixteen-year-old fiance Agnes in Latvia days before his wedding. Leaving for America, he came down with terminal tuberculosis but spontaneously healed, stating that magnets had some effect on his disease.
Hoping to somehow bring attention from Agnes, he spent over 20 years building the Coral Castle, refusing to allow anyone (except for a few children) to view him while he worked and built the castle. The children who witnessed his work reported that he had caused the blocks of coral to move like hydrogen baloons. The only tool that Leedskalnin spoke of using was a "perpetual motion holder." As noted above, however, pictures exist of Leedskalnin employing mundane tools such as block and tackle.
Many of the features of the castle are notable, including machines to tell time, a table with a flower planted in the middle (he stated that he wanted the table to have flowers on it every day of the year), and a huge many-ton door that is so well-balanced that a child can open it with the push of a single finger.
According to Bullard, many years after the castle was built, several Latvian tourists heard the story of the Coral Castle and got in contact with Agnes, who was now in her seventies. Whenever Leedskalnin would give tours of the castle, people would ask him why he had spent all of this energy and time on the project. He would look over to the East toward Latvia, and state that he only hoped that Agnes would hear of his castle, or see it, and realize his love for her.
Agnes responded to hearing this story: "I didn't want to marry Edward when I was 16, and I don't want to marry him now." Leedskalnin died a few years later.
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