Post by bluefedish on Aug 4, 2008 12:20:41 GMT -5
Did a Latvian immigrant rediscover the secrets to the building of the pyramids... of levitation... of anti-gravity? His amazing "castle" may hold clues to long-lost powers.
Coral Castle in Homestead, Florida, is one of the most amazing structures ever built. In terms of accomplishment, it’s been compared to Stonehenge, ancient Greek temples, and even the great pyramids of Egypt. It is amazing – some even say miraculous – because it was quarried, fashioned, transported, and constructed by one man: Edward Leedskalnin, a 5-ft. tall, 100-lb. Latvian immigrant.
Many men have single-handedly built their own homes, but Leedskalnin’s choice of building materials is what makes his undertaking so incredible. He used huge blocks of coral rock, some weighing as much as 30 tons, and somehow was able to move them and set them in place without assistance or the use of modern machinery. And therein lies the mystery. How did he do it?
It’s estimated that 1,000 tons of coral rock were used in construction of the walls and towers, and an additional 100 tons of it were carved into furniture and art objects:
* An obelisk he raised weighs 28 tons.
* The wall surrounding Coral Castle stands 8 ft. tall and consists of large blocks each weighing several tons.
* Large stone crescents are perched atop 20-ft.-high walls.
* A 9-ton swinging gate that moves at the touch of a finger guards the eastern wall.
* The largest rock on the property weighs an estimated 35 tons.
* Some stones are twice the weight of the largest blocks in the Great Pyramid at Giza.
Working alone, Leedskalnin labored for 20 years – from 1920 to 1940 – to build the home he originally called “Rock Gate Park” in Florida City. The story goes that he built it after being jilted by his fiancée, who changed her mind about marrying him because he was too old and too poor. After wandering around the U.S. and Canada for several years, Leedskalnin settled in Florida City for health reasons; he had been diagnosed with tuberculosis. He began building his coral home in 1920. Then in 1936, when a planned new subdivision of homes threatened his privacy, Leedskalnin moved his entire home 10 miles to Homestead, where he completed it, and where it still stands as a tourist attraction.
How Leedskalnin managed this feat of engineering has remained a mystery all these years because, incredibly, no one saw him do it. A secretive man, Leedskalnin often worked at night by lantern light. And so there are no credible witnesses to how the small, frail man was able to move the huge blocks of rock. Even when he moved the entire structure to Homestead, neighbors saw the coral blocks being transported on a borrowed truck, but no one seems to know how Leedskalnin got them on and off the vehicle.
Lots of weird stories have been told and bizarre theories proposed to explain Coral Castle. And since no witness can dispute any of them, they are all worthy of consideration.
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.
Selected Sources:
www.world-mysteries.com/coralcastle.htm
paranormal.about.com/library/weekly/aa071999.htm
Coral Castle in Homestead, Florida, is one of the most amazing structures ever built. In terms of accomplishment, it’s been compared to Stonehenge, ancient Greek temples, and even the great pyramids of Egypt. It is amazing – some even say miraculous – because it was quarried, fashioned, transported, and constructed by one man: Edward Leedskalnin, a 5-ft. tall, 100-lb. Latvian immigrant.
Many men have single-handedly built their own homes, but Leedskalnin’s choice of building materials is what makes his undertaking so incredible. He used huge blocks of coral rock, some weighing as much as 30 tons, and somehow was able to move them and set them in place without assistance or the use of modern machinery. And therein lies the mystery. How did he do it?
It’s estimated that 1,000 tons of coral rock were used in construction of the walls and towers, and an additional 100 tons of it were carved into furniture and art objects:
* An obelisk he raised weighs 28 tons.
* The wall surrounding Coral Castle stands 8 ft. tall and consists of large blocks each weighing several tons.
* Large stone crescents are perched atop 20-ft.-high walls.
* A 9-ton swinging gate that moves at the touch of a finger guards the eastern wall.
* The largest rock on the property weighs an estimated 35 tons.
* Some stones are twice the weight of the largest blocks in the Great Pyramid at Giza.
Working alone, Leedskalnin labored for 20 years – from 1920 to 1940 – to build the home he originally called “Rock Gate Park” in Florida City. The story goes that he built it after being jilted by his fiancée, who changed her mind about marrying him because he was too old and too poor. After wandering around the U.S. and Canada for several years, Leedskalnin settled in Florida City for health reasons; he had been diagnosed with tuberculosis. He began building his coral home in 1920. Then in 1936, when a planned new subdivision of homes threatened his privacy, Leedskalnin moved his entire home 10 miles to Homestead, where he completed it, and where it still stands as a tourist attraction.
How Leedskalnin managed this feat of engineering has remained a mystery all these years because, incredibly, no one saw him do it. A secretive man, Leedskalnin often worked at night by lantern light. And so there are no credible witnesses to how the small, frail man was able to move the huge blocks of rock. Even when he moved the entire structure to Homestead, neighbors saw the coral blocks being transported on a borrowed truck, but no one seems to know how Leedskalnin got them on and off the vehicle.
Lots of weird stories have been told and bizarre theories proposed to explain Coral Castle. And since no witness can dispute any of them, they are all worthy of consideration.
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.
Selected Sources:
www.world-mysteries.com/coralcastle.htm
paranormal.about.com/library/weekly/aa071999.htm
