0:03 [SPEAKER_00]: hidden away in the sunny shores of Florida lies a structure that is both an architectural wander and a mysterious legend. 0:13 [SPEAKER_00]: And as you would expect for my episodes, the story behind it is as curious as the structure itself. 0:27 [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome back friend to hometown history. 0:30 [SPEAKER_00]: In today's episode, we are exploring the mystery of the quarrel castle, a castle that was built single-handedly by a man using nothing but homemade tools, and what's more interesting is that the structure is made entirely of massive quarrel blocks, some weighing as much as 30 tons each. 0:53 [SPEAKER_00]: How did he do it? 0:54 [SPEAKER_00]: The question might be as unanswerable as the question of how the Egyptians built those incredible pyramids, but that's what makes these stories so much more interesting. 1:10 [SPEAKER_00]: In the 1980s Coral Castle hit the National Spotlight when it was featured on the show in search of, which was hosted by Leonard Nimoy. 1:20 [SPEAKER_00]: The 90s kids may remember him as Mr. Spock, 1:24 [SPEAKER_00]: This episode sparked the imagination of many, from engineers to rock stars, and even those interested in the new age movement, people were fascinated by the mystery that surrounded it. 1:38 [SPEAKER_00]: In pretty soon, it was dubbed America's Stonehenge. 1:42 [SPEAKER_00]: This was due to the immense size, a mysterious construction of the stones used at Coral Castle. 1:55 [SPEAKER_00]: before getting into its history, let me paint a picture. 1:59 [SPEAKER_00]: The entire grounds of the Quarcastle are decorated with over 1,000 tons of oil light or olytic limestone, which was basically a sedimentary rock made up of tiny spherical grains. 2:18 [SPEAKER_00]: These stones are crafted into walls, carvings, furniture, and in this case, even a castle tower. 2:28 [SPEAKER_00]: And what's fascinating is the precision with which these stones are laid without any mortar. 2:35 [SPEAKER_00]: which just shows a high level of skill, inaccuracy, and cutting and fitting the stones so perfectly that they can stay in place simply through the way that they are arranged, and balanced against each other. 2:49 [SPEAKER_00]: The craftsmanship is so meticulous that not even a sliver of light passes through the joints. 2:56 [SPEAKER_00]: But there's more to this place than just stone walls. 3:00 [SPEAKER_00]: The castle grounds are like a goldmine of features and carvings, including a two-story tower, where Edward Leads Galman, the creator, lived. 3:11 [SPEAKER_00]: There's an accurate sundial, a polar telescope, and an obelisk, and even a heart-shaped table, among other stonecrafted furniture. 3:22 [SPEAKER_00]: Every piece, including rocking chairs and a bathtub, is carved from single, massive blocks of stone, and apparently by a single person. 3:35 [SPEAKER_00]: One of the castle's highlights is a nine-ton gate that once moved so smoothly, it is set a child could push it open with a single finger. 3:45 [SPEAKER_00]: Now the secret to its seamless movement was the metal shaft that was centered perfectly and rested on an old truck bearing. 3:54 [SPEAKER_00]: it functioned flawlessly until 1986 when it finally gave out and needed a hefty crane and several men to be repaired. 4:05 [SPEAKER_00]: So this was all about the castle. 4:09 [SPEAKER_00]: Coming back to what makes this castle a mystery or rather what makes the owner and builder a mystery. 4:18 [SPEAKER_00]: The owner, Edward Lee Scalon, was just 26 when his life took a dramatic turn. 4:26 [SPEAKER_00]: His 16-year-old fiancé, Agnes Gavost, suddenly realized that he was too old for her and left him heartbroken and Latvia, calling off their wedding just a day before it was supposed to happen. 4:41 [SPEAKER_00]: with that, Edward was left all alone. 4:45 [SPEAKER_00]: Setting off on a journey to the United States and hopes of a better tomorrow. 4:51 [SPEAKER_00]: But once again, luck was not in his favor. 4:55 [SPEAKER_00]: Soon after he landed on our shores, he got a diagnosis of terminal tuberculosis. 5:02 [SPEAKER_00]: But miraculously, he recovered, and to everyone's surprise, he credited magnets with playing a role in his healing. 5:11 [SPEAKER_00]: But he kept the details a bit on the down low. 5:15 [SPEAKER_00]: He probably liked making the people around him curious, and as it turns out, he made a legacy out of it. 5:24 [SPEAKER_00]: Because as he recovered, Ed started a project that became the biggest mystery of his life. 5:33 [SPEAKER_00]: He had just dealt with a major medical problem, and was only about five feet tall, weighing barely a hundred pounds at the time. 5:41 [SPEAKER_00]: And still, he took on a physically demanding project. 5:47 [SPEAKER_00]: Ed started quarreling massive coral blocks, aiming to build a home dedicated to the girl who had left him. 5:55 [SPEAKER_00]: His inspiration and motivation, according to him, was this lost love. 6:01 [SPEAKER_00]: Soon, the neighbors noticed Ed working on these giant stones, but they could never figure out how he managed to move them. 6:10 [SPEAKER_00]: There are even rumors that some kids saw Ed moving multi-tun stones that were floating as if they were balloons. 6:20 [SPEAKER_00]: Objectively speaking, that's impossible, and they are children, so it's likely a fairytale. 6:29 [SPEAKER_00]: Either way, Ed started working mostly at night, so people on the town couldn't watch him. 6:36 [SPEAKER_00]: But that only added to the mystery around him. 6:43 [SPEAKER_00]: Using simple tools and techniques, possibly derived from his earlier logging experiences, and his innate understanding of levers and physics, Ed manipulated these massive stones 6:59 [SPEAKER_00]: He carved and arranged them into walls, towers, and furniture, that we can still find there. 7:06 [SPEAKER_00]: And as I said, the precision with which he worked was evidence enough of his experience as a stone masonry. 7:15 [SPEAKER_00]: As he continued his work, making by hand every single piece that would go into the castle, the home he had envisioned was coming together. 7:30 [SPEAKER_00]: In 1936, with a threat of real estate development near his Florida City property, Ed had to move his entire structure to a more secluded area. 7:43 [SPEAKER_00]: But this time, he was determined. 7:45 [SPEAKER_00]: Over the next three years, he transported the castle, 10 miles north to its current location in homestead. 7:54 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, as with the development of the structure, the logistics of this move were a mystery. 8:00 [SPEAKER_00]: And they remain a mystery. 8:03 [SPEAKER_00]: Even today, nobody can figure out how he managed such a thing. 8:09 [SPEAKER_00]: Apparently he hired a truck driver for the job, but insisted the driver not watch how he loaded the stones, because he wanted to keep his methods secret. 8:21 [SPEAKER_00]: Once he had relocated, Ed continued to expand for a castle, adding various astronomical and functional features. 8:31 [SPEAKER_00]: He constructed walls in a towering gate that could be moved with a widest touch, despite 8:41 [SPEAKER_00]: Now having this beautiful and mysterious place to himself, Ed knew it's worth. 8:47 [SPEAKER_00]: So he would charge visitors a tiny fee of 10 cents, which would be about two and a half dollars today. 8:54 [SPEAKER_00]: It wasn't much, but he used this income to continue his work on the castle. 9:00 [SPEAKER_00]: With that, there came many curious visitors who would ask Ed how he managed to build all of this alone. 9:09 [SPEAKER_00]: But his replies were always cryptic as if trying to create more fascination. 9:15 [SPEAKER_00]: He would say things like, I understand the laws of weight and leverage, and I know the secrets of the people who built the pyramids, and he was pretty adamant about not letting anyone know how he did it. 9:29 [SPEAKER_00]: Ed's techniques remained a personal secret, all the way to his death, and 1951. 9:36 [SPEAKER_00]: He left behind zero explanation of how he built Coral Castle. 9:42 [SPEAKER_00]: and that has led to numerous speculations and theories over the years. 9:50 [SPEAKER_00]: One such theory is that Ed had a deep understanding of magnets and their properties. 9:56 [SPEAKER_00]: He even wrote a small booklet titled Magnetic Current and tried to patent a device he called a magnetic motor, which he claimed could run indefinitely. 10:08 [SPEAKER_00]: A sort of perpetual motion machine 10:11 [SPEAKER_00]: And if you remember, he also claimed that magnets healed his tuberculosis. 10:18 [SPEAKER_00]: At the castle, he had a magnetic flywheel, parts of which are still there today. 10:22 [SPEAKER_00]: Although some components have been removed. 10:27 [SPEAKER_00]: When he failed to secure a patent, Ed was quite open about sharing the design. 10:34 [SPEAKER_00]: he even claimed to have used it to power a truck, explaining that the motor worked by the magnetic north and south poles, attracting and repelling each other. 10:45 [SPEAKER_00]: Around the castle, and also used mysterious tripods with the box on top during the building process. 10:53 [SPEAKER_00]: Some people think that might have been part of his secret, 10:57 [SPEAKER_00]: There are theories suggesting Ed might have used magnetic forces to levitate the mass of stones during construction. 11:06 [SPEAKER_00]: He could have generated electricity with his magnetic generator, influencing the stones own magnetism, to lift them, which certainly would look like magic to children. 11:19 [SPEAKER_00]: On the other hand, others believed he tapped into laylines, which are hypothetical alignments of landforms, believed to have spiritual significance and magnetic energy to create a force that could project the heavy stones upward. 11:37 [SPEAKER_00]: Now these might sound like a bit far-fetched, but they are better than the ones based on 11:48 [SPEAKER_00]: but not everything has to be that imaginative. 11:54 [SPEAKER_00]: One of Ed's close friends was Orville Orwin, who was also a seasoned building contractor, and understood construction techniques clearly. 12:05 [SPEAKER_00]: In 1996, Urban Rotabuck titled, Mr. Kant is dead, the story of the Coral Castle, in which he used photographs, drawings and schematics to actually explain or rather try to explain how the castle was built. 12:25 [SPEAKER_00]: Urban rejected all the paranormal theories that suggested the castle 12:35 [SPEAKER_00]: He said that such ideas belittled the real effort as friend put it to the work. 12:41 [SPEAKER_00]: Urban emphasized that Leeds Gowlin's time and achievements were earned through physical labor and perseverance, not mystic energies or magic. 12:53 [SPEAKER_00]: He insisted that it was through sheer hard work and knowledge of physics that Ed managed to build Coral Castle. 13:01 [SPEAKER_00]: However, it was constructed, the quarrel castle truly shows us the power of one determined and broken heart, and what it can achieve against all odds. 13:16 [SPEAKER_00]: And that brings us to the end of today's episode. 13:20 [SPEAKER_00]: Without a doubt, the quarrel castle stands as one of the world's most captivating architectural wanders. 13:28 [SPEAKER_00]: It leaves us with more questions than answers, and the most important one is was Edward Rilly Eugenius, who tapped into lost ancient techniques, or is there yet an undiscovered scientific explanation behind the choral castle? 13:47 [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks for listening to Home Town History. 13:49 [SPEAKER_00]: Be sure to follow along for more interesting stories from the past.
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