How Ed Leedskalnin built Coral Castle remains a mystery. 

Why he did it is no secret.

Agnes Scruffs was, purportedly, the love of Ed Leedskalnin’s life. As the story goes, Ed was captivated by Agnes and asked her to marry him while she was still in her teens. Ten years his junior, Agnes accepted Ed’s proposal and they planned a small church wedding.

When it came time to say “I do”, Agnes walked out of the church and left Ed standing at the alter. No one knows why.

After that, Ed left Latvia and never came back.

Later in life, Ed would tell neighbors and visitors to Coral Castle how he was building the modern marvel to win back his lost love. There are no records to indicate if Agnes Scruffs ever knew of Ed’s work.

Some of the greatest creations in history have been inspired by broken hearts. Ed could have given in to disappointment and self-pity, but instead he got busy creating a feat of engineering that still has people talking. While a part of me wishes Ed and Agnes had worked it out, a bigger part of me is glad Ed had the inspiration to build Coral Castle.

We can find out what’s going on half-way across the world almost instantly.           Before you even set foot in another country you can learn the language, exchange your currency and reserve a hotel room.

Traveling wasn’t so convenient in 1912.

On March 23, 1912, Latvian immigrant Ed Leedskalnin could only imagine what America would be like as he boarded a ship bound for New York City.

He arrived at Ellis Island sixteen days later with eighty dollars in his pocket. With no ties to anyone, Ed traveled for the next eleven years. In his wanderings around the U.S. he learned the language, learned the people and learned how to make a living.

Ed arrived in Florida in 1923, finally intending to build a home and settle down. It’s here where the records of Ed’s life become intertwined with the stuff of conspiracy theories and tall tales.

The mystery surrounding Ed Leedskalnin led me to write Coral Castle, but as I learned more about him I found the first part of his life was just as inspiring.

 I can only imagine the courage it must have required for Ed to leave his home and become a stranger in another country. He worked hard and learned from each job he took and each place he visited.

Engineers, conspiracy theorists and journalists have all wondered how Ed built Coral Castle in Homestead, Florida.

I’m pretty impressed with how he got there.

The unexplained is intriguing. Curiosity compels us to continue searching for explanations, even when there might not be any.

The mystery surrounding Coral Castle has made it a tourist attraction in Homestead, Florida. Gigantic blocks of coral rock make-up the castle and other stone sculptures outside. The heaviest of these blocks weighs more than the rocks at Stonehenge.

The structures themselves are interesting enough, but the story behind their creation is what really stirs the imagination.

Edward Leedskalnin, a Latvian immigrant, spent his life building the Coral Castle in the early twentieth century.

How did one man raise 57,000 pound blocks of stone from the ground?

If you ask the Internet, Ed had the help of aliens, the supernatural and a multitude of other conspiracy theories. We tend to let our imagination fill in the gaps when we’re faced with situations we can’t immediately explain. The more outlandish explanations I read, the more I wanted to do my own research.

And so, Jack Heffron and I began to investigate this strange place. Our findings became Coral Castle.

I’ve sorted through facts, speculation and tall tales to bring you an objective look at a subject that is often approached imaginatively, but rarely taken seriously.  I don’t claim to have solved the mystery behind Edward Leedskalnin’s creations, but Coral Castle at least explores all sides of a very interesting story.