This really intrigues me. If you don’t know what Coral Castle is you really must read about it here http://www.parascope.com/en/articles/coralCastle.htm
This almost freaks me out; incredible.
There’s quite a bit of info at the official Coral Castle site, along with photos of how it was supposedly built by Ed. It looks like he just used a block and tackle, although if you want to see some really wack theories, check out the message board on that site.
This thread, on the Graham Hancock message board (yes, that Graham Hancock - what can I say, it’s a guilty pleasure of mine. Watching the “alternative archaeologists” defend their points of view is always entertaining) might be of some interest. In it, someone claims to have re-discovered a lost technology that allows him to toss big rocks around with gay abandon. Of course, the time’s just not right (nor has it been for the last year and a half, apparently) for him to reveal it…hm.
Sufficient time and monomania can produce wonders.
I didn’t bother going to the site, so forgive me if this is redundant or something, but dried out coral is pretty light because it’s full of tiny holes. I would imagine that the block & tackle theory works. That being said, it’s still a pretty amazing feat…
Another site on the Coral Castle, just to give me an excuse to mention a Roadside America site.
Some of the coral blocks weighed over 25 tons An Arky…
I tend to take such estimations of the weight of blacks with a grain of salt. I’ve noticed that woowoo types tend to inflate the weight of objects quite a bit to make things more impressive.
My favorite example are the sontes at Baalbeck, which we are told by Hancock et al are 1000 tons and were moved miles and miles. In fact the blocks were 600 tons and were dragged a 1/3 of a mile with Roman technology.
Erroneous posted an excellent site with some revealing pictures that bust a few myths. They show block and tackle, as well as a Ford automobile whose motor is being used to lift things. In fact the, existance of those pictures smashes one common myth: That nobody ever saw the guy working. The who was taking the photos!?
Coral castle is impressive, but when the facts come around you realise there’s a lot of embellishment to the tale.
I really need to visit that place, I’ve been living 45 minutes away from it since 1987, and keep hearing about it. And I have time now, being unemployed… That tears it, I’m going Monday (if it’s open Mondays),
so what is up with the coral castle?
I had this friend who worked with the US Govt. in the early 80’s on some pretty interesting projects. Really smart guy, was some sort of chemical engineer or something (he passed away a few years back). Anyway, Coral Castle was one of his true fascinations. He claimed the secret to its creation was in time-lines. He used to tell me he could explain the whole process to me but he would have to kill me (he was joking).
Time-lines? Well, I’m not sure. I just remember this guy used to swear they were the secret to the universe.
I thought that the castle was a habitable building. Sorry for sounding jaded, but is this all there is to it? He had decades to cut, finish and move the coral. Given a desire to do so, I’d bet that most people could build a coral castle in the time he had to do it.
Also, the site mentions that “Coral weighs approximately 125 pounds per cubic foot.” That may be the net density of the stuff after it’s ground down and compacted, but coral blocks cut from a reef would be full of voids. Water weighs about 62 pounds per cubic foot, and the coral chunks I have held weighed a little less than that.
I remember seeing an episode of In Search Of… as a child, and Lenorard Nimoy made it seem a lot more mysterious than it really is. When I was stationed in Homestead my sister came down to visit for a few days and we put that on our List.
One of the things we especially remembered from the show was a large door made out of a coral block which turned with little-to-no-effort on an old car axle. At one point someone took the door apart to see how it worked…and never put it back together properly. Talk about disappointment 
But there is some neat stuff there. It’s worth seeing. I thought the tickets were too pricey and the tour guide too pwecious for words, but it was ok.
Is it me, or is that official Coral Castle site more than a bit contradictory?
It says:
And also:
One more:
Then, when you click on the “pictures” link, there are three photographs, each entitled “construction,” that clearly show the block and tackle. Am I missing something here?
maybe Ed took the pictures himself using a tripod and timer, hence there is no record of anyone ever seing Ed working.
BEing extremely tedious to everyones opinions, have any of you thouhgt of grand physical feats he might have used? For example: he might have alterd the coral with another chemical to reduce the weight. Who knows.