Coral Castle

An engineering marvel built single-handedly by 5-foot-tall, 100-pound Edward Leedskalnin using over 1,100 tons of coral rock. He spent 28 years creating this monument to the fiancee who abandoned him the day before their wedding.

Coral Castle is one of the strangest structures in America—and one of the most mysterious. Built entirely of coral rock between 1923 and 1951 by Latvian immigrant Edward Leedskalnin, the monument contains stones weighing up to 30 tons, all carved and placed by a single man working alone, often at night.

The story begins with heartbreak. In Latvia, 26-year-old Edward was engaged to marry 16-year-old Agnes Skuvst (he called her his "Sweet Sixteen"), but she cancelled the wedding just one day before the ceremony. Devastated, Edward emigrated to America, contracted tuberculosis, and spontaneously healed—he claimed magnets had cured him.

Edward spent 28 years building Coral Castle as a monument to his lost love, working in secret and refusing to let anyone watch. A few teenagers claimed to have seen him cause massive coral blocks to float like hydrogen balloons, leading to legends that he possessed esoteric knowledge of magnetism and anti-gravity. Edward never revealed his methods, taking the secret to his grave in 1951.

When complete, the structure included a throne, a heart-shaped table, a bathtub, and his "mad rocker"—a side-by-side rocking chair where arguing lovers could face away from each other while remaining close. Everything was built in Agnes's honor, should she ever return.

Billy Idol recorded the song "Sweet Sixteen" about Edward's obsession, filming the music video at Coral Castle in 1986.

Today, guests report ghostly apparitions, disembodied voices, and inexplicable movement throughout the property. Paranormal investigator David Pierce Rodriguez believes Edward's spirit still watches over his life's work. Some visitors feel an unsettling presence, as if the broken-hearted builder never left the monument he created for a woman who never came.