The Coral Castle Myth And The 9 Ton Gate

One of the greatest myths regarding the Coral Castle located in Homestead Florida just south of Miami, Florida is the origin of its famous 9 Ton Gate. This amazing 18,000 pounds of coral is said to be the reason why the original Coral Castle which was in Florida City, Florida was called by Edward Leedskalnin "Rock Gate Park". This is actually an easy assumption based upon the fact that it is one of the more mysterious and enigmatic features of this modern monolithic structure that was made famous by Leonard Nimoy of Star Trek fame on his series "In Search Of" in the early 1980s.

The truth of the matter is that the 9 Ton Gate at its present location at the Coral Castle in Homestead was taken directly out of the ground in the quarries there, and not in Florida City. This is easy to understand when you have actually gone to the Coral Castle and looked at the coral that it is made of.

There are actually two types of coral at the Coral Castle. The coral structures that were moved from Florida City to Homestead during the period of 1937 to 1941 were made of a very dark and layered oolite coral. The other kind of coral is that which most of us are familiar with if we go snorkeling and see the very porous coral made famous by scenes of the coral reefs.

The coral that the 9 Ton Gate is made of is the porous coral which is indigenous only to the Homestead Florida site, not the Florida City site. The more layered darker coral which "Rock Gate Park" is made of is not what you see after examining this 18,000 pound piece of coral.

I am not sure why Ed called his initial structure "Rock Gate Park", but based upon the composition of the coral that the 9 Ton Gate is made of, it is clear that it was created in Homestead and was never in Florida City.

Regardless of the fact that the 9 Ton Gate is the result of Ed's work in Homestead, Florida, if you consider the magnitude of his achievement in creating a gateway that was 18,000 pounds and perfectly balanced, with a hole cored through this piece of coral at the exact center of balance, and that he somehow mounted it by himself with no modern tools and no one seeing him work, it defies common sense and logic to assume that he was using conventional means to move these megalithic pieces of coral.

Upon further consideration you realize that Edward Leedskalnin was not only capable of moving large pieces of coral that only modern machinery can move today, but his engineering prowess in being able to maneuver these enormous objects in such a way that they would be perfectly balanced, one can only imagine he had laser precision tools or that he was one of the luckiest builders in history.

Since it is illogical to assume that luck was the basis of his amazing abilities, and due to the fact that any modern equipment of that size would have been easily noticeable, you must take into account the myths and stories of Ed Leedskalnin regarding how he is said to have worked at night and that no one ever saw him working and that he sang to the stones which caused them to float in place.

Although the idea of levitation is plausible in theory in our modern world, today we still do not have a means by which we can levitate regular sized objects weighing even 10 or 20 pounds without utilizing some kind of modern technology. Yet here was a man that was able to defy modern physics, and that claimed to know the secrets of the ancient pyramid builders, leaving behind a structure that no one can make today. How can you not believe that he was telling the truth when he has created a structure that has no equal in modern times and has not been replicated either physically or mathematically by those with modern skills that should be able to do so if it were possible.

Going back to the discussion of the original location of the 9 Ton Gate, if it was never in Florida City, why did he call his original site Rock Gate Park? Of all of the pieces brought over from Florida City, none of them resemble a gate. Perhaps we will never know what inspired Ed to name his rock garden "Rock Gate Park". However we do know one thing: the 9 Ton Gate is both a scientific and technological impossibility to have been created in the 1930s by one man that had no modern tools by which to create such a perfectly balanced and carved structure of wonder. It is a mystery that may never be solved and a structure that may never be re-created ever again.