Welcome to the Farewell to Finder’s Fest geo-art, brought to you by the Forest Minions! This series celebrates weird and unusual things throughout the Sunshine State. Please do not go to the posted locations. Rather, solve the challenging quiz found at the bottom of each page, for the final location. For the letterbox caches, please leave the stamp in the cache. They are not trade items. For the discerning traveler, we’ve included the GPS coordinates for these bizarre locations, when we were able to establish them.
Coral Castle – Location 25.5005, -80.4446
It’s been called Florida’s Stonehenge, a massive, rock structure on the Dixie Highway north of Homestead known as Coral Castle. The mystery of this strange place is really about its builder, Edward Leedskalnin. Edward accomplished an unbelievable, perhaps even supernatural, feat of engineering that is still a baffling mystery. Edward quarried, transported, carved, and placed, huge blocks weighing several tons. Most of his work was secretly done at night using only basic tools, such as iron wedges, saws, block and tackle, and a wagon. He had no engines or any other power sources, other than himself, to move and place over 1,100 tons of coral rock. The average weight of a single block is heavier than those used in constructing the Great Pyramid of Giza.
As if there was not enough weirdness surrounding Ed’s stone project, in 1936, when Florida City became too crowded for his liking, he dismantled his massive works and moved it down the road to Homestead. He borrowed a friend’s tractor and truck and began the super-human task of loading, unloading, and reconstructing his rock castle on ten acres of land where it still stands today. Once again, using a lantern for light, he worked at night being careful not to expose the secret of how he did it. According to one story, a few curious folks decided to spy on Ed to see how he moved these heavy stones. They claimed that he placed his hands on each stone and began chanting and the stones would just float up and into place.
Here is the super duper, way challenging, really hard trivia question, which, if solved properly, will lead you to the final coordinates:
Question: If you were in Denmark, and asked a store clerk for a svangerskabsforebyggendemiddel, what would they hand you?
A: A machine gun = N29° 27.334' W81° 48.558'
B: A ballistic missile = N29° 27.334' W81° 48.548'
C: A condom = N29° 27.334' W81° 48.538'