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Speaker 1: Fellow ridiculous historians, we returned to you with a classic episode.

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Speaker 1: This is a bit of a listical for us. Let's

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Speaker 1: get into it. Get Do you ever have ideas for

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Speaker 1: a weird invention?

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Speaker 2: You know, I think I maybe mentioned on the podcast before.

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Speaker 2: They used to have a program that was sponsored by

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Speaker 2: the government to the US government called Invent America. And

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Speaker 2: when I was a kid, I participated in that a

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Speaker 2: couple of times, and I invented something called the bright

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Speaker 2: Night toilet light, which was literally just a very simple

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Speaker 2: circuit with a button wired onder the bottom of a

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Speaker 2: traditional toilet seat that whatever you drop the toilet seed down,

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Speaker 2: it would click on so that you wouldn't fall in

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Speaker 2: the toilet. I believe I received an honorable mention, but no,

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Speaker 2: that was the end of Those are the ends of

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Speaker 2: my inventing days. Every time I call it something, I'm

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Speaker 2: pretty sure it's already a thing.

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Speaker 1: No worries, man, I accidentally reinvented air conditioning as a kid.

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Speaker 2: I did once reinvent the wheel. I've done that many times. Actually, yeah, yeah.

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Speaker 1: It's just it's a smart invention. We're talking about some

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Speaker 1: odd story, some classic ridiculous history here in particular the

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Speaker 1: story of Simeon Ellerton and Edward Lee Scalnan. Oh, can't

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Speaker 1: wait for you to hear it. It's just talk about

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Speaker 1: I'm still on the fence about this one, because there's

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Speaker 1: a great argument for committing to the bit, but then

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Speaker 1: there's also an argument of, hey, maybe don't make your

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Speaker 1: life about one thing.

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Speaker 2: Let's roll the audio.

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Speaker 1: Ridiculous History is a production of iHeartRadio. Let's begin today's

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Speaker 1: episode with the busting of a popular myth. You have

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Speaker 1: probably often heard that the proper amount of walking average

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Speaker 1: person should do a day works out to ten thousand steps.

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Speaker 2: Oh that's true. That's what your little fitness tracker is

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Speaker 2: supposed to say at the end of the day.

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Speaker 1: Right right. And that's a lot of corporate initiatives saying,

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Speaker 1: let's all walk ten thousand steps. You know, that's good

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Speaker 1: for you. But there's not a lot of really compelling

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Speaker 1: science that nails exactly ten thousand steps.

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Speaker 2: Gotcha. It is a digestible number, though, is it not?

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Speaker 1: And it is it is. It's a nice, easy, round

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Speaker 1: number that sounds big and ambitious but achievable. And we're

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Speaker 1: bringing that up just to set up a fantastic segue

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Speaker 1: into a story about walking and into a story about ambition,

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Speaker 1: several stories.

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Speaker 2: In fact, who are you?

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Speaker 1: Oh in this iteration they call them in this one?

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Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, there are alternate versions. I mean, you know

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Speaker 2: you contain multitudes.

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Speaker 1: Hey, right, If I contradict myself very well, then I

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Speaker 1: contradict myself. But enough about me, what about you?

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Speaker 2: I don't want to talk about me, But who are you?

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Speaker 2: I'm nol This is ridiculous history, and we have clearly

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Speaker 2: run out of ideas, which is fine, which is fine,

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Speaker 2: happens to the best of us. But we're gonna do

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Speaker 2: our damnst with this one talking about a dude, an

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Speaker 2: English guy who walked a lot and had ambitions, and

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Speaker 2: then we're gonna follow that up with another story about

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Speaker 2: another guy with ambitions, and then I think we'll wrap

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Speaker 2: up with some little nuggets about other weird people that

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Speaker 2: did weird stuff. I you know, I respectfully disagree. I

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Speaker 2: don't think we've run out of ideas. I think we're

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Speaker 2: definitely going weird with this. I like it. Yes, cool,

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Speaker 2: It's gonna be a fun one. It's gonna be a

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Speaker 2: grab bag type episode, and we're gonna wrap it up

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Speaker 2: with some surprises.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, we have something special for you at the end.

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Speaker 1: What is it? You might ask?

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Speaker 2: Stay tuned.

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Speaker 1: So first things first, we like to introduce you to

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Speaker 1: a fellow named Simeon Ellerton. This guy is British and

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Speaker 1: British listeners you may already recognize his name because he's

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Speaker 1: often referenced when someone talks about the notable British eccentricity.

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Speaker 2: Speaking of British listeners over on our Facebook page at

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Speaker 2: Ridiculous History, I got a real nice dang or we did,

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Speaker 2: I guess for our Guy Fowk episode where a listener

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Speaker 2: said that he cringed his way through the episode because

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Speaker 2: we pronounced the guy who was in charge of the

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Speaker 2: gunpowder plot, who we pronounced as Catsby, It's apparently Katsby

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Speaker 2: And he said that just made him shrivel in horror.

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Speaker 2: So hopefully we don't do that again. I'm sure I

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Speaker 2: don't think there's any other way to pronounce Simeon Simon.

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Speaker 2: Maybe what if it's pronounced Simon and we don't know

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Speaker 2: the die is cast exactly, you know what, he's got

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Speaker 2: a double down. We just got a roll with it.

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Speaker 2: So Simeon Ellerton was He's often described in a coup

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Speaker 2: ways in different accounts, one of which is a known

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Speaker 2: a noted pedestrian.

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Speaker 1: That is my favorite.

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Speaker 2: I love that. I wish I was known as a

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Speaker 2: noted pedestrian.

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Speaker 1: Or a fitness enthusiast.

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Speaker 2: Fitness enthusiast, you know, the term eccentric gets thrown around

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Speaker 2: quite a lot. But let's just give you the broad Strokes.

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Speaker 2: Who was sime and Ellerton.

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Speaker 1: He was employed by the gentry of his neighborhood.

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Speaker 2: Just the general gentry, to execute this is a quotation,

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Speaker 2: to execute commissions in the South. We were sort of

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Speaker 2: an assassin just of commissions. Oh I see, okay, which

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Speaker 2: he executed with fidelity and diligence. Not that we're going

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Speaker 2: to be vain about this, but we want you to

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Speaker 2: know that's a quote, because neither of us would use

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Speaker 2: execute or another version of it twice in the same

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Speaker 2: CDs diligence. Where is that?

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Speaker 3: No?

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Speaker 2: So I guess what that means in normal human speak

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Speaker 2: is that he he was kind of a courier, and

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Speaker 2: that was directly tied to his fondness of the walk.

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Speaker 1: Right, So it wasn't just that he enjoyed a stroll,

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Speaker 1: which a lot of people do. He liked to walk

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Speaker 1: incredibly long distances, and when he was on these meandering journeys,

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Speaker 1: he picked up a weird habit which literally involved picking

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Speaker 1: things up. Yep, he collected stones from across England and

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Speaker 1: then he would just bring them back with him.

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Speaker 2: I'm assuming in some sort of pile that he maintained.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, he would carry them though on his head. Oh yeah,

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Speaker 1: yeah right, But at first he just yeah, started piling

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Speaker 1: stones on his land.

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Speaker 2: He was so known as being a enthusiastic walker. That's

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Speaker 2: probably what led him to be employed by the gentry

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Speaker 2: in the first place. They were like, well, simon'll go,

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Speaker 2: he's already walking from Surrey to god Yorkshire. English listeners,

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Speaker 2: you can also school us on ridiculous history Facebook about

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Speaker 2: the geography of England. But hey, spoiler alert, I don't

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Speaker 2: know the geography of my country either, so you're not

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Speaker 2: going to hurt my feelings. Oh man, oh man, I'm

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Speaker 2: really bad at geography. But no, he would go like

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Speaker 2: fifty miles on foot round trip, yeah.

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Speaker 1: Or eighty kilometers for our friends across the pond.

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Speaker 2: Oh while carrying these stones upon his head.

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Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, which feels like a weird way to carry

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Speaker 1: stone surely not balancing though, you know, one would think

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Speaker 1: it depends on the size of the stone. Yeah, but

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Speaker 1: given the distance, you would imagine he would have to

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Speaker 1: hold it with both hands or have a contraption that

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Speaker 1: he used to trap it to us.

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Speaker 2: He wasn't a noted contraptionist.

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Speaker 1: Though, No, he was not a contraptionaire. You think that

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Speaker 1: would have figured into his CV, right, that's something you

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Speaker 1: would mention. I think in this time period, a contraption

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Speaker 1: would also be notable. So he's got this pie ella stones,

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Speaker 1: and we've been doing this for years. He's been doing

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Speaker 1: this for years and years and years, and eventually he

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Speaker 1: looks around at the pile and he thinks I should

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Speaker 1: do something. I should do something other than just walking

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Speaker 1: and throwing these into a pile.

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Speaker 2: Well, that is one interpretation, Ben. The other would be

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Speaker 2: maybe he knew all along what he was going to

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Speaker 2: do with it. I don't know what do you think?

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Speaker 2: The record is unclear?

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Speaker 1: The record is unclear. I would like to imagine that

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Speaker 1: he had a plan, you know, WoT wouldn't you like

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Speaker 1: to imagine that that's what I'm doing? Okay? Otherwise it

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Speaker 1: seems indicative of something beyond eccentricity.

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Speaker 2: Exactly exactly that plan in question is was that he

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Speaker 2: was going to use these stones to build himself a

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Speaker 2: little stone cottage that he would also design himself.

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Speaker 1: And this was a brilliant plan financially speaking, because sure

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Speaker 1: he didn't have to pay for someone else to haul

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Speaker 1: the stones. He didn't have to pay for the stones himself.

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Speaker 1: He was just finding them, but you know, in the

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Speaker 1: hills by the road and doing all the transit on

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Speaker 1: his own power. This, according to folks like Andy Staffer,

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Speaker 1: the owner of Stauffer and Son's Construction, puts him ahead

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Speaker 1: of his time by a matter of centuries.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, very much so. I mean, the idea of using

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Speaker 2: reclaimed material to build a home today is very much

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Speaker 2: in fashion. Staffer says in an interview with How Stuff

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Speaker 2: Works that using material it already exists on your land

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Speaker 2: can be a huge advantage. And then the materials are

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Speaker 2: free and you don't need to ship them to your jobs,

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Speaker 2: Like can you imagine shipping masonry? You know that's that's expensive,

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Speaker 2: very very expensive. Yeah, and he says, or your job site.

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Speaker 2: And he says the challenge is that builders must ensure

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Speaker 2: the items found on a property can be used for

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Speaker 2: structural materials. Here's the thing too, though, Ben, This was

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Speaker 2: in you know, the seven teen hundreds, and I can't

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Speaker 2: imagine that there were exactly building codes, right, And did

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Speaker 2: he own the land? That's the thing, you guys. There's

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Speaker 2: a lot of conjecture here because there's precious little about

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Speaker 2: this this fellow. One of the most prominent sources of

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Speaker 2: the very few sources about him at all was a

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Speaker 2: publication called the Yorkshire County Magazine, and it describes Simeon

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Speaker 2: by way of his death in seventeen ninety nine. He's

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Speaker 2: not dead to us yet for the purposes of this story,

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Speaker 2: but I just want to read this to you for

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Speaker 2: the sake of a little context. He died at Craike

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Speaker 2: criikee Craig. What do you think, Ben, cri i k

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Speaker 2: e wright in let us know, go Craik Craig. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: I'm gonna do Craig in the County of Durham. Now

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Speaker 2: that one at the advanced age of one hundred and

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Speaker 2: four years old. No small task in those days, right Ben?

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Speaker 1: So now, yeah, no small task. And now we see

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Speaker 1: the advantage of his continual exercise that had to play

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Speaker 1: some sort of role absolutely.

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Speaker 2: And my whole question here is like what was his lineage?

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Speaker 2: Where did he live before he built himself this stone hut?

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Speaker 1: Yeah? What did it look like? Right? Did people come

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Speaker 1: visit him?

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Speaker 2: Because he sounds just sort of like a like a

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Speaker 2: village odd ball who people would throw a couple of

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Speaker 2: shillings to carry their letters because he was already going or.

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Speaker 1: Really smart, determined guy with like Andy Dufrain and Shaushing

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Speaker 1: redemption level dedication to.

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Speaker 2: A task and forethought right, very forward thinking. It goes

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Speaker 2: on to say, yeah, he was. So he died of

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Speaker 2: the advanced age of one hundred and four, making him

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Speaker 2: a centenarian.

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Speaker 1: That happen, Yeah, centenarian over one hundred years old or

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Speaker 1: just one hundred, but in his case one hundred and four.

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Speaker 2: Got it. This obituary really goes on to say he

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Speaker 2: was a noted pedestrian, Yes, I love that one. That

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Speaker 2: and was often employed by gentlemen in the neighborhood on

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Speaker 2: commissions to London and other places, which he always executed

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Speaker 2: on foot. And as you said before, Ben with fidelity

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Speaker 2: and diligence, so you know, he's a dependable guy and

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Speaker 2: he's honest, very honest. He lived in a neat stone

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Speaker 2: cottage of his own building. And what was remarkable he

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Speaker 2: had literally carried it on his own head.

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Speaker 1: And these would be for journeys of over fifty miles,

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Speaker 1: and that would not be an infrequent amount of mileage

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Speaker 1: for him. The story continues, so that account in the

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Speaker 1: Yorkshire County Magazine is expanded upon in the Historical Register

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Speaker 1: of Remarkable Events.

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Speaker 2: That's true, And just a quick note, the headline for

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Speaker 2: Simeon's little entry in the Yorkshire magazine was part of

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Speaker 2: a list of Yorkshire centenarians.

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Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, yeah, and there's a surprising number there. I

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Speaker 1: always feel like it's surprising when there's more than one.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: So what happens after he builds this cottage? He continues

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Speaker 1: carrying stones, doesn't he?

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Speaker 2: He does? And not only that, even leading up to

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Speaker 2: building the cottage, he was looking for a particular type

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Speaker 2: of stone. He wanted them to be just so. And

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Speaker 2: I haven't seen anything listed as to what exactly the

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Speaker 2: qualities were, but I would imagine they had to be

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Speaker 2: pretty smooth, sure, and then they needed to be able

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Speaker 2: to be stitched together or stacked in a way that

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Speaker 2: would you know, make them sturdy.

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Speaker 1: Sure load bearing.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, not clear if he was using masonry or if

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Speaker 2: he was like, you know, putting them together with concrete

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Speaker 2: or anything, or if he was literally just stacking them.

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Speaker 2: I don't know, what do you think man.

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Speaker 1: Going for an esthetic? He may have just collected rocks

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Speaker 1: that he enjoyed as well as rocks that he found

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Speaker 1: suitable for construction. But yes, he would rarely come home

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Speaker 1: without carrying stones, and he became known for this throughout

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Speaker 1: the county. And let's go back to Andy Staufer for

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Speaker 1: a moment here, because he has an anecdote about a

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Speaker 1: house he was working on that was built in nineteen

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Speaker 1: thirteen and had burned down and needed rebuilding. And this

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Speaker 1: gives us a little bit of a look at the

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Speaker 1: appropriate rock for this kind of foundation.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's true. He said the foundation of this house

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Speaker 2: was made of river rocks that had been taken from

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Speaker 2: the local river. But today you can't use rocks like

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Speaker 2: that because of things like building codes. Right, he does

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Speaker 2: say that you could use these natural, beautiful looking rocks

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Speaker 2: to as decorative pieces. But Simeon clearly was you know,

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Speaker 2: he wanted to build this on the cheap, as in

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Speaker 2: on the no money. You know, his whole goal. I'm

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Speaker 2: hoping the long term goal was to build his house

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Speaker 2: out of these stones. And then so Stoffer goes on

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Speaker 2: to add quote, if we had wanted to build a

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Speaker 2: natural stone wall but didn't have access to this collection

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Speaker 2: of rock already on the property, it would have caused

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Speaker 2: a considerable amount to import them. So in this case,

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Speaker 2: having found materials is a great benefit for both the

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Speaker 2: cost efficiency and beauty perspective, because again he had you know,

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Speaker 2: no one, no one has a lifetime to carry rocks

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Speaker 2: for a building job, but I mean seemed like he

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Speaker 2: had all the time in the world. He's a very

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Speaker 2: zen character to me. I really I kind of dig

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Speaker 2: his whole vibe.

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Speaker 1: It's interesting to watch your interpretation of him evolve even

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Speaker 1: in the course of this episode. And we don't have

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Speaker 1: a ton of information about Ellerton as we as we

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Speaker 1: said at the top, but we do know that he

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Speaker 1: kept going in some way in a symbolic way. So

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Speaker 1: after he has his home built, he's not carrying these heavy,

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Speaker 1: load bearing, potentially load bearing rocks on his head, but

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Speaker 1: he's still walking around with a very interesting habit.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, he had a bag of rocks, right, And to me,

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Speaker 2: this is sort of the clue I was looking for

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Speaker 2: that he had a plan. He was that Andy Dufrain

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Speaker 2: level of like forward thinking. You know, there was a

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Speaker 2: lot going on this. I'm like, you're right. My perspective

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Speaker 2: on this guy really is evolving. And the more we

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Speaker 2: talk about him, I like him very very much.

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Speaker 1: And it's reported that he still felt as though the

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Speaker 1: extra weight was a requirement for him to enjoy walking.

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Speaker 1: And maybe we end this part of weird people who

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Speaker 1: built weird things. Maybe we end it with one of

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Speaker 1: our favorite quotes that we found from Ellerton.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, you know, he was a known dude

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Speaker 2: around town and people would stop him. Seems like he

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Speaker 2: was probably pretty friendly because whenever someone would inquire a

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Speaker 2: reason for carrying these rocks or having a weight upon

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Speaker 2: his head, he would always reply, tis to keep on

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Speaker 2: my hat. It's so beautiful, man.

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Speaker 1: I think this guy seems like he'd be fun to

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Speaker 1: hang out.

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Speaker 2: He really does, he really really does. I want to

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Speaker 2: build a religion around this man. Ah.

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Speaker 1: I'm glad that we're verging into spirituality here or the

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Speaker 1: more esoteric fields, because we found another person that we

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Speaker 1: wanted to explore, another weird guy or visionary who built

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Speaker 1: a weird thing, or should we say a visionary thing.

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Speaker 1: The choice, friends and neighbors is up to you. We

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Speaker 1: would like to introduce you to something called Coral Castle,

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Speaker 1: built by a man named Edward Leed Skeldon.

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Speaker 2: That's a doozy of a last name there.

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Speaker 1: He's Latvian. So there's a small town in Florida. It's

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Speaker 1: called Homestead, And in Homestead is one of the most

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Speaker 1: bizarre structures in Florida. It's a ten acre stone park

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Speaker 1: called Coral Castle. By himself, Edward built this thing, and

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Speaker 1: he made it using around two hundred and forty three

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Speaker 1: tons of gigantic coral blocks.

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Speaker 2: Okay, so he's upping the anne here a little bit.

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Speaker 2: And there's about one hundred years later than our boys said,

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Speaker 2: and some technology does come into play for this man's story.

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Speaker 2: But set the scene for us, Ben.

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Speaker 1: Sure, sure, So let's lead up to the construction of

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Speaker 1: the castle. You see when he was around twenty six.

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Speaker 1: Edward was born in January of eighteen eighty seven in Latvia.

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Speaker 1: We don't know too much about his childhood other than

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Speaker 1: he wasn't super well off, He wasn't part of the

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Speaker 1: Latvia and elite, and he only had a formal education

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Speaker 1: going up to about fourth grade, but he was a

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Speaker 1: real bookworm. And when he was around twenty six, he

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Speaker 1: was engaged to marry a lady named Agnes Scuffs. She

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Speaker 1: was about ten years younger than Edward, and when she

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Speaker 1: broke the engagement, he said, blast it all and he

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Speaker 1: decided that he was going to move to the United States.

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Speaker 1: So he immigrated to North America. Originally he arrived in

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Speaker 1: New York City and then he originally after that traveled

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Speaker 1: to Oregon, but he caught tuberculosis and this inspired him

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Speaker 1: to move to Florida for the climate, right yeah, yeah,

340
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Speaker 1: for the climate. Then he purchased an acre of land,

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Speaker 1: and according to newspaper reports of the time, he was

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Speaker 1: going to construct.

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Speaker 2: A home and an acre that was affordable. He didn't

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Speaker 2: have to be a swell to afford an acre, right, yeah, yeah, exactly.

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Speaker 2: Everyone had an opportunity. It was a land of opportunity

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Speaker 2: in those days. Now, you know, buy me an acre

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Speaker 2: in in Atlanta. I'll show you a square that costs

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Speaker 2: a million dollars.

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Speaker 1: Oh yeah, too true, and that might be a deal.

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Speaker 1: So like our earlier example with Ellerton, there's not a

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Speaker 1: whole lot known about this guy's early life, but there's

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Speaker 1: a lot of conjecture. What we do know is that

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Speaker 1: instead of building a normal house quote unquote normal house,

354
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Speaker 1: he spent over twenty years, almost the next three decades

355
00:20:10,640 --> 00:20:19,480
Speaker 1: expanding this strange, bizarre stone garden. And he worked in

356
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Speaker 1: secret and by himself, and even today some people will

357
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Speaker 1: argue that he had some sort of mysterious insight into construction.

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Speaker 2: Well, he was carrying a torch for Agnes, right this

359
00:20:35,840 --> 00:20:39,840
Speaker 2: whole time. This was all an act of sadness kind

360
00:20:39,880 --> 00:20:41,159
Speaker 2: of right, or it was like meant to be a

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Speaker 2: monument to her in some way, even though she totally

362
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Speaker 2: screwed him over.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, almost like a dirge or a breakup love

364
00:20:50,200 --> 00:20:54,000
Speaker 1: song in stone form. And you can see the sheer

365
00:20:54,080 --> 00:20:58,840
Speaker 1: scale of these things today. It's also strange that Ed

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Speaker 1: you want to just call him Ed for this, Yeah, Eddie, Yeah, Eddie,

367
00:21:02,880 --> 00:21:06,720
Speaker 1: there we go. Eddie was five feet tall and only

368
00:21:06,760 --> 00:21:10,760
Speaker 1: around one hundred pounds fell. Yeah, and no one saw

369
00:21:10,880 --> 00:21:16,280
Speaker 1: him work, like, literally, no one ever saw how he

370
00:21:16,400 --> 00:21:20,840
Speaker 1: constructed it. And when we say a rock garden, we're

371
00:21:20,840 --> 00:21:26,439
Speaker 1: not just talking about several large slabs of coral stuck,

372
00:21:26,800 --> 00:21:29,320
Speaker 1: you know, thirty feet apart from each other or something.

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Speaker 1: He was carving this. He even made furniture, these oversized beds,

374
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Speaker 1: rocking chairs, fountains, tables, sundials, a throne. So I guess

375
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Speaker 1: he made the I guess he made like a chair

376
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Speaker 1: and then said, you know what this outa asked a

377
00:21:47,800 --> 00:21:48,919
Speaker 1: rock or look regal.

378
00:21:49,359 --> 00:21:51,160
Speaker 2: Now do we talk about the fact that he started

379
00:21:51,200 --> 00:21:54,200
Speaker 2: this in one location and moved it about ten miles.

380
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Speaker 1: We should mention that. Yeah, because he had to expand it,

381
00:21:56,160 --> 00:21:58,920
Speaker 1: because he started with that one acre and he ended

382
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Speaker 1: up with ten He needed more room.

383
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Speaker 2: Where's his money coming from, Ben, Where's his money coming from?

384
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Speaker 1: Well, he did make some pamphlets, So what you're saying

385
00:22:09,280 --> 00:22:14,200
Speaker 1: is questionable. Questionable, No questionable. We know that he did

386
00:22:14,240 --> 00:22:19,000
Speaker 1: publish pamphlets on a number of subjects that people had

387
00:22:19,040 --> 00:22:24,919
Speaker 1: paid for, including pamphlets on his beliefs about magnetism. He

388
00:22:25,119 --> 00:22:30,119
Speaker 1: was another eccentric and because of these pamphlets he published

389
00:22:30,560 --> 00:22:34,240
Speaker 1: where he remarked on his perception of the nature of

390
00:22:35,080 --> 00:22:38,479
Speaker 1: you know, forces in the universe, A lot of people

391
00:22:38,800 --> 00:22:42,440
Speaker 1: had thought that he had some well they would call

392
00:22:42,480 --> 00:22:46,760
Speaker 1: it an ancient insight into gravity or magnetism. It did

393
00:22:46,800 --> 00:22:51,800
Speaker 1: not help that in one response, when people asked him

394
00:22:52,080 --> 00:22:55,479
Speaker 1: how he built Coral Castle, all he said was that

395
00:22:55,560 --> 00:23:02,680
Speaker 1: he had quote learned the secrets of the pyramids? Cool vague.

396
00:23:03,359 --> 00:23:06,200
Speaker 2: Yeah, So does this.

397
00:23:06,119 --> 00:23:08,439
Speaker 1: Mean that he had you know, for some of the

398
00:23:08,440 --> 00:23:11,520
Speaker 1: more conspiracy minded folks, would this mean that he had

399
00:23:11,600 --> 00:23:16,359
Speaker 1: access to some ancient wisdom? I mean maybe, according to

400
00:23:16,480 --> 00:23:20,359
Speaker 1: writers like Benjamin Radford, the secret of the pyramid may

401
00:23:20,359 --> 00:23:24,159
Speaker 1: be a real thing, largely forgotten construction techniques. But instead

402
00:23:24,160 --> 00:23:29,360
Speaker 1: of like strange electromagnetic forces or anti gravity or any

403
00:23:29,359 --> 00:23:32,840
Speaker 1: of that jazz, maybe he just built police tripods and

404
00:23:32,920 --> 00:23:37,520
Speaker 1: winches to exert leverage and provide mechanical advantage.

405
00:23:37,560 --> 00:23:39,520
Speaker 2: Yeah, and this is still there, right, Yeah, this is

406
00:23:39,520 --> 00:23:39,960
Speaker 2: still there.

407
00:23:40,000 --> 00:23:42,440
Speaker 1: You can go see it. The average weight of the

408
00:23:42,480 --> 00:23:46,280
Speaker 1: stones about fourteen tons each. He also made a tower

409
00:23:46,400 --> 00:23:49,479
Speaker 1: twenty two ton obelisk. And he was a master of

410
00:23:49,520 --> 00:23:52,080
Speaker 1: balancing things. So there's like a door that opens and

411
00:23:52,119 --> 00:23:56,600
Speaker 1: stuff all made of coral, all fragnus scruffs old.

412
00:23:56,359 --> 00:23:59,399
Speaker 2: Scruffy, and so you know. He passed away in I

413
00:23:59,440 --> 00:24:03,840
Speaker 2: think fifty one, and his nephew, who had been living

414
00:24:03,840 --> 00:24:06,520
Speaker 2: in Michigan at the time, inherited the castle. And this

415
00:24:06,560 --> 00:24:09,000
Speaker 2: is a kind of a creepy part. When the ownership

416
00:24:09,040 --> 00:24:12,399
Speaker 2: was being was switching hands. After the death, they found

417
00:24:12,440 --> 00:24:16,720
Speaker 2: a box of old Eddi's stuff, personal stuff, and it

418
00:24:16,840 --> 00:24:20,920
Speaker 2: had a list of instructions that led to the discovery

419
00:24:20,920 --> 00:24:24,520
Speaker 2: of his life savings, which was thirty five one hundred

420
00:24:24,520 --> 00:24:26,400
Speaker 2: dollars bills inflation.

421
00:24:26,480 --> 00:24:29,719
Speaker 1: That's been all right here we are thirty five one

422
00:24:29,760 --> 00:24:33,280
Speaker 1: hundred dollars in nineteen fifty three, is casey, could we

423
00:24:33,320 --> 00:24:43,840
Speaker 1: have a drome role please? Thirty two seven hundred and

424
00:24:43,840 --> 00:24:46,600
Speaker 1: sixty one dollars and ninety seven cents.

425
00:24:46,720 --> 00:24:49,480
Speaker 2: Okay, so not a rich man, but very much a

426
00:24:49,560 --> 00:24:57,159
Speaker 2: kindred spirit to Simeon Ellerton, big time forward thinking, ingenuitous?

427
00:24:57,400 --> 00:24:58,160
Speaker 2: Is that is that a word?

428
00:24:58,440 --> 00:25:00,480
Speaker 1: I mean? English is a living language.

429
00:25:00,560 --> 00:25:02,600
Speaker 2: So I'm gonna, I'm going I'm making it a word,

430
00:25:03,000 --> 00:25:05,800
Speaker 2: go coin it right now like it in But said,

431
00:25:05,840 --> 00:25:07,119
Speaker 2: don't you think they're both like? I mean? It is

432
00:25:07,200 --> 00:25:09,679
Speaker 2: kind of it's a bummer that Ed's story is a

433
00:25:09,680 --> 00:25:12,119
Speaker 2: little bit more sad. Although we don't know what happened

434
00:25:12,119 --> 00:25:13,960
Speaker 2: to Sammy and Allerton. We don't know why he was

435
00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:17,200
Speaker 2: carrying those stones. He could have been carrying them as

436
00:25:17,200 --> 00:25:20,000
Speaker 2: some kind of ritual for someone that he had lost

437
00:25:20,000 --> 00:25:20,400
Speaker 2: as well.

438
00:25:20,680 --> 00:25:23,760
Speaker 1: The legend that I just made up is that you

439
00:25:23,800 --> 00:25:27,400
Speaker 1: can still find him out there in the hills walking today.

440
00:25:27,720 --> 00:25:30,000
Speaker 2: A shiver just went up my spine, Ben when you

441
00:25:30,040 --> 00:25:30,320
Speaker 2: said that.

442
00:25:30,680 --> 00:25:34,840
Speaker 1: So so, yes, we do not know what happened to

443
00:25:34,920 --> 00:25:38,880
Speaker 1: Simey and Ellerton. We do know a little bit more

444
00:25:39,000 --> 00:25:43,040
Speaker 1: about Edward passing away, but we can end on a

445
00:25:43,119 --> 00:25:47,240
Speaker 1: positive note with his story by saying that he did

446
00:25:47,240 --> 00:25:50,960
Speaker 1: not just construct something grandiose, ambitious, and weird. He constructed

447
00:25:51,000 --> 00:25:55,600
Speaker 1: it to a high degree of competency. During Hurricane Andrew

448
00:25:55,760 --> 00:25:59,680
Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety two, not one of these stones shifted.

449
00:26:00,400 --> 00:26:04,879
Speaker 1: The eight foot wall that rings the property is still

450
00:26:04,960 --> 00:26:08,639
Speaker 1: at the same height. And today people will still tell you,

451
00:26:09,320 --> 00:26:13,359
Speaker 1: with varying degrees of credibility, what they think his secret

452
00:26:13,840 --> 00:26:20,520
Speaker 1: method actually was. And he himself claimed to harness a

453
00:26:20,720 --> 00:26:24,920
Speaker 1: perpetual power to move the stones.

454
00:26:25,440 --> 00:26:29,200
Speaker 2: He certainly possessed a perpetual power to move me, my friend.

455
00:26:29,840 --> 00:26:34,320
Speaker 2: And you know another connection between Simeon and Edward. I

456
00:26:34,359 --> 00:26:36,360
Speaker 2: wish we knew a little bit more about Simon about

457
00:26:36,359 --> 00:26:38,320
Speaker 2: how long it took him to collect all those stones.

458
00:26:38,560 --> 00:26:41,200
Speaker 2: We do know, though, however, about Edward that it took

459
00:26:41,320 --> 00:26:45,800
Speaker 2: him from nineteen twenty three to nineteen fifty one to

460
00:26:45,920 --> 00:26:48,919
Speaker 2: knock out that that coral castle.

461
00:26:49,720 --> 00:26:53,760
Speaker 1: And you know, if you ever find yourself in the area,

462
00:26:54,280 --> 00:26:56,960
Speaker 1: do pay it a visit. You know, it's a part

463
00:26:57,000 --> 00:27:00,359
Speaker 1: of obscure history that a lot of people miss. But

464
00:27:00,800 --> 00:27:04,000
Speaker 1: he was not the only person who built a weird thing.

465
00:27:04,240 --> 00:27:06,320
Speaker 1: I want to give a shout out to just a

466
00:27:06,320 --> 00:27:06,960
Speaker 1: couple of people.

467
00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:08,440
Speaker 2: Please we promise that at the top of the show,

468
00:27:08,480 --> 00:27:10,040
Speaker 2: we can't let people down.

469
00:27:10,160 --> 00:27:15,240
Speaker 1: Oh right, well, shout out to rich Art. That's Richard

470
00:27:15,320 --> 00:27:18,200
Speaker 1: with a T instead of a D. Rich Art. Soa

471
00:27:18,480 --> 00:27:25,719
Speaker 1: Sowa who built the very inspiring Spiral Island and its replacement,

472
00:27:26,240 --> 00:27:31,760
Speaker 1: joy Z Island j O y x ee. These are

473
00:27:31,880 --> 00:27:35,960
Speaker 1: built out of sustainable materials. He built the island by himself.

474
00:27:36,560 --> 00:27:39,560
Speaker 1: The first one was sixty six feet in diameter, made

475
00:27:39,600 --> 00:27:43,520
Speaker 1: out of one hundred thousand bottles, and then expanded as

476
00:27:43,520 --> 00:27:46,720
Speaker 1: he planted mangroves growing on the island.

477
00:27:46,840 --> 00:27:49,760
Speaker 2: It's got a beach house. Mangrove is that like a mango.

478
00:27:51,040 --> 00:27:54,520
Speaker 1: It's a it's a type of small tree that grows

479
00:27:54,560 --> 00:27:59,000
Speaker 1: in coastal waters or you know, brackish semi salty waters

480
00:27:59,040 --> 00:28:03,560
Speaker 1: got it, so he continued growing this uh, partially as

481
00:28:03,600 --> 00:28:07,720
Speaker 1: an artistic statement and partially is an aim toward a

482
00:28:07,880 --> 00:28:10,879
Speaker 1: you know, an example of how we could live more sustainably.

483
00:28:16,080 --> 00:28:20,800
Speaker 1: There's another man named Estavao Silva do Contao who built

484
00:28:21,080 --> 00:28:26,680
Speaker 1: on his own a housemaid of found materials. You can

485
00:28:26,720 --> 00:28:32,840
Speaker 1: see in the walls, yeah, cups, rocks, yeah, sculpture and.

486
00:28:32,880 --> 00:28:34,880
Speaker 2: Reminds me of Sea Rock City.

487
00:28:35,080 --> 00:28:36,800
Speaker 1: Oh that's a good call too.

488
00:28:36,760 --> 00:28:38,360
Speaker 2: That's so cool. I wish I wish this was an

489
00:28:38,360 --> 00:28:41,480
Speaker 2: audio podcast. And this is just this is just probably

490
00:28:41,720 --> 00:28:43,880
Speaker 2: titillating you in a negative way. But look, what's what's

491
00:28:44,760 --> 00:28:46,959
Speaker 2: how do you? How do you find this? Ben? Uh?

492
00:28:47,120 --> 00:28:49,960
Speaker 1: You can you can find this. There's a great thing

493
00:28:50,000 --> 00:28:55,360
Speaker 1: you can see on Reuters called Brazil's homegrown Goudie by

494
00:28:55,440 --> 00:29:00,440
Speaker 1: a Polo Whittaker because this is located in uh Valla

495
00:29:00,720 --> 00:29:06,200
Speaker 1: in Salpaulo, and it drew comparisons to a famous Catalan

496
00:29:06,360 --> 00:29:10,479
Speaker 1: architect named Antony Galdi. And the guy who built it

497
00:29:10,480 --> 00:29:12,960
Speaker 1: had never heard of this architect, he had never seen

498
00:29:13,000 --> 00:29:15,360
Speaker 1: any photos of that work. He had just built this

499
00:29:15,480 --> 00:29:18,280
Speaker 1: home for himself and then later started a family in

500
00:29:18,320 --> 00:29:22,280
Speaker 1: it and you know, personally, I find these stories incredibly

501
00:29:22,880 --> 00:29:27,840
Speaker 1: inspiring and we'd like to hear some more stories from you.

502
00:29:28,080 --> 00:29:30,360
Speaker 1: Is there anybody in your neck of the global woods

503
00:29:30,440 --> 00:29:35,400
Speaker 1: who has built a strange, fascinating structure edifice under their

504
00:29:35,440 --> 00:29:38,720
Speaker 1: own power? And you know what, you know what, let's

505
00:29:38,720 --> 00:29:40,760
Speaker 1: open it up a little. I think let's maybe not

506
00:29:41,240 --> 00:29:44,280
Speaker 1: say just a single person, but maybe like a family.

507
00:29:44,760 --> 00:29:46,800
Speaker 1: Absolutely there's some siblings or something.

508
00:29:47,000 --> 00:29:49,960
Speaker 2: Yeah, And speaking of broadening the net, I think it's

509
00:29:49,960 --> 00:29:53,719
Speaker 2: time for our first ever attempt at a new segment

510
00:29:53,760 --> 00:29:55,600
Speaker 2: we'd like to call extra Credit.

511
00:29:59,160 --> 00:30:02,840
Speaker 1: Yes, that's right, Friends and neighbors. Extra Credit, the segment

512
00:30:02,920 --> 00:30:08,040
Speaker 1: where we are expanding the typical show that we might

513
00:30:08,200 --> 00:30:11,880
Speaker 1: normally do, you know. And we've been talking back and

514
00:30:11,920 --> 00:30:14,560
Speaker 1: forth about this one, and we're excited because what better

515
00:30:14,640 --> 00:30:18,040
Speaker 1: way to kick it off than with a very very

516
00:30:18,080 --> 00:30:19,400
Speaker 1: special guest.

517
00:30:19,680 --> 00:30:22,880
Speaker 2: Yes, we have a child, a human child here in

518
00:30:23,000 --> 00:30:25,560
Speaker 2: the podcast studio, smartest one in the room. She is

519
00:30:25,560 --> 00:30:29,440
Speaker 2: the smartest one in the room, and she's actually we're related.

520
00:30:30,800 --> 00:30:36,200
Speaker 2: Nepotism going on here. This is Ladies and Gentlemen, Eden Brown, Oho,

521
00:30:38,000 --> 00:30:42,800
Speaker 2: you just waved. We don't really know what this segment

522
00:30:42,840 --> 00:30:44,400
Speaker 2: is all about. We're just gonna play it by ear

523
00:30:44,600 --> 00:30:47,560
Speaker 2: are you Are you into it? Okay, We're gonna ask

524
00:30:47,600 --> 00:30:50,000
Speaker 2: you some questions. Okay, well you got this.

525
00:30:50,440 --> 00:30:54,360
Speaker 1: Okay, you've got this. Eden, So so thank you so

526
00:30:54,520 --> 00:30:58,880
Speaker 1: much for coming on the show. And we're really we're

527
00:30:58,880 --> 00:31:02,400
Speaker 1: really thrilled to have you. And you heard earlier we

528
00:31:02,400 --> 00:31:05,280
Speaker 1: were talking about these people who built these crazy things

529
00:31:05,520 --> 00:31:08,840
Speaker 1: out of stone by themselves. If you were going to

530
00:31:08,880 --> 00:31:11,120
Speaker 1: build something like that, what what? What kind of thing

531
00:31:11,160 --> 00:31:11,760
Speaker 1: would you build?

532
00:31:12,640 --> 00:31:16,400
Speaker 4: I would build the sculpture of a unicorn?

533
00:31:16,760 --> 00:31:16,880
Speaker 1: Oh?

534
00:31:17,000 --> 00:31:17,200
Speaker 3: Yeah?

535
00:31:17,200 --> 00:31:17,920
Speaker 1: How big would it be?

536
00:31:19,000 --> 00:31:19,400
Speaker 3: Jude?

537
00:31:20,280 --> 00:31:22,840
Speaker 2: Can you give us some specific measurements? Could you sketch

538
00:31:22,880 --> 00:31:27,960
Speaker 2: it out for us? Hang on, ladies and gentlemen, she's sketching.

539
00:31:28,000 --> 00:31:31,560
Speaker 1: We're handy, miss Brown, some pen and papery. Noel, could

540
00:31:31,600 --> 00:31:32,280
Speaker 1: you narrate?

541
00:31:32,720 --> 00:31:35,840
Speaker 2: Okay, she's drawing a line here, looks like that's the unicorns.

542
00:31:36,200 --> 00:31:39,360
Speaker 2: I'm thinking that's its butt. No, that's the horn. Excuse me,

543
00:31:39,480 --> 00:31:41,880
Speaker 2: excuse me? Okay, I think we get the idea. So Eden,

544
00:31:42,120 --> 00:31:45,520
Speaker 2: Why why a unicorn? And what would this mean to you?

545
00:31:45,560 --> 00:31:46,240
Speaker 2: What would you want?

546
00:31:46,400 --> 00:31:50,480
Speaker 4: I'm obsessed with You're obsessed with unicorns?

547
00:31:50,520 --> 00:31:55,760
Speaker 2: Really? Is that true? Do you what what is it

548
00:31:55,760 --> 00:31:57,840
Speaker 2: about unicorns that you enjoy so much?

549
00:31:58,560 --> 00:32:03,000
Speaker 4: They're magical and they dance on rainbows?

550
00:32:03,200 --> 00:32:04,400
Speaker 2: Do they?

551
00:32:04,480 --> 00:32:04,800
Speaker 4: Yes?

552
00:32:05,520 --> 00:32:07,880
Speaker 2: I did not know this, so I would you know what?

553
00:32:08,000 --> 00:32:11,600
Speaker 1: I am inspired by that. I would definitely go see

554
00:32:11,880 --> 00:32:16,360
Speaker 1: a massive unicorn. Where would you build this unicorn?

555
00:32:17,240 --> 00:32:17,600
Speaker 2: Hmmm?

556
00:32:18,840 --> 00:32:22,680
Speaker 4: I would build it in my backyard.

557
00:32:23,800 --> 00:32:26,360
Speaker 2: And would you charge admission? Because that is one thing

558
00:32:26,400 --> 00:32:29,360
Speaker 2: these two stories. Our second guy with the coral castle,

559
00:32:29,600 --> 00:32:32,280
Speaker 2: it did eventually start making a little money off of tours.

560
00:32:32,560 --> 00:32:33,120
Speaker 1: That's true.

561
00:32:33,320 --> 00:32:34,800
Speaker 2: You know, his heart was in the right place about

562
00:32:34,920 --> 00:32:36,480
Speaker 2: just like making it. And then once it was done,

563
00:32:36,480 --> 00:32:37,480
Speaker 2: it's like, well, you know what I mean, I did

564
00:32:37,520 --> 00:32:40,160
Speaker 2: all this work, I might as well make a little scratch.

565
00:32:40,200 --> 00:32:42,120
Speaker 2: So and Eden, I know that you upfront would be

566
00:32:42,160 --> 00:32:45,440
Speaker 2: doing it just for the pure joy of doing it.

567
00:32:45,640 --> 00:32:47,560
Speaker 2: But once it was done, how much would you charge

568
00:32:47,600 --> 00:32:50,600
Speaker 2: for people to come see this giant stone unicorn in

569
00:32:50,640 --> 00:32:51,200
Speaker 2: your backyard?

570
00:32:52,200 --> 00:32:57,720
Speaker 4: I would cost twenty five dollars to come.

571
00:32:57,600 --> 00:32:59,080
Speaker 2: And see it. That seems a little steep.

572
00:32:59,120 --> 00:33:00,800
Speaker 1: Twenty five dollars. Do you get a shirt?

573
00:33:01,520 --> 00:33:01,760
Speaker 4: Yes?

574
00:33:02,200 --> 00:33:07,080
Speaker 1: Okay, I'm back in Okay. So I've got a question.

575
00:33:07,120 --> 00:33:10,920
Speaker 1: I'm sure all the all the listeners out there are wondering, Eating,

576
00:33:11,320 --> 00:33:15,400
Speaker 1: and that is would the unicorn have colors to it?

577
00:33:15,800 --> 00:33:16,480
Speaker 1: Would it be?

578
00:33:17,120 --> 00:33:18,560
Speaker 4: I would paint the rocks?

579
00:33:19,000 --> 00:33:24,360
Speaker 1: Uh huh? And yeah, fantastic for twenty five dollars.

580
00:33:24,400 --> 00:33:26,320
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would hope you get a little color for

581
00:33:26,360 --> 00:33:30,320
Speaker 2: twenty five All right, well, okay, I guess this is

582
00:33:30,320 --> 00:33:31,200
Speaker 2: what extra credit is.

583
00:33:32,960 --> 00:33:36,160
Speaker 1: Thank you so much, Eating for coming onto the show

584
00:33:36,200 --> 00:33:38,719
Speaker 1: and hanging out with me and your dad and our

585
00:33:38,800 --> 00:33:40,080
Speaker 1: super producer Casey.

586
00:33:40,360 --> 00:33:42,760
Speaker 2: Spoiler alert, Eden took a sick day to day and

587
00:33:42,760 --> 00:33:47,360
Speaker 2: that's why she's here day and before she infects us

588
00:33:47,440 --> 00:33:51,880
Speaker 2: all we better get a move on. We hope that

589
00:33:51,920 --> 00:33:54,160
Speaker 2: you enjoyed the show. We hope you enjoyed our Running

590
00:33:54,160 --> 00:33:56,000
Speaker 2: Out of Ideas episode, which actually turned out to be

591
00:33:56,080 --> 00:33:57,280
Speaker 2: kind of chock full of ideas.

592
00:33:57,400 --> 00:33:58,960
Speaker 1: I'm so weird a doubt that you call it the

593
00:33:59,040 --> 00:34:00,479
Speaker 1: running out of ideas episode.

594
00:34:00,520 --> 00:34:02,080
Speaker 2: It's just a subtitle I'm working on.

595
00:34:03,240 --> 00:34:07,000
Speaker 1: All right. Well, I am still a fan of weird

596
00:34:07,040 --> 00:34:08,319
Speaker 1: people building weird things.

597
00:34:08,480 --> 00:34:11,600
Speaker 2: That's fantastic, weird people building weird things. The Running out

598
00:34:11,600 --> 00:34:14,399
Speaker 2: of Ideas episode it's a little long.

599
00:34:14,480 --> 00:34:17,279
Speaker 1: Well, we'll workshop it and maybe our next episode of

600
00:34:17,320 --> 00:34:20,880
Speaker 1: extra credit will take us to Coral Castle itself for.

601
00:34:20,960 --> 00:34:23,600
Speaker 2: Anywhere, Chuck E Cheese, you know the mall.

602
00:34:23,960 --> 00:34:27,120
Speaker 1: Yeah, Dave and Busters, whatever you got the Grand Canyon.

603
00:34:27,239 --> 00:34:29,120
Speaker 2: No, it's true. The thing about extra credit is that

604
00:34:29,160 --> 00:34:31,440
Speaker 2: it's very open ended and it's just a good way

605
00:34:31,760 --> 00:34:33,880
Speaker 2: to do something a little different at the end of

606
00:34:33,880 --> 00:34:34,320
Speaker 2: the show.

607
00:34:35,080 --> 00:34:39,200
Speaker 1: And of course, as always, we would like to thank

608
00:34:39,239 --> 00:34:45,319
Speaker 1: our super producer, Casey Pegram. While we're recording this, and

609
00:34:45,600 --> 00:34:48,320
Speaker 1: Eden saw this earlier when she was sitting outside of

610
00:34:48,360 --> 00:34:51,880
Speaker 1: the booth, we sometimes turned to Casey and raise our

611
00:34:51,920 --> 00:34:55,040
Speaker 1: eyebrows to check to see if he's if he's giving

612
00:34:55,080 --> 00:34:58,560
Speaker 1: his look of approval, and he seems okay overall, I

613
00:34:58,560 --> 00:34:59,040
Speaker 1: think so too.

614
00:34:59,080 --> 00:35:01,239
Speaker 2: Yeah, it seems like he's in a very fine chipper mood.

615
00:35:01,680 --> 00:35:04,719
Speaker 2: So definitely, big thanks to Casey, Big thanks to Alex Williams,

616
00:35:05,360 --> 00:35:08,480
Speaker 2: who composed our theme. Most importantly, big thanks to you

617
00:35:08,560 --> 00:35:11,240
Speaker 2: for tuning in and hanging out with us for another

618
00:35:11,280 --> 00:35:15,440
Speaker 2: episode of Ridiculous History. If you have any thoughts, comments, complaints,

619
00:35:15,520 --> 00:35:17,600
Speaker 2: keep the complaints, just just give us the nice stuff.

620
00:35:17,840 --> 00:35:20,520
Speaker 2: You can write to us at ridiculous at HowStuffWorks dot com.

621
00:35:20,520 --> 00:35:25,480
Speaker 1: Oh and we do have a new complaint department. You

622
00:35:25,560 --> 00:35:29,000
Speaker 1: can write directly to our complaint department Jonathan dot Strickland

623
00:35:29,040 --> 00:35:36,280
Speaker 1: at HowStuffWorks dot com. You can find us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter,

624
00:35:36,640 --> 00:35:41,640
Speaker 1: and various other internettings. I'm gonna just go with internetting.

625
00:35:41,719 --> 00:35:42,920
Speaker 2: I like it the Internet.

626
00:35:42,960 --> 00:35:47,000
Speaker 1: It's a net and of course a very special thanks

627
00:35:47,040 --> 00:35:51,520
Speaker 1: to our inaugural guest of extra credit, Eden Brown. No,

628
00:35:51,719 --> 00:35:54,200
Speaker 1: let's say we give her the last word today.

629
00:35:55,440 --> 00:36:11,320
Speaker 3: Goodbye.

630
00:36:14,440 --> 00:36:18,239
Speaker 2: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

631
00:36:18,360 --> 00:36:20,480
Speaker 2: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows