Talk:Edward Leedskalnin/Archive 1

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I am planning a significant rewrite of this article and that of his creation, Coral Castle. If anyone is planning revisions, please speak up. --Mdresser 14:12, 27 October 2006 (UTC)

The rewrite has been posted. I have sourced most of my factual information from the web site and the tour guide given out at the Castle. I'll admit the tour guide isn't the most scholarly source, but there is not much written on Leedskalnin. The section on his writings still needs a bit of work, but I am not currently in the mood to sift through his (admittedly odd) writings! --Mdresser 02:49, 31 October 2006 (UTC)

I am doing research on the Coral Castle located in Homestead, Fla. This building was constructed by the owner, Edward Leedskalnin. Mr. Leedskalnin died on 7 DEC 1951. There are many rumors, folklore and legends about how the owner actually constructed this building and many of the large artifacts on the property.

The current owners of the Coral Castle have stated to me that there is an engraved inscription on the wall of Mr. Leedskalnin's living quarters that state, "The Secret of the Universe is 7129 / 6105195". The paranormal and occult buffs have tried to make some meaning of these numbers and have used very unscientific methods in doing so.

Recent developments by several groups of quantum physicists have revealed an interesting fact that directly relates to the numbers given above. Their research had nothing to do with Coral Castle and I suspect I may be the first to notice the connection between the two. Before I publish my findings, I want to be sure that I am not perpetuating an urban myth. I want to make sure that those numbers were, in fact, written by Mr. Leddsklnin prior to his death or they were discovered at a time near his death. Finding a newspaper article from the 1950's that mention the numbers on the wall will rule out the possibility that some one engraved those numbers recently (recently meaning the last ten years). I don't mean to accuse any one of creating a false piece of evidence but extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

Can anyone assist in locating any newspaper article or other publication that was written in the 1950's that mentions the above numbers on the wall? Or establish the date the numbers were first publicized?

Thank you and I look forward to your response.

Please respond to: coral at tngs dot org

(of course replace the "at" with @ and "dot" with a ".") 74.226.123.17 03:30, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

Cool, what exactly have they found out to do with the numbers though? Link's Awakening 01:53, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

added 2nd febuary 2011 A plaque was found in Ed’s bedroom after he died. It read: THE SECRET TO THE UNIVERSE IS 7129 / 6105195. place these numbers in google earth ;)

The date of birth is listed as coming from a WW I Draft Card, however, the copy I have of his draft card lists a different date of birth: January 12, 1887. There doesn't appear to be any citation for the statement that the birthday posted came from a WW I Draft card.

I have posted a copy of the WW I draft card that I have for him: http://partytildawn.googlepages.com/ww_i_draft_registration_card.jpg

--Partytildawn 10:10, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

Little is known of his childhood, aside from the fact that he was not wealthy and achieved only a fourth-grade education. At the age of 26, he was engaged to marry Agnes Scuffs, a girl ten years younger I wonder if 4 grades wasn't quite enough for late 19th century, also the girl's name desn't sound all that Latvian and a diffrent name is given here. And finaly several sources claim he was born in Stāmriena, not in Riga (that blog post has a map, note the distance between Riga and Stāmeriena). I'm not up to fix this (due to lack of sources and questionable quality of sources), but smeone could lok into education standards i 19th century and also if he was engaged to someone you might try to find her real name here, thought I found a description implying it was in 1912 and the records up there go up to just the early 20th century
P.S. A picture of subject is availale here if by any chance a picture by unknown author from 1910 is okay with copyright policies ~~Xil (talk) 00:59, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

I feel like this article speaks very inadequately about his theories of magnetism, and while I enjoyed the read, I feel like it rather lopsidingly focuses on his arbitrary opinions about young people.Yeago 00:21, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

So add to it :) Equazcion 03:29, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

That would require effort!!! *gasp*Yeago 15:03, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

If you read the books very carfully you will see he gives you all the answers,but unfortuanetly your closed mind will not accept what it is readind due to preprogramming from and early age. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.21.175.142 (talk) 05:37, 3 February 2011 (UTC)

Theres this line in the article "Contradicting the standard model of electromagnetism, but remarkably in line with the concept of 'magnetic moment' / 'electron spin theory'," however Stern-Gerlach experiment result which proved existence of spin was done over 20 years before his publications. Is the emotional content of "remarkably" really needed here ? Mgaak ((UTC) 19:42:42 Tuesday, 1 December 2020)

I removed the text stating he weighed less than 100 lbs. You can see a copy of his citizenship papers here http://www.code144.com/news/korallu-pils-coral-castle-book-by-andris-stavro/ stating his weight as of 1944 as 120 lb and his height 5' 7". Gr8white (talk) 04:35, 28 May 2010 (UTC)

1944 was a few years before his death. he was in his 60s. i dont see why this piece of paper is relevant. everyone gets bolder when hes old.--78.50.194.110 (talk) 07:04, 15 April 2011 (UTC)

I'm very curious if anyone knows what became of Agnes Scuffs. Is she alive today? Has anyone spoken with her about the story? Equazcion 12:59, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

I just read the answer in the Coral Castle article Equazcion 13:04, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

Ed has fooled the fools and sharpened the keen say agnes now spell agnes A GENIUS now let S-C-U-F-F-S this should tell you shes alive and with us today and a lot more supportive than you thought  !

Scuffs does not happen to be a Latvian ( or Estonian or Russian) name — Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.147.39.34 (talk) 18:53, 12 October 2011 (UTC)

Too much focus on his love life while much is left untold of his work on the Coral Castle. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.21.201.41 (talk) 10:42, March 1, 2007 (UTC)

i believe his love life. that was published, was fictional works. i believe he was wrighting code. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:8:2100:4A1:1949:BB7D:317F:C91C (talk) 03:20, 1 February 2014 (UTC)

Any Latvians aboard? I'm analysyng Mr. Leedskalnin's surname. I don't speak Latvian but in my native Polish (both are Balto-Slavic languages and the two countries are quite close) there is this adjective "SKALNY" meaning "referring to big rocks". This adjective is very distinctive in Mr. Leedskalnin's surname. Funny, isn't it? Does a similar word exist in Latvian or does the surname mean anything in that language? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.28.224.2 (talk) 21:51, 28 March 2010 (UTC)

Yeah, you're wrong, it is fairly popular surname, the end of which (-kalniņš) is diminutive latvianized form for German -berg ~~Xil (talk) 00:43, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

Is there any evidence at all he was ethnically Latvian? He signed his name Eduard Leedskalnin, not Edvards Liedskalniņš, his correspondence with his cousin Harry in the American Midwest was in broken Latvian and he comes from a traditionally ethnically Livonian part of Latvia/Livonia, later called Vidzeme by the independent Latvian state that emerged from the Russian Empire. Plus, his home had a proper name, a common Livonian practice. The surname could resolve to Livonian roots, Leed- as in Leeduma (Estonian) or from the Liede Hills in and around Jaungulbene, which I take is close to his nativity, with Kalnin(s) possibly but not necessarily from Baltic for "hill," possibly of Livonian origins. If he called himself Latvian in America, it might be to identify the new name of his land of origin rather than a statement of ethnic affiliation. Is there any evidence at all he was ethnically Latvian, beyond claims to this effect by modern Latvians? Hypatea (talk) 17:24, 12 June 2014 (UTC)

Doesn't matter whether he actually is or not—matters what we can cite in reliable, secondary sources. Our job is to present the sources, not to find the truth. czar ♔ 17:38, 12 June 2014 (UTC)

"Eccentric Lives and Peculiar Notions" calls him Latvian, originally, but Latvian-American might also be a reasonable approach. I'm no fan of hyphenated national labels but we have to reflect the fact that many people don't fit neatly in one pigeonhole. bobrayner (talk) 23:41, 23 June 2014 (UTC)

The surname "Skalniņš" is from Latvian "hill" or "mountain". It is a rather common Latvian surname. As for his correspondence with his brother, they did correspond in Latvian. That it was "poorly written" probably reflects that he had very little schooling, achieving only a fourth-grade education - but, Latvian was still the language they corresponded in. The Livonian language in Vidzeme and surrounding areas became extinct in the mid-1860s and most Livonians were assimilated and spoke Latvian even before then. It would probably safer to say that his ancestors were Latgalian rather than Livonian (Latgalians, who were Latvian-speaking were living in the eastern part of present-day Vidzeme by the 5th Cenutry.) However, both Latgalians are Livonians are Latvians today. I will reference him being Latvian, although to be honest, I don't think it even needs referenced that he was Latvian -- he spoke Latvian, corresponded in Latvian, is from what is now present-day Latvia and had both a Latvian given and surname (used by him previously then Anglicized). ExRat (talk) 00:59, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

Edward Leedskalnin was born Edvards Liedskalniņš. The word "kalniņš" is the diminutive form of "kalns" (~ mountain), so it means "hill" in English. Liede is the name of a stream in eastern Latvia, and I'm guessing that the surname refers to a hill or group of hills in proximity to that stream. (Latvia was scoured nearly flat by glaciers in the last ice age. The highest elevation in the country is 311.6 m (1,022 ft). What Latvians call a "mountain" would be a hill in the United States, while a Latvian "hill" would be a speed bump to most of us.) His United States Certificate of Naturalization in 1944 shows Leedskalnin anglicized his name: Edvards became Edward and Liedskalniņš became Leedskalnin, dropping the diacritical marks that would have been troublesome on American typewriters and in document filing systems, and approximating the original pronunciation of the surname by using "ee" in place of "ie". — Quicksilver (Hydrargyrum)^{T @} 06:54, 22 August 2018 (UTC)