Once upon a time, a crazy guy named Bishop started building a castle in southern Colorado. ZG and two of her friends and I went there yesterday.
This picture is from the road; that’s how close the castle is to the freaking highway. Even as we were getting out of the car we saw someone that was driving by come to a complete stop and just sit there idling in the road staring… seriously, if you didn’t know this thing was here, can you imagine coming upon it??
It’s difficult to convey just how big this place is. That little person way up there on the stairs is Zombie Girl, for some perspective.
According to various sources online, John Bishop bought the land as a teenager in the 40’s for less than $2,000 and started building a cottage there. Somebody remarked that his little house looked like a castle, and for no better reason than that he decided to start building an actual castle.
He started building the castle in 1969 and has never stopped. He does all the work himself, apparently, and thereby holds the record for the largest building in the world built by a single person.
The tallest tower is, like, 160 feet high.
The dragon is apparently made of metal instrument trays that were donated by a hospital at some point. Dude used to make the dragon breathe fire, but I don’t know if he does anymore… I think some fire department threw a fit over that.
There are wrought-iron balconies all around the castle. Physically they feel stable enough, but emotionally I wasn’t really ready to walk on them much XD
The stairs on this staircase were really narrow. Since the castle is continually under construction, it’s going to be a little different every time you visit… while we were there, I overheard someone remarking of the staircase, “Oh, look, there’s a railing now!” The thought of this staircase without a railing kinda made me go O_____O Aren’t those shadows cool?
The castle is located in a very pretty forest.
This being Colorado, of course there is teh snow too. In some spots it was really deep. As a matter of fact, there was one tower I couldn’t get up because about 2/3 of the way up, the stairs became so chocked with snow and ice that it was more like a spiral slide.
There was a beautiful room full of arches and stained glass on the second floor. It was next to impossible to get a picture that actually conveyed how the room was shaped.
The third floor is a giant hall that kinda reminded me of Hogwarts. Somebody was singing and playing in guitar in there at some point, and from outside on the ground it sounded echoey and eerie and freaking awesome.
There are three towers; they’re all connected, as you can see, though the bridge between two of thems is not complete yet.
Looking down the crooked spiral stairs of one tower… actually the one I couldn’t get to the top of because of the snow and ice.
Looking down from the tallest tower at the other two.
Looking out at Colorado from the tallest tower.
And in case the magnitude of this 40-year, one-man project isn’t enough to convince you that this guy’s a little weird, here are some of the signs scattered around this place:
So that was badass and awesome. Then we ate dinner in Pueblo and decided that Pueblo doesn’t suck nearly as bad as it seems to when one is just driving through it on the way to somewhere else. There was a riverwalk and lesbians and little dogs. So yesterday was awesome. Today I have reached linear completion on SaS 6 and hopefully can get it finished and posted tomorrow or the next day. Win. Now it is time for bed.