John Pontolillo, a student at Johns Hopkins University, had just had laptops and a game console stolen from his house. Hours later, he heard a noise from the garage. Before he went to investigate, he grabbed his katana... [more inside]
posted by ChurchHatesTucker on Sep 18, 2009 - 317 comments

NPR: American Castles. With interactive map. Previously. Also, on Flickr.
posted by Miko on Aug 1, 2009 - 28 comments

Flash Friday: Crush the Castle. Use a trebuchet to bust up various castles, squashing the regal inhabitants.
posted by solipsophistocracy on May 1, 2009 - 40 comments

London farmer Robert Fidler built his dream house, complete with Tudor-style turrets, and lived in it for four years to skirt local planning laws, by hiding it the entire time behind a giant mountain of hay.
posted by XQUZYPHYR on Jan 25, 2008 - 100 comments

Castles of the World . British castles. Scottish castles. Castle floor plans. Castles on the web (no, not virtual castles). [more inside]
posted by Godbert on Jan 4, 2008 - 5 comments

Castle Kashan, the castle on the hills above Malibu, is gone. The home of an Iranian oil minister's daughter, Castle Kashan was built in 1977, appeared in episodes of The Rockford Files, and was the setting for numerous weddings and the Malibu Film Festival. Fret not, America has lots of other castles. Canada, too! (previously on MetaFilter)
posted by fandango_matt on Oct 22, 2007 - 110 comments

In 1996 Frenchman Michel Guyot set out to build a XIII century castle the medieval way¹ -- using hammers and chisels to carve the stones, horses to cart the rock and no power tools. Ten years later it is one third completed and if all goes well will be finished by 2023, after which the plan is to build an abbey, then a village.²

1. Guyot, Michael (1996). "Guedelon: Chantier Medieval". Online project home page. Multi-lingual.
2. Doland, Angela (August 31, 2006). " Stone by stone, craftsmen build medieval-style castle". Associated Press, via CNN.
posted by stbalbach on Sep 3, 2006 - 19 comments

"King Anfortas currently owns this magic stone, schmooze him, take him surprise, how ever you will get it, but bring me this stone! As award I promise you my daughter and a place on the crown!" -- The Mystery of Castle Wildenburg, a slightly goofily-translated game that combines point-&-click with classic text adventure gameplay, and photos of the lovely German countryside. Read the "Prehistory," mouseover everything, save often (though you lose your accumulated points on loading a saved game), and be careful not to die of thirst.
posted by Gator on Jul 17, 2006 - 6 comments

Made your Valentine's Day plans yet? Do you have the guts to suprise your SO with something like this?
posted by internal on Jan 21, 2005 - 85 comments

Good gentles, ever wanted to have someone build you a castle?
posted by moonbird on Jul 26, 2004 - 8 comments

Bishop Castle. A lone man has been building a 160 foot tall castle in the Colorado mountains for the past 34 years.
posted by split atom on Jun 2, 2004 - 25 comments

Where did you sleep last night? Was it in a cave? A lighthouse, or a treehouse? Maybe it was in a teepee, a castle, or a vintage trailer. Perhaps you even slept underwater. What's the most interesting place you've ever paid to lay your head?
posted by gottabefunky on Sep 16, 2002 - 28 comments

Coral Castle is the amazing labor of love built solely by Ed Leedskalnin, a man who claimed to have discovered the "secrets of the pyramids". Did he? We may never know, but this frail, tubercular, 100-pound man managed to quarry, transport, shape, and erect chunks of coral weighing up to 28 tons by himself, using only the simplest of tools. The castle also includes a nine-ton gate that is so perfectly balanced it can be opened by a child, and the world's largest valentine, which weighs in at an incredible 5,000 pounds.
posted by mr_crash_davis on Feb 14, 2002 - 13 comments