The guy spent 60 years building a castle to prove his teacher was wrong (7 photos)

After the stern words of his teacher, 15-year-old Jim Bishop decided to quit school and prove to the embittered man that he was wrong. Now the castle is a favorite vacation spot for tourists.





Jim Bishop from the USA built a giant castle with a spire in the shape of a fire-breathing dragon to prove that his evil teacher was wrong about him.

It all started after a teacher told a 15-year-old boy that he would never amount to anything. The guy dropped out of school and spent 60 years building a huge castle in Rye, Colorado.



According to the castle's website, Jim left school in 1959 after an argument with a teacher. That year, the boy used money he earned from delivering newspapers, mowing lawns, and helping his father at their family's ornamental iron factory to buy a 2.5-acre plot of land for $450. He managed to persuade his parents to agree that he use his savings to buy a plot, and they signed all the necessary documents.





At first, the boy and his father built a family house, but in 1972 he decided to take on a more ambitious undertaking, which resulted in the construction of a castle. At the very beginning of the work, a cottage was built from stone, Jim’s son Dan Bishop told American media. According to him, his grandfather helped his father for the first three years. Then Jim continued to carry out his mission alone, and as a result, the one-room cottage ended up in the center of a huge castle.



While building in the scenic San Isabel National Forest in southern Colorado, Jim began to come up with "spontaneous" new ideas for the building. He also decided to create his own book, Castle Building From My Point of View, rather than drawing up castle plans from blueprints, handwritten notes, or sketches.

Jim was involved in many activities during construction. These included welding, scroll bending, sawing wood, turning it into lumber, lifting heavy rocks, digging 12-foot holes, mixing mortar, and much more. The man worked on each stone in the castle an average of six times before it found its place.



Using his experience working with iron, Jim added iron arches and molds to the second floor on the south side of the castle. He also used his skills to craft the railings for the complex spiral staircase, which is surrounded by solid stone blocks.



Jim completed the castle with colorful stained glass windows. In the mid-1980s, he took it one step further and added a dragon made from pieces of stainless steel that he shaped into scales.

The castle, which has three floors, now houses bridges, a grand ballroom, towers and stunning views. These attractions have made it a favorite destination for numerous tourists to view and learn about Jim's hard work for free.

The area around the castle offers plenty of activities for the whole family, such as camping, horse riding, hiking and dining options.