At first glance, Koreshan State Park in Estero, Florida looks like a peaceful riverside escape - a quiet retreat filled with bamboo trails, historic buildings, and gentle breezes off the Estero River.
But make no mistake: this place is home to one of the craziest stories in Florida history.
A 19th-century doctor claimed we live inside the Earth. He built a utopian cult in the swamps of Estero. His followers believed he was the messiah. And after he died, they kept his body in a bathtub waiting for resurrection - only for it to be swept out to sea by a hurricane.
Yes. That actually happened.
This is the wild, weird, and fascinating story of Cyrus Teed, the Koreshan Unity, and how one man’s bizarre vision continues to echo through time.
🌍 The Earth... Is Inside Out?
Cyrus Teed, a physician from New York, believed he had received a divine revelation during a lab experiment gone wrong in the 1870s. According to that vision, everything we know about the Earth is wrong.
He claimed we don’t live on the outside of the Earth, but rather on the inside of a hollow sphere - a theory he called Cellular Cosmogony. The stars, sun, and moon? Just floating in the center of this sphere, bouncing light and illusions off its curved surface.
It was outlandish, strange - and yet to his followers, it was truth.
🛠️ Building a New World in the Swamps
In 1894, Teed led his followers from Chicago to the wilds of Estero, Florida to build a new society - what he called the New Jerusalem. The Koreshan Unity, as it was known, believed in:
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A gender-equal leadership structure (led by a council of women)
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Celibacy as a spiritual ideal
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Communal living and shared wealth
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And of course, the inside-out Earth theory
They built everything from scratch - a self-sufficient town with a sawmill, print shop, bakery, and power plant. They hosted operas and lectures in their Art Hall, planted exotic bamboo and fruit trees, and drew visitors from across the region.
⚡ Edison and Ford... Came for the Plays
Believe it or not, Thomas Edison and Henry Ford, who wintered nearby in Fort Myers, were regular visitors to Koreshan events. They attended plays and concerts in the Art Hall - curious not only about the Koreshans’ cultural sophistication, but also their unorthodox ideas.
Edison in particular was fascinated by fringe science, while Ford admired their self-sufficiency. The Koreshans might have been unconventional, but they were also brilliant, organized, and oddly ahead of their time.
⚰️ The Bathtub Messiah
In 1908, Teed died from complications of an injury - but his followers refused to believe it was permanent. They placed his body in a bathtub inside a mausoleum, lit candles, and waited for him to rise again.
Days passed. The smell worsened. Eventually, officials forced them to bury him in a concrete tomb on the beach at Fort Myers.
Still, the Koreshans believed.
🌊 Nature Had Other Plans
Then, in October 1921, the Tampa Bay Hurricane slammed into the Gulf Coast. The storm surge obliterated the tomb - and carried Teed’s body out into the Gulf of Mexico, never to be seen again.
That’s right. The messiah - or at least his remains -was literally washed out to sea.
All that survived was his headstone, which now rests quietly at Koreshan State Park.
📸 Koreshan Today: A Photographer’s Dream
Koreshan State Park isn’t just a quirky footnote in history - it’s a photographer’s paradise. The preserved 19th-century buildings, dramatic bamboo forests, and riverfront trails offer jaw-dropping scenery and historic charm.
Photographers flock here for:
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Engagement shoots and elopements with vintage backdrops
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Golden hour lighting through towering palms and oaks
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Ghost tours, historic reenactments, and period costumes
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Editorial shoots in the Art Hall or gardens
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Wildlife photography along the Estero River
There’s no other place in Florida quite like it.
🏞️ Planning Your Visit
🕗 Open daily from 8 AM until sunset
📍 3800 Corkscrew Rd, Estero, FL 33928
💵 Entrance Fee: $5 per vehicle
🏕️ Campgrounds: Yes - with 60+ shaded sites and kayak launches
🎭 Events: Ghost tours, music performances, living history, and more
🌀 Final Thoughts
This entire story sounds too wild to be real - and yet every bit of it happened right here in Southwest Florida. A doctor turned prophet. A utopian cult. A bizarre Earth theory. A body in a bathtub. And a hurricane that wrote the final chapter.
But here’s the twist:
Though Cyrus Teed never rose from the dead… in a strange way, he achieved immortality.
Because over a hundred years later, we're still telling his story.
And that might be the most unbelievable part of all.