psychoceramics: Trip Report - Bishop's Castle, San Isabel, Colorado

[Bruce Ediger <b--@c--.net>]

On Sunday, April 5, 1998, I visited a very strange attraction near the
town of San Isabel, Colorado. San Isabel is on Highway 165 southwest of
Pueblo, Colorado.

The attraction is "Bishop's Castle". It's a more-or-less life size
stonework castle, still being built by one man, Jim Bishop. Bishop's
been working on the castle since 1969 according to some of the signage.
The castle is made mostly of lumps of rock and concrete. Bishop hauls
the rocks from the surrounding mountainside, which is a US National
Forest.

It's actually quite impressive, if a little shaky looking. The castle
has 3 floors right now. The third floor is the only one that's even
partially finished. It's got wooden flooring (which the other two
floors lack) a really tall, vaulted, and lop-sided gothic-arch style
windows. The top third of the roof is wrought-iron-supported glass. It
has a fireplace, a bigass sound system, and a wood-fueled stove whose
smokestack ends up in a giant dragon's head on the outside of the
castle.  Inexplicably, there's also a giant Viking's arm clutching a
war hammer dangling from two of the roof's arches.

Right now, the castle has only one turret, which is a good 20 feet taller
than the roof of the "keep".  When I was at the castle, Jim was apparently
working up on the turret, so I didn't get to meet or talk to him.

To quote my girlfriend, the castle seems "barely legal".

A kookie bonus was the large number of hand-painted signs attached to
various trees and parts of the castle.  Here's a transcription of one of
the signs:

------------------------------------------
THE CASTLE - OPEN FREE (EVEN WHEN FINISHED)
THE COUNTRY'S BIGGEST 1 MAN PROJECT,
   WITH THE HELP OF _GOD_!
THERE IS NOT A SINGLE ENCYCLOPEDIA THAT IS UP TO DATE!
JIM BISHOP (CASTLE BUILDER) WILL WORK ON EXISTING MAIN
KEEP TILL HE IS 50, THEN START THE CASTLE WALL
AROUND THE 2 1/2 ACRE PROPERTY.  WITH GATE HOUSE &
MOAT, & CORNER TOWERS.  THE WALL WILL REQUIRE
SEVERAL HUNDRED TIMES MORE ROCK THAN THE
EXISTING STRUCTURE.
THE COLO. STATE HIGHWAY ROAD MAP IS NOT ACCURATE
THE BISHOP CASTLE FOUNDATION FOR NEWBORN INFANT'S
HEART SURGERY IS TAX EXEMPT.
WHEN GOD IS READY THE CASLTE WILL GET CONTINUING
NATIONAL RECOGNITION.  THE SYSTEM WILL HAVE TO COMPLY
THERE WILL BE A TUNNEL & DUNGEON FROM THE GATE HOUSE
TO THE MAIN KEEP.
BY PUBLIC DEMAND (TRAFFIC JAMS) THERE WILL BE A PARKING 
LOT ON THE PUBLIC LAND.  THE GOV'T MUST COMPLY.
THE MAIN KEEP GROUND LEVEL WILL HAVE - COMMUNITY
KITCHEN, FOYER & PATIO UNDER THE ARCHES, 2ND LEVEL
MUSEUM & LIBRARY, 3RD STORY GENERAL PURPOSE HALL,
WITH PIPE ORGAN & INTERFAITH CHAPEL.  3 TOWERS & 2
CHIMNEYS OVER 100' HIGH.  BEDROOMS IN THE ROOF RAFTERS
FOR THE PUBLIC TO SPEND A NIGHT FREE, ON A DRAWING BASIS.
NO BLUE PRINTS, NO BUILDING PERMIT, NO INSPECTORS.  IT IS NOT
A BUILDING, IT IS A WORLD CLASS MONUMENTAL ART FORM
A FIRST CLASS PROJECT DESERVING OF RESPECT!
THIS _AIN'T_ NO COMMERCIAL TOURIST TRAP!
------------------------------------------

All of the signs appeared to have been painted by hand with white or
orange house paint on scrap plywood panels. The typography is somewhat
eccentric. For example, the transcription above is left and right
justified in the original. The subject matter of the signs puts me in
mind of the "Sign Guy" discussed here recently.

Each sign is apparently the result of Jim Bishop getting angry about
a particular topic.  One sign is a rant about the Custer County Chamber
of Commerce.  The one closest to the road is mostly a bunch of warnings
about uncontrolled children, drunks and what not to do while marveling
at Bishop's Castle.  One sign says that Jim's father, Wilbur, built part of
a staircase, but it was Jim's idea to build the castle.  One sign marks
the exact location where Jim (and GOD!) started the casle in '69.

Some of the signs, like the transcription above, appear to be flights
of fancy that appear to Jim while he toils.  Almost every one of the
signs mentions that the entire Castle is the work of one man, Jim
Bishop, and required the help of God.  Confusingly, one of the signs
says that the Castle is the work of "to poor people".  I'm not sure
where the second person comes in, unless it's GOD.

To get to Bishop's Castle, take Colorado Highway 165 west from
Interstate 25. Drive through Rye and San Isabel itself. The Castle is
on the left (south) side of Highway 165 as you trend west out of San
Isabel. There's some parking on the right side of the highway. The drive
is sort of scenic, if you like mountain drives. Touring the castle might
take two hours maximum.

Bishop's Castle on the web:
http://www.csn.net/~arthurvb/westcliff/visitors_guide/Bishops_Castle.htm
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/attract/COBEUcastle.html

There's a few more GIFs of Jim's signs on both of the URLs.  If you look
closely at the stained-glass window GIF, you can see how lop-sided Jim
made that particular arch.

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