Wisconsin family discovers fully-stocked fallout shelter in their back yard

[The Straight Story]

Wisconsin family discovers fully-stocked fallout shelter in their back yard 50 years after it was installed at the height of the Cold War

For more than a decade after they moved into their house in Neenah, Wisconsin, the Zwick family knew they had a Cold War bunker in their backyard.

It was not until 2010 that anyone thought to open the heavy steel hatch, climb down the ladder and explore the 8-foot-by-10-foot chamber that the home's previous owner had built to protect his family from a nuclear attack.

Floating in five feet of water that had seemed into the bunker were sealed U.S. Army boxed packed with all of the supplies a family would need to survive two weeks underground.

'We assumed it was just this empty space,' homeowner Carol Hollar-Zwick told the Appleton Post-Crescent.

The boxes, old military ammunition crates, contained markings that suggested there might be explosives inside, so the family called the local branch of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

Agents opened the crates to find... Hawaiian Punch.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2318059/Wisconsin-family-discovers-fully-stocked-fallout-shelter-yard-50-years-installed-height-Cold-War.html?ICO=most_read_module

[magellan]

1. Neat time capsule

I wonder why the family who put it all there left it behind?

[gordianot]

2. How many in the future will find booby trapped remnants left over by doomsday preppers?

It seems to be real popular to booby trap modern shelters.

[Pab Sungenis]

25. None.

A booby trap like that would prevent or slow down the family from entering.

Any booby traps would be designed to be armed after the family is in.

[Brickbat]

3. Why did it take them 10 years to open the bunker?

[Robb]

7. I know, I can't imagine this.

I'd have been down there with a flashlight before the ink dried on the closing papers.

[denverbill]

8. +1. Can't imagine leaving it alone for 10 years.

I'd be searching it for 'treasure' and even if there was nothing there, at least seeing if it could actually be used as a fallout shelter, in case whatever Kim is then in power actually does get nukes.

[progressoid]

11. No shit!

I would have opened it the day I signed the deed.

[Downwinder]

12. No tornadoes in WI?

[Brickbat]

16. Plenty of tornados. I'm surprised no one opened it just to see it.

[hunter]

20. My first thought too...

... when I was a kid our family rented a house and my siblings and I found a hidden basement room right away.

It looked like nobody had been in there for forty years.



I don't understand incurious people.

[Warpy]

30. The steel door was likely not easy to open

Too bad about all that water seeping in, it would have been fascinating to see what besides candy and Hawaiian punch the family of paranoids from 60 years ago thought they could survive on.

The junk food is amazingly well preserved, looks like it just went through the checkout line!

[SomeGuyInEagan]

35. Most kids would've been down there before the moving truck was gone.

Or at least working on the chain with a hacksaw.

Weird.

[Warpy]

36. I wouldn't have been when I was under three

Over three, I'd have been making plans. Over eight, I'd have been in there in a nanosecond.

[harun]

32. Cuz curiosity killed the cat

[ChazII]

44. But satisfaction brought

it back.

[riqster]

4. We still did duck and cover drills when I was in elementary school.

The threat of nuclear war was palpable back in the 50's and 60's.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

5. All that candy (which must have a shelf-life) and no Twinkies?

[gvstn]

10. We only got to see one box of food

But yeah, a lot of candy and not much else. I guess they had no provision for cooking.
Thinking back there really wasn't a lot of variety in a supermarket back then. A whole lot less packaged food to choose from for long term storage. Still I would of thought tuna and SPAM and canned beans would all be palatable in an emergency.

On the Twinkies, back then they probably thought they were fresh and would only last a week or so. Only now in our enlightened age do we know they are good for 20 years or so. :teehee.

[Pab Sungenis]

26. Candy from back then, properly sealed, lasts for a very long time.

In an airproof package, sugar goes bad a lot slower than HFCS does.

Granted, I wouldn't eat those Life Savers today, but if you put them there in 1956 they would have still been good to keep your blood sugar up during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

[Half-Century Man]

6. Muuuummmmmmmm

Vintage raisins

[denverbill]

9. What did they have a 5 year old choose their survival supplies?

Chocolate syrup, fudge, 2 bags of candy, Butter Mints.

[Scurrilous]

15. LOL

I hope the neighborhood dentist was on their fallout shelter guest list.

[11 Bravo]

27. That or someone with a SERIOUS sweet tooth!

[littlemissmartypants]

28. Diabetic with a death wish maybe? eom

[KittyWampus]

34. LOL! that was my thought too. Live through nuclear attack > Die of diabetes

[freshwest]

42. My first thought, too. In excellent condition, though!

[L0oniX]

13. I remember using most of those products back then ...especially the Hershys syrup.

[olddots]

14. Ignorance is a leathal drug

n.t.

[Orrex]

17. Did he find Viggo Mortensen in it?

[freshwest]

47. I wouldn't mind finding him stashed away somewhere:

Also known as an educated progressive, so he'd be good company.

[Poll_Blind]

18. That shit would be awesome on EBay. That stuff looks to be in...

...mint condition. I don't mean to consume but to collect. You rarely see packaged products that old in such good shape.

Oh, and yet another reminder of how plastic does not biodegrade in our landfills.

PB

[Blue_Tires]

45. +1

I almost thought this was some kind of hoax with modern stuff in old-style packaging....

I at least want to buy whatever kind of container they stored it in...

[Baitball Blogger]

19. I think there are a lot of Doomsday Prepper houses being built in "normal" communities.

And they're not all underground.

[Orrex]

21. Wouldn't you like to be a prepper too?

[malaise]

22. Bet those butter scotch bits taste better than

anything they sell today

[Blue_Tires]

46. +1000

[MindPilot]

23. I've often wondered that about my old house

I've become pretty much convinced that my back patio is actually the roof of a bomb shelter. Haven't found the opening yet though. And yeah, even after living there since 1996, there are still places I've yet to explore.

[HughBeaumont]

24. It's bizarre for sure . . .

. . . did Dr. Pansch just leave it be after the whole Cold War thing just blew over? Not even go down for old times sake? I don't get how the owners before the Zwicks weren't curious about the shelter. It's just hard for me to believe that something of that nature goes untouched for 52 years.

[PCIntern]

29. CHOC-O-MINT LIFESAVERS!!!!!!

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. I do recall their taste....

[Shankapotomus]

31. I never knew there was chocolate lifesavers

How did I miss that?

[greiner3]

33. My parents had a house built in 1963;

And across the street the couple (fill in your own comment here) had a similar one built but this time under their basement.

This would have been around the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

My how times have changed.

Or not!

[ashling]

37. What? No cocoa puffs?

[Cleita]

38. If the nuke didn't kill them, the junk candy food probably would have.

Yikes. If that is that well preserved after fifty years, imagine the chemicals and preservatives that went into them. I don't think it was only the box that preserved them.

Regardless, it is an amazing find.

[Jim Lane]

39. I would've checked it out -- "Oh, boy, an extra room for storage!"

It would be the perfect place to put stuff "for now" that you don't expect to need in a hurry but that you can't bear to throw away.

[global1]

40. Geraldo Should Have Done A Special TV Program.....

Opening A Cold War Bunker. I would have watched it.

[JHB]

41. I wonder what things didn't survive the seepage

Obviously the "snax" box was properly sealed, but what else was there that's nothing but soggy goo now?

[SamKnause]

43. Fall Out

Thanks for posting and especially for the link.

That was an interesting story with great photos.