1. An Unusual Feature
When they purchased the house, the Otcaseks were only told that the property had “an unusual feature”: a large, concrete-lined hole in the backyard. They were told that the hole once housed a fallout shelter from the Cold War Era. What they didn’t know, was what could be down there after all these years.
2. Ladder Into the Dark
The ladder into the shelter went down a perilous 15 feet into the earth. It was a bit rusted and looked as though it hadn’t been used for decades. As they descended the ladder and approached the thick, metal door, they wondered what they might find in the bunker. After all, it had been a long since the Cold War
3. Cold War
At the end of World War II, the Soviet Union and the United States were vying for control of Europe. Despite the remaining Allies’ best efforts, the Soviets were gaining power and developing their own nuclear weapons, much like the ones the U.S. had used to decimate Nagasaki and Hiroshima and win the war. The mere presence of these weapons of mass destruction started a war of posturing and propaganda that lasted throughout most of the 20th Century.
4. Historic Fallout
During that time, many countries started building fallout shelters, or underground bunkers for high-ranking, government officials. In the event of a nuclear attack, the president, his family, and his cabinet, along with many senior army and navy officers would be ushered into these bunkers to keep them safe to rebuild in the aftermath. In time, many American civilians got the same idea and built their own shelters