November 02, 2005

• "The bunker’s very existence was meant to be top secret until it was decommissioned last year." And yet I was arrested (and convicted for criminal damage IIRC) for my part in a mass tresspass into this place in my hotheaded youth as a peacenik/Soviet dupe back in the '80s. I think it was first exposed by Spies for Peace back in the '60s - this site seems to agree.
• Longer article on Spies for Peace
• Ooo, I wants!
• this'd be a great place to set off a nuke
• 240 acres of red wine storage - give me a corkscrew!
• That is so. cool.
• Canada's Diefenbunker seems like much the same thing. It was bought at good terms by a private group which turned it into a Cold War Museum. Fascinating place to go to, to see all the nuclear preparedness devices, and all the little psychological tricks that would be played on the occupants. But only all the old furniture and equipment was taken out beforehand, so many rooms are simply empty, which makes a lot of the complex redundant. Also features the loneliest bar under the face of the planet. A much better result than that bunker out west that was almost bought up by Hell's Angels. Oops.
• (This one time, at the Diefenbunker, they shipped in a radio announcer from CBC to record an emergency broadcast message. Only they knew it had to sound authentic in order to work. So they went over to his work, shoved him in a van, told him we were under attack and the world was going to end and forget about your wife and kids it's too late for them. They speed off to the bunker, run in, doors slam shut, he sets up his stuff and "broadcasts" the message to not panic, get under your kitchen tables, whatever. Then when he's done, the military guys say "thanks, but the world isn't under attack, go home to your wife and kids." PUNKED! Ha ha! Then the museum plays that awful tape the guy recorded. The sound of death in his voice -- yeah, you can't fake that... Good times, good times...)
• Wait a second... 240 acres holding 60 miles of roads?? That's only a square kilometer. This is equal to a road that would traverse the property 100 times over.
• Wait a second... 240 acres holding 60 miles of roads Probably several levels deep, if it is like the Diefenbunker.
• Hey! Pictures of the place!!! And it is really 60 miles of tunnels....
• (scroll down below the Meatscapes)
• Good catch, fimbulvetr! The natural stone looks a LOT nicer than the Diefenbunker's interminable painted concrete, but you have to wonder about that cracked rock's capacity to hold out radioactive goop. But it does look a lot more like an underground lair should, like Dr. No is going to come around the corner any second. I'd be able to hold out a lot longer there than in the Dief, before wanting to slit my wrists or make a break for the emergency portholes.
• Okay, no. Instant claustrophobia. And I'm not claustrophobic.
• Mmmhhh... ideas, ideas... 1) Buy bunker 2) Get loads of gotcha-like weaponry and outfits 3) Rent place to Doom/Unreal/Halo fanatics by the week 4) ... 5) Profit!
• According to the comments on that blog post, fimbulvetr, it's not the same place that's for sale (which was codenamed Burlington). A commenter says that this is the one here, although an obvious indication would be the presence of the pub, and I don't see it.
• According to the comments on that blog post, fimbulvetr, it's not the same place that's for sale (which was codenamed Burlington). A commenter says that this is the one here, although an obvious indication would be the presence of the pub, and I don't see it.
• Cool, I almost broke the thread. And this one here, which has murals and some history.
• It's a nuclear holocaust bunker with fire exits?
• The site was also known as Spring Quarry I seem to remember - it's at or near a place called Box just above Bath.