John explored around carefully and he could not believe that despite nearly half a century of neglect, the structure was mostly in good condition. The structure was bare but it became clear later on what it was – John had a nuclear bomb shelter in his yard!

Dating back to the Cold War

Suddenly, it all made sense. The shelter was built during the Cold War when tensions between the USA and the Soviet Union had the threat of an all-out nuclear war. Whitaker Pools turned out to expand their business to bomb shelters at the time.

In fact, there were several properties in the Tucson area that had bomb shelters. Back then, it was the best thing a responsible family man would do to make sure that their loved ones would be safe in case a nuclear war happened.

Tucson’s history

As it turns out, there was a lot of history when it comes to Tucson and bombs. Tucson was once a rocket town as it held 18 ballistic missiles that were capable to travel across continents and destroy an area of 900 square miles.

The missile silos were kept top secret by the government and when the Cold War was over, almost all of the rockets had been disabled. Most of the nuclear shelters were destroyed or sealed during the early 1980s as well.

Going viral

When John posted about his backyard discovery on Reddit, his story immediately went viral. The post had hundreds of comments in just a few hours. Local newspaper articles and TV shows started calling to get interviews about it.

The story even spread to international publications like the Daily Mail. John’s story had also reached Japan. It was definitely a big find. And Tucson residents started to wonder if they had one in their yard too.

What is next?

All the attention allowed John to connect with other people in the area who also have fallout shelters on their land. He was able to ask them how they cleaned it out and get ideas from them about what to do with it.

While most people turned theirs into wine cellars or man caves, John plans to make a Cold War museum. John did a lot of research on the Cold War period and started collecting memorabilia like Geiger counters, water supply barrels, HAM radios, and sanitation kits.

His thoughts on his find

“I was really hoping it was going to be a little microcosm… a time capsule full of civil-defense boxes, radiation detectors, and cots and stuff like that,” John shared during an interview. Unfortunately, the bomb shelter did not even have furniture in it.

John also shared that he had been reading a lot about the Cold War. He believes that the Cuban Missile Crisis was probably the major cause for residents in Tucson to build bomb shelters in their backyards during the 1960s.

Advice for Tucson residents

For Tucson residents who are curious whether they also have a bomb shelter in the backyard, John suggests looking up records of the City of Tucson or Pima County for information. The information is most likely to be included in the building permits.

John also gives advice for everyone not to dive in too quickly once they find a bomb shelter in the yard. “Jumping into holes in the ground is generally not a good idea,” John continued to explain that toxic air in a tunnel or a cave-in can easily incapacitate anyone.

Asking for financial help

John has all the intentions of restoring the bomb shelter. But he did not have that kind of money. He set up a GoFundMe shape to help restore his bomb shelter from the 1960s. He planned to rebuild the entryway and work on the inside as well.

One of John’s major priorities was to replace the staircase so that people can enter it safely. With the funds that he was able to collect, John was just able to do that and now he and the team doing the renovations can safely go in and out.