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.
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| Hidden treasure: Metal bulkhead doors protect the entryway into the underground fallout shelter in the Zwick family's backyard in Neenah, Wisconsin |
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Preserved: The previous
owner of the shelter packed away candies, raisins, Hershey's syrup and other
sweets - likely as treats to get through the long weeks underground
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| Locked up: The family clear away the bushes the had grown over the cover of the shelter and unlocked the chain that secured the doors closed |
'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.
'It was all of what you
would expect to find in a 1960s fallout shelter. It was food, clothing, medical
supplies, tools, flashlights, batteries - items that you would want to have in
a shelter if you planned to live there for two weeks.'
Everything remained
remarkably well-preserved, thanks to the airtight containers the supplies were
kept in.
The family donated all
of the items to the Neenah Historical Society, which has curated an exhibit
about the Cold War and the fear of the Soviets using 'the bomb.'
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Down, down, town: The
muddy ladder leading to the bunker reveals that the underground shelter has
endured years of flooding
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The rusted military
supply boxes preserved the contents remarkably
well
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Even these paper towels
were freshly sealed after 50 years
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'It’s interesting that
you can open up something and find 1960 inside of it,' Mrs Hollar-Zwick told
the Post-Crescent.
The home's previous
owner was Frank Pansch, a local surgeon, built the shelter in 1960 - two years
before the Cuban Missile Crisis had Americans across the country digging their
own 'fallout shelters' in their backyards.
The idea of a fallout
shelter was not to protect from a nuclear blast, but rather from the radiation
that would likely contaminate the surrounding area.
It's unknown what
fallout the late Dr Pansch was expecting in Neenah. The small Wisconsin
city is 100 miles from Milwaukee and nearly 200 from Chicago - the population
centers that might have been targeted by the Soviets.
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Supplies: Candles, a
garden hose and a funnel were dozens of items
that were stashed in the bunker
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It's unknown why the
past owner decided he needed to store a
phone directory in his fallout shelter
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Source: DailyMail
