In Neenah of Wisconsin the Zwick family had discovered in their backyard something that it could belong to a movie script. Several movies have dealt with the Cold War-era. Back then it was quite common to create in your property a buried shelter just to be sure that your life wouldn't be in danger.
They have been living in that house for several years. The Zwicks were aware that their home featured a fallout shelter when they bought it in 1999. They didn't actually venture into the shelter until 2010. Over the years the metal hatch had stuck, so they had to crack it. Using the ladder they reached a bunker which has suffered severe flood damage. However they discovered well kept and preserved requisites from the past!
It could be a scene from a movie!
This is the entrance to the fallout shelter built by one of the home's previous owner.
A ladder descends into the shelter, which featured an 8-by-10 foot chamber with cots, a toilet, lamps and enough supplies to last a family of six about two weeks.
In this box they found packed away candies, raisins, Hershey's syrup and other sweets - likely as treats to get through the long weeks underground.
“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.”
The rusted military supply boxes preserved the contents remarkably well
The family donated all of the items to the Neenah Historical Society which is featuring a mockup of the shelter and the items found in it in an upcoming exhibit on Cold War shelters
It is quite weird but even a telephone directory was stored!
Frank Pansch, a local surgeon, was the home’s previous owner. He built the shelter in 1960, two years before the Cuban Missile Crisis. During that time, many Americans were preparing themselves for nuclear warfare.
Most fallout shelters weren’t intended to protect a family from a blast, but to keep them safe when the area would be full of radiation and nuclear fallout.
Unexpectedly this family discovered a treasure from the past. Between the findings there were food, clothing, medical supplies, tools, flashlights, batteries. It is rather creepy to live in an era where one day you would be in your living room and the next might be in an underground shelter anguishing about the future.
Sources:
Viralnova,
Daily Mail
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