Instead of going full maniac with a shovel and destroying my yard, I decided to start with paperwork. I dug through public city records, old building permits, and anything tied to my property’s address.
That’s when I saw the name: Whitaker Pools, permit dated 1961.
At first I thought, “Okay, so maybe there was a pool once.” But a quick bit of research turned up something way more interesting — and a lot more unsettling.
During the early 1960s, at the peak of the Cold War, Whitaker Pools wasn’t just building pools. They were also building nuclear fallout shelters. Same company. Same era. Same address as my house.
Suddenly the rumor didn’t sound so funny anymore.
I started reading up on that period. The early ’60s were tense: constant talk of nuclear war, duck-and-cover drills in schools, families stockpiling canned food, water, and emergency gear. Ordinary people were literally digging bunkers under their yards because they genuinely believed the world could end any day.
And now I had a permit suggesting my own backyard might be hiding one of those bunkers.
My curiosity went from “mild” to “I need to know right now.”
Continue reading on the next page 👇
