# During the Cold War did the Amish have Fall Out Shelters? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 30, 2010, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/during-the-cold-war-did-the-amish-have-fall-out-shelters/555664 "2010-09-30T22:02:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/during-the-cold-war-did-the-amish-have-fall-out-shelters/555664/1 "2010-09-30T22:02:46Z")
It’s a bit MPSIMSy but I’m curious. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/during-the-cold-war-did-the-amish-have-fall-out-shelters/555664/2 "2010-09-30T22:05:07Z")
What a fascinating question. ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/during-the-cold-war-did-the-amish-have-fall-out-shelters/555664/3 "2010-09-30T22:16:10Z")
Since they don’t buy insurance, I’m guessing ‘No’ and that they left it “In God’s Hands”. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/during-the-cold-war-did-the-amish-have-fall-out-shelters/555664/4 "2010-09-30T22:43:26Z")
Seems unlikely. They were probably informed of the location of public fallout shelters. Not all that many people constructed private fallout shelters. And it’s well known that in the event of actual nuclear war, there won’t be enough room in the shelter for everybody, so to avoid living with the guilt of leaving some to succumb to fallout, everybody will leave the shelter and die together. Except me, I’ll be last in line, and slam the door shut as soon as the next to last leaves. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/during-the-cold-war-did-the-amish-have-fall-out-shelters/555664/5 "2010-09-30T23:03:50Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Seems unlikely. They were probably informed of the location of public fallout shelters. Not all that many people constructed private fallout shelters. And it’s well known that in the event of actual nuclear war, there won’t be enough room in the shelter for everybody, so to avoid living with the guilt of leaving some to succumb to fallout, everybody will leave the shelter and die together. Except me, I’ll be last in line, and slam the door shut as soon as the next to last leaves. Did you ever read that Fallout comic that Penny Arcade did? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/during-the-cold-war-did-the-amish-have-fall-out-shelters/555664/6 "2010-09-30T23:57:06Z")
> [@Raguleader](#): > > Did you ever read that Fallout comic that Penny Arcade did? No, but checking out the web site it appears to deal with the post-apocalyptic world. The fall out shelter world always ends before the fallout actually arrives. So I consider it irrelevant to my absurdality. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2010, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/during-the-cold-war-did-the-amish-have-fall-out-shelters/555664/7 "2010-10-01T07:01:42Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > > [@Raguleader](#): > > > > Did you ever read that Fallout comic that Penny Arcade did? > > No, but checking out the web site it appears to deal with the post-apocalyptic world. The fall out shelter world always ends before the fallout actually arrives. So I consider it irrelevant to my absurdality. Say what now?😕 ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2010, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/during-the-cold-war-did-the-amish-have-fall-out-shelters/555664/8 "2010-10-01T11:18:50Z")
Private fallout shelters were actually rare. There were fallout shelters for various government officials and some fallout shelters that were just the basements of public buildings, but few people built their own shelters. They were much more talked about than actually built: > **[Fallout shelter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallout_shelter)** > > A fallout shelter is an enclosed space specially designated to protect occupants from radioactive debris or fallout resulting from a nuclear explosion. Many such shelters were constructed as civil defense measures during the Cold War. > During a nuclear explosion, matter vaporized in the resulting fireball is exposed to neutrons from the explosion, absorbs them, and becomes radioactive. When this material condenses in the rain, it forms dust and light sandy materials that resemble ground pumice.... ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2010, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/during-the-cold-war-did-the-amish-have-fall-out-shelters/555664/9 "2010-10-01T11:19:16Z")
We had a well stocked root cellar. I expect they do too. hence no need for a fallout shelter ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2010, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/during-the-cold-war-did-the-amish-have-fall-out-shelters/555664/10 "2010-10-01T11:43:49Z")
> [@Sigene](#): > > We had a well stocked root cellar. I expect they do too. > > hence no need for a fallout shelter Not exactly. Properly, a fallout shelter has to have some provision for protection against radioactive dust, such as a ventilation system that filters all incoming air. A cellar or deep basement would be better than nothing, but you still need all the supplies for an extended stay- water, food, waste disposal, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2010, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/during-the-cold-war-did-the-amish-have-fall-out-shelters/555664/11 "2010-10-01T12:28:39Z")
The college I went to (Texas A&M University) actually had a handful of fallout shelters when I was there, though I believe they were pretty much all used for other things (notably, there was a fallout shelter in the basement of the Military Science Building that housed an indoor firing range, though we could only fire .22 down there.) I recall another one under the North Side Post Office, which for all I know was probably used for storage or utilities or something. And of course, campus folklore said that the Academic Building (big old-fashioned domed building in the middle of campus) was the first building built with concrete, and as a result, they didn’t know how strong the material was and built it as if it were a brick-and-mortar building, with very very thick walls. This supposedly made it an ideal place to seek shelter in the event of WWIII, because the building was believed to be nigh-indestructable. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2010, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/during-the-cold-war-did-the-amish-have-fall-out-shelters/555664/12 "2010-10-01T12:55:21Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > > [@Sigene](#): > > > > We had a well stocked root cellar. I expect they do too. > > > > hence no need for a fallout shelter > > Not exactly. Properly, a fallout shelter has to have some provision for protection against radioactive dust, such as a ventilation system that filters all incoming air. A cellar or deep basement would be better than nothing, but you still need all the supplies for an extended stay- water, food, waste disposal, etc. Oh; I’m making no claim as to the effectiveness of such protection; I’m just stating what I expect the Amish would be thinking back then. In my root cellar days we weren’t well schooled in the finer details of adequate fallout protection and I’m making the assumption the Amish were similarly knowledgable. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/during-the-cold-war-did-the-amish-have-fall-out-shelters/555664/13 "2010-10-03T03:29:45Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Properly, a fallout shelter has to have some provision for protection against radioactive dust What valuable targets were there in Amish territory that the Soviets would have attacked? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/during-the-cold-war-did-the-amish-have-fall-out-shelters/555664/14 "2010-10-03T03:37:49Z")
[quote=“[t-bonham@scc.net](mailto:t-bonham@scc.net), post:13, topic:555664”] nm ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/during-the-cold-war-did-the-amish-have-fall-out-shelters/555664/15 "2010-10-03T03:43:56Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > What valuable targets were there in Amish territory that the Soviets would have attacked? Fallout can travel hundreds of kilometres from the site of the blast. So the answer to your question is “New York City”. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/during-the-cold-war-did-the-amish-have-fall-out-shelters/555664/16 "2010-10-03T11:06:16Z")
Nevermind all of that. What about the _really important_ issue? Were they big enough for their horses? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/during-the-cold-war-did-the-amish-have-fall-out-shelters/555664/17 "2010-10-03T11:18:44Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > > [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > > > What valuable targets were there in Amish territory that the Soviets would have attacked? > > Fallout can travel hundreds of kilometres from the site of the blast. > > So the answer to your question is “New York City”. Predominant wind on the east coast tends to be west to east, so the proper answer would be either Colorado or Chicago … New England gets New Yorks fallout… ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/during-the-cold-war-did-the-amish-have-fall-out-shelters/555664/18 "2010-10-03T14:45:42Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > Predominant wind on the east coast tends to be west to east, so the proper answer would be either Colorado or Chicago … New England gets New Yorks fallout… Or closer to home, Carlisle. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/during-the-cold-war-did-the-amish-have-fall-out-shelters/555664/19 "2010-10-03T20:35:54Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > Or closer to home, Carlisle. Is the War College all that prime a bombing target? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/during-the-cold-war-did-the-amish-have-fall-out-shelters/555664/20 "2010-10-04T14:33:54Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > Nevermind all of that. > > What about the _really important_ issue? > > Were they big enough for their horses? > > 😃 Heh. I once worked with a woman who grew up in Amish country (but wasn’t Amish herself), who said that Amish men usually ranked, in order of importance, their (1) children, (2) horses, and (3) wives.