Our High School had one of these – the boxes of emergency crackers, drums of drinking water, other emergency supplies. Our shelter had an emergency generator, too, packed in a big box. I hope they remembere to pack fuel.
The article states that in most cases (and presumably this one) the crackers went bad and the sealed containers of water weren’t so well sealed – they completelty dried out. Wasn’t there some sort of provision to keep these caches supplied? If not, this strongly suggests that even the people responsible for putting them there didn’t expect them to be used, and didn’t take them very seriously. If you’re in earest about emergency supplies, you keep tabs on them, keep them current, and don’t forget where you left them.
I was working in a crawl space under some hospital a few years ago and came across a whole bunch of metal drums like that but they were empty. They still looked really cool though and I wish I’d have been able to steal one. Oh well.
I remember the one that they had in the basement of my college library. You could see the 5-gallon cans of water and crackers(with the helpful instructions that the empty can could be used as a toilet). There must be thousands of these places, seled up, growing mold all over the place. What about the big underground shelter for the members of congress? i heard its in the Virginia hills-we are probably still maintaining it.
When I was stationed at Minot AFB (about four years ago), my then-commander brought me a little “Holiday Present” he said I’d get a kick out of: thirty year-old ‘Diet Supplements, Sucrose, Assorted Flavors’–thirty year old Cold War Candy*, still in it’s original box and wrapping. How do I know it was thirty years old? Because the pack date was stamped “1972”.
It seems he went into the ‘PRIDE’ building at Minot AFB (an old SAGE Facility) which was remodeled into a pretty darn sturdy office building. Anyway, he was in the basement which still had all of those Cold War supply things that nobody bothered to clean up. While in the Installation Squadron’s office (later renamed the “Civil Engineers”), he opened a desk drawer and found the box, and thought I’d get a kick out of it.
What he didn’t think, is that I’d open the box in front of him and try one. Damned if they weren’t still good! I tried one, and it tasted like a Charms candy. So I offered him one. Next thing you know, the whole bunch of us in the office were sampling thirty-year wares.
I work in a museum, and a couple of years ago, a guy who had worked as the local CD co-ordinator donated his manuals, some dating back to the 1950s.
I had a great time reading through them: they were hilarious. Just in case any of you don’t know what to do in case the Bomb goes off, here’s a little sampling of the advice:
– Take a nice hot shower to get off any radiation, and throw away the clothes you were wearing.
–Keep your windows shut for at least a couple of hours.
–Vaccuum and dust your house thouroughly and throw away any foodstuffs that were out on the counter. That should decontaminate your home.
–Men should wait for an hour and then go outside to help fight fires.
–Don’t worry if you start throwing up and losing your hair. That’s a normal reaction to shock. You’ll feel better in a day or two.
– If you don’t have your own shelter, there’s instructions included on how to build one from sand bags and plywood. (Aboveground, no less!)
– If you’re outside when the Dread Event occurs, duck and cover-- even a sheet of newspaper will do to keep the radiation from falling on you. (Don’t forget to throw it away once you’re done cowering!)
(I can’t remember the exact radius they gave, but they said something along the lines of that if you were at least three miles from the impact zone, you don’t really need to worry about lingering radiation.)
When they closed the shelter in Schenectady they let people come in and take what they wanted. I got four of those water can/toilets. Used them as end tables and night stands in my kids rooms. Still have them.
I think the one’s he was talking about was in Culpeper County, Virginia. It was built into a large hill/small mountain East of the town of Culpeper. Some Washington Post reporter mentioned it in an article and the secret was out.
Last I heard it’s now being converted into a National Archives storage facility.
Still have them.