# "Mysterious explosions emanating from VP's residence for months"? HUH? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 31, 2002, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-explosions-emanating-from-vps-residence-for-months-huh/145816 "2002-12-31T04:36:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2002, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-explosions-emanating-from-vps-residence-for-months-huh/145816/1 "2002-12-31T04:36:21Z")
Now, I know that the Tom Tomorrow comic strip has… slight partisan leanings (often using hammers as heavy as Mallard Fillmore’s - a strip I loathe because it’s NOT FUNNY _ahem_ that’s another thread), but when I saw [this](http://www.salon.com/comics/tomo/2002/12/16/tomo/index.html), I was pretty startled, in particular with the assertion made in the first panel. Just to be clear, I don’t believe there’s anything sinister afoot here (obviously, the cartoonist saw this story somewhere and decided to have a little fun with it), but I haven’t heard anything about these “explosions.” Have any of you? Any explanation afoot? (BTW, Dick Cheney dressed as The Penguin is really quite funny.) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Siegfried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/91b2a8/32.png) [@Siegfried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siegfried)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2002, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-explosions-emanating-from-vps-residence-for-months-huh/145816/2 "2002-12-31T04:58:36Z")
[http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/South/12/08/noisy.neighbor.ap/](http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/South/12/08/noisy.neighbor.ap/) Basically, it seems to an infrastructure upgrade of some sort that’s classified for national security reasons. The article doesn’t really say whether it’s for the Naval Observatory or the Vice President’s residence, however. ---
**Author:** ![tsunamisurfer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a698b9/32.png) [@tsunamisurfer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tsunamisurfer)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2002, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-explosions-emanating-from-vps-residence-for-months-huh/145816/3 "2002-12-31T05:46:17Z")
Speculation centers on the excavation of a nuclear blast/fallout shelter directly underneath the VP’s residence. It’s thought that a low-yield (\<5-kiloton detonation) might be survivable, given the shelter’s distance from the presumed ground zero. All of this is perfectly in keeping with the establishment of a “shadow government.” High-placed officials are expecting the worst–and preparing for it. ---
**Author:** ![Rex\_Fenestrarum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rex_fenestrarum/32/7265_2.png) [@Rex\_Fenestrarum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rex_Fenestrarum)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2002, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-explosions-emanating-from-vps-residence-for-months-huh/145816/4 "2002-12-31T07:38:10Z")
Huh? **Siegfried** did you read the first line of the story? “WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) – Neighbors of Vice President Dick Cheney are being shaken and rattled at least once a day by mysterious blasts **on the grounds of the U.S. Naval Observatory** where Cheney lives.” ---
**Author:** ![RM\_Mentock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@RM\_Mentock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RM_Mentock)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2002, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-explosions-emanating-from-vps-residence-for-months-huh/145816/5 "2002-12-31T08:01:40Z")
The rest of the article makes it clear that the U.S. Naval Observatory is not actually in Dick Cheney’s house. So, yeah, I see some ambiguity there. As the last paragraph says, we don’t know if it is a bunker in the VP’s house, or a helicopter hangar, or spy tunnels. Maybe the Navy is stress-testing their telescopes. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2002, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-explosions-emanating-from-vps-residence-for-months-huh/145816/6 "2002-12-31T08:53:45Z")
The [Washington Post Article](http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A24386-2002Dec7¬Found=true) supplied more detail: > [@](#): > > If residents’ speculation is accurate and construction workers are digging deep into the ground, the project would be going through about 35 feet of common sand and gravel, according to federal officials at the U.S. Geological Survey. Anything beyond that depth would hit tonalite, an intrusive igneous rock similar to granite and common to this area. Sounds like it’ll make a pretty cool batcave ! ---
**Author:** ![Siegfried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/91b2a8/32.png) [@Siegfried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siegfried)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2002, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-explosions-emanating-from-vps-residence-for-months-huh/145816/7 "2002-12-31T08:57:49Z")
**Rex** , the US Naval Observatory and the Vice President’s residence are two seperate buildings. Where the Vice President lives is actually the old residence of the superintendent of the observatory. The explosions are coming from somewhere on the property of the Naval Observatory (which includes both the observatory and the residence). I doubt anyone but the Navy, the Vice President, and the Secret Service know for certain where the construction is actually happening on the property.