# Whatever Happened to Fallout Shelters Built in the 1950's? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 8, 2009, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-fallout-shelters-built-in-the-1950s/520504 "2009-12-08T20:48:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-fallout-shelters-built-in-the-1950s/520504/21 "2009-12-09T02:40:17Z")
in tornado country they’re now called tornado shelters. same idea;fewer supplies. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-fallout-shelters-built-in-the-1950s/520504/22 "2009-12-09T02:54:33Z")
My grandfather had one on his property in Texas and I assume it was still there. It wasn’t well stocked and it had about an inch of water in it with an amazing number of frogs but it was pretty big and you could still use it if you had to in a pinch. It doubled as a tornado shelter as well. He and his girlfriend used it to escape a tornado about 10 years ago so it was good for something. I have seen nuclear fallout signs leading to the basements of buildings in downtown Boston as recently as 10 years ago as well. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-fallout-shelters-built-in-the-1950s/520504/23 "2009-12-09T03:19:15Z")
My grandparents live about three blocks away from the “Electchester” apartment building in Queens, NY. There are definitely signs for fallout shelters that can be seen on the building. I have no idea if they’re still maintained. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-fallout-shelters-built-in-the-1950s/520504/24 "2009-12-09T03:24:03Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > it had about an inch of water in it with an amazing number of frogs but it Reminds me of the guy in the basement in _Delicatessen_. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-fallout-shelters-built-in-the-1950s/520504/25 "2009-12-09T03:29:48Z")
> [@taffygirl](#): > > During the 1950s and 1960s, thousands of people built fallout shelters in a misguided attempt to survive nuclear holocaust. It wasn’t really misguided. Obviously if a nuclear bomb was detonated point blank above your shelter, it wouldn’t matter - but there’s a huge radius (far bigger than the immediately kill zone) where the biggest dangers of a nuclear blast are stuff like flying glass, fire, and eventually, fallout. You could be protected in a fallout shelter in anything that wasn’t around the immediate vicinity of the strike itself - they would’ve saved a lot of people. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-fallout-shelters-built-in-the-1950s/520504/26 "2009-12-09T03:40:58Z")
Yeah, saved them to die of radiation poisoning. ---
**Author:** ![whatami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/85f322/32.png) [@whatami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whatami)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-fallout-shelters-built-in-the-1950s/520504/27 "2009-12-09T04:07:45Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > Scrabble? No, it’s where they hang out, sleep, and work on their skateboards. At least, that’s what I learned when I watched _Gleaming the Cube_ ---
**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:** [December 9, 2009, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-fallout-shelters-built-in-the-1950s/520504/28 "2009-12-09T04:44:36Z")
There was a British documentary on nuclear war that aired in the early 1980’s and is available on [google video](http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2027585392890623612&ei=qyofS_7sL8_J-AaArZGZDw&q=nuclear+war+guide+to+armageddon#)wherein they followed government guidelines to make shelters from fallout. These varied from rudimentary holes in the ground, covered by a door and some earth, to more elaborate American style fallout shelters. The narrator posed a number of interesting questions. When precisely would you decide it was time to get in the shelter, and would you defend your shelter with force from neighbours and the like who also wanted to use it? It is a short documentary but I recommend it to anyone interested in the topic. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-fallout-shelters-built-in-the-1950s/520504/29 "2009-12-09T04:52:21Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > they followed government guidelines to make shelters from fallout. While this is doubtless a clever use of otherwise discarded materials, wouldn’t it be easier to make the shelters from more conventional material, like wood and concrete? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-fallout-shelters-built-in-the-1950s/520504/30 "2009-12-09T05:06:29Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > Yeah, saved them to die of radiation poisoning. Well, no. Many of the radioisotopes produced in a nuclear explosion (the fallout) have a fairly short half life. The whole point of a fallout shelter is to provide a place that will both protect you from the initial blast, and where you can wait until much of the most dangerous radioactivity has decayed. This period was estimated at two to three weeks. While there would still be some radioactivity, it would be much less severe than at first. ---
**Author:** ![R.P.McMurphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@R.P.McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R.P.McMurphy)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-fallout-shelters-built-in-the-1950s/520504/31 "2009-12-09T05:32:17Z")
What is the appeal in surviving a post-nuclear holocaust? Seems to me it would be a lot like living in Hell. Why would anyone want that\> ---
**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:** [December 9, 2009, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-fallout-shelters-built-in-the-1950s/520504/32 "2009-12-09T05:47:24Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > While this is doubtless a clever use of otherwise discarded materials, wouldn’t it be easier to make the shelters from more conventional material, like wood and concrete? My syntax was a bit dodgy but it is nearly 6am. Anyway my point was that they weren’t all actually “fallout shelters” as the OP described, hence the wording etc. ad nauseum, e unibus plurum. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-fallout-shelters-built-in-the-1950s/520504/33 "2009-12-09T06:01:05Z")
> [@Spartydog](#): > > What is the appeal in surviving a post-nuclear holocaust? > > Seems to me it would be a lot like living in Hell. Why would anyone want that\> It’s not as bad as popular culture makes it out to be, and people are big on the whole surviving thing. ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-fallout-shelters-built-in-the-1950s/520504/34 "2009-12-09T06:01:56Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > When precisely would you decide it was time to get in the shelter, and would you defend your shelter with force from neighbours and the like who also wanted to use it? There was a great old documentary called “the Atomic Cafe” that’s all about sort of the cultural milieu of the cold war especially with regards to atomic bombs. At one point there’s a clip of (IIRC) a Catholic priest discussing this very issue-- should you let someone else in your fallout shelter. (I think he said you didn’t have to let them in). It used to be you could get very low interest loans from the government to build a fallout shelter, but in the later 50’s they decided that communal shelters (like the ones you still see signs for in public buildings) were more effective and canceled the program. Part of it was that the cheap you-dig-it shelters wouldn’t have really been much more effective than, say, holing up in your basement. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-fallout-shelters-built-in-the-1950s/520504/35 "2009-12-09T14:14:31Z")
> [@Spartydog](#): > > What is the appeal in surviving a post-nuclear holocaust? > > Seems to me it would be a lot like living in Hell. Why would anyone want that\> Because 1) a nuclear war wouldn’t necessarily have been as bad as the apocalyptic scenarios depicted in popular fiction. A war could have involved a partial rather than a full exchange, and areas away from major population centers may have been relatively little affected; 2) regardless of the threat, people like to maximize their chances of survival. ---
**Author:** ![mo50](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@mo50](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mo50)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-fallout-shelters-built-in-the-1950s/520504/36 "2009-12-09T15:15:06Z")
Anyone remember that Twilight Zone episode where there’s a report of a nuclear attack & only one guy in the neighborhood has a bomb shelter? It depicts the neighbors all turning on him and descending into this panicked primal weirdness. Then it turns out to be a false alarm, of course. Great Rod Serling mindf\*\*k! ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-fallout-shelters-built-in-the-1950s/520504/37 "2009-12-09T15:19:49Z")
[This house](http://www.canadianchristianity.com/cgi-bin/bc.cgi?bc/bccn/0105/04blast) is near me, though I don’t know exactly where. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-fallout-shelters-built-in-the-1950s/520504/38 "2009-12-09T15:37:37Z")
An issue of Weird NJ had an article on a guy who has an old fallout shelter in his backyard - with the ‘sealed’ emergency food still in place. The photos show the place would have been rather ‘cozy’ for a family of four as it was a walk-in closet sized shelter. It was dusty, dirty, and was showing signs of nature winning. I think the write-up is in the second Weird NJ book. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-fallout-shelters-built-in-the-1950s/520504/39 "2009-12-09T15:38:56Z")
> [@Nametag](#): > > No, no. It’s an activity that teens need to practice in secret. > > Yahtzee. As seen in [this instructional video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBruAooXPNU). ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-fallout-shelters-built-in-the-1950s/520504/40 "2009-12-09T16:08:01Z")
> [@Spartydog](#): > > What is the appeal in surviving a post-nuclear holocaust? > > Seems to me it would be a lot like living in Hell. Why would anyone want that\> I recall a Far Side cartoon where a guy is half out of a fallout shelter hatch in the ground. “Thank God, Sylvia, we’re alive!” he says. And out to the horizon there’s nothing but a burning wasteland left. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-fallout-shelters-built-in-the-1950s/520504.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-fallout-shelters-built-in-the-1950s/520504.md?page=3)