Buying a new home always provides a refreshing feeling no matter how many times you’ve done it before. To some, it gives them a sense of accomplishment.
While others use this opportunity to have a fresh start.
But for John Sims, he just wanted a humble and quiet home to live in. Little did he know, he’s about to get more than he bargained for…
Moving in wasn’t always an easy task. You have to pack a large number of things, move furniture, and make sure that you didn’t leave any of your items behind.
Once you arrive at your new home, you have to unpack everything as well and neatly arrange everything.
It was an exhausting task for John but he was able to go through it. As he was unpacking his items, John couldn’t seem to forget what his friend told him about his new home…
John bought his new house from a close friend. It was located in a quiet Midtown neighborhood of Tucson, Arizona.
On the outside, it seems like a normal home but when John talked to the previous owner, he couldn’t believe what he heard.
Before John moved in, his friend already told him about the strange rumor surrounding the house. His friend said that there was something buried in the backyard.
John dismissed the idea and just thought of it as nothing more than an urban legend.
But John couldn’t seem to shake off the thought now that he’s all settled down and moved in. Could his friend be right?
The more John tried to push the idea away from his head, the more he found himself thinking about it again. It gradually became his obsession. John decided he had enough of it and was determined to get into the bottom of this mystery.
He knew the only way to satisfy his curiosity is to find out what’s buried in his backyard himself. But was he prepared enough for what he was about to see?
John took matters into his own hands. When his friend first told him the story, John jokingly said he might need to borrow a shovel to investigate if it was real.
But soon enough, John realized that it might take more than a shovel to get into the bottom of things.
He didn’t know what he should look for, but just the thought that something might be buried in his backyard was enough to drive him to take action.
It was such an interesting thought to John, “What could it be?” he would often find himself asking that question. John grabbed a shovel and went to his new backyard.
Initially, he was worried about the mess that he was about to make.
“I’ll just fill the holes up when I’m done,” John thought to himself. Without any more hesitation, John started to dig.
Sweat started to drip across his face, and he felt his palms soaked with sweat as well. The summer heat in Arizona was starting to get to him, but his curiosity just wouldn’t leave him alone.
A lot of people would have given up already and called it a day, but not John.
In case he couldn’t find anything, he had nothing to lose (aside from ruining his backyard with holes) but if he did find something, he thought that it might potentially change his life. So he kept digging…
John wasn’t exactly an expert when it came to excavating lost treasures but he did his best. He had no idea where he should dig but he kept doing it anyway.
After a few hours of laborious digging, John had already dug up a total of four holes.
But to no avail, all the holes were empty. John then called it a day, but could he really give up that easy?
Although John had taken a break from digging, he had another idea. On the next day, he decided to consult Tucson’s municipal records in hopes of finding out the history of his home and finding a clue as well.
He kept his eyes peeled and thoroughly scanned the pages.
After patiently reading each page, John finally found a lead.
The records that contain complete information about the history of his home was in his hands.
He could see the year his home was built and he could also see a rough sketch of his house, and through that sketch, he found something new..
John read the records carefully and he saw a company named “Whitaker Pools” asked for permission to work on the house back in 1961 - which was around 50 years ago.
This surprised John.
Mainly cause the home he bought didn’t have any signs that it even had a pool.
With the new information John discovered, it intrigued him more. He finally had an actual lead that has the potential to help him solve the mystery surrounding his backyard.
John knew that his mindless digging would get him nowhere…
So he hired a team of consultants to help him get to the bottom of things!
The team gathered together at John’s house. They were equipped with all their tools. John was excited, he saw how prepared and ready everyone was.
The team of experts then went into John’s backyard to investigate.
John watched them as they thoroughly went through the grassy backyard with their metal detectors. They were all focused and determined, the tension started to rise as the sound of the metal detectors were all they could hear. Suddenly, the metal detectors started to go crazy…
John felt like an excited little boy, after all, it was like a treasure hunt. The metal detectors didn’t only find one area of interest, but two! He was overjoyed.
The team of experts carefully marked the area.
Everything seemed to be going according to plan. John grabbed his shovel and prepared himself for the most exciting excavation of his life.
John started to dig. This time, he was determined to keep digging no matter what it takes. Despite the hot summer heat in Arizona, John didn’t let it deter him from digging.
It wasn’t long before his shovel hit something.
He heard the sound of metal hitting against another piece of metal. He was close to solving the mystery.
John couldn’t believe his eyes. They tried to dig it up more to clearly see what it was. It seems they dug up a mysterious entryway.
But where does it lead up to? The experts discouraged John from entering the hatch himself since there’s a risk that the inside might contain toxic fumes.
So they asked for help from more people. As John waited patiently for help to arrive, he couldn’t help but ask himself what could it be?
After the extra help arrived at the scene, they opened the mysterious hatch in John’s backyard, revealing a spiral staircase that led downstairs! But John knew that simply going down the staircase without a plan would just result in a disaster.
After all, the hatch might have been made more than 50 years ago and the structure might be too unstable.
It was too dangerous to just go inside. But John didn’t want to quit, so he made a plan.
John along with his friends reinforced the entryway with new rebar and concrete. They did this to minimize the risk of it collapsing when they enter.
Aside from that, John also installed an electrical line that would illuminate the space.
Before entering the hatch, John and his friends also installed a pipe that would pump fresh air into the entryway. But they had one more problem, John was worried that the stairs were too rusty…
Before finally going down the entryway, John did one more thing. He bought a long ladder and securely placed it into the hatch.
They were finally ready to go inside. When they reached the bottom of the hatch, they encountered a complex tunnel system.
But what was it for?
John recalled what he saw in the records, it’s possible that Whitaker Pools did construct something in the house 50 years ago, but it wasn’t a pool. It seems these witty businessmen saw that the cold war as an opportunity to expand their services.
After all, they realized that building fallout shelters weren’t that different from building pools.
John thought that the owner of the house 50 years ago might have thought that building a fallout shelter might help them with the cold war.