John wipes the sweat from his forehead as he steps back to look at what he just uncovered in his backyard. This had to be a joke, right? He drops his shovel and his eyes bulge out in astonishment. He felt his insides grow warm in an unpleasant way and his stomach, though empty, squirmed as if it was struggling with a rich meal.
His heart starts to race and panic begins to set in. What was this doing here? Then suddenly a terrible feeling hits the pit of his stomach. There was no coming back from this.
For John Sims, he didn’t consider himself much of an adventurer. He was just your everyday kind of guy. He worked a normal job and had a pretty much normal life.
But then one day, everything changed for John. And his entire world turned upside down.
The homeowner had lived in his home in Tucson for just over a year. Happily making the space his own, he never expected there was more than meets the eye to his property.
Until he discovered what was buried in his backyard, a mere few feet away from him.
You see, as soon as John moved in, rumors swirled throughout the small town. People said his new house was haunted, others claimed it was a house that belonged to a man who went mad.
Despite the alarming gossip within the town, John wasn’t phased. It was his new home. But little did John know, he should have paid more attention.
It was 12:05 am in the middle of the night when John was woken up by strange sounds coming from his backyard. He got up and rubbed his tired eyes before walking over to his window. It sounded like someone was digging, but when John peered outside, his backyard was completely empty.
That was strange. He brushed it off and got back into bed, but John was soon about to find out he shouldn’t have brushed it off.
The following day, John was rummaging through storage and came across an interesting document. The original plans for his home. Intrigued, he pulled it out. But upon closer inspection, he saw something that he hadn’t yet seen with the naked eye.
Something mysterious which should’ve been in plain sight in his backyard. Baffled, John wandered out in a daze to try and find it, but, as before, he could see nothing but grass. Until he dug a little deeper.
John gathered all his tools and headed back out into the yard. Armed with confusion and determination to find out the truth, he started to dig.
But 30 minutes later, John was nowhere near where he wanted to be. He was having trouble digging into the ground, and despite all his effort, it was a fail. He wipes a trickle of sweat from his forehead. He was determined to find out the truth. But John was going to wish he hadn’t.
Determined to get to the bottom of things – literally and figuratively – John investigated further. He had no idea how he could’ve missed something in his own backyard.
But, determined as ever, John went to the one place that could offer substantial answers. He went to the local council and searched for any documents pertaining to his homestead. And what he found left a terrible feeling in his stomach.
John knew what he had to do. And so, he called in the big guns. A professional metal detector expert was called in. With that, John set about his yard with the assistance of the specialist.
It didn’t take long for them to find what they had been looking for. The metal detector began to scream wildly, and John’s heart began to race. But when he began to dig, he was not prepared for what he found.
As soon as the metal detector rang out, John knew they had found what they were looking for. And so, he began an extensive excavation. They dug and dug until a metallic clang rang out. John’s heart began to pound.
They had struck gold! As he began to clear away the remaining dirt, he had no idea what to expect. But what he found surpassed every expectation.
John can feel panic creep up inside him, like the bogeyman at night. His breath quickens and his pulse pounds as he begins to clear away the dirt on the ground.
This had to be a joke right? How could this be here? How could John have not noticed it sooner? He feels sick to his stomach. But John had no idea what else was in store for him.
As the rubble began to clear, John looked on at what they had uncovered. Right there in his backyard, all this time, lay a trap door! But nobody knew what was inside.
The excitement was rife within the yard. The tension was so thick, one could cut it with a knife. This was a massive find for John. And he had no idea what to expect. But that excitement quickly turned to fear as John began to dig further.
As they began to dig around the door, John’s mind went haywire. He had no idea what to expect beneath the trap door. The first question raised was why had it been buried? Surely there was no need to cover it if it were innocent?
With that, John began to consider the possibilities of what lay beneath. And then, as though to confirm his fears, something else was discovered in the dirt.
When the dust settled, the door was ready to be opened. But this is when John’s fears spiked. As they attempted to open the metal trap, it appeared to be shut. Deliberately so.
Why on earth would anyone deliberately seal a door, and then bury it in a yard? What lay behind this door that was so desperately trying to be hidden from the world? When they finally managed to crank the door open, John saw why it had been sealed shut.
Beneath the trap door lay something incredible. As John looked down, he saw a spiraling staircase disappear into the darkness.
His heart raced as they cleared the stairs and began the descent. Lying at the bottom of the stairs, he saw something truly incredible.
John counts to three before walking ahead. He walks into a large, built-up room which left John reeling in amazement.
A whole new space to his home had been uncovered. But John’s amazement soon turned to curiosity. What was this space used for?
When John begins to do a bit of sleuthing, he discovers the room was actually built to serve as a bunker. It was constructed by a company called Whitaker Pools in 1961. The room below was a dome shape single space, made from concrete and fiberglass.
It served as a bomb shelter between 19060 – 1980. This was during the time of the cold war. And when he released the images on social media, people flipped.
Thanks to John’s stroke of luck, a treasure frenzy began in Tucson. When his images were shared, they quickly went viral. It took no time for treasure fever to catch. People began to rummage for original house plans in order to see if they would be so lucky.
Who knew what your backyard could be hiding? However, it would seem as though John was the sole successor of an abandoned bunker. But he has great plans for the space.
John plans to make the most of his new-found space. He wishes to restore the bunker to its former glory. Since finding it, John began a GoFundMe campaign. He intends to raise money to restore the bunker. He wishes to redo it to exactly how it would’ve appeared in the 60s.
But why would people help someone redo their own space? There is definitely more on the cards for this former bunker.
When renovations are completed, John actually plans to turn the bunker into a museum, he wishes to commemorate the cold war. He has already begun collecting period pieces from that time to display in the bunker.
This space will now be a tribute to that time. And members of the public will be allowed to visit the remembrance museum. From a buried relic to a revived tribute, this bunker has really come a long way.
