The Secret Bunker Under A Luxury Hotel (Animated Story)

A fictional survival story, inspired by a real Cold War bunker that was hidden under a West Virginia resort for thirty years. For twenty-six years you've worn the shirt of a TV repairman at a grand old mountain hotel. Your real job is the 1,100-bed bunker under it, built for the whole Congress. One night in November the black phone with no dial rings for real. Nobody from Washington is coming. There are 600 people upstairs, a town of 2,600 down the hill, and the fallout gets here around seven in the morning. This is a fictional animated story. Calder Springs, the hotel, the war and everyone in it are made up, and no real country is named. The bunker is based on a real one. The last minute of the video goes through what's real, and these details are true: - From 1959 to 1962 the US government built a secret bunker for all of Congress under the Greenbrier resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, code name Project Greek Island (Wikipedia, "Project Greek Island"). - It had 18 dormitories with 1,100 beds, and for 30 years every bed was assigned to somebody. Families were not allowed in (Atomic Heritage Foundation; NPR, "The Secret Bunker Congress Never Used", 2011). - Its biggest blast door weighs about 28 US tons (25 metric tons) and is about 19.5 inches thick, hung so it opens with roughly 50 pounds of push. Some of its doors were hidden in the hotel's Exhibit Hall, where guests held conventions (Wikipedia; Greenbrier bunker tour). - It was built to stay sealed on its own air for 72 hours and had decontamination showers, a hospital with an operating room and a pharmacy, a small jail with straitjackets, and an incinerator (Atomic Heritage Foundation). - It stocked food for about 1,000 people for 60 days, had a TV studio with a painted Capitol backdrop, and its radio tower stood about four and a half miles away (Atomic Heritage Foundation; Wikipedia). - A small team of government employees kept it running for 30 years while posing as the hotel's TV repair company, Forsythe Associates (Wikipedia). - The Washington Post revealed it on May 31, 1992 (Ted Gup, "The Ultimate Congressional Hideaway"), and it was shut down soon after. Today it's open for tours. - During the Cold War, US emergency broadcasts were planned on 640 and 1240 on the AM dial (the CONELRAD system, 1951 to 1963). - Radioactive iodine-131 loses half its strength about every 8 days, and fresh milk is the main way it reaches people after fallout (CDC). - West Virginia's buck gun season opens on the Monday before Thanksgiving (WV Division of Natural Resources). Not professional safety or medical advice. For real emergency planning, check Ready.gov or your local emergency agency. Chapters: 0:00 The phone with no dial 3:54 The door behind the roses 5:40 Teddy's buses 8:40 Six hundred people, no beds 9:53 Seven oh five 10:51 A senator's bunk 13:54 Two problems 17:14 The tower 19:26 Nobody wants to leave 21:52 Bed 306 24:52 Upstairs 28:12 Twenty below 31:39 One year later 33:22 What's real in this story You hold the only key and the binder says card holders only. Would you have opened that door to the town? Tell me in the comments. #bunkersurvival #survivalstory #coldwar