Swords into Plowshares
 

I mentioned that I attended an event this past weekend at a converted missile silo West of Topeka. Thought I'd share some pics of the place. It is truly a New Age, ex-hippie haven.

Pic 1: The crenelated tower is built over one of the emergency escape hatches. It provides a great view over the nearly 30 acre site, as well as keeping out the rain that had flooded the facility when Ed and Diana Peden bought it in the late 80's.

Pic 2: The main entrance, a passive solar construction with hot tub and copious room for plants, belies the vast 20,000 square feet built beneath.

What's that stuff on the roof?

Pic 1: My lovely companion Joyce strikes a pose on the stage, which was redecorated by the "While You Were Out" program folks from TLC.

Pic 2: This is where we slept. It, too, was courtesy of the TLC people. The tapestry at the headwall of the bed has an air mattress beneath it to form a very cushy headboard.

(I apologize for the lack of focus on some of these pics. Cheap digital cameras do not focus well in low light)

Pic 1: The spiral staircase at left center is how you get down into the facility from the entrance building. Stage is to the right, living room, sitting room, library, two three bedrooms, upstairs master bath and upstairs "family" kitchen are behind the wall to the left.

Pic 2: This shot shows the about 1/3 of the area surrounding the stage on three sides.

Camouflage netting. I think its there as a kind of joke, although it does moderate the light that gets inside the "greenhouse".

wow. groovy! I especially like the drum circle area.

That stuff on the roof looks like camouflage netting to me.

Neat place! Copious room for plants, you say? :cool:

Pic 1: Sitting room

Pic 2: Living room/media center

Pic 1: Lovely ladies preparing quiche at 8:30 in the AM after a *very* late night all around. This is the "family" kitchen. I don't have a picture of the other, which is set up as a commercial kitchen to service the many functions and events they hold at Subterra Castle.

Pic 2: Breakfast conversation was animated, constant and largely concerned with conspiracy theories regarding the suppression of hallucinogenics by the government, the coming quantum evolutionary leap represented by 2012 and the end of the Mayan calendar, and being mugged by a young male dolphin who took issue with Buddy having apparently accidentally sexually stimulated a female dolphin. Ed and Diana, the master and mistress of Subterra, are at the far end of the table.

if it's swords into plowshares . . . what are they growing?

Tomato plants, right? :D


20,000 ft? That's the total living area or greenhouse and living area?

Pic 1: The flame channel for the Atlas E missile which lived in the missile bay which is separated by a long tunnel from the developed living space. The door weighs 42 tons, and can be opened with a hand crank, although it took Ed over 20 years to finally get around to making it work. Atop the berm which houses the missile room are two much larger double doors which slide apart, allowing the missile to be elevated (it was stored flat - this was a first generation silo, and was not a vertical tube like later Minuteman facilities).

Pic 2: The door to the tunnel which leads to the missile room/fuel room, two enormous and still largely empty spaces. Note the Omega on the door. Nice commentary, huh?

Pic 1: The launch console. Hard to believe the fate of humanity hinged on a ratty ass looking box like that, huh?

Pic 2: The Pedens have an entire long hallway hung with framed examples of the press their home and lifestyle have received.

Is that the user manual that came with the place?

They also have pics of their home when it was under construction...

Once home to a 4 megaton warhead, Subterra Castle is now home to seminars, workshops, meetings, spiritual gatherings and weddings. In its stone circle, celebrations of life are now conducted in the shadow of now impotent tools of death. The final photo is testimony to the affirmation of life - and decided lack of impotence - that is now the mission and soul of Subterra.

20,000 square feet is the approximate total underground area of the facility. No, they do not grow fungus or anything else besides vegetables and your normal household flora. I didn't really read the book on the console, but it has pics of what daily life was like for the men who worked and lived in the facility, and there are also some samples of declassified technical manuals and such around.

It gives me a big smile to see what was once a warehouse of nuclear destruction has been turned into a hippy community. Sweet. I'd love to visit someday. It looks really cool.

Minor point re post #12: that's not an Omega. It's a Phi.

Thanks for the tour and the commentary Spode.
Very positive message.

Yes, thanks Ep. Good photos and informative comments.

Very interesting place. Looks like a good place for a big party. :D

That is great! Thanks for sharing.

VERY Cool! Great pics. Thanks for the tour.

Damn. And the Omega symbology would have been so cool. Now I have to figure out why the Phi symbology is there.

That is just way too cool Elspode. Thanks for sharing!

Wonderful. What a fantastic place!

Wikipedia says phi can connote electric potential, or volts...perhaps that's what it refers to? If you find anything out, please post because I'm very curious.

Very cool thread! Thanks, Els.

I love that last picture. It makes me smile and laugh every time I look at it.

Looks like you had a great trip, Elspode!

I wanted to write something like "Whose rocks was she getting off?" but decided that that would be rude.

I was curious if they actually used the two man console with keys that have to be turned simultaneously or if that was just a movie device.

If it is real, did they get the launch keys when they bought the silo?

The launch console is as you see it in the picture. I guess the dual key thing came later, once they decided they'd really rather *not* blow shit up.