Article – Why so many Americans are buying up personal bunkers

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Tom Soulsby, 69, and his wife, Mary, were one of the first to buy a bunker at Vivos xPoint — the self-proclaimed “largest survival community on Earth” — near the South Dakota town of Edgemont. In 2017, he made a $25,000 down payment and signed a 99-year land lease (with fees of $1,000 per year) to occupy an elliptical-shaped, 2,200 square-foot underground concrete bunker once used as a military fortress during World War II to store weapons and ammunition.

Dude..who wouldn’t want to buy a bunker?

Someday I’ll have that nice little concrete cabin in the middle of nowhere. Just hoping it happens while Im still young enough to enjoy it.

12 thoughts on “Article – Why so many Americans are buying up personal bunkers”

  1. Honestly, if you’re on the far-side of ’50’ and watching all the self-induced chaos in this country, why wouldn’t you? Who wants to fight a mob of 20 year old guys with bats?

    The best argument against it is, you’re forcing yourself into a ‘bug-out’ decision over a (probably) long distance. If I could have one 100 yards from my house, I’d probably do it.

  2. Like the rich buying luxury doomsday bunkers how do you vet your neighbors? Trapped rats tend to attack each other as cannibalism roars. On a sinful note I am hoping that our trapped rats in taxpayer paid for doomsday bunkers eat each other while you can I do the daily grind of surviving that day of troubles outside.

    Those scattered munitions bunkers *might* be a bit better as far as social rat issues BUT who controls the well and the electricity? Could be a King Rat scenario where a few thugs support their leader.

    Better to have a a little with a few friends you trust than share a sumptuous table with many hiding sharp knives. Ecclesiastes 4:11-12 …11Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; but how can one keep warm alone? 12And though one may be overpowered, two can resist. Moreover, a cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

    Trusted friends the real gift that keeps on giving.

    • The rich billionaires are all buying bunkers in New Zealand. So they don’t have to live with common folk. Some of the top members of the billionaires are on the listst. And a few of the more notorious millionaires. Guess they figure that country could be bought cheaper then the bottom feeding swamp creatures in Washington Dysfunctional Cesspool.

  3. Yeah, I’m in my high 50’s already. Not much more life to go I’m afraid, at least a real active life. Spending big bucks on a place to survive the event – hmmm, not sure if it is worth it anymore. And who is in charge of the pass code that gets you in ?

  4. a group compound with known and familiar LMI’s might be the best bet, gotta take turns being on watch and cleaning the grease trap. Even then there are going to be personal conflicts.

    Buying a group/communal bunker with a bunch of unknowns may quickly turn into a case of being where you don’t want to be with people you don’t want to be with doing things you don’t want to do.

  5. Aside from the already mentioned challenges, how are you going to get there after the SHTF?
    By the time most folks decide to head for the bunker it’s probably already too late.

    • I would think that survivalists do not think like “most folks” and would probably have read the signs and hit the road long before “most folks’ would have.

      • The beginnings of the pandemic surprised me. Lots of people I thought would be better prepped – weren’t. People who heard the message every day, and contributed to the conversation still weren’t actually ready to even stay home for a month.

        Normalcy bias or simple laziness, or being short on info and trusted sources, or just normal skepticism after a lifetime of S not HTF will cause even ‘survivalists’ to wait too long. People dither.

        On the other hand, as I made what I thought was my ‘last store run’ in March, I was surprised to see LOTS of people who were geared up making their own ‘last run.’ Folks with high grade PPEs and actually wearing them at Costco, rushing thru the store with a list, and almost beating me to the last of the stuff on the pallets. I waited a day or two longer than I wanted to due to other priorities, and I got the last of several items. 2 hours later you got nothing… which showed me that there ARE in fact people out there paying attention, and willing to act when they’re ready.

        Having been thru several hurricanes and a variety of other local disasters, I’ve learned the value of setting trigger points ahead of time, while you can think rationally, and then when you hit the point, ACT. If you wait until you think it’s time to go, it’s already too late. 1 million other folks will be thinking the same thing.

        nick

      • Fair enough, but is the market for this actual survivalists or panicky suburbanites?
        Particularly when heading for the hills means pulling the kids out of school, quitting a job, leaving your house and a big chunk of your worldly possessions behind?
        As you’ve pointed out before you are usually better off DYI than someone else’s kit. This feels like that writ large.

  6. “Bunker”?

    This is an WW II-leftover ammunition magazine. An “igloo” in the parlance of the Army Ordnance Corps. Has about 2 or 3 feet of dirt on top at best, with a single door — designed to be secured from the outside only — at the front and a single inaccessible vent at the top of the rear end. Not designed to resist an explosion outside — rather it is designed to channel an INTERNAL exposition upwards so as to do as little damage as possible to the other igloos in the vicinity.

    It’s a literal death-trap with only one way in and no other way out. When I worked on an Army munitions depot — with many hundreds of these things in place — there was a never-substantiated rumor that during WW II a laborer with a penchant for cheap gin had taken a nap in one of them during the lunch break, and was locked inside at the end of the day. Not to be found again for 6 or 7 months.

    If I was within a few miles of this site — the former Black Hills Army Depot — and the price was something reasonable — say $50 per month — I would rent one to keep miscellaneous household junk in. But nothing that I really cared about. They are not especially dry, and every one I have ever been in has issues with mice and other rodents, water intrusion and mold.

    They were built to temporarily house munitions — in weather-resistant packaging — for a few months before they were shipped off for immediate use in combat. For long-term living, never mind being defensible, they are crap. At $35,000 down plus $1000/year they are absurdly overpriced.

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