Only a few people now reside in the old town, which has some abandoned structures that are deteriorating in the elements. There are tons of, With lots of abandoned places come plenty of ghost stories! The Cold War-era facility costs just a little more than the average American home. He found 34 acres of grass in need of . Zillow, who lists the property, said the facility. "Structurally it's sound," Dautel continued, saying: "The silo itself the missile silo itself has about 100ft of water in it at the present time that's the level we're keeping it at, because there's ground water that comes into it through a pipe. After it was decommissioned, Dautel claimed it sat for a number of years before useful parts were "scavenged" by steel companies, at the request of the government, including the metal frame which once held the missile. Coronado is one of the more unique abandoned places in Kansas. Outside sits a VHFcommunicationantenna that was designed to withstand a nuclear blast within two miles, in addition to a secondary antenna,an air-intake ventilation system,a water treatment plan, an escape hatch,an alarm systemand thetop of thelaunch area that has twodoors weighing 70 tons each. These photos and videos show inside. 22.2 percent of households and 14.7 percent of the population were poor, with 25.0 percent of those under the age of eighteen and 18.5 percent of those over 64 falling into this category. The United States and the Soviet Union reached a point where any attack from one country could provoke a response in kind, leading to the obliteration of both countries. "So we have a pump that keeps it at that level, so it depends what that person wanted to do, if you wanted to drain all that, keep that missile silo space part of your home you would have a you know basically 12 stories to work with.". See. Bushong is located in northwest Lyon County. "The gunk I hauled out of here in wheelbarrows was incredible," Ed tells us. Former missile silo in Kansas. The Brookville Hotel in Abilene, Kansas was founded in 1894 and has been in the same family since then. Minuteman Missile Fields in the United States during the Cold War and after. But it needed some work. The first ICBMs developed by the US Air Force, they were equipped with nuclear warheads and had a range of about 8,700 miles. Ed explains that his home attempts to counter the "heavy energy" of the missile silo, and that he views it as "a transformational symbol.". Thank you! Today, you wouldn't guess how far it has changed to become a home. The area was grown over with weedsto the point where the top of the silo couldn't be seen. When the place was bought as a home, it had a good amount of standing water and a lot of work needed to be done. The twin front doors are massive, measuring 10 feet wide, 10 feet high and 6 inches thick as a unit. . You may get there by taking route 350 (route 56) and driving a mile up to Road D. Latitude: 38.686403, Longitude: -96.302414 are the GPS coordinates to follow. The missiles were decommissioned in the 1960s, replaced with the far deadlier Titan I and Titan II missiles. The surviving North Star Silo was one of 12 built in Central Kansas during the Cold War. On the Diamond Spring Ranch, the spring now rises in a concrete cistern and is piped to an adjacent concrete stock tank. Skinner later left Wamego and was eventually convicted of kidnapping, assaulting, torturing, and forcibly dosing a number of victims, including his former girlfriend Krystle Cole as well as several minors, with dangerously large amounts of various psychedelic and dissociative drugs. This led to the arrest and eventual imprisonment of Pickard and his lab partner Clyde Apperson, as well as a major dearth of LSD in street drug markets that would last for years. The Brookville Hotel was permanently shuttered as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Get more stories delivered right to your email. There are plenty of supposedly haunted places in Kansas, like the infamous, There are all kinds of ideas out there for some truly awesome, Heres The Perfect Weekend Itinerary If You Love Seeing Kansass Magical Christmas Lights, The Christmas Lights Road Trip Through Kansas Thats Nothing Short Of Magical, Take This Hidden Gems Road Trip When You Want To See Some Little-Known Places In Kansas, 16 Stops Along I-70 In Kansas That Are Worth Pulling Over For, This Family Friendly Road Trip Through Kansas Leads To Whimsical Attractions, Great Museums, And More, Take This Road Trip To The Most Charming Route 66 Towns In Kansas, Here Are 12 Unique Day Trips In Kansas That Are An Absolute Must-Do, Visit These 5 Creepy Ghost Towns In Kansas At Your Own Risk. A log dam was built across the Cottonwood River in 1867, along with a wooden-frame mill for sawing lumber. For many years, the little farming village prospered in the lush Salt Creek Valley, but it, like many other Kansas communities, has seen its population decrease substantially. .css-ow13hy{background-color:#1c6a65;color:#fff;display:inline-block;font-family:FreightSansW01,Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif;letter-spacing:0.03rem;padding:0.8125rem 1.25rem 0.9rem;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;text-decoration-color:#1c6a65;text-decoration-thickness:0.125rem;text-transform:uppercase;text-underline-offset:0.25rem;-webkit-transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;width:auto;}@media(max-width: 48rem){.css-ow13hy{font-size:0.875rem;line-height:1;padding:0.7rem 1rem 0.75rem;}}@media(min-width: 40.625rem){.css-ow13hy{padding:0.7rem 1rem 0.75rem;}}@media(min-width: 48rem){.css-ow13hy{font-size:0.875rem;line-height:1;padding:0.8125rem 1.25rem 0.9rem;}}@media(min-width: 64rem){.css-ow13hy{font-size:0.875rem;line-height:1;}}.css-ow13hy:focus-visible{outline-color:body-cta-btn-link-focus;}.css-ow13hy:hover{color:#fff;text-decoration-color:border-link-body-hover;background-color:#000000;border:none;}DIVE DEEPER. Take the back roads, follow train tracks, and find some places for yourself. As part of the Works Progress Administrations project, a stone shelter resembling a castle was built on top of the hill in 1936. The dome cap can withstand winds of up to 500 miles per hour, providing shelter from even the strongest tornadoes. 2023 Atlas Obscura. While the unusual property is far from in a turnkey condition, it is brimming with potential. In particular, each nation developed inter-continental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) meant to strike at the heart of the other country, targeting military installations as well as cities, which made them particularly frightening. Matthew Fulkerson A couple spent 30 years renovating a nuclear missile silo into an underground castle. The sprawling property once housed missiles during its years of operation in the 1960s. In the spring of 1898, a powerful windstorm severely destroyed the structure. Other haunted places in Kansas include gems like the Red Rock Elementary School, in Ulysses, the Ellis Railroad Museum, in Ellis, and even old Fort Leavenworth! The silo was shared across social media, with the listing appearing on Instagram account @Zillowgonewild in January, where it amassed nearly 50,000 likes. Nuclear warheads eventually became exponentially more powerful. One gets the sense that Ed stresses the castle metaphor to sell properties to the security-minded (and his video system keeps tabs on various locations, including the front gate). 43.73247, -70.23902Photo Credit: Patrick Emerson flickr.com. The toilets were built on springs, everything was set in case of a giantbomb or earthquake, he said. A missile silo complex in Abilene, Kansas, has hit the real estate market for $380,000, and Zillow Gone Wild is bringing the jokes. Which of These Doomsday Scenarios Will Kill Us? The North Star Missile Silo was used during the height of the Cold War in the early 1960s and is up for sale, with a price tag of $989,000. Unfortunately, with all of the good that came to town (including the establishment of businesses, churches, and schools), there was also some bad, beginning with the Great Flood of 1951, which damaged several of the towns homes and buildings, followed by the closing of the towns schools in 1967. Create Your Own Bizarre Road Trips! There are tons of ghost towns in Kansas, and so many abandoned places in Kansas that it's impossible to truly and accurately count. There is also a small fireplace which that gives a nice, cozy feeling in the fall and winter months, Fulkerson said. Copyright 1996-2023 Doug Kirby, Ken Smith, Mike Wilkins. If you would like to change your settings or withdraw consent at any time, the link to do so is in our privacy policy accessible from our home page.. In 1988, a sculpture by John Whitfield with the inscription Coronado Heights A Place to Share' was constructed half-way up the slope. The possibilities are only as limited as your imagination unless youre scared. As host, Fulkerson takes care of welcoming guests and will chauffeur them around the Flint Hills area if they want to do some sightseeing. With a ceiling height of more than nine feet and sturdy three-foot-thick walls, the inside room is domed. These are MAJOR nuclear war targets, each one of these silo's will be hit with minimum one warhead with a fairly large yield as part of a Russian counterforce attack. Following three decades of decay, the building was purchased by Gordon Todd Skinner, a young psychedelic drug enthusiast with a massive inherited fortune, who converted the mostly underground structure into a kind of hidden palace, complete with luxurious hot tubs and baths and furnished with imported marble. "Yes! Writer on Defense and Security issues, lives in San Francisco. Well, the silo isn't rated to withstand a direct hit from a modern nuclear weapon, but then again, the builders dont claim it is. With lots of abandoned places come plenty of ghost stories! As a neighbor, I love coming over here and helping out with different projects. Learn how to create your own. What was once considered the "Diamond of the Plains,", Diamond Springs, Township 8, KS 66838, USA. Despite the fact that Diamond Springs is no longer a thriving town, there are some still-standing structures in the vicinity that quietly convey the narrative of a once-thriving community. ", A large square hole in the floor leads to a gently sloping "flame pit" the size of a freeway tunnel. If youre having trouble finding abandoned places, be sure to check out our Ultimate Guide to Finding Abandoned Places, or explore abandoned places near you. 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