A lifelong friendship ensued.Īs he walked into a cavernous underground room recently, Fulkerson said Subterra was the site of one of about 72 Atlas E missile silos and bases spread throughout the United States.
Then he met Peden, who welcomed him to the property and gave him a tour of the underground missile base, taking him through the tunnels that connected the various rooms.
Just like in a movie, the door slammed behind him.įulkerson said he ran home and got a flashlight and came back the next day. And then this road comes down to a 47-ton blast door, and I was so intrigued.”įulkerson said he opened the blast door, which is down a ramp about 20 feet underground, then went inside the darkened underground area. “I was exploring the Flint Hills and all of a sudden I came to this paved road in the middle of nowhere - high-security fence with barbed wire on top. “I first came across it when I was about 10 years old,” he said. They point to the possibility Peden sees of people coming together rather than staying apart because of their differing beliefs.įor Fulkerson,who grew up about 3 miles from the missile silo, Subterra holds a long history - one dating back to when he was a boy. One of Peden’s favorite rooms includes sacred objects from various world religions. Various rooms were built - including bedrooms, bathrooms, a large kitchen and a living area known as the “Great Room,” where weddings and drum circles have taken place. Then came the arduous task of transforming the open spaces that had thick concrete walls and ceilings into something resembling a living space.Īfter years of work, the underground missile base - named “Subterra” - began to look and feel like a home. More than 8 feet of water filled its lower level, necessitating Peden to pump out more than a million gallons of water. Ed Peden, a schoolteacher who lived in an old schoolhouse and worked in Topeka, bought this place and started transforming it into what you see today.”īy all accounts, the missile silo was completely uninhabitable when Peden began working on it. “Then, after it was abandoned, it sat here vacant for years. The guys who lived here thought they would have to launch this missile at any moment. “But it was during the height of the Cold War. “This place was built in 1959 and was in operation from ’61 until ’65, so only for four years,” Fulkerson said. When the threat of nuclear warfare began to diminish in the mid-1960s, the missiles and their nuclear warheads were removed and the missile silo bases were shut down, then abandoned. Though it was no big secret, there also was scant publicity about the nine underground Air Force bases in the Topeka area, which were a part of the Strategic Air Command. He said missile silos date back to the Cold War era of the 1950s and early - ’60s and were scattered across much of the Midwest, as well as parts of both the west and east West and East coasts of the United States.įulkerson said the Subterra Airbnb site was one of nine missile silos that formed a ring around Topeka. Should Subterra’s Airbnb traffic pick up, Fulkerson said, “we are considering using both apartments upstairs and down, especially because some people really want the experience of sleeping underground.”įulkerson said Subterra is the first - and, to date, only - Airbnb located in a converted missile silo. There is also a small fireplace which that gives a “nice, cozy feeling in the fall and winter months,” Fulkerson said. They will also have a private bathroom, along with a washer and dryer for those planning longer stays.
Missle silo for sale full#
In addition to a spacious main-floor bedroom, Airbnb guests at Subterra will have a full kitchen for preparing meals.
So much so that it has been featured in a variety of media outlets, including National Geographic, Discovery Channel, CNN and even “Oprah.”Īirbnbs are privately owned residences that serve as a kind of bed and breakfast, where people can go online and book overnight stays of varying lengths.