Thought to have once been one of America's most secretive places, this historic missile bunker is one of a network built in out-of-the-way places in response to the nuclear threat posed by the Cold War with the Soviet Union in the 1960s.

Decommissioned decades ago, it stood abandoned for years before the owner decided to put the whole complex up for sale, which required excavating a new entrance and breaking the seal on this military time capsule. What they found there provides a fascinating insight into US military history, including the day-to-day lives of the personnel who worked there. Let's take the tour...

Building something of this scale requires a huge amount of land, and keeping it secret means you need a huge amount of land in a place where not many people live. Located in the depths of Cochise County in Southern Arizona, the desert silo complex is surrounded by almost 15 acres, with nothing but mountains and open plains for miles – making it the perfect place to convert into an off-the-radar retreat. The historic relic remains hard to find even to this day. 

It was likely constructed in the 1960s, when 54 similar bunkers were built across Arizona, Arkansas and Kansas. America's concealed compounds were in operation for more than 20 years, according to Realtor, and would have been monitored full-time by a team of undercover employees.

The bunker would have been their place of work and their home. This image highlights the sheer scale of the structure, including the vast cavern where missiles were stored and launched from.

This fascinating photo series image, captured in 1963, shows a Titan II missile launching from an underground bunker, highlighting the size of these military weapons of war.

According to the experts at the Titan Missile Museum in Arizona, some ballistic missiles were over 100 feet tall and 10 feet wide. To give you an idea of their power, the Titan II missile could launch from below ground in just 58 seconds and had a range of more than 5,500 miles (8,851km).

Positioned 12 minutes from the nearest town of Benson, the time capsule compound is completely hidden from ground level. In fact, its blast door is camouflaged among the overgrown foliage. Imagine stepping out and soaking up unparalleled views of the Rincon and Dragoon Mountains!

The property was originally listed for $495,000 (£407k) in October 2020 and was later reduced to $475,000 (£390k), before finally selling for $440,000 (£362k) in June 2021, which seems a bargain considering the building's history and scale.

The underground property was finally closed off and secured in 2016. The bunker's last owner hadn't been inside for years, until he dug 35 feet down into the earth with an excavator, in order to gain access to his unique property. Elaborate and extensive, the complex was constructed from tons of steel and concrete, which renders it one of the strongest structures ever made. 

Designed to withstand a nuclear attack, the bunker would be suitable to survive almost any disaster but in its current condition without fresh water or power, it still needs a lot of work in order to offer a functional sanctuary that could support human life for more than a few days. Protected by an ultra-secure entrance door, there to ensure only military personnel could get inside, the subterranean space isn't exactly easy to access. The blast-proof door leads to endless corridors, control rooms and sleeping quarters, many of which still harbour belongings and equipment from days gone by.

Far from your average real estate listing, anyone who was interested in buying the bunker first had to prove that they had sufficient funds in order to do so. As appealing as it would have been to historians, military enthusiasts and explorers, only serious buyers were allowed inside the silo's vast underground network. 

Once through the ballistic-proof bunker door, you will find a series of interconnecting, long-forgotten rooms, linked by steel staircases. Designed to provide security, privacy and functionality, the bunker would no doubt still be here in hundreds of years' time if left untouched. If only walls could talk, we're sure this space would have plenty of stories to tell...

If the buyer's main aim was to find somewhere that's safe and entirely off-grid, then they found the perfect place. The steel superstructure was built like a fortress, with impenetrable walls, ceilings and floors formed from the toughest materials. The main interior spaces, where the crew would sleep and eat, are located deep underground for maximum privacy and security.

A large staircase sits in the centre of the complex, connecting all of the bunker's three main accommodation floors. We're not sure we'd be brave enough to take a stroll through this underground warren, especially on our own! 

This room was likely the launch control HQ, and historic equipment can still be seen to this day, albeit somewhat dilapidated. There would have been a huge switchboard, where workers would monitor events and execute important military tasks. Much like the interior of other long-forgotten Cold War bunkers, personal belongings and top-secret paperwork can be seen strewn across the ground, as if the room was abandoned in a hurry.

Eerie and fascinating at the same time, the subterranean space could certainly be seen as haunting. Yet it's likely that when the facility was decommissioned, no one thought anyone would step inside ever again, so leaving paperwork behind wouldn't have been seen as an issue.  Who would have thought that abandoned bunkers would one day become highly sought-after pieces of real estate? 

You can even see the original command console, where important actions would have been put into practice. Though in a state of disrepair, it's easy to appreciate what this space would have looked like during the height of the Cold War.

The decades of neglect are even more apparent once you enter the bunker's other areas. Some equipment appears to have been stripped of parts, while debris and rust have taken hold of other areas of the facility. Akin to a submarine located metres below the surface of the water, this underground world would certainly have been a fascinating place to live and work.

The bunker's interior could definitely do with some glazing, light fixtures and pops of colour, in order to render it suitable for day-to-day living. Yet the aesthetic is the least of it when it comes to this covert compound. How would you go about renovating this extreme fixer-upper?

The facility would have been built with plenty of added layers of protection, to keep the workers safe in the event of a nuclear attack. For example, floor-to-ceiling springs were installed and would have been used to isolate each level of the bunker from seismic shocks. That means the facility is not only bulletproof but resistant to natural disasters, such as earthquakes and even volcanic activity.

While active, the nuclear bunker would have also been home to hundreds of military personnel, who slept and cooked in these rooms. The bunker's long-deserted kitchen is in need of a complete overhaul. All you need to render this room beautiful is some imagination and a dedicated guide to kitchen renovations – oh, and perhaps a fair amount of elbow grease!

The military personnel that worked here may have gone days, or even weeks, without seeing natural daylight. They would have slept, eaten and worked together in very confined spaces, which we can only imagine would have been extremely difficult. The bunk rooms would have housed numerous crew members and smoking in bed was prohibited. Old signage is still in place, warning the workers of punishment should they violate this rule.

The complex also has a rather unappealing bathroom, which we can imagine was used a great deal by the workers that ran this facility. Far from being luxurious or private, the communal space features a separate shower cubicle that has been overtaken with rust, as well as a latrine that has seen better days. 

Most military bunkers were decommissioned in 1984 and the U.S. government had their access points filled with soil, rubble and concrete, to stop explorers from venturing inside. So it's no wonder that the bunker appears to have been frozen in time. Perhaps this copy of the Arizona Daily Star, from 29th March 1984, was left behind the day the bunker was abandoned?

Other items left behind include documentation from the commanders to the officers, and even old cans of Pepsi! Perhaps this dusty rotary phone was once used to make contact with military personnel above the ground. Did nearby army bases use the phone to pass orders to the team working around the clock in this ultra-secure facility, or did the staff simply use it to call their loved ones back home?

Of course, being a military facility, it's likely the bunker had more than one exit, too. Hidden hatches and secret tunnels would have been installed to allow any workers to get out safely in the event of an attack or disaster. With enemy nuclear strikes thought to be highly likely during the time the bunker was in operation, a back-up escape route was definitely a requirement.

Sadly we don't know the exact dimensions of the sunken sanctuary, but it likely spans thousands of square feet, meaning there's plenty of room for improvement. Yet the underground retreat will have needed a huge amount of work if the lucky new owner wanted to create a luxury bunker home – but we're sure they would be up to the challenge.

Though we can't take a look inside the missile section of the bunker, this image gives us an idea of how it might look. Captured at the former Titan II bunker in nearby Sahuarita, Arizona, which has now been turned into the state's military museum, the image puts into perspective the size and power of the missiles that would have been launched from this clandestine facility many decades ago. 

In addition to all this space, there's also a private well and electricity on site, which would make any renovation work that little bit easier. That being said, taking on such a colossal project is certainly not for the faint-hearted and we can only imagine what the adventurous new owner has made of the Cold War crypt. We don't know about you, but we'd love to see what becomes of this historic hideaway. 

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