Backyard bomb shelter

Having a hidey hole in the backyard is not unusual in Oklahoma. Bouts with springtime severe weather have caused many Oklahomans to dig shelters in the yard. <br/><br/>As News on 6 reporter Rick Wells

Monday, April 10th 2006, 10:36 am

By: News On 6

Having a hidey hole in the backyard is not unusual in Oklahoma. Bouts with springtime severe weather have caused many Oklahomans to dig shelters in the yard.

As News on 6 reporter Rick Wells explains, a Tulsa man has a shelter in his yard too. This one designed to protect the family from the atomic bomb.

Tom Ackley has a backyard shelter, but this was built as a nuclear fallout shelter. 50 years ago when the house was built, school kids learned to duck and cover as protection from an atomic blast.

Folks put in backyard fallout shelters. Ackley says when he bought this house, the shelter was still stocked with provisions, literature on the atomic threat and living underground. It also included a hand cranked pump that brings in filtered air.

You may laugh, if you think because all this nuclear fallout protection seems overly simplistic, but 50 years ago it was serious business.

The crackers and C-rations are gone. The 30 gallon water tank is empty. Instead of water, the shelter serves as a wine cellar. So in theory you could get bombed in the bomb shelter. Tom Ackley:"I'm not worried about a bomb, but occasionally I'm worried about an Oklahoma storm."

Folks who know it's history think it's cool. "There is no down side to having a shelter in your yard." Not only the underground shelter, but also a nearby tree house with spiral stair case. He has got something below ground and above ground.

And get this, it's all for sale, house, tree house and nuclear fallout shelter.