Family Finds Time Capsule in Fallout Shelter

A family in Wisconsin was surprised to find a fully-stocked bomb shelter in their yard. The Zwick family lived in their home in Neenah for more than a decade, aware of a metal door in their backyard. They did not open the door until 2010. Like a scene from Lost, a mysterious ladder led down the hole, into the darkness. Climbing down the ladder, the Zwicks found a Cold War-era bomb shelter, stocked with enough provisions to last a family for two weeks. The 80 square-foot shelter contained goods from the era of John F. Kennedy. Although the shelter itself was flooded, many supplies were still in excellent shape, despite decades of storage. Ken Zwick and Carol Hollar-Zwick were astounded by the stock of vintage goods, marking a unique era in America. “It was all of what you would expect to find in a 1960s fallout shelter,” the family told their local newspaper. Frank Pansch, a medical doctor, was the previous owner of the home. He built the shelter in 1960, when Americans and Russians were living under the constant threat of nuclear war. Fallout shelters were meant to protect families from fallout created by atomic blasts, not the explosions. The shelter is located 200 miles from Chicago and 100 miles from Milwaukee, the two nearby cities targeted by the Soviet Union. The family donated all the items to the Neenah Historical Society.