We Explored the World’s Largest Doomsday Community (575 underground bunkers)

This former military base is now home to the world's largest doomsday community.

$35,000 gets you the bunker forever hidden.

In the Black Hills of South Dakota.

Over 575 underground bunkers cover an area over half the size of Manhattan.

Like this one behind me.

How long could you survive in here with the supplies that you have?

Pretty much we could stay in here if we had to for a year.

What do you think the most likely.

Scenario for people actually having to use these bunkers?

We are Karen Mace. We used to travel on airplanes, but now we live in a van. Our current mission is to travel to all 50 states. And along the way, we're seeking out some of the most unique places in the U.S.

So we're not really sure what we're.

Getting ourselves into today.

I'd say we're about as far away from doomsday preppers as you can get.

We don't have any food stored up.

Or weapons or equipment. Nothing for the end times.

We're both super optimistic people by nature.

So in general, we just assume that most things are going to work out. I don't exactly expect to fit in.

At X point, but that's one of.

The great things about travel.

It allows you to be pushed a little outside of your comfort zone.

Ta da.

Kara.

I'm actually impressed.

Me too. And interact with people who may see the world a little differently than you do.

This morning we're making the three hour drive to the southwestern corner of the state to a place called Vivos X Point. And we're meeting up with a man named Dante.

Two days ago, this area got an unexpected 14 inches of.

Oh, yes, we made it.

That's definitely the most we've ever put these all terrain tires to the test.

So we jumped in Dante's four wheel drive jeep for a tour around the property.

What were these used for?

This was originally called the Black Hills Ordinance Depot. The US Military had built this place to house ordinance of all kinds. Bombs mostly. But every single one of these bunkers was filled to the brim with munitions and ordinance to support us and her allies in World War II. So that's part of the reason why they're also so far apart. One of them had a, you know, an explosion on the inside. The whole thing might go off. But they didn't want a chain reaction, so they put them 400ft apart from one another. And this is F block. So there's all these different blocks where these kind of groupings of bunkers that the government had decided as they were planning this whole property out. We've currently sold out in F Block. And so all of these bunkers are sold or even being lived in right now.

Do people live full time here?

Yeah, yeah, there are some full time residents here. About eight to maybe eight. Eight or nine, 10 families that live out here full time. It's offered at a price point that a lot of people can afford. You know, $35,000 gets you the bunker forever.

So much snow.

The acoustics are crazy.

So this is what all of them look like. That's what they all start out as.

So they're all identical?

Pretty much, yeah.

1944.

That's crazy.

Those were the people who were working here back in the 40s.

If I was gonna live in this place for a year, the first thing I would have to do is figure out sound dampening. I can't even hear myself think. This is like the strongest echo I've ever heard in my life.

What's the significance of the location?

We're pretty much right in the middle, you know, east to west of the US they just didn't want this to be a target, an easy target. We're able to, you know, benefit from that exact same rationale, because, thank God, these structures are still here. We can use them in the same kind of mindset, you know, only instead of protecting bombs or protecting people. Now, initially, we didn't even own the property. There were some ranchers that had owned it. It's still an active cattle ranch, so there's still several hundred Black Angus cattle out here.

Now we're gonna go down the muddy road, but it's all right. I got a jeep.

Famous last words.

No, it's all good. Let's do it.

Nice. You have to know how to drive out here, that's for sure.

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Wow. The echo is already like.

It's so much better.

Right?

It's almost done.

So coming in here, these are the two front bedrooms. This one is a little bit different of a floor plan, but bedrooms here could also be multi purpose. Could be an office, could be an exercise room. Through here is the main room. So we have, you know, living dining. That corner would be our kitchen. The reason why we have that there is because we don't want to keep cutting that wall all the way up to the ceiling. So we don't have to. But then that also allows us to now put a platform on top of that becomes storage. So in here is going to be the master bathroom. This is another bedroom or multi purpose. And again, two more bedrooms back here is the master suite.

So if there was some kind of.

Disaster, for whatever reason that you would want to come stay here, you would.

Just be able to live pretty much.

Normally, except for not being able to leave. Like you'd have power and water.

Yeah. Right. You would have a generator, you might have solar.

Wow.

So you really have the setup in these. Like you wouldn't be roughing it very much at all.

No. So this is, and I'm super biased.

You want one?

So this is one of my prides and joy. So that is an escape door. I designed it from scratch. And the reason why we have this is because again, when the government came in, you only need that one roll up door in the front. You put your stuff in, close it from the outside, lock it from the outside, and that's it. Now that we're considering, you know, people living in here, it changes the dynamic of that a lot.

Trying to keep your jeep as clean as possible over here.

Good luck.

On the website there was like an application if you wanted to buy a bunker and it asked you what skills you had. So is there a vetting process for.

Who can buy one?

We want to know that the people we're bringing in are, you know, to the extent that we can vet them and find out on our own, you know, that they are sound and you know, they'd be safe people to be around and they're safe to bring into these communities as well.

So we've been hanging out for a little while. You think we'd make the cut?

I don't know about Kara, but you. Yeah, she's a little out there. No, I'm just kidding.

Zero of the skills that are on the website. I was like, oh, let's see. And I read them all.

0.

Just having a good attitude about it. A good personality is enough to get you by.

I got that in on our personality.

We're also really good at cleaning.

You know, we have a very tidy bunker.

What do you think the most likely.

Scenario for people actually having to use these bunkers is?

I think this past year was a pretty good example of why you would want to move out here in a hurry. This would be a place to retreat to if, you know, major urban centers got, you know, compromised in some way. International tensions could be a big thing in the near future. Again, I try not to focus on it as much as I can because I'm way more stoked on just making this out here.

Oh yeah.

That's heavy.

Yeah, it's about. It's about 1200 pounds.

Oh, that's crazy. So you've got this four inch thick concrete door and then once you get inside it just looks like a normal house.

So these were built to withstand internal and external blast pressures, shock waves from any potential, you know, attack. Now I mean this can withstand pretty much any natural disaster that comes at it from the outside. So this one can come inside.

Wow.

Oh, so this one has a different layout than the last one.

Slightly. We just went with a more industrial kitchen just because stainless was will last. You don't have to worry about it. Full size bathroom, full size shower, one that I could even stand up in. You have your bedroom areas in here. This one actually has an ensuite bathroom. Back here would be kind of a workshop area.

This one feels more utilitarian.

It is. This is the fuel storage.

Yeah.

So 1850 five gallon drums of diesel.

And how long would this much fuel run the generator?

Upwards of six months.

So the owner's not here and we don't know how to turn on the generator, which is why we just did a tour in the dark.

I still don't subscribe to the total Armageddon on a personal level just because.

It doesn't really sit well with me and it doesn't do me any good to occupy my mind with that. We wouldn't be doing this project if there wasn't the interest and the market for this kind of product, for this solution to that problem. Right. But I think how we approach that can be a lot more interesting and a lot more positive and wholesome than just, well, world's gonna end someday, and you better wish you had. You know I can't buy into that, dude. I can't sell that.

Well, we appreciate the tour, everyone.

Thank you, doctor.

See you in the morning.

Of course. Sounds good.

If I'm being honest, before coming here, I really didn't get it.

But after today, I could definitely see.

How this could appeal to some people.

These bunkers really aren't that expensive, especially if you think of them as real estate.

All I have to say is, before coming here, it wasn't even close to being on my radar to ever having.

Something like a bunker to hide out in.

But.

Dante was a really cool guy.

And he just made it seem so. Like, why wouldn't you?

Kara is one of those people that buys all of the things at the checkout at the grocery store. She's very easily sold things is what I'm trying to say.

Day.

What's actually really funny is how many similarities there are between our van and these bunkers.

Inside of the finished bunker today, all.

The electrical and water were just, like.

Jumbo siiz components of what we have in the van. That's exactly what happened to the one in our van under the sink in our van.

Yep.

It split the exact same way.

That's crazy. Something you probably don't have on your van, though, is a nuclear, biological, and chemical airfield filter.

All right.

Instead of a roof rack, we'll be installing one of these.

So Dante told us that the whole F block has been bought out, and that's about 60 bunkers. And now that they know that people are interested in this and they can sell more, they're starting to make future plans for this place. And apparently they have all these plans to make, like a gym, a bar.

A restaurant, an indoor pool.

All kinds of fun stuff. I don't know.

It sounds like a really fun community to be a part of.

Check out, girl. That's what we're called.

Today was not at all what I expected.

I expected a lot more talk about the end of the world and to feel judged for not thinking it was.

Necessary to have a bunker. I expected the conversation to be a.

Lot more depressing and dark, but it.

Was kind of positive.

And I'm really looking forward to tomorrow.

Because we're gonna get to meet some people living in the community and building bunkers. We're gonna make some dinner, and we'll.

See you in the morning.

This all happened overnight.

The entire side of the van is frozen. You never know what you're gonna get with the weather here in South Dakota.

One day it's 70 and sunny, and.

The next day, it's snowing.

Wow.

You want to close that door?

Thanks.

So I'll take you guys over to Tom and Mary first.

Wow.

This is Tom and Mary. And this is Wayne, who lives here with his wife and their puppy, Gucci. Say hello to the camera.

This is their security guard. I love her.

These two families have invited us into their homes to give us a glimpse of their life and explain why they've chosen to live here full time.

The stuff.

Wow. Did you build this out yourself?

There's nothing here I didn't do.

Wow.

There is, actually. I didn't shoot the paint.

Okay.

We were planning towards getting away from the Atlanta area kind of for retirement, and had purchased 17 acres in central Tennessee up on the Cumberland Plateau. Three months later, while I'm doing research for some of my construction, I see this, you know, X point pops up. It's like, well, that's interesting. Look at all those bunkers out there.

In the middle of prairie.

We pulled the trigger on this and sold 17 acres in Tennessee. And here we are.

This is not where we were anticipating our life to end up. I've always been not a prepper, but I've always been prepared. And somewhat from my military background and just being raised in a large family, we actually left California.

Right.

Well, right before COVID hit was getting too crazy. So we decided to move to Florida. Then shortly after that, Covid hit, and then that place went crazy. And we just looked at each other and said, we're done. We can't survive out here. It's just too much hatred, too much animosity. And neither one of us ever anticipated doing this. I mean, I've been trained to do it, but other than that, we've been, you know, corvettes, BMWs, and Gucci bags before that. On the way here, coming down the hill, my engine on my diesel truck started smoking and knocking, and it made it all the way up here. Dropped my trailer off, and it's parked out there dead.

No way.

We just figured this is where destiny wanted us.

You just never left?

Never left.

What's been the biggest adjustment to moving here full time?

Tending to the stuff that's Associated with.

Living off grid, teaching my family to live, live without the conveniences of life and city life.

They're the daily chores you have to attend to. You have to be sure your generators have power. You have to make sure that the batteries are doing okay, that the solar panels are behaving, things like that, the off grid things that aren't part of on grid living.

So you have solar and a wind.

Turbine and diesel and gasoline and propane. We're going to have power.

We can't just.

I'm hungry.

Let's go to McDonald's. Hey, I'm really feeling like a Wendy's Frosty today. Well, guess what? If we don't have ice cream in there, we got a two hour drive to Rapid City, which is the closest Wendy's to get a Frosty. That ain't happening. So thinking things ahead, it's been the hardest. It's very difficult, especially if you're not used to it.

So if something were to happen where.

You had to close the store, how long could you survive in here with the supplies that you have?

We would have to cut way back on our power. We could theoretically shut the door and stay in here for several months minimum.

Probably as long as the food supply would last. And we do have a year's worth of just dried food alone. MREs, meals ready to eat, dehydrated foods, canned foods, pretty much. We could stay in here if we had to for a year. We got a water supply system, plus we have bottled water that we keep at least six months. If you rationed everything. Yeah, no problem with the year at least.

What's the best part of living here?

The night sky. Oh my gosh, it's glorious.

I've never in my life been able to sit outside and just look up and see the whole entire Milky Way, Just every star, just see it. I'm like, there's the Milky Way, you can't miss it. It's just like right there. The best thing I like out here is the freedom. The freedom just to, to be me.

Do you have friends?

Are there people?

Oh yeah.

We formed a community here.

I interact more with people outside of us and my co workers here than I did when we were at home.

When you're talking to people and you tell them that it's a totally different life living off grid. If you don't have your stuff together, it's not, oh, okay, I'm just gonna flip the light on and turn the heat if it gets cold. If you didn't chop your wood and it's snowing out, you're freezing your bed off, and you're gonna sit there bundled up like a little Eskimo, going, okay, babe, come here. Just warm up.

What would you say to the people.

Who think it's just a bunch of crazy people living out here underground?

Don't take too seriously what you see on tv.

My parents grew up during the Depression, so we learned to always put up food for, you know, the winter or for a rainy day. And now I think people realize it's always better to have a little more, considering last year when they went to the store and there was nothing on the shelves.

Yeah, I would wager that people are keeping more toilet paper on their shelves now than they were a year ago.

Thank you for your time.

You guys take care.

Okay.

See you in a bit. Yeah.

I love them. It was so sweet.

At the end of the day, like, we're building something super positive. This is, like, groundbreaking stuff. It's totally, totally unique. It's out there, and I don't know who wouldn't want to be a part of that in some way or another.

That was the metal bunker we just did the interview in. So if you heard some banging.

Yeah, that's why.

Bye.

South Dakota.

South Dakota. Who'd have thought?

Yeah.

I'll close the door.

Okay.

I won't lock you in.

You promised to let us out. I understood nothing you said. I can't hear anything.

All we know is that he's closed. Closing the door.

Too much snow. We hope the end of the world doesn't happen during a snowstorm.

We're very op.

We're very sorry. My face is frozen.

Hi.

She. Attack. Train. Pomeranian.

Three pound.

Vicious. She.

You don't seem vicious to me.