Man Tears Backyard Apart After Hearing Disturbing Rumors About His New Home – Couldn’t Believe What

John Sims moved to Tucson, Arizona, hoping to live a quieter life. He never expected it to become one of the most unforgettable moments of his life. It all started when the former owner of his new home told him about a disturbing rumor. Apparently, something was said to be buried somewhere on the property. John could not get it out of his head, so he started digging in the backyard. What he discovered gave him chills; he definitely did not sign up for this.

When John Sims heard about a friend selling a house in Midtown Tucson, Arizona, he was eager to get the deal since the owner was his friend; he knew he would be in good hands. But once the paperwork was done, his friend told him about a rumor regarding the property. According to the elders in the town, they believed there was something mysterious buried somewhere in it. His friend never solved the mystery, but maybe John would.

As it turned out, John would uncover something that would get the whole Arizona State talking. As John started to move his belongings into his new house, he found himself thinking back to what his friend had said. He was curious and intrigued. Soon, he was determined to find out what secrets were on his new property.

John started exploring his backyard and started digging. He ended up digging four different holes across the backyard, but John found nothing. If he could not find anything beneath the grass, then whatever it is must be under the bricks.

John got his hands on municipal records and found the record of his house being built. It showed that there was a strange structure built by a company called Whitaker Pools in 1961. Now that he had proof that there was something buried on the property, John was more determined to solve the mystery.

He hired consultants with metal detectors to help him find the exact spot. A team arrived with the proper gear and searched John’s backyard. Soon, the metal detectors began to go off. John marked the two sites that triggered the metal detectors with a huge X chalk mark.

After sending the consultants home, John excitedly got a shovel and started digging. It did not take long before his shovel struck something metal. He finally found something three feet under the grass. Now that John had made progress, he decided to pause and think. What if this was a septic tank, or what if he ended up damaging or breaking a pipe?

John later uncovered what seemed to be the entrance to a hatch. He bent down to clear away the dirt and pried the metal lid open. As a precaution, John made sure he did not inhale too much, as there was a high possibility of mold spores or toxic gas fumes. John left the lid open for about a day to let any air coming from down there waft out and give time for fresh air to enter the structure.

The next morning, John took a look inside the hatch. He found a spiral staircase that was headed downwards. He was home alone at the moment, and there was no way he would be able to lift the lid on his own from underneath. With all the training and experience John had rescuing people trapped in tight spaces, he knew all the risks. So, John decided to form a team.

He called some friends over to help him out. They could help him proceed with the excavation, and some of them could be spotters for when it was safe enough to explore what was inside the shaft. When the group came together the next day, they sat down and made a blueprint. They also discussed how they should proceed. One of the first things they did was to repair and reinforce the concrete structure surrounding the stairs.

John and his team worked to set down layers of concrete and secure the rebar inside the hatch. An electrical line had to be installed so that they could have proper lighting inside the shaft and use power tools if needed. A black pipe was also installed to funnel fresh air into the shaft. At last, their work around the structure was done, but the spiral staircase posed another hurdle. The steps were so rusty that there was no telling if they could sustain any weight. They had to find another way inside without using the stairs.

The team used a ladder, and John had to climb down carefully, making sure he did not get any cuts from the rusty stairs. John was able to reach the bottom and was pleased to see that they did not have to do any more digging. But there was still more work to do. John explored around carefully and could not believe that, despite nearly half a century of neglect, the structure was mostly in good condition. The structure was bare, but it became clear later on what it was.

John had a nuclear bomb shelter in his yard. Suddenly, it all made sense. The shelter was built during the Cold War when tensions between the USA and the Soviet Union had the threat of an all-out nuclear war. Whitaker Pools turned out to expand their business to bomb shelters at the time. In fact, there were several properties in the Tucson area that had bomb shelters. Back then, it was the best thing a responsible family man could do to make sure that their loved ones would be safe in case of a nuclear war.

As it turns out, there was a lot of history when it comes to Tucson and bombs. Tucson was once a rocket town, as it held 18 ballistic missiles capable of traveling across continents and destroying an area of 900 square miles. The missile silos were kept top secret by the government, and when the Cold War was over, almost all of the rockets had been disabled. Most of the nuclear shelters were destroyed or sealed during the early 1980s.

When John posted about his backyard discovery on Reddit, his story immediately went viral. The post had hundreds of comments in just a few hours. Local newspaper articles and TV shows started calling to get interviews about it. The story even spread to international publications like the Daily Mail. John’s story had also reached Japan. It was definitely a big find, and Tucson residents started to wonder if they had one in their yard too.

John plans to make a Cold War museum. He did a lot of research on the Cold War period and started collecting memorabilia like Geiger counters, water supply barrels, ham radios, and sanitation kits. For Tucson residents who are curious whether they also have a bomb shelter in the backyard, John suggests looking up records of the City of Tucson or Pima County for information; the information is most likely to be included in the building permits.

John also gives advice for everyone not to dive in too quickly once they find a bomb shelter in the yard. Jumping into holes in the ground is generally not a good idea. John continued to explain the toxic air in a tunnel or a cave-in can easily incapacitate anyone.

John has all the intentions of restoring the bomb shelter, but he did not have that kind of money. He set up a GoFundMe page to help restore his bomb shelter from the 1960s. He planned to rebuild the entryway and work on the inside as well. One of John’s major priorities was to replace the staircase so that people could enter it safely. With the funds that he was able to collect, John was just able to do that, and now he and the team doing the renovations can safely go in and out.

John actively shares the progress he has been making on the bomb shelter, and a lot of people were impressed, which prompted more people to donate to his cause. John has been spending a lot of time designing what his bomb shelter would look like once the project is done. John plans to spend a night in the shelter at least once in his lifetime. He also considered using it as a place to cool down from the Arizona heat when it becomes unbearable.