PARANOIA

On the geography blog Bearings, Jonathan Haeber relays an account of an extended exploration through a Titan I missile silo in Colorado.

On Memorial Day of 2007, and then again in December, I visited two separate Titan I missile sites. The first was quite the introduction. The second was mind-blowing. There are no words to describe being in what is perhaps the world’s largest underground missile complex. In fact, I’ve tried more than once, and in my mind have not achieved an adequate description. Last month, I clicked on a random link and encountered the narrative of another man who had done the same. His words, and his story came much closer to describing the feeling in detail. Even better, this man knew all of the intricacies of the base. He was a true savant of Titan I – and probably the foremost non-military expert of these historic bases. I contacted him and asked if he would be willing to talk about his experience and he readily agreed.

Check the great 3-D map of the Power Dome, and download the base's "Dash-1," a complete technical manual for a Titan missile complex. Build your own!

Labels: underplex

Any blog post titled "12 of the world's most fascinating tunnel networks" threatens to put the reader to sleep in the first paragraph, but this feature from the unusual tech-design blog OObject rewards examination. See, for instance, the 5000-year-old gold treasure tunnels under Los Angeles created by a prehistoric cult of lizard people.

(PARANOIA fans will also enjoy the OObject feature "Futuristic megastructures," including Buckminster Fuller's Manhattan Dome.)

Labels: underplex

If you liked the PARANOIA supplement The Underplex, check today's entry by Underplex author Paul Baldowski on his Omega Complex blog. Paul, a resident of Manchester, UK, talks about a new showing (in Manchester's Urbis exhibition center) of photos by Andrew Brooks. The show is Reality hacks: Hidden Manchester.

There are images from the Underplex here - ancient service tunnels, long abandoned conveniences, and fast-flowing detritus-filled waterways. Doorways, stairs and arched portals punctuate walls at different levels, some half buried or never intended for human access. Filthy sheets of glass might occasionally provide a murky sheen of daylight, but never much more than that. Even tunnels and service routes closer to civilisation provide a view of a world bereft of day-to-day human activity, routes frequented only by occasional service vehicles, maintenance crews and trespassers. This one even looks like an Alpha Complex service tunnel, with pipework coloured by Security Clearance.

Labels: paulbaldowski, underplex

The November 27, 2008 New York Times (free registration required) features the article "Mile of London Tunnels for Sale, History Included," by Julia Werdigier. The British phone company, the BT Group, is trying to sell a mile-long network of tunnels originally built as bomb shelters during the Blitz in World War II:

Appearing more like the set of a James Bond movie than prime real estate, the complex still has a bar and two canteens, not in use, and a billiard room, not to mention functioning water and electricity supplies. [...]

Though some may fantasize about buying the space and living a secret life in a cavernous underground world filled with gadgets suitable for the Bat Cave, the reality would most likely be harsher. The air is dry, hot and stale. The constant rattling of London Underground trains rushing through a separate tunnel system a few feet above and the sound of giant ventilation fans make the tunnels a noisy environment. Turning the tunnels into a nightclub or hotel is out of the question because only two elevators link them to the outside world; even a small fire would be difficult to contain. [...]

David Hay, a BT historian, said legend had it that the government wanted to keep the location of the tunnels so secret that it hired foreign workers with no knowledge of the London streets to build them. BT staff members are still under strict orders not to reveal the exact location of the system, though incomplete maps have surfaced on the Internet. [...]

In 1963, the hot line established between Moscow and Washington after the Cuban missile crisis ran through the London tunnels. The buzzing complex soon became known as “underground town,” with its own recreation room complete with dartboards and billiard tables, a movie theater and two dining halls. Workers often spent the night in sleeping rooms. [...]
"In the winter months, if you didn’t come up at lunchtime, you never saw the light of day," John Warrick, a former worker, wrote on the Web site Subterranea Britannica, remembering his days in the tunnels. "Life down there was a little like living in a submarine."

If any PARANOIA fan pays the US$7.4 million to buy this place, get in touch. I'd be happy to run a wowser of an Underplex live-action game down there.

Labels: underplex

Could have sworn I blogged Subterranea Britannica here long ago, but I can't find the entry, so here it is now. (Via BoingBoing.)

Labels: underplex

Thanks to the anonymous loyal citizen (is that a contradiction?) who linked to this collection (on the visionary futurist design blog Inhabitat) of incredible photos of Tokyo's stormwater tunnels, a strikingly Alpha Complexian sewerscape.

Labels: underplex

Via Daily Illuminator, a lengthy (if rather dry) history and tour of a secret underground city, or anyway a secret underground small town, in Corsham, Wiltshire (UK) -- a Cold War emergency refuge for 4,000 government officials. Variously called Hawthorn Central Government War Headquarters, Stockwell, Subterfuge, Turnstile, and more recently Site 3, the complex was first built in the early 1960s and maintained (at a cost that eventually rose to half a million pounds a year) until 2004. "The MOD [Ministry of Defence] is looking for a company to bring new life to the site. English Heritage have also expressed an interest in preserving part of the site for historic interest."

Labels: underplex

Comrades! Many many many times ve have been linkink to photos of abandoned Soviet tunnels. Never never never can ve be gettink tired of photos of tunnels. Now, vith compellink title "The Underground Moscow," how could ve possibly not be linkink to English Russia blog's amazink photos of genuine Soviet-era KGB dungeons, flooded conduits, and alvays more tunnels, ever more mysterious nightmare tunnels? Go, and see Internal Security and Technical Serwices tunnels made wisible!

Labels: glorious comrades, underplex

The Toronto Power Company's Tailrace hydroelectric station at Niagara Falls, a century old and abandoned for 30 years, is super-cool inspiration for a pleasant little Power Services mission to the Underplex.

Labels: underplex

Comrades! Already beink sick to death of multiple links to photos of old abandoned Soviet fortresses, missile installations, and nuclear wessels? Vell, toughski! Now to be lookink at still one more big abandoned Soviet Ukrainian submarine base, now museum. Alvays to be usink these kind of photos in good Communist adwentures in Underplex. Is good!

Labels: glorious comrades, submarines, underplex

Comrades! Now to be inspectink werrry interestink "WebUrbanist" blog entry "7 Abandoned Wonders of the Former Soviet Union: From Submarine Stations to Unfinished Structures." Vitness abandoned submarine base, abandoned prison, abandoned missile silo, abandoned oceanside fortress, and entire abandoned glorious city of Promyshlennyi. Werrry handy for Outdoors and Underplex Troubleshooter missions! (Rest of WebUrbanist blog also vorth long look.)

Labels: glorious comrades, outdoors, underplex

The urban exploration site Abandoned But Not Forgotten has a photo shoot, mostly humdrum but sometimes inexplicably eerie, of a long-abandoned Sun Microsystems office building in California. Perfect for your next PARANOIA Troubleshooter mission into The Underplex.

(Yes, it's the second BoingBoing link in two days.)

Labels: underplex