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Used ICBM Silo For Sale, "Cheap" 258

Posted by CmdrTaco from the homes-for-nerds dept.
sprzepiora writes "An Atlas ICBM silo is for sale on E-Bay. Place your bids now, because it's only $1.5E6! Includes such amenities as: 1100 gallon hot tub, sauna,3 finished baths, 47 ton garage door, 66,000 lb. bank of batteries, chemical and bioligical air filtration, and more!" This is cool just to lust after. Of course its in Kansas (yeah I know, I'm in michigan, whats the difference, right?)
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Used ICBM Silo For Sale, "Cheap" More

Used ICBM Silo For Sale, "Cheap"

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  • Wow (Score:2, Funny)

    by czardonic ( 526710 )
    A big hole in the ground! Sweet.
    • A big hole in the ground! Sweet.

      I want to be the first to play with the asbestos.

      please?

    • But one of many! From the seller's aboutme:

      We have now sold 27 of these properties to excited owners



      I wonder if there's any in my neck of the woods? Probably not, since most of California is laced with fault lines and was probably all primary target anyway. I bet there's some in Michigan, in da U.P., eh?

      • Nah, go down a few feet you hit rock, most places. I'm sure there's a played-out iron mine or three you could get there though.

        Down in lower Michigan though, there are the old Minuteman silos at the Grosse Ile airport, but I think those are all sealed up. And probably full of water seeped in from Lake Erie/Detroit River.

  • The one time... (Score:4, Funny)

    by ekrout ( 139379 ) on Friday October 05, 2001 @05:33PM (#2394051) Journal
    that a reply of ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US might actually apply. Schweet ;-)
  • I didn't expect the operators to sleep in sleeping bags, but this is better than most houses.
    • If you check out the sellers home page (missilebases.com [missilebases.com]) You'll see that this is one has had quite a bit of work done to it to make it worth the 1.5 mil. They normally go for about $200,000 and then usually just have a few hangers on the surface and maybe some of the interior structure still intact.

      I do like the idea of using the silo as a scuba diving tank though (they did that at one site).

  • Userfriendly.org? (Score:3, Funny)

    by Ksop ( 132400 ) on Friday October 05, 2001 @05:34PM (#2394057) Homepage
    Thats the one all the geeks from Columbia Internet were living in right?
  • If I bought an ICBM silo for a house, I'd be forced to become some sort of superhero. No, seriously. You'd wake up one morning and realize that the world's population has dropped by more than 2/3rds. Wouldn't have to worry about adding any ambient lighting to the silo part...should be glowing already. You could make the world's largest spiral staircase...Or world's bounciest trampoline/indoor skydiving adventure!
  • That's not huge or anything ... pools (backyard, in ground, at home, type things) are usuall in the 1000's (15,000 .. 25,000). I s'pose 1100 gal is bit large for a hot tub, but nothing like a 47 ton garage door (yikes!)

  • Somewhere in the former Soviet Union... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 05, 2001 @05:35PM (#2394063)

    ...is a silo in the ground, complete with a missile dialed in to your new home! This is one thing the Real Estate agent will conveniently forget to mention.

    On the other hand, I guess that's the purpose for the 47-ton garage door.

    • why would somwone target a missle silo? there won't be a missle there by the time there missile gets here.
      • Since it takes a matter of minutes for the missiles to reach each other's continent, the hope is that the other person wont have time to launch their missiles at you, thus your missiles aimed at their silos destroy their silos and keep them from destroying you.

        Of course it all depends on how fast the other guy's warning system and missile commanders are. This is where all that trillion dollar hardware and design comes into play.

        • it take approx. 32 minutes for a Russian missle to achieve a US target. When there missle hit Apex our missle would be launched. We know and track every rocket launch from Russia.

          FYI I was SAC at FE Warren AFB, Wy.

          Out response is incredible fast.
          If you have ever seen WarGames then you know exactly how a missle base isn't.
          • it take approx. 32 minutes for a Russian missle to achieve a US target


            How many minutes does it take to decide if you are going to destroy the world or not, based solely on a preliminary evaluation of missile trajectories?

          • it take approx. 32 minutes for a Russian missle to achieve a US target. When there missle hit Apex our missle would be launched. We know and track every rocket launch from Russia.


            Only if you're talking about an ICBM launched from Russian (or former Soviet) territory at the continental United States (or vice versa).

            If it's a depressed-trajectory shot launched from a ballistic missile submarine parked off the East or West coast, it's all over in seven minutes.

            Seven minutes. Enough time for a last cigarette.

            k., proud member of the "Duck 'n' Cover Generation".
          • I always wanted to get or write a nuclear war game. I don't mean something like Missile Command. I mean a strategy game. Start the game at the beginning of the nuclear arms race, with the player being the leader of one of the nations (like in Civ). He would get to make decisions about how much money to spend on weapons, training, R&D, espionage, civil defense, missile defense, etc. He could make decisions about things like signing treaties, research priorities, picking targeting strategies, picking civil defense strategies, swapping or giving away tech, etc. He could change readiness states, evacuate cities, order recon flights, attempt espionage or sabotage, launch attacks (of course), etc. Along the way different problems would arise depending on how wisely the player spent his money and the "world situation." A player who didn't invest much in training and who didn't develop good weapon control procedures would have a higher chance that one of his units would unexpectedly "release" their weapons during high states of alert. Too strict of weapons control would slow down response time and might encourage The Enemy to think they could succeed in a decapitating first strike. A war might stay "cold" for decades, and then suddenly heat up when one side gets enough strategic advantage that they think they can win a nuclear exchange. A well played game might never go "hot."

            'Things are going well and tensions are declining, and all of a sudden the game drops into "real time mode" the alarms go off. The Enemy calls up on the hotline (you did develop and implement The Hotline didn't you?) and says that one of their units has gone rogue (maybe you should have given or leaked Advanced Weapons Control Methods to them) and launched a nuclear tipped ICBM at one of your cities, "It isn't a deliberate attack, please, PLEASE, don't retaliate against our innocent civilians for the crimes of one madman." What do you do? Or everything looks fine, tensions are low, although sunspot activity is running high. Then your Air Defense Command reports a sudden first strike. Only some of the sensors are giving confusing or conflicting data. It could be a computer or sensor glitch; The Enemy has no reason to launch now. If you don't launch before the RVs hit (perhaps you should have invested in Mobile Launchers) then most of your ICBMs will be wiped out in their silos. What do you do?'

            To get a really good sim of nuclear brinksmanship you'd need to have other countries that could have alliances, critical resources, their own nukes (of course), etc. 'Tensions are running high between you and Nuclear Power A, when all of a sudden atomic explosions start lighting up your cities (Suitcase Nukes? Stealth?) and sabotage takes out several of your units. Nuclear Power A is the obvious culprit... except that it could also be Nuclear Power B that is trying to use current tensions to get you and A to wipe ea. other out. Do you launch against A, against B, against everybody*?'

            You'd also want to simulate some basic level of internal economics and politics so that nations could change attitude and power, The Senate could overrule your decisions if your position wasn't "secure" enough, or leaders could get deposed without a shot being fired (the ultimate victory... or loss). That would mean adding non-state actors (like terrorists, revolutionaries, legitimate and "faked" protest groups) and some level of psychological warfare. "Are you sure you want to order all the major cities evacuated, Mr. President? That could hurt your approval rating and our economy considerably. If you are wrong..."

            Oh, and to make the most of it you'd want to add non-nuclear weapons, so you could have Chemical, Biological, and Conventional, arms races and wars along with Nuclear. Although non-nuclear "hot" wars would need great simplification in order to keep the interface manageable. 'You are losing a very important conventional war involving several major allies with critical resources and bases. Releasing the use of tactical nuclear weapons would turn the tide. Doing so could also escalate to a strategic nuclear exchange. Without your allies resources you will not be able to maintain your current weapon parity with The Enemy. What do you do?'

            If done properly and OBJECTIVELY then it could also be a useful teaching tool on Grand Strategy, Games Theory, and The Cold War. Maybe you could even have it so you could alter physics or human nature or add "exotic" weapons to the game to experiment with hypothetical scenarios. A player could try to emulate Stalin or Kennedy, they could try arms reduction talks (trust but verify) with peaceful co-existence or sneak attacks, they could wage "limited" wars or test out that Nuclear Winter theory (something else that might could be customized). Of course, you'd want a multiplayer version. You can see why I have never even bothered to write it... it is a HUGE project. Quite beyond my abilities and free time.

            But, perhaps The Bazaar could do it. I have put the idea in the public domain, is anyone willing and capable of pursuing it?

            * A wargasm as they say, and my likely response.
    • The RE agent isn't ALLOWED to mention that, because it's redlining.

  • One of our base... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Tackhead ( 54550 ) on Friday October 05, 2001 @05:36PM (#2394068)
    ...can belong to YOU, yes you, for the low, low price of $1.5 megabucks!

    (Considering what the owner probably paid for it, and the improvements made, any handymen might seriously want to consider purchasing old silos and reconditioning them. Fun and profitable!)

  • Kansas? Who Cares? (Score:5, Funny)

    by torpor ( 458 ) <ibisumNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Friday October 05, 2001 @05:36PM (#2394070) Homepage Journal
    Dude, it's underground. It could be in Iceland for all I care - that is some *private* mad-scientist lab space...

    The only problem with the place is that it's not nearly as secret as it once was. I'd pay twice what the going price for this thing is, if only it *wasn't* plastered all over EBay. It's a bit hard to make plans to rule the known universe when everyone and their dog is coming by just to see "that mad rocket guy that lives in a bunker in Kansas".

    Of course, there's always price-of-admission revenue for signed photo's. Oh, and I suppose there'd be a plentiful supply of fresh human brain matter to plunder for the "MegaBrain Computer" experiment.

    Well, off to feed the kitty ...
    • Dude, its perfect:br.
      tourist step in, Brain washed hypno-drones step out.!MUahahaha

    • Re:Kansas? Who Cares? (Score:4, Funny)

      by MarkusQ ( 450076 ) on Friday October 05, 2001 @06:01PM (#2394155) Journal
      The only problem with the place is that it's not nearly as secret as it once was. I'd pay twice what the going price for this thing is, if only it *wasn't* plastered all over EBay.

      I, on the other hand, would pay extra to make sure that everyone knew which silo it was that no longer held an ICBM.

      Especially the people who might have loaded silos of their own.

      -- MarkusQ

      • Welcome to scenic Wamego, Kansas, the *former* ground zero for the greater Wamego, Kansas area. Feel free to enjoy the open fields, crystalline night sky, and fresh air with only a taint of pollutants from our former friendly neighbors in the SAC! Wamego - now there really is nothing here worth shooting at!

        -This message brought to your by the Wamego Chamber of Commerce.

  • Net? (Score:1)

    by nexex ( 256614 )
    I hope it has more than 56k modem connection!

  • Jeez... (Score:3, Funny)

    by meckardt ( 113120 ) on Friday October 05, 2001 @05:36PM (#2394074) Homepage

    I would just jump all over this deal, except that right now, my stock options aren't worth as much as they used to be...

  • probably good timing to get a high bid.

  • Is it just me... (Score:3, Funny)

    by gusnz ( 455113 ) on Friday October 05, 2001 @05:37PM (#2394078) Homepage
    ...or is CmdrTaco going down the tubes again? ;)

    OTOH, I can see the benefits: "Target acquired: Redmond is onscreen..."

  • Kansas sucks ass. Michigan rocks the house. Go BLUE!
  • I can only assume the current high (only) bid is a joke. It's made by a guy named djblue42 ( feedback profile [ebay.com] ) who, true to his handle, has purchased mostly musical equipment in the past. nothing more than a few hundred bucks.

    Damn! Can they leave him a zillion negative feedbacks at once for backing out of such an expensive auction?!

    • Re:Who's djblue42? (Score:1, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      I wonder who pays the shipping charges... This is the first time reverse shipping is required.
    • I can only assume the current high (only) bid [$1.5M] is a joke.

      Maybe he's using bay area apartments for price comparison. If you take the NPV of the cash flow stream, it comes out about right, and I'll bet it's much better per square foot.

      -- MarkusQ

    • More to the point, who's "missilebases"? Why is his English so flaky? Why did he reject a bid from "fatihsenel" (who actually has quite a good record, despite the cancellation notice)?
    • Damn! Can they leave him a zillion negative feedbacks at once for backing out of such an expensive auction?!

      Actually, real estate auctions on Ebay aren't binding... You need to read the polices and conduct page, buddy:
      http://pages.ebay.com/help/community/png-estate.ht ml [ebay.com]

      So bid away! Bid a billion! Offers to buy real estate aren't binding until you sign a Purchase and Sale Agreement, no matter what your feedback rating is.

  • Osama bin Laden will surely bid on this.


    ABC News article: "Abu Sayyaf ... train[ed] terrorists in the methods taught by the CIA ..." What should be the Response to Violence? [hevanet.com]

  • Other dream homes.... (Score:3)

    by nellardo ( 68657 ) on Friday October 05, 2001 @05:42PM (#2394094) Homepage Journal
    Loompanics Unlimited, [loompanics.com] that sterling source of all that They don't want you to know, has a section of books on these kinds of things [loompanics.com]. My favorite is this one. [loompanics.com] I want a decommissioned nuclear submarine I can berth at Manhattan! Then I can live "in" the East Village (where I live now - been interesting) and get away from it all.

  • Sounds like a secure web server / data site to me (Score:3, Interesting)

    by MadCow42 ( 243108 ) on Friday October 05, 2001 @05:43PM (#2394095) Homepage
    You could set up a nice web hosting business there, with guaranteed security, excellent UPS setup, and most likely a pre-installed fat data pipe (probably laying dormant though).

    Did you say nuke-proof? Well, maybe, unless as someone pointed out earlier, the Russians have your home address locked directly into one of their nukes...

    MadCow

  • Good secure hosting site (Score:4, Interesting)

    by gbnewby ( 74175 ) on Friday October 05, 2001 @05:46PM (#2394102) Homepage
    I was in the Netherlands for HAL2001 [hal2001.org] this summer, and got to visit a NAP right across the street from the U. Twente campus (where HAL was held). A NAP is where different networks peer, and in this case is also where at least one ISP provided co-lo space and other ameneties.

    The cool part: it was in a retired federal bank. Literally a fortress: fully bulletproof, tempest-shielded, multiple sub-basements, iron gates and fully enclosed by fences or walls, the works.

    The ICBM silo gets me thinking about the same thing. They have on-site power generation and battery backup and an obviously pretty damn secure setup. So, why not open a secure hosting facility? It's not HavenCo/Sealand [havenco.com], but it's not bad.

    The main problem is it's in the middle of nowhere (Mapquest link [mapquest.com] ), about 50 miles from Topeka. Paying the local loop charges for dedicated (and redundant) Internet access is probably going to cost a fortune.

    • Greg
    • The main problem is it's in the middle of nowhere (Mapquest link [mapquest.com] ), about 50 miles from Topeka. Paying the local loop charges for dedicated (and redundant) Internet access is probably going to cost a fortune

      And it doesn't for HavenCo/Sealand? Which is easier...running a line on dry (flat) land or over a body of water?

      Besides, this type of situtation is what wireless is for. Come to think of it, HavenCo/Sealand uses wireless for a couple of their links (IIRC).

      The real question...when the FBI comes knocking...will they be able to get in? I don't know if they have the equipment to take out a 47-ton door...but you better fill that silo with food and supplies because the second you step out you are theirs.

      - JoeShmoe
      • Much better than Waco.
      • Sealand has a line of sight wireless link, I understand (microwave or a similar frequency). They're about 12 miles off the coast, right? They need to pay for their upstream provider(s), of course, but don't need to pay the phone company for the local loop. (They are in the UK, so the telephone industry is quite different, as are regulations for things like ground-based microwave relays). (OK, they're not in the UK, they're an independent country, the Principality of Sealand. But their upstream link is in the UK. Geesh, you people are soooooo picky!)

        In the silo, you'd want at least two independent pipes coming in; the specifics depend on what's available, good and cost-effective. But at least one would probably involve a local loop charge by the phone company, and would be a significant monthly expense in addition to whatever else is paid for the upstream Internet link. As an example, the U. where I work pays $2000/month for a single pair of dark fiber totalling less than 1 kilometer.

        Anyway, I agree that whoever has $1.5M for the silo can afford the cost of the Internet service. The question is whether they can make any money running a secure ISP or co-lo that way!

        In case you haven't noticed, all the big ISP/hosting/co-lo/outsourcing providers seem to be located in or near phone company buildings, NAPs or MAEs. Apart from providing a reasonably secure facility with good network access, these offer the benefit of not needing to pay for distance from the telco building.

    • maybe you didn't notice the price of the silo itself ($1.5e6). If you can afford the silo, you can afford piping to it.
    • That way if someone was going to nuke the silos for the silo's sake it'd be less likely to nuke major population centers.

      There's two properties available in Texas (Near Abilene...), two good ones in NY around the Adirondaks, another site in Central, KS, and one in Oklahoma near Altus. These are more for eccentrics than just rich people. They're for people that want to be left alone at all costs or want a nice integrated space for their business (which is what it looks like the Wamego site was being used for...) albeit underground.
  • It seems they've got more silos, as well as other "industrial underground complexes" for sale. Plus, you can find more pictures...

    Just go here: http://www.missilebases.com [missilebases.com]

  • If they throw in a missile, the commute's only 40 minutes to anywhere on the planet.

    This looks like just the kind of compound a cult or cell would love. Easily defensible, low visibility.

    Anyone else thinking this is a gov't honeypot?

  • Alternative uses for the silo (Score:4, Funny)

    by Zen Mastuh ( 456254 ) on Friday October 05, 2001 @05:48PM (#2394107)
    • Install a *huge* fan (with a steel grate above the blade...) near the bottom for indoor acrobatic action. Whee!
    • Grow a lot of pot! As if any sheriff can kick in a 47-ton door.
    • Fill the silo with H2O & get out the ol' scuba gear.
    • Vertical artificial rock climbing. The bonus is that once you climb to the top, you're done.
    • Buy 50,000+ old boxen & make the Beowulf Cluster from hell!

    This silo is screaming for an entrepreneur. Now if I can only get in the Corporate Welfare line for some of that $70 Billion action...

    • Lease it out as a private space launch facility!

    • Believe it or not, there was a place in Las Vegas in the mid 80s that did that. They turned a jet engine up in the air and you could fly around in this chamber. I think the place was called "Fly Away" (?).

      They would put several people in at a time, and everyone wore these "flying suits" which had pockets for the air to catch in. Only one person would fly around at time, because they had to adjust the air flow to match your weight. There was a cricle of cushions that lined the chamber that everyone waited on.

      Smaller people seemed to do better than bigger people. My buddy who was maybe 5'6", weighing 130 tops flew around easily. My being 6' 2" about 200 pounds required a lot more air power. :) When you have that much wind power, any small adjustment that you make in your "control surfaces" (i.e., arms and legs) makes a huge difference in how fast you move around. I made the mistake of cocking one leg slightly out and the other leg slightly in, and caused myself to spin around at great speed. :)

      It was a lot of fun, but it was very expensive. It eventually died. Probably cost too much, and I'm sure the insurance was insane, even though they made you sign a monster disclaimer that you understood that you might die from the experience.

      • Whoa -- I guess I spoke too soon about them being dead. Here they are [lvindex.com].

      • IIRC, the engine was from a DC-3 and turned a horizontal prop that provided the upward air motion. Of course I never actually flew there, but did go in a check out the facility. (I lived there when it was operational in the early 80's.)

        Also, the baggy suit was what made all the difference. You had to wear a pair of coveralls (you can see them in the link in Reality Masters additional post) that had vent holes to fill up with air and help your total surface area and therefore lift.

        (Please don't flame me if I don't have the science of the aerodynamics right. :)
    • What you don't know is that there was supposedly a big drug bust very near to that area (ie, within a mile) a while back. I used to live in Manhattan and Wamego is on the edge of Manhattan. I used to drive to the middle of Wamego and north a mile and back west 1/2 mile to my boss's nursery when I did some landscaping work. Pot indeed.

  • Hmm, this make a far better colo than even the ex-Bell System CO's. You know the ones, the pre-breakup buildings that all look alike and have 2ft thick walls and floors that can hold scans of equipment and survive a nuking.

    Especially given the fact that these already have scads of high quality power runs, those pretty Tempest enforced wire paths for comm cabling, and hellacious power backup prebuilt, etc., this price is a fraction of what it cost to build out something a facility like this.

    This would be the place for a startup hosting company with the vc cash of 2 years ago to make a real run at it. Wish I had it!

  • IF it's legit. One and a half million? There are houses in Beverly Hills that aren't a tenth as cool. 'course, the being out in the boonies part really sucks.

    I know a guy who has a fat folder of business plans and research papers detailing just exactly what it would take to create an indestructable, cant-be-taken-down, freedom forever ISP. This would be exactly the kind of facility he'd need (Are you out there James?)..

    Too bad there was insufficient investment.

  • User Friendly has been doing a storyline about this all summer. It all started [userfriendly.org] when they needed some more office space...
  • Please visit our web page to see more of this property. There is a video available on our dot com.
    Is it just me, or is there no mention of a url anywhere on the eBay page? Did anyone find one?
  • http://www.missilebases.com/todd/index.html [missilebases.com] for more info on this particular property. Floor plans and all.

    Woot!
    • Here [triggur.org] is a pretty interesting photo tour that was made by some guys who, by their own admission, "violated federal law" to get inside and tour around one of these silos, when it was just a bunch of abandoned cold war concrete. It's nice to compare the this [triggur.org] with the eBay photos [ebay.com]...makes that 1.5 million opening bid seem a bit more reasonable. Oh, and you'd better hurry...there's only an hour left to bid on it.

      Incidentally, I lived in Topeka for some time, and I got to go to one of these abandoned silos, back around 92 or 93...there was a freaky survivalist dude living there, surrounded by all his guns and barrels of water...and I got to go stand where, at one time, there was a ICBM, ready to go...remembering the cold war dominated world that I grew up in, it was very, very surreal.

  • nice (Score:2, Funny)

    by morcheeba ( 260908 )
    has 47 ton drive-in door that operates electrically
    Phew - I was worried for a second.

    Unique, historic, functional property. .
    That's good, because I've good, because with this [ebay.com] and a few more items, our rocket [tripoli.org] will be ready to move in!

    note: this is meant to be funny!
  • Several thoughts came to mind here.....

    1. The original National Command Post in Denton, TX., was sold for a measly $50K. This is not the FEMA command post but rather the 1950s version. Nothing interesting left down there, but still mad scientist quarters on the cheap.

    2. This would be a very nice secure site for web services. Who cares if they know about it, try and get past the door. Plus you can laze about in the jacuzzi with your internet babes.

    3. I've driven past that town and had no clue it was there.

    4. What were they doing putting a silo launch center in the middle of a town? Makes you wonder how many 'secret' targets still exist in residential areas.

    5. Having a launch silo center in your town truly gives you 'Neighborhood Nuclear Superiority'.

    6. Finally, you have got to wonder about the fellow that bought this thing and built a party palace in it. Assuming this isn't just a lark or an investment, it takes some serious weird to actually buy and outfit the thing for residential use.
  • " Of course its in Kansas (yeah I know, I'm in michigan, whats the difference, right?)"

    Maybe because you're not in Kansas anymore?

    (Can anybody believe that I got that post in so early... fff me I must be drunk).

    cheers

    front

  • PCBs and asbestos (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Like all other decommissioned military sites of this era, these silos are probably 1) sitting in a puddle of PCBS, and 2) filled with loose asbestos.
    • That's ok. Odds are it is not amphible asbestos, the only type known to be hazardous. Unfortunately in the rush to ban asbestos, non one bothered to try and differentiate between the different types, and chrysotile (a.k.a. soft white) asbestos which was used for over 95% of asbestos applications was banned along with the more hazardous amphible types. For those of you in San Fransisco, there are supposedly extensive outcroppings of chrysotile around the Bay area; so if you live in SF, you're probably already exposed.

      PCBs and dioxin aren't as safe, but neither is it as bad as most people think. In 1976 an explosion scattered huge amounts of PCBs over Seveso, Italy. No fatalities or cancer cases are known to have come from this incident. A NIOSH study of U.S. workers exposed to high (a couple of orders of magnitude higher than the U.S. exposure maximum exposure) quantities of dioxin showed no increase in cancer or other fatal conditions. Unfortunately it is not harmless. In high quantities it does cause a severe skin rash called chloracne. If you value your complextion you will want to avoid large amouonts of PCBs and dioxin.

      On the other hand, if you are a techie from San Fransisco with acne, then you probably don't have much to lose... Just kidding. Even if you don't get killed by the contamination you may still be responsible for its clean up costs. Congratulations, you just bought a Superfund site.

  • Of course its for sale... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Quizme2000 ( 323961 ) on Friday October 05, 2001 @05:58PM (#2394141) Homepage Journal
    The previous occupants [userfriendly.org] moved out a couple weeks ago!
  • Hmmm.... this could be a great site for "reality TV" shows like Survivor or The Mole. Besides, we already know it makes a great plot for UserFriendly. Producers? Anyone?
  • I am interested if they will pay shipping.

  • Other missile silos available for less money (Score:3, Informative)

    by jms ( 11418 ) on Friday October 05, 2001 @06:01PM (#2394153)
    The main link to their website is here. [missilebases.com]

    Sure, this one is super expensive, but if you look at their web site, what's really intriguing is that they have other properties for sale [missilebases.com] that are much cheaper -- because they're in, ahem, rough condition. Probably saturated with rocket fuel and dioxins, but what the hell. You're young. You're immortal. Why not go for it!

    For instance, you can pick up a 16 acre missile base in Winters, TX for $199,000. The web site mentions that the silo is "stripped of structure with app. 100' water depth. Seller eager."

    Now THAT's a big hot-tub. Anyone know the diameter of one of those launch silos? Care to figure out how many gallons that comes to? You'd have the biggest hot tub in the world, if you could afford to heat it.

    Another 11 acre missile base is available in Shep, TX for only $169,000, and, I love this, the missile silo is described as "used for scuba diving adventures." Woo hoo!

    Still another 22 acre site is available in Creta, OK, for $133,000. Now that's almost affordable!

    Even if you don't have a cool million to spend, the possibility of owning your own missile silo lies tantalizingly in reach to the eager geek ... That's a lot of land, and you could easily sell some of it off and keep the silo goodies for yourself. Anyone got some money left over from the Redhat IPO? Yeah. Right.

    Lotsa fun to dream, isn't it :-)
  • Tell me this isn't something Right outa UF
  • Why buy one when you a build [userfriendly.org] it for half the price?
  • Sure it's built to withstand a nuclear attack (generally that means anything other than a direct hit)... but it's also probably a first tier target for... direct nuclear strikes. Of course, I'm SURE Russia has updated their target list over the years to remove this silo ;).

    - StaticLimit
    • No matter who's the attacker, the site may become again a first target... War is a trick thing:

      -Commander, we just checked up the new pics. They are a bit blurred due to those high altitude blasts but still we can discern some activity in Kansas...

      -Oh, oh, oooooh... What's that object over there?

      - Well it's a nuclear silo but, according to our data, it was decomissioned several years ago...

      -And the tracks? What about those pickups over there? And that shiny swimming pool is also 20 years old? Damn how americans live... Blasting everything around and having a 5 star hotel in a military zone...

      -Well, our agents didn't informed about any revitalization of old bases... Maybe it's...

      -Soldier ARE YOU BLIND? DON'T YOU SEE WHAT YOU HAVE IN FRONT OF YOURS EYES????? THEY ALREADY REVITALIZED IT!!!! BLOW THEM UP!!!!

  • Has anyone else noticed that there is no mention of launch tubes anywhere? I think that makes this just a missile base, not a silo.

    Also, I believe this property was seized as part of a drug bust. Story goes that the previous owner/occupants were producing pounds of acid. I can't find the article to confirm if this is infact the site.

  • Formerly a drug factory. (Score:4, Interesting)

    by dox ( 34097 ) on Friday October 05, 2001 @06:15PM (#2394186)
    Here [cjonline.com] is a story about it.


    There is also an article in Rolling Stong from July 5th, 2001 titled "The Acid King" about Leonard Pickard. The missle silo was owned by Todd Skinner, a shady bussinessman(drug dealer) who laundered money, trafficed drugs, and who knows what else. He made deals with the DEA to save his own ass many times, getting many of if friends imprisoned for life. Another example of America's idiotic war on drugs.

  • You know, these are tense times... people are fraught with the notions of impending cataclysm at the hands of bio/chemical terror... or worse...
    What can be done about this?

    Exploitation!

    "The Hotel Sanctuary"

    Yes that's right, throw in with seed money, renovate the hell out of the place, add rooms, a five star chief... a nice club... "spa"... and then book the hell out of it and horrifically inflated prices! No... seriously out of line prices... I mean Macaulay Caulkin (the home alone kid) levels of exploitation here...

    Tag line: "Your Own little Camp David!"

    A shining beacon of capitalism during our nation's darkest hours. This is why we enjoy twenty-four hour grocery stores and a nation of connected roads damnit, this my friends, is the American way.

  • Only on Slashdot... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Nate Fox ( 1271 ) on Friday October 05, 2001 @06:33PM (#2394228)
    ..would this be labeled as 'News' and not 'Its funny. Laugh'.
  • High bid djblue42 (20)

    Sure hope this was a gag auction after all, or else djblue42 is gonna have hell to pay...
  • When UserFriendly WORKED in a ICBM silo! :) That was a good series. I tell ya one thing....you won't have to worry much about Chemical or Nuclear Warfare....
  • yeah I know, I'm in michigan, whats the difference

    There's a lot less beach-front property in Kansas ;-)


    (Score: -1, Not funny; Moderator is a Huskers fan)

  • I know exactly where this is! This is so cool. Wamego is on the east side of Manhattan, KS, better known for Kansas State University [ksu.edu] where I used to work and school at. This is so cool! I never even knew it was there. There was a big drug bust right around that area a while back IIRC. A buddy of mine said it was in the paper up there.
  • Does the buyer have to pay for the postage?
  • This base has been pretty extravagantly decked out by previous occupants, and being outside Wamego, I suspect that this is the same same silo that was being used as a large scale LSD synthesis lab a few years back. Which brings up the question, how did it make its way onto EBay?


    Here's [cannabisnews.com]an article originally from the San Francisco Chronicle about the LSD missile silo situation. IIRC, there was also a big article about it in Rolling Stone a while ago, but I don't have the issue around to check.

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