The Remnants of This Abandoned Town in Nevada Are Incredibly Eerie

Just about anywhere you go in Nevada, there's an abandoned town worth exploring — businesses, homes, shells of old cars. While most of these aging relics are captivating reminders of Nevada’s earliest years, one abandoned town in Nevada is beyond incredibly eerie. Nicknamed the "Survival Town," no one ever lived there. It's comprised of houses once populated by mannequins and stocked with packaged goods. This staged town was the target of a nuclear test in 1955. Code-named Apple II, the test was part of Operation Teapot and took place at Yucca Flats on the Nevada Proving Grounds (now the Nevada National Security Site).

Two Years Earlier: Operation Doorstep, 1953

The scene above is not the aftermath of a really crazy dinner party. It's from a 1953 nuclear test, prior to the Apple II. This house survived the nuclear blast. There were around 100 above-ground nuclear tests at the Nevada Test Site between 1951 and 1963. Communities downwind from the radioactive fallout in Utah, Nevada, and Southern Arizona were repeatedly told there was no danger. Spectators in downtown Las Vegas often sat on their rooftops and watched the mushroom clouds rise to the sky. Talk about entertainment! Atomic pageants were a craze; the winner was crowned "Miss Atom Bomb."

Soon, "downwinders" began developing high rates of leukemia and other cancers. In 1980, a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee found that all the evidence suggesting radiation was harmful had been disregarded and suppressed. Nuclear testing beneath the ground continued through 1992. That research is just about as alarming as the tests themselves. It was known for decades that radiation was harmful to the communities around the test sites, and nothing was done about it.

Apple II Explodes

The Apple II blast (pictured above) took place on May 5, 1955. For this test, homes were built from different materials at various distances from ground zero. Two of the houses that survived the blast were identical, except for their proximity to the blast. One house was built 7,800 feet away. The second house was built 10,500 feet away.

While this test provided some information about the impact of the bombs on structures and possibly mannequins, it didn't address the long-term impact these bombs would have on the sites themselves and the surrounding area. It turns out that the impact was more significant than could be realized through these trial runs. In fact, research has shown that there is still active radiation in and around this site, more than 50 years later. The radiation is theoretically not too high because you can take a guided tour of the site and learn about the development of atomic weapons.

Nevada Test Site's Restricted Areas

While the history is fascinating, seeing this casual level of destruction, even on mannequins, is pretty unnerving. Today, the only way you can view the Apple II site in person is on a guided tour, or you can view it on Google Maps. The Sedan Crater is another stop on the Nevada National Security Site tour. Created during an underground 1962 nuclear test, it can also be seen from the Earth's orbit. Take the tour through The Nevada Office of Public Affairs. Tours depart from the Atomic Testing Museum at 755 E. Flamingo Road, in Las Vegas. The museum is an 8,000-square-foot treasure trove of artifacts and information about the nuclear age.

Would you be interested in touring the incredibly eerie "Survival Town"? Or is this abandoned town too incredibly eerie? For related content, take this road trip to the most abandoned places in Nevada.