There’s A Creepy Yet Amazing Military Base Hiding Underground In North Dakota
There is a time capsule buried underground in North Dakota, but it is not the kind you are thinking of. This one in particular lies under an area near Cooperstown, North Dakota, and it is ginormous. It has been around since the Cold War and has barely changed since, and today you can take a tour of it to see what the tensions of that time looked like in a place that could have saved our entire country. It is truly an experience, both fascinating and a bit unnerving.
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These sites were established in 1965. Oscar-Zero is the main site where a team both live and worked, being alert and ready for any potential attack. The site was made to deter nuclear missiles, using what were known as minuteman missiles that would be launched and sent to the incoming missiles with the goal of destroying them before they ever got near the US.




Seeing this place is kind of surreal. The control panel and different contraptions you can see down here could have been activated and saved the lives of thousands of people, while also possibly being the start of a huge nuclear war. Luckily, the facility never had to do anything and as the Cold War dwindled down, the site was decommissioned in 1991.
Everything remains as it was, from the papers on the desks to the technology that is a bit dated today. You can even see the very launch ignition panel that would have launched the missile below:
Everything remains as it was, from the papers on the desks to the technology that is a bit dated today. You can even see the very launch ignition panel that would have launched the missile below:


This photograph taken in the 1960s when the facility was being built is the interior of the huge missile silo, going down deep underground. Today, you can still see the top part of the silo on the surface when visiting this historic site.
We’re lucky that this site never had to come into use, and today is only registered as a historic site in North Dakota. You can tour the site for yourself by visiting. To learn more and plan a potential visit, click here.