A Look Inside Top Secret Cold War Bunker

INSIDE EDITION went inside a top secret bunker where cameras are rarely allowed.

The bunker is located beneath the luxurious Greenbrier resort in West Virginia, 250 miles from Washington, D.C. It's an enormous facility secretly built between 1958 and 1962, at the height of the Cold War.

Hotel tour guide Linda Walls showed us around.
 
She said, “This bunker was built to be used as an emergency relocation facility for the members of congress. This had been local gossip for years, that there was something unusual at the Greenbrier.”

The bunker was hidden behind a foldaway wall. To get into the bunker, you have to go through a giant blast door. The doors are 25 tons.

Once inside, there is a long hallway. First stop in the event of a nuclear attack would be the decontamination chamber, where members of Congress would have stripped down and showered. From there, they would have found their assigned bunk in one of 18 dormitories.

“The only privacy really was a drawer under each bed,” said Walls.

The bunker also housed a cafeteria that could supply rations for 60 days. Another room was where the House of Representatives and the Senate would've met, not exactly the opulence they're used to. Weapons were at the ready and communication equipment, crucial for staying in contact with the outside world.

Fortunately, the bunker never needed to be used.

Walls said, “This bunker was in a state of readiness for 30 years and it was a secret for 30 years.”

So, all these years later, the bunker is still here. How about this suggestion, next time Congress is deadlocked, send them to the bunker where they can hash things out.