If you need to conduct strange inter-dimensional portal experiments you might be interested to know that listed on Realtor.ca and MLS as a “DND antennae yard and underground bunker” a once top secret government facility site can be yours for just $4.5million. This includes 550acres of surrounding land and strewn relics of what’s left of a filled in bunker below the ground.

Once a top-secret military installation during the Cold War, the now well-known “Diefenbunker” in Carp, Ontario was built as part of Prime Minister John Diefenbaker’s “Continuity of Government” plan to protect various members of government during a nuclear attack. Many of these once-secret Emergency Government Facilities were constructed across Canada, the largest of them being the Carp bunker, built 40km outside of downtown Ottawa. But, there was another one…

The Carp bunker is just one of 50 that were reportedly built, and the only one of these formerly TOP SECRET facilities open to the public. I was curious to know if any other Cold War bunkers could still exist here in the National Capital region. Upon detailed research and an expedition to a remote location it was revealed that indeed another bunker certainly does exist, sealed with concrete in a desolate, unassuming field west of Ottawa.

This is a second, smaller bunker built west of Ottawa in case of a direct nuclear strike on the famous “Carp Diefenbunker”. This smaller second bunker was an underground military facility that housed a radio communications transmitter station that was connected to Carp over a distance of 50 kilometres by a buried landline.

Constructed in the same manner as the Carp bunker but at half of the size, it was two story underground complex that housed military personnel that operated radio transmitters. Like its bigger brother in Carp, it contained its own power generation, a mess hall, barracks, administrative offices, and a fallout decontamination unit. Operational from 1962 until 1994, this bunker remains quietly out of sight west of Ottawa, lost in the shadow of its grander counterpart in Carp.

Studying current satellite images of remote areas west of Ottawa and comparing them to research notes on a possible location, an unusual feature became visible: an angled and perfectly square shape surrounded by an assortment of dots and other odd details. Being in a remote area, and centred in an empty field about 2 kilometres from the nearest road, this was a likely site for our second bunker.

Unlike Carp’s Diefenbunker which was situated within a small town, this feature was completely remote and would require a substantial drive into the facility from the road. Packing some gear I headed to the target location to try and confirm if this area was indeed the second and lesser-known Diefenbunker.

Heading out on a spring day to investigate, we soon found an illegible weathered plywood sign denoted an entrance to something down an overgrown asphalt road. After a 2 kilometre hike down this crumbing road lined with rusted wire fencing, the remnants of an parking lot became visible. This parking lot in the middle of a desolate field was a compelling clue that this was likely the site of our secret nuclear bunker.

Passing a variety of odd ruins that included transmitter cables, anchor pads, and other electronic equipment strewn about led to a feature confirming this was the second bunker location. A mound of earth approximately 100 ft square and 15 feet high with sealed hatch ports, concrete entrance walls and old ventilation shafts.

Climbing to the top of the mound, the former hatches and vent ports were clearly visible, all of which have been filled and sealed with concrete. A concrete side entrance, similar to the Carp bunker was also visible but it too has been filled in with earth and only its top portion remains exposed.

Completely wiped clean by the military once it was decommissioned, some traces of its secret past remain, such as the large transmitter tower installation pads and building foundation ruins. Hatch lids, anchor braces, and even cables quietly lie undisturbed in this remote field that once was a secret operational underground military facility for over 30 years.

Below the mound and hatches would have been a 2 story bunker complex, similar to the one in Carp but only at half the height. It still would have contained all the equipment and necessities for personnel to continue military and government communications during a nuclear attack. An unusual length of piled earth led to what looked to be a containment reservoir for water, with its irrigation and pumping equipment silently rusting away in the 20 years it has been abandoned.

Sealed up and silent and now for sale, this remote second bunker buried beneath the ground continues to be shrouded secrecy, whose adversary is no longer the blast of a nuclear bomb, but the encroaching elements of nature that will one day consume this relic of our Cold War past, or maybe someone will make it into a nice cottage retreat.

Andrew King, Jan.30, 2023

REALTOR LISTING: https://www.realtor.ca/real-estate/24710071/485-drummond-con-1-road-rideau-ferry-richardson

From author’s originally published artcile in the Ottawa Citizen, May 2015