Used ICBM Silo For Sale, "Cheap"

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?)

Comments

Sounds like a secure web server / data site to me

[MadCow42]

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

[gbnewby]

I was in the Netherlands for HAL2001 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, but it's not bad.

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

• Greg

Survivor 4: ICBM Silo

[ChrisBennett]

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?

Silo or base? Previous Owners

[KernelHappy]

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.

[dox]

Here 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.

What one looks like before it's all dressed up

[CleverNickName]

Here 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 with the eBay photos...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.

Re:hmm... was $250,000 before it went on E-bay

[CoyoteGuy]

Well, you must have stopped using your fingers to count in Grade 12, because you would realize that most of the upgrading they did is what gives it the price it has. And if you would do more digging, you would realize that even on their website, it is advertised at a cool mil. How would you expect a business pair to do 700-800k in renovations, and try to sell it for $200k? Please crawl into one of these. I will telegraph Osama Bin laden your co-ordiantes and tell him its the new location of Camp David.

Grow a lot of pot!

[glrotate]

Actually they tried that. Last summer in the silo just next to it (about 15 miles away) there was a bust of about 10 million hits of LSD. They had been growing a good sized lab for quite awhile.

• http://www.mapinc.org/ccnews/v00/n1839/a06.html? 34 5

Re:First Strike Target

[Anonymous Coward]

Same way that certain American maps have been
updated with the locations of certain Chinese
Embassies eh?

The Auction Ended..

[Ikari Gendou]

High bid djblue42 (20)

Sure hope this was a gag auction after all, or else djblue42 is gonna have hell to pay...