A historian and political writer, Garret Graff could not believe himself and the fact that he had found something that the government had kept hidden for decades. And it all happened accidentally. It all begins when he got his hands on an ID card of a stranger that had some directions written on the back of it. He decided to follow that directions and where it ended seemed to be a different part of the world. A world that was kept secret from everyone. He exposed the US government.
Garret Graff a political author and historian by profession. The writer has written on many hot issues like War and Terror and the 2008 U.S. presidential elections. His expertise on these controversial issues has gained him popularity. But this story is not about his expertise but about a peculiar ID card that he found. The card had directions written on its backside.
The political writer was doing about his work when a colleague of his handed him an ID card. His co-worker had found it in a parking space. The finder said that the card was lying on the floor and there was no one around it. So, he picked it up and took it straight to him. Graff took the card from his hand and flipped it to see something amazing.
It turned out to be a secret ID card. Graff's colleague was not supposed to find that. The owner of it must have been in trepidation on realizing that he/she has lost ID card.
He said, “It was a government ID for someone from the intelligence community,” “and he gave it to me since I write about that subject, and he’s like, ‘I figure you can get this back to this guy,'” he continued.
The backside of the card had some directions written on it. He tried to decode it on his own but failed. The directions were without any information. However, the lack of information did make him curious. Where was it directing, he wondered. This thought was going to make him discover something magnificent.
Garret soon realized that the ID had step by step directions towards an unidentified location. The entire map was circled around that particular location. Garret thought of taking help from Google Maps in order to find out which place was the direction signaling towards.
To Garret’s surprise, the back of the ID had step-by-step directions to an unmarked location on the map. Without giving it any second thought, Garret decided to use Google Maps and try to figure out where is this secret location.
He hopped in the car with the map on. Garret Graff kept driving in the direction Google map instructed him towards. He realized that he was steering towards a mountain peak. The peak was situated 70 miles far from Washington D.C.
The place is famous as Raven Rock among the locals. Strangely, the enormous peak had nothing around the summit. It was a desolated area with not even a bird flapping around let alone human. Moreover, the region used to give very strange vibes.
It was huge. He alighted from his car only to be greeted by excruciating heat. The region looked dry as a desert. He was all alone with that secret ID card that had brought him here. The man with a heavy heart kept going further towards the mountain.
He kept walking towards but soon stopped dead in his track. The man could not believe what was he seeing. There was a vast graveyard before him. Now, it was something really scary. He started second-guessing his decision. Had he made the right decision? Or had he landed himself into big trouble?
As far as he could see there was this graveyard. Firstly, there was no trace of any living being around, secondly, the region was full of weird vibes and now he had discovered a graveyard in the middle of this desolated space. The man had no idea what had he jumped into. Gripping the card even more tightly he began pacing forward.
And then he saw something worthwhile. Graff recollects, “You can see very clearly these big concrete bunker doors.” He further stated, “This little guard shack, chain-link fence, and then this set of concrete bunker doors beyond.” That was the tip of the iceberg.
Garret's curiosity increased by multiple times. Who was this card holder and why the directions of this place were there on the card? He decided to investigate Raven Rock in order to find out what this place is hiding.
He began his investigation by using a few aerial shots. He soon found out that the rock had something hidden under it. What had started as a returning of someone's lost card had now turned into a very interesting investigation.
In order to see what was inside the rock, he had to dig it. The man would have never imagined in his wildest dream what was he going to find there. He began digging with whatever sharp object he could find.
He started digging it but could not find anything initially. He knew something was there beneath the rock for sure. He knew he would have to dig deeper in order to find out what was inside.
He soon figured out that the Raven Rock he was standing on was actually a fall out shelter. He could not believe his eyes when he saw that. It had been there for a very long time and that is the reason there was no human or animals dwelling around.
It was after undergoing some research work, Garret Graff realized that the Raven Rock was actually a fallout shelter. This was constructed by the government as a safe haven in case the U.S ever have to face an atomic attack in the future. This is unbelievable, right?
He researched more and found out that the fallout shelter was constructed in 1951 when the Truman administration was in the run. Not only that he also managed to found a man Gene Bowman who confirmed himself to be a laborer working on the site.
The building in the picture itself explains its magnificence. As clear in the image, the fallout shelter is huge and holds the power of functioning as an underground Pentagon.
The fallout shelter is covered with a couple of massive 34-toon blast doors strong enough to resist a nuclear blast from entering inside. It is an amazing construction.
So what is the purpose of constructing this fallout shelter? Well, the aim behind the construction of this giant fallout shelter was the governance of the country by the US officials and military without disruption post the nuclear bomb attack. The shelter has a Starbucks too.
No doubt, the shelter is an epitome of people's intelligence. There are some demerits attached to it. Even though the shelter is quite large and spacious, it still does not have enough space to accommodate all the US officials. Space is limited.
It is because of the limited accommodation many US officials had to stay out as they could not enter the shelter with their families. One incident happened with Judge Justice Warren and the military personnel.
Judge Justice Warren entered the fallout shelter accompanied by his wife and gave his special ID to the military officials on the gate and began stepping inside. However, the military official stopped him and informed the man that he can't take his wife inside as she does not hold an ID required to enter the shelter. You won't believe how the judge responded to the official.
The officer prohibited him from entering the shelter with his wife to which Judge Justice Warren retracted and turned back towards his car saying, “You’ll have room for one more important official.”
Well, the surprises did not end there for Garret Graff. The man found out that the fallout shelter had stacks of $20 bills. The government had stored them here so that people would not have to go through the trouble of cash crunch while paying taxes to post the nuclear blast. These currencies would be taken in use at that time.
So was it a surprise for you too? Had you heard about this secret of government before? If not then it must have come as a big surprise to you. We must admire the government for its farsightedness on this note.
According to reports concerning Raven Rock, the hidden bunker of the peak has undergone certain changes after 9/11 catastrophe. The bunker has been reformed in various fronts. And also, the place is in operation 24/7 since the time it came into existence.
Graff got so fascinated with the secret bunker that he decided to write a book on it. In the book, he shed light on the plan of government.