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UER Forum > Canada: Ontario > A Guided Tour of the Ark Two Nuclear Shelter (Viewed 5486 times)
Freaktography 


Location: Burlington Ontario
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Freaktography

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A Guided Tour of the Ark Two Nuclear Shelter
< on 9/6/2019 3:13 AM >
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This is Bruce Beach



In 1980 Bruce Beach dug a giant hole on his property and built a 10,000 square foot nuclear shelter out of 42 school busses.



In the summer of 2019 I called Mr. Beach and I asked if I could get a tour of the shelter, we landed on a date and he said the only stipulation is that I give him 3-4 hours of help. I didn’t know what that meant, but I agreed.

On an early morning in July of 2019 I arrived at the Beach residence, he was making us breakfast. A white egg sauce on toast with egg yolks on toast.



Bruce lives in Hornings Mills Ontario with his lovely wife Jean, Jeans family has lived in Hornings Mills for over 200 years.



Bruce Beach was born in Winfield, Kansas, is a former professor of computer science and has been a student of the world language problem for over forty years.



After Bruce and I got acquainted, finished our breakfast and chatted about his life’s accomplishments he asked me to come out and help him start the lawn mower. I saw where this was going, so I did the right thing and moved his lawn for him, as you can see here.



We proceed to the parking lot, or truck loading area of the property that contains a small green concrete entry way with a thick steel door. Bruce shows me the two time capsules that contain his plans for how to reconstruct society after the nuclear fallout including how to maintain government relations, instructions on building a new international language institute (similar to the current United Nations) and a scale model of International Language Institute headquarters.




Bruce then gave me instructions and directions on where to go to find and start the generator that powers up the entire ark 2 shelter. With only a flashlight I enter the dark and damp shelter, I make my way down 14 feet below earth in search of a knee high opening where i will crawl through and then back up a ladder to the generator room.

Bruce meets me at the door and he shows me how to start up the generator.



We spend a good 20 to 30 minutes at the entrance of the Ark Two Shelter as Bruce tells me all about the history, the building of the shelter, he tells me how the shelter is meant to be run by women to raise and protect children in order to help rebuild a society after a nuclear bomb etc. You can see this whole exchange in the video of this experience posted above.

We begin our tour, moving down the gradual sloping ramp at the entrance followed by a sharp turn left and down into the Ark Two Nuclear Shelter

An interesting tidbit on the design of this entrance, Bruce has advised that nuclear radiation is a form of light and It travels only in a straight line. Radiation cannot go around corners, so the main entrance of the shelter was purposely built as a straight ramp down followed by a hard 90 degree turn down and into the shelter. By Bruce’s calculations this would stop any radiation from coming in the main entry and into the shelter.









As I explore and navigate you can really see how much time and effort Bruce has put into the shelter. With the core focus being on a shelter run by women and designed to raise and protect children there are hints of that all throughout the rooms. In this bathroom, there are several standard sinks and toilets as well as smaller ones for the children to use. In addition to the washroom, there is also a childs play area, a nursery with a “quiet room” or crying children and child sized bunks made for kids to sleep 2 per bunk with a head at each end, Bruce said the kids would sleep for 12 hours at a time and then change sleeping shifts.








More from inside the shelter











Bruce was not in the least bit surprised at my excitement when he showed me the dentists office in the shelter. He said everyone gets either excited or terrified when they see the old dentists chair, rusty equipment and old x-ray machine. I have no doubt that, if needed, this dentists office and equipment would work just as well as it did in the 1980’s when it was built…I just hope he has a good supply of nova-cane, sedative, pain killer and cleaning materials!!

This dentists office in the Ark is a perfect horror movie set, but this is no set – this is a legitimate and operational dentists office…..from hell!








About Bruce Beach




Bruce Beach was born in Winfield, Kansas and raised mostly in Wellington, Kansas where a number of his offspring still live. He moved to Canada in 1970 to teach in the Northern College System, after having previously taught in black colleges in the U.S.

Bruce told me that he spent a year in the Arctic as a control tower operator, courtesy of the U.S. Air Force. He has traveled to China and extensively in South America and more recently to Europe. Bruce has over 20 descendants (children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren), several of which live in Taiwan and the rest in the U.S. and Canada.

Bruce once owned a very large research ship called Canada’s Tomorrow and he was one third owner of the company that built the robotic arm that recovered the space shuttle Challenger. One of the company’s robotic arms is in the Smithsonian.

Bruce considers himself an optimist about the long term future of mankind but a pessimist about the immediate future. He is greatly interested in religion, being a class taught student of Christian Science and a persistent student of the writings of Emannuel Swedenborg for almost fifty years.

At one time Bruce termed himself a Zen Buddhist and has read many translations of both the Bhagavad Gita and the Koran. Bruce also thoroughly studied the Mormon religion and the Jehovah’s Witness religion and says he truly appreciates them all.

Bruce met his wife Jean at the Baha’i Temple in Wilmette, Illinois which is just outside Chicago. She was guiding at the front door and has been guiding him ever since. Together they have over a century of service to the Baha’i Faith

Bruce Beach is a humble and peaceful man with an infectious laugh and a larger than life personality. When I first asked Bruce what his profession was, he said he is an inventor, but that his wife would argue about to what degree of success.

Having devoted his life to science and religion, having spent time in the arctic, having travelling the world and having built a large family, Bruce Beach will go down in the history books as the man who built a nuclear bunker 14 feet underground out of 42 school busses. And why did he do this?? Because he just wants to make the world a better place and for society to continue in the aftermath of a nuclear war.

I have many many more photos and more write up on my website at this link

https://www.freakt...chool-bus-shelter/

And, here is my compete video tour from inside the shelter





Thanks for looking!







http://www.freaktography.com
https://www.facebook.com/Freaktography https://instagram.com/freaktography www.youtube.com/c/Freaktography
Jono 


Total Likes: 292 likes


civilly disobedient.

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Re: A Guided Tour of the Ark Two Nuclear Shelter
< Reply # 1 on 9/6/2019 9:10 AM >
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This is amazing; thank you for the write-up and images!

J->




www.sacramentalperception.com : www.jonathancastellino.com
Freaktography 


Location: Burlington Ontario
Gender: Male
Total Likes: 1878 likes


Freaktography

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Re: A Guided Tour of the Ark Two Nuclear Shelter
< Reply # 2 on 9/6/2019 1:25 PM >
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Posted by Jono
This is amazing; thank you for the write-up and images!

J->


Hey Jon, thanks for checking it out and commenting




http://www.freaktography.com
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theninjalobster 


Location: Toronto, ON
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Re: A Guided Tour of the Ark Two Nuclear Shelter
< Reply # 3 on 9/7/2019 4:03 PM >
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Dude this is so crazy cool




Into the Fray. https://www.ninjalobster.com/
yokes 


Location: Toronto
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Re: A Guided Tour of the Ark Two Nuclear Shelter
< Reply # 4 on 9/8/2019 2:44 AM >
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I could not love this any more.



[last edit 9/8/2019 2:44 AM by yokes - edited 1 times]

"Great architecture has only two natural enemies: water and stupid men." - Richard Nickel
Freaktography 


Location: Burlington Ontario
Gender: Male
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Freaktography

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Re: A Guided Tour of the Ark Two Nuclear Shelter
< Reply # 5 on 9/9/2019 1:41 AM >
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Posted by Theninjalobster
Dude this is so crazy cool


Thanks man


Post by yokes
I could not love this any more.


Thank you, that's a hell of a compliment




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.DNG 


Location: BC, Canada
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Re: A Guided Tour of the Ark Two Nuclear Shelter
< Reply # 6 on 9/9/2019 4:42 AM >
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Thanks for sharing Bruce's story. Very cool read.




Dave Summer 


Location: Ontario
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Re: A Guided Tour of the Ark Two Nuclear Shelter
< Reply # 7 on 9/9/2019 2:11 PM >
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Very interesting. Great write up.




Alpine7840 


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Re: A Guided Tour of the Ark Two Nuclear Shelter
< Reply # 8 on 9/9/2019 3:52 PM >
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Great set!!!! What a great tour, but she needs a little work.



[last edit 9/10/2019 2:57 PM by Alpine7840 - edited 1 times]

bandi 

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Location: Trent Hills, ON
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Re: A Guided Tour of the Ark Two Nuclear Shelter
< Reply # 9 on 9/11/2019 1:25 AM >
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Amazing. Just amazing.

And really odd that I was talking about Ark Two about ten minutes ago...




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Technomancer 


Location: Edmonton
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It sounds classier if you pronounce it "tray-passing"

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Re: A Guided Tour of the Ark Two Nuclear Shelter
< Reply # 10 on 9/12/2019 7:26 PM >
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I've always wanted to check that place out. Thanks for the photos & write up!

Do you know if the county is still giving him trouble? I heard they were pushing to have the shelter sealed previously.




https://www.flickr...otos/technomancer/
“I will accept any rules that you feel necessary to your freedom. I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do.”
Freaktography 


Location: Burlington Ontario
Gender: Male
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Freaktography

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Re: A Guided Tour of the Ark Two Nuclear Shelter
< Reply # 11 on 9/12/2019 7:30 PM >
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Posted by Technomancer
I've always wanted to check that place out. Thanks for the photos & write up!

Do you know if the county is still giving him trouble? I heard they were pushing to have the shelter sealed previously.


Hey!

He said there is a new fire chief in town and they basically have a verbal agreement to "leave eachother alone", which means Bruce behaves and the fire department won't bother him.

I had asked Bruce if I could do an overnight in the shelter but, because of the fact that I would have included it in my write up, there was a chance the fire chief would find out and then shut him down. Since he doesn't have an occupancy permit be isn't allowed to have people stay there.

He said he has been shut down and even raided SWAT team style a number of times, now they pretty much just leave him alone.




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blackhawk 

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Re: A Guided Tour of the Ark Two Nuclear Shelter
< Reply # 12 on 9/12/2019 7:45 PM >
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Posted by Freaktography


Hey!

He said there is a new fire chief in town and they basically have a verbal agreement to "leave eachother alone", which means Bruce behaves and the fire department won't bother him.

I had asked Bruce if I could do an overnight in the shelter but, because of the fact that I would have included it in my write up, there was a chance the fire chief would find out and then shut him down. Since he doesn't have an occupancy permit be isn't allowed to have people stay there.

He said he has been shut down and even raided SWAT team style a number of times, now they pretty much just leave him alone.


Wow, they really take the occupancy laws seriously in Canada
Good to know they leaving him leave in peace...
Stellar write up and tour... and protecting your subjects interests, very well done




Just when I thought I was out... they pulled me back in.
terapr0 


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Re: A Guided Tour of the Ark Two Nuclear Shelter
< Reply # 13 on 9/18/2019 4:26 PM >
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Super cool visit and writeup - thanks for posting the story!

Can't find any record of Bruce Beech being a part-owner of SPAR Aerospace though. I owned stock in them for many years since purchasing some as part of a school project in Grade 6, and they're a company which is very near and dear to me. Interesting that he'd make that claim. Maybe it's true, but I find it ever so slightly dubious...




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leafloving4x4gal 


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Re: A Guided Tour of the Ark Two Nuclear Shelter
< Reply # 14 on 9/19/2019 11:52 PM >
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Gheezus !!

What an explore ! This is just so cool...So glad you shared this.
REALLY enjoyed the write up, photos, and video !!

Thanks




"if you are not selfish enough to make yourself happy, you have nothing of value to offer the world."
Ground State 


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Re: A Guided Tour of the Ark Two Nuclear Shelter
< Reply # 15 on 9/23/2019 1:22 AM >
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Damn, this set made me wish I hadn't uninstalled Fallout 4 from my HD!

One can only wonder what is going to become of this place after Bruce is gone. The municipality could almost turn it into a museum!





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photogrob 


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Re: A Guided Tour of the Ark Two Nuclear Shelter
< Reply # 16 on 10/6/2019 10:27 PM >
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fantastic story, seems like a great guy to talk to!




Freaktography 


Location: Burlington Ontario
Gender: Male
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Freaktography

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Re: A Guided Tour of the Ark Two Nuclear Shelter
< Reply # 17 on 10/10/2019 1:24 PM >
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I went back to the Ark last week and got Bruce to be my dentist in a parody video.

It cost me 2.5 hours of hard labour helping him organize things at his house!!!!

Anyway, this is some ridiculous nonsense that I dreamed up and created





http://www.freaktography.com
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bandi 

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Location: Trent Hills, ON
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Re: A Guided Tour of the Ark Two Nuclear Shelter
< Reply # 18 on 10/15/2019 2:15 AM >
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Posted by Freaktography
Anyway, this is some ridiculous nonsense that I dreamed up and created




It's better than the stuff from that angry guy with the jacked beat and a $9 microphone!




hi i like cars
Rashomon 


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Re: A Guided Tour of the Ark Two Nuclear Shelter
< Reply # 19 on 3/1/2020 3:37 AM >
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Holy shit! This is like out of a movie and Bruce is totally unreal! Thank you for sharing his story!




UER Forum > Canada: Ontario > A Guided Tour of the Ark Two Nuclear Shelter (Viewed 5486 times)
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