It’s not every day a doomsday prepper’s safe house hits the market, but for $1.1 million buyers can scoop up a Wisconsin compound fit to withstand any apocalypse.
The 80-acre property contains three, three-bed homes across 5,300 square-feet, built into the earth with thick stone walls and disguised with grass roofs.
The homes were built by Y2K preppers in the nineties and come complete with essential survival features including a diesel generator, apple orchard and two wells.
The Zillow listing reads: ‘Built by preppers for preppers, there are back-up valves, meters, and many other features “just in case.”‘
Photos of the compound show its sweeping tract of land, thick with trees for lumber, and space for a smallholding of livestock and gun range.
The compound was built ‘by preppers, for preppers’ in Wisconsin near Lake Superior
The house is built into the hill and camouflaged with grass over its roof
The compound’s current owner Jonathan Allen told USA TODAY: ‘If people were around, (or) are old enough to remember the fear of Y2K, I think (the families) were just very strategic and smart.’
He said the previous owners were ‘self-sufficient’.
The property is the ‘ultimate in preparation’ with two wells, a machine shop, a gun range and a separate building that used to house a diesel generator.
The roof of the main building is blanketed with grass and built into the hill, making it well camouflaged and insulated.
Allen says the house is not currently fortified, but it is constructed with thick durable concrete into the side of the hill making it defensible.
He said: ‘I don’t know if another one like this exists.’
As well as its natural defences, the property has many vantage points to survey anyone approaching and a gun range.
The house is set close to the border of Wisconsin and Minnesota, near Lake Superior.
It is in a highly remote woodland and set at the end of a dead-end road meaning there is no passing traffic.
Allen told USA Today it would be well suited for someone who wants to be prepared to go off the grid.
He said: ‘Obviously it relates – it makes a lot of sense now with the way that some people feel about the current state, you know, that we’re in.
‘The way that it’s built and constructed, it probably would cater to so called ‘preppers’ nowadays.’
The property listing on Zillow says the houses are a ‘safe place to get away from it all’.
It reads: ‘This truly unique underground home is built to stand the test of time with a stone and mortar exterior, a living roof on top of a newer rubber roof laid over Spancrete, prestressed hollow core ceiling slabs for the ultimate in strength and durability.
‘The walls and interior structure are a mixture of poured concrete in high-load areas and concrete block in other areas to create storage rooms and interior walls.
‘Heat is provided by combination propane/wood boilers.’
It adds: ‘There is a large generator house that is now empty and a large tower for the old wind generator.
‘The 80 private acres of land is amazing with apple trees, frontage on the Little Amnicon River, the original quarry from which the stone was sourced a 25-300 yard shooting range, and 5+ acres of cleared land that would be perfect for gardening or enjoying the vistas.
‘There’s no other property like this in existence, and if you had to build it today it would cost you millions.’