Could Doomsday Bunkers Become the New Normal?

What happens when paranoia meets pandemic? Don't just stay inside, go underground.

Genesis shelter from Hardened Structures, based in Virginia Beach, Va.

Titanium Web, the second Georgia Steele book, will come out in Jan, 2023. This is part of a series of blog posts on the research for this story.

One company meeting these apocalyptic requests is Northeast Bunkers, based in Pittsfield, Maine, and specializing in the design and construction of underground bunkers. About two-thirds of their business comes from consumers who pay approximately $25,000 for an underground livable dwelling. Buyers of these kinds of underground dwellings say that they simply want to protect their families from an increasingly turbulent world.

“I’m just a businessman who deals with paranoid people,” Frank Woodworth, the owner of Northeast Bunkers said, “and it seems like the parameters of paranoia are changing every day.”

Read the full article about Northeast and other bunker builders in the New York Times, June 26,2020.