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Last updated: June 2, 2023

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24545 Cottonwood Road Philip, SD 57567

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‘Hidden gem’: Step inside the Kansas missile silo turned Airbnb

E LLSWORTH COUNTY ( KSNT ) – Ever wanted to take a snooze where a nuke used to sit? You can make your dream come true with a new Airbnb option in the heart of Kansas.

27 News spoke with Matthew Fulkerson, the proud owner of a former missile silo tucked away in the scenic Smoky Hills of Kansas. The nuclear weapons might be long gone, but the location offers guests a unique place to spend the night and explore the local area.

“Staying in an old abandoned missile base that’s been turned into an Airbnb is one of those bucket list items,” Fulkerson said. “Just to be able to go through and walk through the tunnels and into the silo is a pretty incredible experience.”

Fulkerson says he purchased the property with the help of an investor in 2013 and has been working hard to get it ready for people to stay ever since. He moved out to the site in 2020 to cut down on the nearly three-hour drive time from Topeka and work on the site full-time. Though he occasionally gets help from friends and family, Fulkerson says he’s been operating as a “one-wrecking crew” throughout the renovation process.

“Over the last year, I’ve been working diligently with the power washing, demolition and rebuilding it into a destination where people can actually stay,” Fulkerson said. “I’m still in the process of finishing the lower areas.”

He received additional funds from Airbnb through its ‘OMG!’ fund . Every year, Airbnb chooses 100 hosts around the world to receive $100,000 based on their originality and other factors.

“Out of thousands of hosts who applied from around the world to create a unique destination, I was one of the hundred chosen,” Fulkerson said.

The site was opened several years ago as a campground for people traveling up and down I-70. Once he felt it was safe to do so, Fulkerson started offering historic tours down into the silo to show tourists what the facility looks like. He gave 27 News several photos showing what it looked like initially:

Fulkerson says he enjoys teaching people about Cold War history and how the rockets enforced the mutually assured destruction policies of the time. However, the facility looks a little more modern thanks to his efforts to make it into a livable space.

“Most [missile silos] are abandoned or in private hands,” Fulkerson said. “This is a very unique experience you can hardly find anywhere else in the world.”

Up to four people can sleep at a time in the silo in its king bed or bunk beds. Modern amenities include TVs, a microwave, fridge and coffee maker. People can start reserving the missile silo resort on Monday, March 25 for $300 a night to book the Airbnb.

Fulkerson says he’s also applied for a $50,000 tourism attraction grant from the Kansas Department of Commerce. He plans to use this cash to add in a sauna, spa area and an ice-cold plunge to the undeveloped parts of the silo.

The Airbnb can be found just off I-70 near the City of Wilson in Ellsworth County. Aside from exploring the site itself, people can also head over to nearby Wilson State Park for outdoor recreation activities.

“I thought this was a hidden gem for tourism,” Fulkerson said. “Right off the interstate, close to one of the largest lakes in the state.”

You can find the missile silo at 354 Fourth Road in Wilson. You can stay the night either at the above-ground campsite or reserve the silo itself . For more information, check out the resort’s website by clicking here.

For more Kansas news,  click here . Keep up with the latest breaking news in northeast Kansas by downloading our  mobile app  and by signing up for our  news email alerts . Sign up for our Storm Track Weather app by  clicking here .

Follow Matthew Self on X (Twitter):  https://twitter.com/MatthewLeoSelf

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KSN-TV.

Home » Travel Guides » United States » Kansas (KS) » 30 Amazing Hidden Gems in Kansas

30 Amazing Hidden Gems in Kansas

Named after the Kansa Native American tribe, the state of Kansas is located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America. The state was discovered by Spanish explorers in 1541 and purchased by the U.S. in 1803 under the Louisiana Purchase.

Officially dubbed as the “Sunflower State,” Kansas was awarded statehood in 1861. The state is neighbored by Nebraska to its north, Oklahoma to its south, Missouri to its east, and Colorado to its west.

Did you know that as per a popular urban legend, the Gate to Hell can be found hidden inside the Stull United Methodist Church in Stull, Kansas?

As flat as it may be (the state has been compared with a pancake!), Kansas is home to a lot of interesting ‘firsts’ – the first Pizza Hut in Wichita, the first time Helium was discovered in 1905 at the University of Kansas, the tallest waterslide in the world (which is taller than Niagara Falls), and the first national hamburger chain.

Kansas has a rich history that dates back to before it was even known as Kansas. Numerous indigenous communities, several European settlements, and a lot of political tensions later, the state is now considered a major contributor to the nation’s agriculture. However, there is a lot more to the ‘Wheat state’ than meets the eye.

Let us explore the hidden gems in Kansas and find out what it has to offer us.

1. Geographic Center of the Contiguous United States, Lebanon

Out of the 50 states of America, 48 are known as Contiguous states while Alaska and Hawaii, because of their geographical distance from the mainland, aren’t considered a part of the group. About two miles northwest of the city of Lebanon, Kansas lies the geographic center of the “lower 48 states.”

Discovered in 1918 during the Coast and Geodetic Survey, the “center” is marked by a small stone pyramid that houses the official plaque. A small chapel and a picnic table rest nearby.

Reportedly, the “actual” center is about a mile away on a private pig farm, but, this doesn’t stop visitors to come to the site and click happy photos at the center of the 48 Contiguous U.S. states.

Interestingly, if you are in the mood for a wedding-to-remember, you could be married to the love of your life at the tiny chapel.

2. Oz Museum, Wamego

Like the name suggests, the Oz Museum in Wamego, Kansas is a marvelous dedication to all things Oz.

Established in 2004, the museum not only encompasses the highlights of the 1939 movie, The Wizard of Oz, but, it captures the true spirit of Oz’s fantasy world as a cultural phenomenon that began with L. Frank Baum’s children’s storybooks in the 1900s.

Unlike the young Kansas girl, you don’t have to wait for a tornado to transport you to the land of Oz. Instead, all you need is to pay a visit to this quirky Oz-themed museum in the heart of this small city and you will be welcomed by over 2,500 Oz-related artifacts and memorabilia, including objects related to storybooks as well as the movie.

Among other exhibits lay a representation of the black and white farmhouse where Dorothy, the little Kansas girl, lived before she landed in the fantasy world of Oz.

3. Coronado Heights Castle, Lindsborg

Spanish explorer Francis Vasquez de Coronado is believed to be the earliest of his kind to have set foot in modern-day Kansas. It was during his search for the “Seven Cities of Gold” that Coronado came upon the little town of Lindsborg. Several decades later, in 1881, a local college professor discovered a mysterious Spanish coin and a rusty chainmail which led many others to believe in the legend of Coronado’s quest for the “Cities of Gold.”

Rising above 300 feet, Coronado Heights is one among the seven sandstone bluffs that comprise the Dakota formation. As the story goes, Coronado first heard of the wealth’s location from a Franciscan priest who is known to have visited the area in 1539. However, during his visit in 1541, the Spanish explorer couldn’t find anything except some usual native huts.

Whether the priest was bluffing or not can’t be proven, however, the little stone castle and a surrounding park, Coronado Height Park, was established in the area in the 1930s to mark the spot where Coronado looked for gold.

4. S. P. Dinsmoor’s Garden of Eden, Lucas

Samuel Perry Dinsmoor was a Civil War veteran who served the army as a nurse during the war. After it was over, he returned to his home in Ohio and joined a Masonic lodge. After spending a lot of time as a mason, a farmer, and a believer of the “free-thought” movement, Dinsmoor married Frances Barlow Journey in 1870 and moved to Lucas with his family.

Dinsmoor intended for his Cabin to serve as his residence as well as a source of income for the family, and thus, in 1907, he began the creation of the “Garden of Eden.” Mostly made out of concrete, the house was made of limestone logs while several 40-foot tall concrete trees were built surrounding the Cabin to house his sculptures.

A clever combination of modern civilization, Populist Politics, and the Bible, Dinsmoor’s last creation was a concrete mausoleum where his body rests inside of a glass coffin. Ensuring that his family was well-provided for long after he was gone, Dinsmoor stated in his will that no one except his family was allowed to see him for less than a $1.

5. Giant Van Gogh Painting, Goodland

Cameron Cross’ Big Easel Project isn’t unknown to the world. Started in 1996 in Canada where Cross worked as an artist, the idea behind the project is to create larger-than-life representations of Vincent van Gogh’s sunflower paintings.

Since Kansas is the official “Sunflower State,” Cross couldn’t find a better location than the outskirts of Goodland, Kansas to showcase one of the seven such portraits which are planned to be a part of the project (so far, there are only three of such paintings).

Considered as the largest easel in the world, the Giant van Gogh Painting is a 24 by 32 foot representation of Van Gogh’s “Three Sunflowers in a Vase” which stands on an 80-foot-tall steel easel and weighs 40,000 pounds in total.

Of the three paintings that were actually created (Canada -1998, Australia – 1999, Kansas – 2001), the Goodland painting was dedicated during the city’s Sunflower Festival.

6. Truckhenge, Topeka

What do you do when a government official asks you to pick up your trucks? Well, you do what you are told, just like Ron Lessman did.

Sometime in the year 2000, Lessman got into a legal battle with the city over his collection of antique trucks and buses when he was ordered by the ruling judge to “pick up the trucks.” So, he anchored one end of each of the vehicles in the ground supported by 23 tons of concrete. And, to spice up his retaliation, he spray-painted the vintage vehicles with quotes such as “Rise Up” and “Excuse While I Touch the Sky.”

Additionally, several beer-bottle sculptures near the Truckhenge comprise the “Beer-Bottle City.”

Both the exhibitions are a part of the Kaw Region Art Park and have been featured in several videos on KS Travel, Rare Visions and Roadside Revelations, and Roadside America.

7. World’s Largest Collection of Smallest Versions of Largest Things, Lucas

Erika Nelson, an artist, educator, and one of the most distinguished experts on World’s Largest Things, has an undiluted passion for all the gigantic creations in the world. She spends her valuable time touring the nation in her van and discovering as many “World’s Largest Things” as she can and then creating the smallest versions of those ‘things.’

Founded by Erika, the one-of-a-kind traveling museum is dedicated to the various ‘World’s Largest Attractions’ of America. The artist is on a never-ending journey to find such behemoths, photographing them, and then creating a near-perfect replica of the attraction. Once completed, she tries to take the miniature replica to the actual attraction and then photograph them both.

Some of the miniature replicas in Erika’s traveling museum include the largest ball of rubber bands, largest ball of gum, big Albert (largest bull), largest badger, and the largest donut.

If not on her next expedition, Erika and her traveling museum can be found parked near her home in Lucas.

8. The Wichita Troll, Wichita

Locally known as “The Wichita Troll,” the seven-foot creepy goblin, with an enormous head and a black cobbled dress, has been looming over the streets of Wichita since 2007.

Connie Ernatt, a local artist, is known to have contributed a lot to the city’s art scene, but, the eerie, toothy monster is regarded as her best dedication so far. Hard to miss during the day (there is no official plaque marking the attraction), the huge, scary creature lights up in green underneath a storm door.

A well-kept city secret, the 200-pound Wichita Troll sculpture was installed as a part of a project that focused on renovating Wichita’s riverside area. Slightly difficult to locate, the Troll can be found at or near 777, West Central Avenue, Wichita.

9. Mushroom Rock State Park, Brookville

Covering an area of approximately five acres, the Mushroom Rock State Park is regarded as the smallest of its kind in Kansas, however, it hasn’t stopped the unique park to become one of the eight wonders in the state.

Boasting some of the most unusual rock formations to have been discovered anywhere in the world, the Mushroom Rock State Park houses massive geological formations that are among the Dakota formations of the Cretaceous Period and date back to 144 to 66 million years ago. Made of cemented calcium carbonate, the largest rock formation at the park has a 27-feet diameter.

The area is maintained by Kannapolis State Park and is open to visitors.

10. Monument Rocks, Oakley

It is established that America has a strange fascination with Stonehenge, the world-renowned prehistoric concrete monument in England, and, the nation’s admiration towards the monument has been depicted by a great many artists in their replica version. However, Monument Rocks in Oakley, Kansas proves that it isn’t just the humans of the nation that are in love with the ancient structure!

Regarded as the first National Natural Monument of America and one of the eight wonders in the state, Monument Rocks is a group of 70-feet-high chalk formations that are believed to be relics of the Western Interior Seaway, the one that divided North America into two halves during the Cretaceous Period.

Carbonates that date back to several million years can be found around the area and the chalk formations themselves are considered extremely rich in fossils and primeval relics.

On a lighter note, most of the “Chalk Formations” have specific names that have been given based on their shape and ‘personality,’ for example, “Charlie the Dog” and “The Eye of the Needle.”

11. Rock City, Minneapolis

Located in Ottawa County, Kansas, Rock City is a designated National Natural Landmark located atop a hill that overlooks the Solomon River. The park is most famous for housing over 200 spherical boulder formations that are made of concrete calcium carbonate.

The formations, usually known as “cannonball concretions,” have been created as a result of diffusion of calcium and carbon over a period of a few million years. Reportedly, the cluster is the biggest of its kind in the world.

Designated a landmark in 1976, the Rock City Park is managed by a non-profit and is open to visitors for a small admission fee which is used towards the park’s maintenance.

12. World’s Largest Ball of Twine, Cawker City

The World’s Largest Ball of Twine in Cawker City, Kansas is exactly what it says – a huge ball of twine that has held the world record since 2014. Though several claims have been made to dispute the title, the ever-expanding twine ball has managed to retain its title and the town’s pride ever since it was built.

Frank Stoeber began creating the ball in 1953. By the time he died in 1974, the ball had 1.6 million feet of twine and an eleven-foot-diameter. Every August, Cawker City organizes a “Twine-a-thon” where community members and visitors are encouraged to add to the twine ball, thus making its growth process never-ending.

Last recorded, the length of the twine was more than eight million feet.

The Ball of Twine is housed under a custom-made gazebo and a small visitor center on the other side of the street sells souvenirs made of twine.

13. Strataca, Hutchinson

Formerly known as the Kansas Underground Salt Museum, Strataca is a monstrous salt mine located 65 stories beneath Hutchinson, with salt veins that extend from Kansas to New Mexico. The museum, although filled with many intriguing objects, is home to a 250-million-year-old salt crystal which, reportedly, had a living bacterium trapped inside it when it was found in 1998.

Dr. Russell Vreeland, one of the two biologists to have discovered the living organism, found the bacterium in a drop of seawater that was entombed in the prehistoric salt crystal, 1,850 feet underground.

Strataca also offers a tram tour, known as the ‘Dark Ride,’ that takes you through the various exhibitions at the museum. Additionally, you can participate in the “Murder in the Mine” dinner theater that is hosted by the museum on specific occasions.

14. Dorothy’s House and Land of Oz, Liberal

Dorothy Gale, a young girl from Kansas who was whooshed away by a tornado and left at the fantasy land of Oz, is a fictional character in L. Frank Baum’s children’s storybook and the 1939 musical that was based on the author’s story. But, ever since 1978, the fictional character of Dorothy has had a real house and that is located in Liberal, Kansas.

As the story goes, Max Zimmerman, an insurance agent, was attending a convention somewhere, when a waiter read his name tag and was glad to know that Max is from where Dorothy lived (in the story). Inspired by the idea, Max wondered where exactly in Kansas did she live and because no city had ever claimed to be Dorothy’s hometown yet, he decided to reward Liberal with that gift.

Constructed out of a donated house from 1907, the house has been transformed to look exactly like the one where Dorothy lived with her Aunt Em. A guide, usually a local girl dressed as Dorothy, shows you around the exhibit and narrates the story and its events one by one.

You can skip down the “yellow-brick road” with your “Dorothy” or make a small donation to get your name on a brick along the likes of previous visitors such as Ronald and Nancy Reagan.

15. Atomic Annie, Junction City

Atomic Annie is an M65 Atomic Cannon developed in the 1950s by engineer Robert Schwartz. Designed to fire nuclear warheads, Atomic Annie weighs 47 tons and requires specially made tractors to move from one place to another.

In 1953, Atomic Annie fired the first and the only nuclear shell to be launched from a cannon during a test run at Nevada Test Site. After her success, over 20 Atomic Annies were manufactured. However, within a decade, Atomic Annie retired.

In 1974, the commander at Fort Riley’s 1st Infantry Division acquired the cannon and installed it along Interstate 70. An adjacent park offers information about Atomic Annie’s development, history, and role in the military.

16. The Big Well, Greensburg

Sometime in 1887, for 50 cents to a dollar a day, farmers, cowboys, and part-time workers dug a 32-feet-wide and 109-feet-deep well which is now regarded as the largest “hand-dug well” in the world (even though some would claim that St. Patrick’s well in Italy is the largest).

“The Big Well,” as it is commonly called, has been recently added to the eight wonders of Kansas, however, the upkeep of the giant well hasn’t always been so smooth. From 1939 until the early 1990s, the Big Well was a huge attraction. However, sometime during the 90s, the Well lost its charm.

To worsen the situation, a tornado in 2007 destroyed the Well’s Visitor Center along with the rest of the town. But, the good citizens of Greensburg saw that as an opportunity to rebuild the Well and added solar panels and wind turbines with an intention of earning the title of “most eco-friendly little town” in the country.

To add to their efforts, a museum was added atop the Big Well in 2012 and lets visitors descend a spiral staircase into the well so they can admire the exhibitions inside.

17. Sauer Castle, Kansas City

The Sauer Castle belonged to Anton Sauer who, after living a part of life in Vienna and New York City, moved to Kansas City in 1868 to be closer to his family as he fought with tuberculosis and the loss of his wife.

Anton married Maria and lived in the castle until his death in 1879. Shortly after, Maria committed suicide and left the castle to their children. Eva Maria, the couple’s eldest daughter, lived at the castle and married William, but, the marriage didn’t last long. Eventually, Eva Maria married a local businessman, John S. Perkins, who committed suicide at the castle at the age of 73.

Eva and John’s son, John Harrison Perkins, had an infant daughter who died of drowning in the castle’s pool.

Paul Berry purchased the house after Eva passed away in 1955 and continued to live in the castle until his own death in 1986.

All the suicides and unfortunate deaths at the castle resulted in several ghost stories that surfaced around the 1930s, resulting in numerous cases of vandalism and trespassing.

The Sauer Castle is now owned once again by the Sauer family (his great-great-grandson) but the property remains private and one can only admire the hauntingly beautiful architecture from the street.

18. Wamego LSD Missile Silo, Wamego

Originally established in 1961 by the Air Force as a part of a missile defense system, the site was purchased by Gordon Todd Skinner, a young, wealthy drug enthusiast who, with the help of William Leonard Pickard, a California based LSD manufacturer, transformed the missile site into an LSD silo.

Though the manufacturing unit was short-lived, at one point, it was estimated that the company produced 90% of the LSD that circulated the streets of the United States of America in the 1990s.

By 2000, Skinner became paranoid as a result of the illicit activities that went on in his basement and started working as an informant for the DEA. Eventually, he led to the arrest of Pickard and a sudden shortage of LSD hit the psychedelic communities of America.

Skinner was later arrested for kidnapping, assaulting, and drugging. The property is now owned by Charles and Kellie Everson who are happy to host group tours of the site.

19. Clutter Family Home, Holcomb

Herb and Bonnie Clutter, along with their two teenage kids, lived at a two-story brick house in Holcomb, Kansas. The family was founded bound and shot to death in November 1959. A few years later, the incident inspired Truman Capote (of Breakfast at Tiffany’s) to publish a non-fiction novel, In Cold Blood.

Richard Hickock and Perry Smith, two ex-convicts out on a parole, received word from an old inmate-friend that the Clutters were rich and had their money hidden at home. Consequently, the criminal duo staged the murder and loot. However, Hickock and Smith were arrested and hanged to death in 1965 – all this for $50 that they found at the house.

Legends claim that the Clutters’ daughter, Nancy Clutter, still haunts the residence halls at night. Since the incident, only two other couples have managed to live in the house.

20. World’s Largest Hairball, Garden City

As gross as it may seem at first, the Trichobezoar aka hairball is the largest of its kind in the world and it was found in the gut of a cow!

Located at the Finney County Historical Museum at the entrance of Lee Richardson Zoo in Garden City, Kansas, the massive hairball sits atop a brass holder. At the time of discovery, it was nearly 40 inches in circumference and weighed 55 pounds wet. Since then, it has dried and shrunk quite a bit, however, the hairball still looks highly impressive and can be touched (yay! Or not).

The museum also has several other interesting exhibits displaying the history and evolution of the area.

Volunteers gladly answer your queries and guide you through the museum exhibitions.

21. Mount Sunflower, Weskan

Located on the private property of Ed and Cindy Harold, Mount Sunflower, at 4,039 feet above sea level, is the highest natural point in Kansas. Owned by the rancher couple, the point is marked by a signage and a tall, abstract Sunflower made of railroad spikes.

A picnic table and a little free library can be found at the site along with a visitor’s logbook. There used to be a quirky plaque that read: “On this site in 1897, nothing happened,” but, it had been missing since 2015.

However, it may be a little disappointing to see that the “Highest Point in the State” seems as flat as the rest of the city, but, Kansas can’t help it since it has already been mentioned that the state is almost as flat as a ‘pancake.’

22. Amelia Earhart Birthplace Museum, Atchison

Born in 1897, Amelia Earhart is known as the first female pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. An aviation pioneer and an author, Earhart was the recipient of many reputable awards in the field of aviation. She was also among the ninety-nine women who formed The Ninety-Nines, an organization solely for female pilots.

Earhart was born to Samuel and Amy on July 24th, 1897 at her maternal grandmother’s home in Atchison, Kansas. The building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1971 and is maintained as a museum by the Ninety-Nines.

In 1937, during her second attempt of the year to circumnavigate the globe, her aircraft disappeared somewhere near the Nukumanu Islands, Papua New Guinea. Unfortunately, she was never found and the fascination with one of the greatest female pilot’s’ life, career, and disappearance continues to attract visitors to date.

23. The Greyhound Hall of Fame, Abilene

At the Greyhound Hall of Fame, you not only get to admire the greyhound statues and learn about the particular breed of canines, but you also get to play and cuddle up with Gary and Jade, two real and extremely adorable greyhounds that stroll around the doorway and love visitors.

Gary and Jade, like most others of their kind, were racer dogs who have now retired and continue to love in the museum that is dedicated to their long history as racer dogs.

For the most part of the history, Greyhounds were used for hunting, however, their use as racer dogs became quite the rage in the 1920s. The species is known for their lightweight, muscular builds, insane flexibility, and an astounding ability to run up to 45 miles an hour.

Established in 1973, the museum houses an impressive display of the champion canines and their humans. Among those is Molotov, one of the most dashing dogs ever, who, by the time of his death, had fathered 7,600 pups!

24. 1950s All-Electric House, Overland Park

Constructed in 1954 by Kansas City Power & Light, the ranch-style futuristic home is equipped with all possible technological advancements that make it one of the greatest creations of the time.

Inside the house, a button reveals a T.V from behind a painting, curtains are operated electrically, and an electrical button serves as the garage door opener. The five-room house gives you an elaborate peak into the post-WWII American dream house project.

During its six-month exhibition in Prairie Village, Johnson County the house saw over 62,000 visitors (a number that is more than the total number of residents in Johnson County).

A family home for four decades, the All-Electric House was converted into a museum in 1998 and continues to attract visitors (but not as many as such an impeccable example of modern technology deserves).

25. World’s Largest Czech Egg, Wilson

Wilson is a small but admired community of Czechs living in the state of Kansas. The community is also home to the largest Czech Egg in the World – a 20 feet Kraslice egg!

Designed by Christine Slechta, a famous local Kraslice creator, the egg has been painted by the artist as well as supportive community members. The egg sports a traditional Czech design with a black base and patterns in yellow, red, and white.

The whole structure and the gazebo it rests inside has been made in Kansas.

The idea of creating this masterpiece began in 2003 when Sharon Holloway, a former president of the Wilson Chamber of Commerce made a suggestion to Erika Nelson (of the World’s Smallest Replica of the World’s Largest Things). Nine years and several donations later, a white, fiberglass egg was delivered to Wilson. And, on July 29th, 2016, the egg was finally completed along with its encompassing pavilion.

26. Kansas Barbed Wire Museum, La Crosse

Founded in 1990, the Kansas Barbed Wire Museum in La Crosse, Kansas is dedicated to the history of how barbed wire, most commonly known as the “Devil’s Rope,” brought the open range of Wild West to a poking end.

The western United States was once home to several free prairies where cattle-herders left their livestock to openly graze through the unmarked, enormous expanses of land. However, with the discovery of the spiny fences, new landowners created an easy, effective way of marking their private property.

An informal law enforcement system, the barbed wires at the museum include over 2,000 different kinds which have been donated over time by private collectors from around the world. Other exhibits include tools and machinery that were used in the manufacturing of the wires.

27. Huron Indian Cemetery, Kansas City

Originally known as Wyandotte National Burying Ground, the Huron Indian Cemetery was founded in 1843 after the unwilling displacement of the Wyandotte Nation. Following their settlement, the Burying Ground became the final resting place of an uncountable number of the Native Americans, most of whom may not even be buried underneath marked gravesites.

After moving from Ohio to Kansas, about a hundred Wyandotte natives inexplicably succumbed to death, though some assume that it was caused due to measles or typhoid. The Wyandotte Nation had legal rights to the Cemetery until 1855. The Nation’s tribal status was dissolved eventually, and the natives decided to sell the land to local developers in 1906.

Riots happened over the sale of the land as many confronted the idea of violating the graves of their loved ones buried at the cemetery and even though the people against the idea of the sale lost the legal battle, the Cemetery is now an official sacred site and an agreement has been set in place between Wyandottes and Kansas that the place be used solely for religious and cultural practices.

28. Comanche, Survivor of the Battle of the Little Bighorn, Lawrence

In 1876, at the Battle of Little Bighorn, five companies of the US 7th cavalry were completely obliterated by an army of Lakota Sioux and Cheyenne. Next day, soldiers from the remaining companies of the cavalry discovered the site of the massive takedown. All the men, including the General, George Armstrong Custer, and dozens of horses lay dead on the grounds, except for Comanche, the sole survivor of the battle, a horse.

Owned by Captain Myles Keogh, Comanche had suffered multiple bullet wounds, but he survived (and wasn’t captured or bolted like the other presumed horses who may have lived). After the battle ended, Comanche officially retired in 1878 and was awarded the honorary title of “second in command.”

A special stall was fitted for him as a retirement gift and he was to not engage in any further activities except living out the rest of his days in peace and honor. After his death in 1890, Comanche was given a full military funeral service, however, instead of being buried, his corpse was sent to the University of Kansas to be stuffed and put on display.

Comanche now stands proudly at the fourth floor of the university’s Natural History Museum.

29. They Also Ran Gallery, Norton

In the 1960s, the town of Norton, Kansas was in need of a tourism-boost when William Walter Rouse, a local businessman and the president of the First State Bank, suggested the idea of recreating a stage coach station along 1859 Leavenworth and Pikes Peak Express.

Shortly thereafter, Stage Coach Station 15 was opened for the public and was dedicated to Horace Greeley, who wasn’t only the owner and publisher of New York Tribune but was also a losing presidential candidate of 1872.

Soon after the Coach was made public, Rouse received a gift, They Also Ran by Irving Stone, a book that had the life history of all former losing presidential candidates. This inspired Rouse to collect photographs and artifacts related to the candidates and the Coach Station expanded to be a full-fledged museum of all presidential candidates who could never make history.

30. Big Brutus, West Mineral

Big Brutus is a Bucyrus-Erie 1850B electric shovel which, at 160-feet high and 15,000 horsepower, is considered the largest electric shovel in the world. But, it only gained the title in 1992.

The former titleholder was called the “Captain” and weighed 22 million pounds (as compared to Brutus’ 11 million pounds), however, it was scrapped in 1992. Big Brutus also had a mightier sister, “Big Bertha,” but, she was dismantled too. Hence, Big Brutus assumed the role of being the largest of its kind.

During the 60s and 70s, Big Brutus was utilized to carry 150 tons of coal and could work all day at a speed of 0.22 MPH. Though this made life easier and was an example of great machinery, the excessive consumption of electricity by the giant made it impractical.

Today, Big Brutus sits at Big Brutus Inc., a mining-museum-cum-campground in West Mineral, Kansas. Visitors can not only admire the massive machine, but they can step inside the enormous shovel.

30 Amazing Hidden Gems in Kansas:

• Geographic Center of the Contiguous United States, Lebanon
• Oz Museum, Wamego
• Coronado Heights Castle, Lindsborg
• S. P. Dinsmoor's Garden of Eden, Lucas
• Giant Van Gogh Painting, Goodland
• Truckhenge, Topeka
• World's Largest Collection of Smallest Versions of Largest Things, Lucas
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The Past and Present of Rural Missile Sites

Throughout the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union sought to outpace each other in the development of weaponry and nuclear power was at the center of this arms race. In particular, each nation developed inter-continental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) meant to strike at the heart of the other country, targeting military installations as well as cities, which made them particularly frightening.

The United States and the Soviet Union reached a point where any attack from one country could provoke a response in kind, leading to the obliteration of both countries. Therefore, by keeping up with the other nation’s arms buildup, both countries believed that they could deter their enemy from attacking them. This doctrine was known as “mutually assured destruction.”

During the first decades of the Cold War, Atlas missiles were at the heart of the American arsenal. The first ICBMs developed by the US Air Force, they were equipped with nuclear warheads and had a range of about 8,700 miles. Such missiles were stored in underground silos throughout the country, ready to be deployed at a moment’s notice. In the Midwest in particular, such installations dotted the countryside and one can still find their vestiges to this day. They were later replaced by more advanced ICBMs, namely Titan and Minuteman missiles, some of which are still in use today.

Minuteman Missile Fields in the United States during the Cold War and after. The areas in black are missile fields that have been deactivated, the areas in red show missile fields that are still active. National Park Service.

In the 1950s, the military developed six versions of the Atlas missile. The ones deployed around Topeka, Kansas, were under the control of the 548th Strategic Missile Squadron, based at Forbes Air Force Base, which operated 9 missile sites in the area until they were decommissioned in 1965. One of the sites was located south of Lawrence, Kansas, near the town of Worden.

Atlas site near Worden, KS, 1962. Wikimedia Commons.

Overview of a typical launch complex. Operational Manual USAF Model CGM-16E Missile Weapon System.

Today, weeds, bushes, and trees cover nearly the entire site and frogs cheerfully leap into the pond that has formed in front of the entry door to the old missile bay. At first glance, it appears that the site, once at the forefront of the nation’s nuclear arsenal, has been reclaimed by nature. Yet is still possible to recognize a few of the launch facility’s features, such as the different buildings and the doors that allowed the missile to be launched. These remnants speak to the profound environmental impact of the nuclear arms race, one that can still be felt today.

Marjorie Galelli

University of Kansas

The remains of the Atlas site near Worden, KS in 2020.

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Meet The Guys Who Made America's LSD ... In An Ol' Missile Silo

Back in 2000, residents of Wamego, Kansas started to suspect something odd was going on at the abandoned missile silo next door. Neighbors saw strange lights and deliveries in the dead of night, while the mysterious inhabitants kept the gates locked and quickly emerged to ward off any trespassers. The locals were probably close to calling in Velma and the gang when the DEA swooped instead. Inside the silo, they discovered Italian marble floors, cedar wood closets, a jacuzzi, and $85,000 in stereo equipment. They also discovered a state-of-the-art laboratory and enough precursor chemicals to produce millions of doses of LSD. 

The DEA would allege that the silo was the headquarters of a sophisticated operation which produced up to 90 percent of the LSD in the United States. The supposed mastermind was a UCLA professor named William Leonard Pickard, who became the target of a massive manhunt after sprinting off into the woods when agents pulled his van over near the silo. But how did a Harvard-educated researcher end up dominating the LSD market from a luxury bunker in small-town Kansas? To understand that, you have to understand the history of LSD in America, a tortuous yarn involving a years-long secret plot to get the entire world high. 

Before the DEA raid, Pickard seemed like a respectable academic, who occasionally advised government officials in his role as deputy director of UCLA's Drug Policy Research Program. On closer inspection, his career raised some question marks. When UCLA lacked funding to hire him, they quickly received anonymous envelopes stuffed with donations for Pickard's position. He rarely published research or appeared at the office. And his resume had a 20-year gap after leaving a research job at Berkeley in 1974. That was the same year he sought out Tim Scully, who was on trial for producing millions of hits of acid for a mysterious group called the Brotherhood of Eternal Love . 

Tim Scully, possibly the most successful LSD producer in history, was a timid physics nerd who went to college early after his high school discovered him building a particle accelerator in a vacant classroom in an attempt to turn mercury into gold. Possibly somewhere on the autism spectrum (he now self-diagnoses with Asperger's), Scully ate the same all-white meal of buttered spaghetti every night for 30 years and seemed set on a boring government job before taking LSD in 1965. The trip left him with the deep conviction that all the world's problems would be solved if everyone just took acid -- and that it was his mission in life to make that happen. Scully calculated that this would require producing 750 million doses of LSD and then giving them away for free. And so he set out to do just that. 

To get started, Scully apprenticed himself to Owsley "Bear" Stanley, the Grateful Dead's sound engineer and the biggest underground acid producer in America. The grandson of a distinguished senator, Stanley was a Walter White figure who was obsessed with producing the purest LSD possible , to the point of strictly monitoring the music playing while he worked in case certain sound vibrations produced better crystals. With Scully's help, Stanley began pumping out huge quantities of "99.9% pure" LSD known as White Lightning, which quickly swept the West Coast. Dan Aykroyd and Carrie Fisher tried some and spent three days weeping to Christmas albums , while Pete Townsend found a single hit so strong he swore off drugs for the next 18 years . John Lennon was so obsessed he sent a cameraman on a risky mission to smuggle back a lifetime supply hidden in a lens case. It was clearly primo stuff. 

With the secrets of LSD chemistry mastered, Scully still needed financing and a distribution network if he was going to flood the world with acid. Fortunately, both could be acquired with a quick visit to Dr. Timothy Leary, the Harvard professor who had become the most famous LSD advocate in America. After leaving Harvard in disgrace for his acid research, Leary retreated to Millbrook, the palatial New York estate of millionaire stockbroker and acid lover William Mellon Hitchcock. Under Leary's direction, the country mansion became the site of numerous acid experiments (another Harvard professor once broke his leg after meandering out a second-story window) and was eventually home to a variety of semi-feuding acid sects, including the Neo-American BooHoo Church. Leary introduced Scully to "Billy Hitch," who quickly agreed to fund his new lab.

Around the same time, a Hollywood producer was robbed at gunpoint by a heroin-addicted biker gang led by a guy called John Griggs. The producer turned out to have a stash of LSD among his valuables, which the bikers sampled about a week later in Joshua Tree National Park. They ended up running around the desert throwing away their guns and loudly renouncing violence to an audience of startled Gila monsters. Shortly afterward, they made a pilgrimage to see Leary, who introduced them to Scully as potential distributors. Leary also put Scully in touch with another LSD chemist named Nick Sand , who came on board as his streetwise sidekick. A seemingly carefree hippie with a taste for nude yoga, Sand had a troubled childhood -- his parents divorced after his father was exposed as a Soviet spy operating within the Manhattan Project -- and was enthusiastically on board with solving the world's problems via LSD. The Brotherhood Of Eternal Love was born. You don't have to soundtrack the next few paragraphs to Hendrix, but it'll help.

From their hidden lab in northern California, Scully and Sand began pumping out millions of doses of their new Orange Sunshine LSD, which the Brotherhood distributed as widely as possible, as cheaply as they could. They even started a lucrative side hustle smuggling Afghan hashish so they could afford to hand acid out for free. At one concert alone, they threw 25,000 tabs of acid out of a plane onto a whooping crowd. Another Brotherhood member fondly recalled the time "Jefferson Airplane was doing a free concert in Golden Gate Park and we passed out 8,000 doses of Orange Sunshine . We got the whole place loaded. I'll tell you what, nobody went home that night the same as when they woke up. It was downright revolutionary."

The Brotherhood were deadly serious about their mission to change the world through LSD. They even made incredibly dangerous plans to smuggle acid into the Soviet Union , having decided that only enlightening the United States would be akin to "unilateral disarmament." Scully and Sand also made sure that Orange Sunshine was freely available to US soldiers fighting in Vietnam. Puzzled law enforcement were at a loss to explain the sudden appearance of Orange Sunshine in all 50 states and dozens of foreign countries. It even turned up in Mecca during the annual pilgrimage. Distributing LSD, one Brother explained , was not "just selling drugs, but selling to people a great and important part of their existence."

It couldn't last. The '70s brought the War on Drugs, complete with new laws and more aggressive police action against the Brotherhood. Timothy Leary staged an abortive bid for president (John Lennon wrote "Come Together" as a campaign song for him), then broke out of prison to lead Richard Nixon's goons on an incredible round-the-world chase . John Griggs became quite possibly the first person in history to die of a psilocybin overdose . Billy Hitch flipped under pressure and testified against his former pals, while Nick Sand fled to Canada and ultimately became a follower of the Bhagwan Shri Rajneesh, of Oregon mass poisoning fame. Meanwhile, Tim Scully wound up sentenced to 20 years in prison for manufacturing millions of hits of LSD in an isolated farmhouse. Which is where William Leonard Pickard entered the picture. 

During a break in Scully's 1974 trial, Pickard walked up and passed him a "U.S. Army Chemical Warfare Group pin with a flask and test tube design" before disappearing off into a corridor. Scully felt that the pin was supposed "to express some brotherhood of underground chemists," a theory confirmed when Pickard donated a valuable M.C. Escher print to help pay his legal fees. That was the same year Pickard quit his research job at Berkeley. For the next two decades, his movements can be reconstructed mostly through arrest records, but he appears to have bounced around the country as part of a new breed of LSD chemists, less ambitious than the Brotherhood and more savvy about avoiding law enforcement. 

Although the era of free LSD was over, chemists like Pickard still felt some sense of the Brotherhood's mission. According to the San Francisco Chronicle 's definitive profile , Pickard saw psychedelics as a positive for humanity, adding "I agree with (hippie leader) Wavy Gravy. There's blood on heroin and cocaine." Unfortunately, the authorities didn't see the distinction. In 1988, Pickard was arrested leaving a warehouse in Mountain View, California. Inside, the DEA found 200,000 hits of acid and an elaborate lab. There was reportedly so much LSD in the air that the agents all got contact highs and at least one guy wound up in a ball on the floor, twitching. A note inside the lab referenced making "third kilo" of acid, which is incredible when you realize that would be enough for close to 10 million hits. 

Pickard served five years, and supposedly went straight when he got out, resuming his academic career and ultimately landing a job at UCLA. In reality, he seems to have continued his clandestine chemistry career, since very few professors reportedly try to launder shoe boxes full of cash with the help of a ballet-loving New York financial adviser. It was around this time that he met Gordon Todd Skinner, the black sheep heir to a spring-making fortune (yes, that's a thing), who lived in an abandoned missile silo outside Wamego, Kansas. And that's when things took a turn for the worse.

Skinner's home was a 15,000 square foot labyrinth of tunnels built to house the Atlas-E nuclear missile. Skinner spent a decent chunk of his inheritance turning it into a luxury bachelor pad , complete with an oak bed, marble bathtub, and ample parking for his fleet of Porsches. The site itself was part of a network of silos built in 1961, then decommissioned less than five years later after a different missile design was judged to be more effective at exterminating all life on Earth. Most of the silos ended up in private hands, because the US military will apparently just sell off any unused supervillain bases they have lying around. Which is also why a community of pacifist Hutterites ended up owning this terrifying death pyramid in North Dakota. 

The collection of oddballs who bought the silos soon developed a somewhat dark reputation . Another silo outside Wamego became notorious after the owner shot a 17-year-old boy dead in the tunnels, while a raid on a silo in rural Washington state produced the dismembered body of a state auditor. Skinner's own underground lair began to attract police attention after a computer programmer overdosed inside (the place had been "sanitized" of drug paraphernalia before the cops were shown inside). Skinner himself would ultimately be convicted   of abducting an 18-year-old and torturing him for six days with beatings and painful chemical injections, including a compound injected directly into his penis in the hope it would become gangrenous and "fall off." 

But back in the late '90s, when he met Pickard, Skinner was just a guy with a bunker, seemingly perfect for LSD production on a massive scale. The timing was perfect too, since the Canadian police had just arrested Nick Sand for running a giant underground lab of his own. The Mounties were so over-excited that they initially claimed to have seized enough acid to get every single Canadian high twice over , which certainly sounds like a fun weekend. The actual amount seized was more like 400,000 doses, but it still took the last source of Orange Sunshine out of commission. As the last of the old Brotherhood-linked LSD chemists, Pickard seemed like the perfect guy to fill the gap in the market. 

What he didn't realize was that his new friend Skinner had actually become a government informant following a weed bust 10 years earlier, and had since provided information in "five or six" drug cases. In Pickard's case, it's unclear if Skinner was an informant from the beginning or simply panicked when the cops started sniffing around, but before long their conversations were being recorded for the DEA. In November 2000, Pickard drove out to the silo to find Skinner in a strangely bombastic mood, yelling "I'm not afraid of the Mafia or the government! I'm more powerful than you realize!" Pickard then tried to enter the silo, unaware that DEA agents were already inside, holding the door shut. As Skinner slipped away, Pickard loaded his Buick with LSD precursor chemicals and drove off, only to jump out and sprint into the trees when sirens erupted all around him. 

A massive manhunt through the woods ensued, which ended when a local farmer discovered Pickard hiding in the back of his truck. At his bail hearing, he produced supporting letters from a variety of prominent backers, including San Francisco DA Terence Hallinan and a British aristocrat who once ran for parliament on a platform of drilling a hole in your skull to boost creativity. Sadly, the judge had only the holes nature gave him and he wound up with two life sentences. 

For his part, Pickard denies producing any LSD in the bunker, saying he was set up by Skinner from the beginning. The DEA, on the other hand, claim that it was one of their most important busts ever, insisting that the LSD supply in America dropped by 90% after Pickard was arrested and never recovered to anywhere near its former levels. Acid use did indeed drop dramatically in the early 2000s, although that may have been more closely related to changing social trends than the DEA storming a silo. It was increasingly seen as an old-fashioned drug, the stuff of dippy hippies dreaming of changing the world. Even the LSD available was increasingly a pale impression of the triple-set "99%" pure acid made by the Brotherhood's dedicated chemists. Despite their dreams, LSD didn't change the world. Instead, as Tim Scully put it , acid simply became "a party drug -- and I'm not saying that parties should be illegal or that it's a bad thing ... but I wouldn't have chosen to go to prison for a long time so more people could have a party."

Top image: Tiko_Photographer/Shutterstock

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Tour a Missile Silo

There are a number of former active Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) sites that are now museums open to the public.

You can visit a Titan II, Minuteman or Peacekeeper Missile Alert Facility (Launch Control Facility), including the underground Launch Control Center where missile combat crews sat on alert, and tour a Titan II or Minuteman missile silo or Launch Facility.

You can see the tools and equipment the Missile Maintainers used and visit places few have been. In some cases, reservations are required for a full visit, and some sites charge a small fee. Check the web page for each to find how to visit these important facilities that were significant to our nuclear deterrence posture. At each location, you will meet docents who will guide you and answer questions - your docent may have even worked on the site you are visiting

Titan II Missile Museum — Arizona

Located in Green Valley, Arizona, south of Tucson, on I-19, Launch Complex 571-7 was part of the 390th Strategic Missile Wing at Davis Monthan AFB from 1963 to 1987, one of the 54 Titan II sites in that wing. The museum opened in 1986 and is operated by the Arizona Aerospace Foundation.  The Titan II Museum offers a variety of tours and other activities. You can find all the information you need on hours, directions, tours and fees on their website:  www.titanmissilemusuem.org

Minuteman Missile National Historic Site (MiMi) — South Dakota

Located on I-90 east of Wall, South Dakota, near the Badlands National Park, MiMi includes a Visitors Center with displays, videos and a store.

The Missile Alert Facility (Launch Control Facility) is D-01, one of the five flights in the 66th Strategic Missile Squadron, 44th Strategic Missile Wing/Missile Wing at Ellsworth AFB, between 1963 and 1994. Launch Facility D-09 was in the same squadron and controlled by D-01.  The site is managed by the National Park Service.

MiMi offers tours of the above ground and below ground facilities at D-01 and above ground at D-09. Reservations are required for some tours and a fee is charged. You can find all the information you need on hours, directions, tours and fees on their website:  www.nps.gov/mimi

Located on I-90 East of Wall, South Dakota, near the Badlands National Park, MiMi includes a Visitors Center with displays, videos and a store. The Missile Alert Facility (Launch Control Facility) is D-01, one of the five flights in the 66th Strategic Missile Squadron, 44th Strategic Missile Wing/Missile Wing at Ellwsorth AFB, between 1963 and 1994. Launch Facility D-09 was in the same squadron and controlled by D-01. The site is managed by the National Park Service. MiMi offers tours of the above ground and below ground facilities at D-01 and above ground at D-09. Reservations are required for some tours and a fee is charged. You can find all the information you need on hours, directions, tours and fees on their web site:  www.nps.gov/mimi

Oscar-Zero and Launch Facility N-03 — North Dakota

Quebec-01 peacekeeper site — wyoming.

Wyoming State Parks opened the Q-01 Missile Alert Facility (Launch Control Facility) as the newest state historic site.

Quebec-1 is significant as the only accessible Peacekeeper Missile Alert Facility left in the world.  The site strives to preserve and interpret the Cold War history of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, fostering an understanding of the mission and duties of the personnel assigned to work there.

Quebec-01 Missile Alert Facility State Historic Site offers the opportunity to see a military installation that was “hidden in plain sight” and controlled one of the most destructive nuclear weapons ever built by the United States. Delve into the daily lives of missileers, topside personnel, missile technology, the Cold War, and the deactivation of this missile system. Q-01 was part of the 90th Strategic Missile Wing/Missile Wing, initially as a Minuteman site (1962-1986) but then as one of five Peacekeeper Missile Control Centers in the 400th Missile Squadron (1986-2005).

Learn more by visiting:  wyoparks.state.wy.us/index.php/places-to-go/quebec-01

Wyoming State Parks is preparing the Q-01 Missile Alert Facility (Launch Control Facility) as the newest state historic site. This site is significant as the only accessible Peacekeeper Missile Alert Facility left in the world and will strive to preserve and interpret the Cold War history of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, fostering an understanding of the mission and duties of the personnel and crews assigned to work there. Quebec 01 Missile Alert Facility State Historic Site, once open, will offer the visitor the opportunity to see a military installation that was “hidden in plain sight” and controlled one of the most destructive nuclear weapons ever built by the United States. Delve into the daily lives of missileers, topside personnel, missile technology, the Cold War and the deactivation of this missile system. Q-01 was part of the 90th Strategic Missile Wing/Missile Wing, initially as a Minuteman site (1962-1986) but then as one of rive Peacekeeper Missile control centers in the 400th Missile Squadron., (1986-2005). Learn more by visiting:  wyoparks.state.wy.us/index.php/places-to-go/quebec-01

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On November 7, 2000 the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) took down one of the largest LSD labs at the time. The lab was run by William Leonard Pickard and Clyde Apperson and was located in a converted missile silo in rural Kansas. The DEA had an informant who actually showed the DEA around the facility. The DEA believed the two were responsible for manufacturing 90% of the LSD sold in the US.

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A couple converted a Kansas nuclear missile silo into a bizarre 18,000-square-foot castle, and now it's on the market for $3.2 million — see inside

• A couple spent 30 years renovating a nuclear missile silo into an underground castle.
• Now, the Kansas property is for sale for $3.2 million.
• These photos and videos show inside the stunning property.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories .

Kansas probably isn't where you'd first look if you're in the market for a castle, but you shouldn't miss this gem.

Just 25 miles west of Topeka, this unique structure hides mostly underground. Ed and Dianna Peden bought this Cold War Atlas E nuclear missile silo and spent the last 33 years renovating it into an underground mansion and castle, which they rented out on Airbnb for years.

Now, the Pedens are hoping to simplify and downsize, so they've enlisted friend and property manager Matthew Fulkerson to sell this unusual home. Fulkerson, who also got married on the property, has lived there and worked with the Pedens for the past 10 years. 

Owning this refurbished missile silo is a once in a lifetime opportunity, with a $3.2 million price for entry. These photos show the amazing renovation that took over three decades.

The couple spent 33 years converting this Cold War-era nuclear missile silo into what they call a "subterra castle."

The 18,000 underground mansion is "turn-key," meaning it can be bought and moved into with no additional work.

The property is a great escape from the rest of the world, sitting on 34 secluded acres outside of Topeka, Kansas...

...with an 8-foot security fence surrounding the property, and two castle observation towers.

It even has 47-ton blast doors.

Underground entry tunnels are preserved from the property's days as a missile silo.

Some parts of the property, like the old missile bay, still look like they did when the space was in use, while others have been totally renovated.

The castle has several entertainment centers, and the furniture is available to purchase along with the property.

Cozy decor and soft lighting could make you almost forget you're underground.

These 150-foot tunnels lead to the original launch control desk...

...which still sits in its original spot.

With stonework and some lights, even the industrial tunnels fit into the underground home's aesthetic.

The Pedens say they've worked to make the space "cozy," no easy task for what is essentially a giant underground lair, but the property does have some homey charms.

The 3,500 square foot great room even has a stage.

In addition to the massive underground space, the property also has an above-ground living space.

Also above-ground is a greenhouse powered by solar energy.

The castle has two sets of four solar panels that contribute to the property's energy, along with a diesel generator.

To top it all off, the castle even has a hot tub.

The property is for sale by owner, and interested buyers can contact Matthew Fulkerson at [email protected].

See a video tour and demonstration of the blast door here.

• Main content

Author: LSD missile silo case likened to 'Breaking Bad'

Book details bizarre drug case tied to wamego.

The LSD lab in the former missile silo on the north edge of Wamego was  "Breaking Bad's" Walter White, the rogue meth-cooking chemist, meets Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz.

So says Guy Hargreaves, retired Federal Drug Enforcement Administration agent and a DEA supervisor, of the drug bust that caused the world supply of LSD to tank.

The LSD supply has never recovered to what it was before co-defendants Leonard William Pickard and Clyde Apperson were arrested in November 2000 as they moved the LSD lab in Wamego.

Law enforcement officers didn't seize finished stocks of LSD from the Wamego silo, but they did confiscate massive amounts of chemicals, enough to make nearly 3 billion doses of LSD, Hargreaves said during an interview last week.The impact of taking down the LSD operation at the Wamego site can't be overlooked, Hargreaves said.

"The most significant development is that LSD seizures for 13 years now are 90 to 95 percent less than before (Pickard, the head of the LSD operation) was busted," he said.

"What amazes me is that 13 years later, it's still down," Hargreaves said, a factor that motivated him to write the book.

"That's why I consider this the biggest success in America's war on drugs," Hargreaves said. "We've never had a single case where a 10 or 20 percent reduction in cocaine or methamphetamine occurred."

Hargreaves is the author of "Operation: Trip to Oz, Busting the World's Largest LSD Lab." The book was released three weeks ago.

"This is truly the biggest true crime story to come out of Kansas since 'In Cold Blood,' " Hargreaves said. "In Cold Blood" is the classic Truman Capote story about the 1959 slayings of four members of the Clutter family in Finney County.

In an 11-week trial, one of the longest in Topeka federal court history, Pickard and Apperson were convicted on March 31, 2003, of conspiracy to make and distribute LSD in 1999 and 2000 and of possession of LSD with the intent to distribute.

District Court Judge Richard Rogers sentenced Pickard, the chemist in the operation who had two earlier drug-related convictions, to two life terms. Rogers sentenced Apperson — who set up, tore down and transported the lab — to two concurrent 30-year terms in prison.

In the 1960s, LSD helped launch the counterculture revolution when Timothy Leary, controversial advocate of psychedelic drugs, popularized the phrase urging people to "turn on, tune in and drop out."

More than one DEA agent said it was good the verdict was decided by a "common sense" Kansas jury rather than a jury in San Francisco, Hargreaves said.

Pickard, a chemist who earned a master's degree in public policy from Harvard University, was a researcher at the University of California at Los Angeles who studied psychoactive drugs. Pickard's role in a drug policy institute was a "great cover" in the LSD production, Hargreaves said.

"In my opinion, this was the most intelligent, sophisticated criminal in American history," Hargreaves said, adding Pickard could have produced 2.8 billion dosage units of LSD.

"If you like the 'Breaking Bad' TV series, this is the real-life LSD version of Walter White," Hargreaves said. "In some ways, it's even more bizarre than 'Breaking Bad.' "

DEA officials said Pickard and Apperson had operated other LSD sites, including New Mexico, Colorado and a missile silo at Carneiro in Ellsworth County in Kansas before they shifted operations to Wamego in 1999.

During the trial, witnesses testified the LSD lab at Wamego was the largest ever seized in DEA history.

Pickard and Apperson were proven "to be responsible for the illicit manufacture of the majority of the LSD sold in this nation," a DEA official said in 2003.

During a law enforcement raid in 2000, the two were arrested near the Wamego site by authorities.

Hargreaves said DEA chemists estimated the clandestine lab had enough chemicals to make 2.8 billion LSD doses, which cost 29 cents a dose to produce and sold for $10 each.

Pickard, 68, of Mill Valley, Calif., is incarcerated in the high-security U.S. Penitentiary in Tucson, according to federal prison records examined last week.

Apperson, 59, of Sunnyvale, Calif., is housed at the medium security prison in Victorville, Calif.

Apperson's projected release date is May 8, 2029. As for Pickard, his release date says "life."

"Operation: Trip to Oz" is published by Sarah Book Publishing, of Brownsville, Texas. The cost is $18.95.

Forbes Field: 548th Strategic Missile Squadron

Based out of Forbes Field in Topeka from 1961 to 1964, the 548th Strategic Missile Squadron was composed of a "ring" of nine sites around Topeka that had silos for the Atlas series of Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM), the first ICBM used by the United States.

Originally a bomber squadron, this unit was deployed to England during World War II. After the war, the squadron was deactivated in 1949 due to post war budget constraints. In the late 1950's, the Airforce's Ballistic Missile Division scoured the Great Plains for potential ballistic missile locations. Topeka was chosen as both a "low cost" site for the Atlas series and because of it's "strategic" location as it was seen that the Topeka site would be serve as a "last ditch" site if other U.S. missile sites were knocked out by a Soviet attack. The 90 foot tall Atlas ICBM had a range of 6,000 miles and carried a 4 megaton yield warhead.

The base would originate in Forbes Field; Forbes at the time housed strategic bombers but the inclusion of ICBM launch sites officially transformed it into a Strategic Air Command Base. In 1959 the Topeka sites were approved by the Secretary of Defense and took 14 months and $35 Million dollars to construct. The 548th was reactivated in 1961 as a ballistic missile unit and from 1961-64, the crews at nine separate launch sites stood at the ready 24 hours a day in the event an order to launch was given.

The locations of the nine Kansas launching sites are:

In 1964 the 548th was deactivated when newer, more reliable and precise missiles rendered the Atlas obsolete. The Atlas missiles had few accidents over the course of service; three of them in New Mexico silos, one in Oklahoma but none in Kansas.

After the Atlas program was cancelled, private entities showed interest in purchasing the silos for their own use. Jackson Heights K-12 school in Holton was built from a decommissioned Atlas silo. Jackson Heights' teachers use the silo as an educational aide in teaching students about the Cold War as well as a general storage area and garage for buses. 

A silo in Wamego was converted into a home in 1996.

Entry: Forbes Field: 548th Strategic Missile Squadron

Author: Kansas Historical Society

Author information: The Kansas Historical Society is a state agency charged with actively safeguarding and sharing the state's history.

Date Created: July 2015

Date Modified: December 2015

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