Exterior of Apple II House

    This is one of the test houses built for the 1955 Apple II atomic bomb test at the Nevada Test Site. The 29 kiloton test was meant to measure the civil effects of weapons. Mannequins were put up inside this house, which survived the detonation (houses closer to the epicentre were blown away).

    I've reduced the saturation for some of the other colour pictures from the Nevada test site, but in general the negative scans were extremely vivid - the guy who scanned the 6x6 negs for me told me that he had to turn off the Digital ICE software for a few of these because the colours were already so saturated. The sunlight in the Nevada desert sets everything on fire.

    I'm pleased that the colours were so vivid were because it helps to convey the surreality of the test area. Across its many thousands of square miles are dotted sites of interest just like this one. Everything from craters to test structures that were warped and broken by the blast. There are areas in the site where visitors are not allowed to go because they are still considered too radioactive. And now, aside from a few operational activities such as hazmat testing and nuclear waste management, the site is largely frozen in time following the testing moratorium. Everything sits perfectly preserved in the arid desert environment.

    As the PR executive whisked me from one site to the next and I continued taking photos, it reminded me of a grotesque theme park - an atomic playground. She underlined this as we talked about what we'd seen. "Frankly," she said at one point, "Guys just like to blow stuff up."

    Comments and faves

    1. ★

      jejuniper, Bertoz, mjs6p, Tom Adams, and 40 other people added this photo to their favorites.

    2. Krsjn (77 months ago | reply)

      Amazing photo, but very surreal. The house looks completely out of place, and as if it were made of plastic. Odd.

    3. merlinospace (69 months ago | reply)

      Wow this is a great incredible place! I've heard that John Wayne has got cancer coz he was making movies in these areas.. is it still dangerous or not ??? :-?
      Thanks for sharing.. great shot

    4. Emilio Valdés (64 months ago | reply)

      incredible, all this seems to be a science fiction horror movie, but all is truth. Is hard to believe. Is very interesting find some actual news about this subject, and pictures. all people should know about this. Well done!

    5. innocencenow (64 months ago | reply)

      Would you like this pic to be a part of 'Help! Save me from nuclear holocaust' pool! Spare a thought for the safe future of the children living and yet to be born ! Use every fora to discourage nuclear armaments race!

    6. Birdie2169 (57 months ago | reply)

      Very cool and interesting! I used to live in Indian Springs, NV and was not far from the test site.

      --
      Found in a search. (?)

    7. brendonmilligan07 (56 months ago | reply)

      Awsome picture, and yes it could possibly still be dangerous... but only if you were to like touch it or something.

    8. bsidefilms (49 months ago | reply)

      Just wanted to let you know that I will be using this image in an up-coming post on MonoMoney. Thanks for uploading it!
      :)

    9. mallix (49 months ago | reply)

      HOME SWEET HOME. Reality is sometimes harder to accept than fiction. And all this rubbish left lying around, in true human fashion - would love to visit the site to offer my condolences..

    10. scottyferguson (47 months ago | reply)

      I've always been amazed that the chimney is still standing to this day. Of all the structures built for Apple II: Bank vaults. Motels, Steel Bridges, This simple chimney came away intact While other more complicated structures failed.

    11. Mortarman101 (41 months ago | reply)

      Awesome capture!!

      Fascinating subject!!

    12. Photobandito (20 months ago | reply)

      First of all, that was no executive. She is a guide, in fact a contracted guide for people like you. And get your facts straight -- yes the mannequins survived but one of them had a ten inch piece of glass stuck in its back. The cars outside were not so lucky -- they got burned, tires exploded and they were not returned to the dealership and despite what you hear, neither were the mannequins. They were all radioactive.

    13. sedolan (16 months ago | reply)

      If she was a guide it was a special guide because you cannot bring cameras on the tour, I also don't think you even get off the bus during the tour.. but then again this is just from looking at the itinerary.. every stop on the list has a drive-by briefing.

    14. Jim Lanphear (15 months ago | reply)

      I was there in August, 2009. It still looks pretty much like this. We did indeed touch it and our heads didn't fall off or anything... It's amazing to see it up close. It's more weathered looking than any photograph can capture. We spent 3 days at Mercury. The entire place is amazing. I wouldn't mind going back some time.

    15. Slava Chrome (11 months ago | reply)

      Beautiful! =]

    16. Slava Chrome (11 months ago | reply)

      youtu.be/AICdzDeqnZ8?t=6m57s

      here is that house =)

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