There had been rumors since the beginning that the huge construction site in the small town of Karp Ontario was not what the government said it was.

The official story was that they were building an experimental Army Signals establishment,

whatever that means.

But in small towns, people talk.

The residents were seeing a lot of activity there,

and they weren't buying the government's line.

A reporter wanted to settle the matter once and for all.

So we went out there, got himself in a plane, and flew over the site.

What he saw gave him the proof he needed to confirm the truth.

Toilets! 78 of them waiting to be installed, far more than they would need to service

that Army facility. These were enough toilets for hundreds of people, because this structure was not what officials claimed it was.

It was the Canadian government's secret nuclear fallout shelter. I'm Kevin Sexton and this is Atlas Obscura, a celebration of the world's strange, incredible, and wondrous places.

Today I'll take you four stories underground to visit an alternate history where the Canadian

government is running the country after a nuclear war.

When the secret was exposed, it created a scandal,

and all over a bunker that was basically useless from day one.

The fallout after this. The bunker is a 25 mile drive out of Canada's capital city of Ottawa, down a country road filled with construction and landscaping companies.

And from the outside, it doesn't look like much. Past a couple of gates you find a grassy

hill with a few ventilation pipes and a large antenna sticking out of it. On the

side of that hill there's something that looks like a little garage.

Okay, we're entering the bunker.

So we've gone in through the Butler Hut structure,

...