https://katv.com/news/local/arkansas-ma ... itan-ranch
Arkansas man turns Titan II nuclear missile silo into Airbnb; building nuke for rent
by Andrew MobleyWed, October 30th 2024 at 8:10 PM
Updated Wed, October 30th 2024 at 10:35 PM
LITTLE ROCK (KATV) — There's no shortage of vacation rentals spread throughout the natural beauty of Arkansas. But in Faulkner County, guests can spend the night in a decommissioned Titan II nuclear missile silo complex.
Arkansas hosted Titan II nuclear missile silos that were decommissioned and abandoned in the late '80s, but one man has taken it upon himself to give the Cold War legacy of the Titan new life.
"Titan II, its entire job was deterrence. It's here to make sure that the U.S.S.R. doesn't do something stupid," GT Hill, owner of the Titan Ranch, told KATV.
The Titan II missile program was part of the second generation of intercontinental ballistic missiles that could be launched from within their silos in less than a minute, each carrying a nine-megaton nuclear warhead.
"If you take every bullet and bomb used in World War II, by every side, including the two atomic bombs that the U.S. used, you add up all of that power; that is still only one-third the power of one Titan II warhead," Hill said.
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And there were 18 Titan IIs ready for their grim mission of mutually assured destruction right under our feet in Central Arkansas.
When GT Hill bought an abandoned Titan II silo just outside Vilonia in 2010, he didn't know what he was in for.
The underground missile complex had to be excavated like a booby-trapped archaeological site and was flooded with tons of water. Opening the first set of blast doors nearly claimed his life.
"Steps for renovation start with making sure you don't die when you walk in," Hill said.
And once inside the subterranean missile complex, it became clear that the work had just begun.
"It was like walking through a shipwreck. It had been underwater for 25 years; everything was nasty and smelly, calcium deposits everywhere, so that was actually quite mentally overwhelming," Hill admitted.
But countless hours of hard work, brushes with death, and over $750,000 of renovations later, the silo is now a luxurious vacation rental that attracts high school partygoers, social media influencers, and Cold War enthusiasts from around the globe.
"Most of the people that stay here are people that just want an adventure; they want history, they want something that is ultra unique," Hill told KATV.
Hill is currently constructing a replica of the Titan II missile itself. Once complete, guests will also be able to stay the night in that.
As for the missile complex, it has one more secret to hide—the 15-story deep Titan silo itself, sealed off at the end of the longest tunnel in the missile complex.
Hill says the cost to excavate the massive pit beyond would be too high, as it's completely flooded.
He told KATV that he usually doesn't tell guests that an aging steel and concrete bulkhead is all that separates them from subterranean silo floodwater until check-out.
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