The checkered past of an abandoned field full of concrete structures and barbed wire.
Imagine a top secret nuclear testing facility in the sleepy woods of Maine in 24 hour lockdown from '53-'57, where weapons were delivered on B-36es and B-47s under canvas tarps and hydrogen and tritium ignition technologies were developed under cloak and dagger. The history of "Site Easy" begins as a small spot on the horizon of the end of World War II, fades into murky rumor and resurfaces with an incident involving an unidentified flying object over the site in the mid 1970s and once again comes up for the last time in 1992 when a group of workmen get exposed to radiation.
Sound far fetched?
...perhaps not.
Built in the early 50s, sealed "permanently" after less than a decade in use, and absorbed into Loring AFB as a weapons storage area in 1962, the site didn't see much action until late October of 1975 when several unidentified flying objects came very close to the nuclear weapons stored there. At the time, the research portion of the facility had been shut down and it was serving as a place to provide a space for a guarded stockpile of "special weapons" as Loring was
the most forward Strategic Air Command location in the continental United States.
An account of the October 1975 UFO incident from an unnamed airman reveals that even though the North River Depot was absorbed into Loring AFB, that the entirety of the facility was not:
The weapons storage
area was very remote from the rest of the base and the logistic group
was the only other group near the weapons storage area. As I recall
the actual weapon storage area we used was a small section of a much
larger storage area.
The part we didn't use was abandoned and we were sectioned off by
a separate fence. There were also a few abandoned buildings within
the weapon storage area that were also abandoned and separately fenced
off. One in particular comes to mind that was completely sealed, no
windows and the door welded shut
The "abandoned" part of the WSA that the airman is referring to is the "Vamp House" and the "Bank",
depending on who you ask. Although by most accounts this buildings had been sealed some time before its absorption into Loring AFB in 1962.
The "Vamp House" got its name from the Security Police personnel who patrolled the Weapons Storage Area (WSA) at Loring Air Force Base.
Over the years, the stories of the "Vamp House" were told over and
over to Security Policemen who were new to the area. The term "Vamp
House" was used to describe a large two story concrete building which
was constructed in one of the two weapons storage areas. This
building was surrounded by weapons storage igloos, and had two "pill
boxes" on each side of it. The name "Vamp House" was given because
the story went that vampires lived in the building. Of course this
was ridiculous, but the place was so strange and weird looking, that
it gave the "troops" stationed in the area the creeps....
-John Garbinski, Yahoo Message Board posting, 2000
The following is a portion of a very informative Yahoo groups message board
post from 2009, I have added photographs:
This self-sufficient "mini-base" was designed as a maximum security
storage area for nuclear weapons. It included barracks, recreational
facilities, warehouses, offices, weapon maintenance areas and 27 storage
igloos. It's mission was to protect and maintain the nuclear weapons
deployed by the United States. (From above linked post.)
There were two main zones: Administrative/Service Zone (barracks, etc.)
and the Storage Zone, called the Q-Area. It was called the Q-Area
because of the requirement to have a Top Secret "Q" Security Clearance,
authorized by the Atomic Energy Commission, to enter the area.(From above linked post.)
 |
| Building 260 - The "Vamp House" -LoringAirForceBase.com |
North River Depot had two storage vaults to store nuclear capsules
which, in earlier weapons, were manually inserted into the core of
nuclear weapons in-flight. These storage vaults were called "A"
buildings. What we call the 'Vamp House' was an "A" building. It was a
large two story looking structure, but actually there was only one
level; the second story was solid reinforced concrete. With the advent
of self-contained weapons in the late 1950's, the "A" buildings (Bank
& Vamp House) became obsolete. The second "A" building which we call
"The Bank" replaced the "Vamp House" when studies concluded that it was
top-heavy and would topple over from the blast pressure of a nuclear
explosion.
Timelines:
8/4/1951: Construction of North River Depot (code named "Site Easy")
begins, located on east side, in the northern most section, of
neighboring SAC Limestone AFB.
11/1/1952: North River Depot activated and the 3080th Aviation Depot
Squadron, activated as a unit of the Air Material Command, assumes
control of the area.
9/1/1953: North River Depot is designated by Air Material Command as Caribou Air Force Station.
2/1955: The two guards occupying the "A" building pillboxes are removed, replaced by a second two man roving patrol.
7/1/1962: Inactivation of the 3080th Aviation Depot Group is
effective. Caribou Air Force Station becomes part of Limestone/Loring
AFB. ]
Of course wherever there is secrecy of this nature, there are often many 'theories' that come to fill the void. Some I've found on various message boards from some of those who were stationed at Loring include but are not limited to an account claiming that Einstein was working there in the early 1950s
and a claim that Building 260 was site to an accident at some point.
The claim that Building 260 was home to an accident at some point may hold some water.
Accounts from those stationed there indicate that the "A" Building (vamp house) was sealed in the late 1950s before "Site Easy" was absorbed into the base. A local historian, John Garbinski, has written quite a neat
book on the site, called "North River Depot" which seems to indicate that icing problems during the winter of 1952/1953 may have lead to heating/cooling issues that may have set the stage for an accident as the facility was responsible for placing fissile materials inside warheads for transportation to waiting bombers for Operation Head Start. (An aside, Operation Head Start was a mission to have bombers in the air 24/7)
 |
| Containment sleeve, via Flickr |
Essentially, North River Depot personnel were responsible for taking fissionable material and placing them inside of containment cylinders that prevented radioactive contamination (or worse) by insulating the fissionable material with pressurized inert gases. Should oxygen make its way inside the sleeve you've got trouble. The accident tale is possible considering pressurized metal sleeves and big temperature changes (the kind you'd get by trying to de-ice a basement with steam) don't mix terribly well.
Mr Garbinski's book makes the claim that in 1992 when the vamp house/Building 260 was unsealed after 30-40 years, twelve workers were exposed to radiation after cutting into the building. It's also claimed that the Air Force denied knowledge of the building itself while the 'official' explanation is that these twelve workers were exposed to built up radon -- ignoring the fact that the building was intended for long term storage of man-made radioactive material. I've looked into the
EPA report, and found nothing of sort.
However....I've verified Mr Garbinski's claim against local news media reports,
the Bangor Daily News reported that "Workers were exposed to radiation when they cut into an inside door of the building sealed for more than 30 years" but also reported that the contamination level was within safe range for most homes and that Loring was developing a "plan to safely enter the sealed building to assess potential sources of radioactivity."
Below is a clipping from the January 1992 story: REVIEW TEAM VERIFIES RADON AS RADIATION SOURCE.
The coverage from the
Lewiston Sun Journal provides much more information:
- The contamination did not occur on entry to the building, it occurred when workers drilled into an area where nuclear capsules were previously stored.
- The Air Force "noted" that radon occurs naturally in the area and said it was "likely" accumulated during the years the building had been sealed.
- Officials from Loring disclosed that the leak involved "detectable levels of Alpha radiation."
The alpha radiation bit is important: these are particles that travel for very short distances in the air and cannot penetrate the skin -- like fallout. Alpha particles are produced when radioactive isotopes decay. Radon-222 is one of those isotopes (and the most likely culprit) but it's worth pointing out that Plutonium-236 and Uranium-238 also cause this type of radiation when they decay, and that Maine is designated by the EPA as being in Zone 1 (highest risk) for dangerous levels of radon.
The L
os Angeles Times also ran a story that added another piece to the story: "The building was in an area once used to store nuclear weapons,
but the
Air Force had no records of what had been stored in the structure."
I plan on visiting the site during Loring's Open House marking the 20th anniversary of its closure. The answers are long gone, but it's definitely interesting to think about.
UPDATE 12/2014: I have added photos of a visit to the site to my Imgur account.
Click here to view them.
 |
| Capsule Storage - Library of Congress photo. |
DISCLAIMER: I tried to scrub most identifying information from accounts from those who aren't Mr Garbinski. (By the way, you can buy his book
here.)I do not know anyone mentioned here personally...if I have used your account and you would like to be credited, please let me know. Also, all photos here from the Library of Congress unless otherwise noted, used under Creative Commons licensing.
