Could Doomsday Bunkers Become the New Normal?

Could Doomsday Bunkers Become the New Normal?

Could Doomsday Bunkers Become the New Normal? When we were told to stay inside our homes, a portion of the population quietly went below ground.

The modular square fallout shelter built by Atlas Survival Shelters, based in Sulphur Springs, Texas. Atlas and other shelter companies have seen a big increase in business since the coronavirus pandemic began.Credit...Atlas Survival SheltersJune 26, 2020, 5:00 a.m. ET

The first tenant for one of Frank Woodworth's underground bunkers wasn't a human, it was a seed. "A couple of hippies called me up and asked me to build them a vault for their heirloom seeds,“ he said.

A reserved man with Downeast stoicism, Mr. Woodworth is the owner of Northeast Bunkers, a company in Pittsfield, Maine, that specializes in the design and construction of underground bunkers. It was 18 years ago that Mr. Woodworth outfitted that first steel vault while working as a general contractor, and he has since changed direction, pivoting his business model to focus solely on designing, installing and updating underground shelters.

He stresses that these are not "luxury bunkers“ for the top 1 percent, and only a small part of the calls are coming from Doomsday preppers or Cold War-era holdovers. Rather, about two-thirds