| “ | "Dump? Are you kidding? Do you realize where we are? This - this dump is the last true beacon of light in a world gone topsy-turvy. This dump is the epicenter of the ultimate chess match between good and evil." | ” |
The Men of Letters Bunker, or "the Batcave" as it was referred to by Dean Winchester, was the secret base of the Men of Letters. It could only be accessed by a special key.
History and details
Top View.
The Men of Letters bunker housed many artifacts, and was located in Lebanon, Kansas, the geographic center of the contiguous United States. Construction of the bunker was started in 1932, and took three years to build. After it was finished in 1935, the first case investigated in the bunker was that of Dorothy Baum. Much of the events were written into a set of books by Dorothy's father, who was a Man of Letters himself.[1]
It was described as containing every object, scroll, and spell collected by the order for over a thousand years, as well as research and books on a variety of subjects. After eighty years the bunker had functional power and water supply, and was also capable of providing some form of Internet connection.
It was said to be the "safest place on Earth, warded against any evil ever created."[1][2] The warding on the bunker was devised by Cuthbert Sinclair, before he was expelled from the Men of letters and went rogue.[3] The only way to get in was with the Key of the Order of Letters.[2]
The bunker also possessed a lock down mode, which could be activated by a lever in the electrical room. Once locked down, no one could get in or out of the bunker. The process caused an alarm and all the lights to dim, and be replaced by red ones.
In 2013, it became Sam and Dean Winchester's new base of operations. It was impossible to track cell phone signals that came from within the bunker; the closest that one could get a signal was outside of a twenty-mile radius.
The witch Olivette, revealed that there were actually many bunkers scattered across the world.[4]
Layout and contents
The Library.
The bunker was laid out in two layers, with a balcony level on the entrance, and second level where the main area was. It also contained a library, and was decorated in lavish style. The walls were covered with bookcases and filing cabinets, detailing many files collected over centuries, and included every exorcism over three hundred years, case files, incident reports, and information on hunters the Men of Letters worked with. At the end was a very large telescope. It also contained several storage rooms.
In the room adjacent to the library was a variety of old computers and machines, including "Commodore 64".[1] It was revealed they were still functionable and possessed some form of sensors and early warning devices, as they were automatically activated when the angels were expelled from heaven and started tracking them falling, all over the earth.[5]
Sam and Dean discuss their plans inside the bunker.
It also had multiple showers and living quarters. The central area featured a long wooden table that could be used for gatherings. Much of the furniture and decor were from past decades. It had vinyl records and a functional record player. The headquarters also included many unique relics and artifacts, including the Spear of Destiny and the Key to Oz.[6]
Despite being a large building, its entrance was rather small and nondescript. The entrance was located near the road but was almost below ground level. One of the rooms that was meant as sleeping quarters, was claimed by Dean Winchester as his own, and he decorated it with a series of guns and other weapons, including his blade from Purgatory on the back wall. The room contained a bed with a memory foam mattress and a desk with a reading light, against which Dean placed a picture of his mother.
Sam, Dean, Charlie, and Dorothy in the garage of the bunker.
The complex also housed a shooting range, complete with three targets[7] and a dungeon for holding demons hidden in one of its archive rooms. The dungeon included a Devil's trap as well as cuffs and chains that were engraved in spellwork.[8] There was also a very large kitchen, and what seemed to be a sick bay.
The bunker had a garage that housed a lot of vehicles, like cars and Dorothy's motorcycle. Most vehicles were classics[1] due to the Order's foundation in earlier decades. After its discovery, Dean started storing the Impala here.[9] The bunker also had an electrical room which managed the controls to large parts of the building, and included the lever that activates lock down mode.
The Bunker contains at least three pure gold knives that can be used to kill monsters.
The Bunker was warded for a long time by various spells, thanks to Cuthbert Sinclair's efforts[3], rendering it near impenetrable to most supernatural attacks and invasion. These wards can be "powered down" by the inhabitants to allow beings such as demons to enter.[10]
Inhabitants
- Men of Letters
- Cuthbert Sinclair (formerly, deceased)
- Peter Jenkins (deceased)
- James Haggerty (deceased)
- Dorothy (formerly)
- The Wicked Witch (deceased)
- Sam Winchester
- Dean Winchester
- Castiel
- Charlie Bradbury (deceased)
- Kevin Tran (deceased)
- Crowley (as prisoner)
- Gadreel (possessing Sam, deceased)
- Lucifer (possessing Castiel)
- God (formerly)
- Mary Winchester
Appearances
Trivia
- Castiel's safe place inside his mind is the bunker's kitchen.
- During Gadreel's possession of Sam, Sam was inside what he thought was the bunker's library.
- In All in the Family, God teleports the Impala into the middle of the Bunker's storage room while saving its passengers from Amara.
- As shown in We Happy Few, Sam's bedroom is Room 21.
- Fans who toured the Supernatural set of the Men of Letters bunker reveal that Dean sleeps in Room 15.
- They also revealed that the crew use the same room as the set for Sam and Dean's bedrooms.
- In The Vessel, Lucifer drapes Castiel's trench coat over a chair after getting it wet. He is banished away before he can retrieve it, yet he appears in the following episode with an identical one.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Slumber Party
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 As Time Goes By
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Blade Runners
- ↑ Paint it Black
- ↑ Sacrifice
- ↑ Goodbye Stranger
- ↑ Pac-Man Fever
- ↑ Clip Show
- ↑ Baby
- ↑ Lotus