24 Unsettling Before And After Photos From Operation Doorstep

These little-seen photos reveal a secret Cold War test conducted by the U.S. government to show what nuclear annihilation would look like.

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1 of 25Mannequin mother and her brood, before the blast.Wikimedia Commons/United States Department of Energy 2 of 25Car with graffiti before the blast.Wikimedia Commons/United States Department of Energy 3 of 25Mannequin couple in a test car, pre-devastation.Wikimedia Commons/United States Department of Energy 4 of 25Lady mannequin in car before the blast.Wikimedia Commons/United States Department of Energy 5 of 25Mannequin passenger sits tight as inspectors comb the area, pre-blast.Wikimedia Commons/United States Department of Energy 6 of 25A mannequin family taking shelter in the basement, 7,500 feet away from the center of the blast.Wikimedia Commons/United States Department of Energy 7 of 25A single mannequin under a lean-to shelter before the blast.Wikimedia Commons/United States Department of Energy 8 of 25Mannequin mother under a lean-to with her baby.Wikimedia Commons/United States Department of Energy 9 of 25House number one, 3,500 feet from ground zero, just as the blast occurs…Wikimedia Commons/United States Department of Energy 10 of 25Frame two of the house’s devastation. To protect the camera that recorded this, it was placed in a two-inch-thick lead sheath.Wikimedia Commons/United States Department of Energy 11 of 25Frame six. The only light used to get this footage was from the blast.Wikimedia Commons/United States Department of Energy 12 of 25Frame eight, revealing total destruction in less than three seconds. Wikimedia Commons/United States Department of Energy 13 of 25Wreckage of a wooden house after the blast.Wikimedia Commons/United States Department of Energy 14 of 25Mannequin on a wrecked dining room floor in house number two.Wikimedia Commons/United States Department of Energy 15 of 25The wreckage of a dining room after the blast.Wikimedia Commons/United States Department of Energy 16 of 25Living room wreckage.Wikimedia Commons/United States Department of Energy 17 of 25Vehicle and wooden house wreckage.Wikimedia Commons/United States Department of Energy 18 of 25Several mannequins, post-blast.Wikimedia Commons/United States Department of Energy 19 of 25A disturbing post-blast smile in this living room scene.Wikimedia Commons/United States Department of Energy 20 of 25Wreckage of a wooden house.Wikimedia Commons/United States Department of Energy 21 of 25Living room wreckage.Wikimedia Commons/United States Department of Energy 22 of 25Mannequin lady, surprisingly undisturbed.Wikimedia Commons/United States Department of Energy 23 of 25A worker surveys the damage of the wooden house after the blast.Wikimedia Commons/United States Department of Energy 24 of 25Vehicles devastated by the blast.Wikimedia Commons/United States Department of Energy 25 of 25Like this gallery?Share it:

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24 Unsettling Before And After Photos From Operation Doorstep View Gallery

On March 17, 1953, the United States conducted a nuclear weapons test 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas codenamed Upshot–Knothole Annie. The moment of the explosion of this atomic bomb was nationally televised — a rare instance of the general public actually seeing and hearing such an explosion.

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1 of 25Mannequin mother and her brood, before the blast.Wikimedia Commons/United States Department of Energy

2 of 25Car with graffiti before the blast.Wikimedia Commons/United States Department of Energy

3 of 25Mannequin couple in a test car, pre-devastation.Wikimedia Commons/United States Department of Energy

4 of 25Lady mannequin in car before the blast.Wikimedia Commons/United States Department of Energy

5 of 25Mannequin passenger sits tight as inspectors comb the area, pre-blast.Wikimedia Commons/United States Department of Energy

6 of 25A mannequin family taking shelter in the basement, 7,500 feet away from the center of the blast.Wikimedia Commons/United States Department of Energy

7 of 25A single mannequin under a lean-to shelter before the blast.Wikimedia Commons/United States Department of Energy

8 of 25Mannequin mother under a lean-to with her baby.Wikimedia Commons/United States Department of Energy

9 of 25House number one, 3,500 feet from ground zero, just as the blast occurs…Wikimedia Commons/United States Department of Energy

10 of 25Frame two of the house’s devastation. To protect the camera that recorded this, it was placed in a two-inch-thick lead sheath.Wikimedia Commons/United States Department of Energy

11 of 25Frame six. The only light used to get this footage was from the blast.Wikimedia Commons/United States Department of Energy

12 of 25Frame eight, revealing total destruction in less than three seconds. Wikimedia Commons/United States Department of Energy

13 of 25Wreckage of a wooden house after the blast.Wikimedia Commons/United States Department of Energy

14 of 25Mannequin on a wrecked dining room floor in house number two.Wikimedia Commons/United States Department of Energy

15 of 25The wreckage of a dining room after the blast.Wikimedia Commons/United States Department of Energy

16 of 25Living room wreckage.Wikimedia Commons/United States Department of Energy

17 of 25Vehicle and wooden house wreckage.Wikimedia Commons/United States Department of Energy

18 of 25Several mannequins, post-blast.Wikimedia Commons/United States Department of Energy

19 of 25A disturbing post-blast smile in this living room scene.Wikimedia Commons/United States Department of Energy

20 of 25Wreckage of a wooden house.Wikimedia Commons/United States Department of Energy

21 of 25Living room wreckage.Wikimedia Commons/United States Department of Energy

22 of 25Mannequin lady, surprisingly undisturbed.Wikimedia Commons/United States Department of Energy

23 of 25A worker surveys the damage of the wooden house after the blast.Wikimedia Commons/United States Department of Energy

24 of 25Vehicles devastated by the blast.Wikimedia Commons/United States Department of Energy

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24 Unsettling Before And After Photos From Operation Doorstep View Gallery

24 Unsettling Before And After Photos From Operation Doorstep

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What the public didn’t see that day, however, was Operation Doorstep. The Federal Civil Defense Administration conducted the test in conjunction with the Annie blast, and intended for it to “show the people of America what might be expected if an atomic burst took place over the doorsteps of our major cities.” The FCDA made the entire study available to the public later the same year, photos included, for just 25 cents.

To conduct Operation Doorstep, FCDA officials placed two wooden houses close to the Annie blast. Before, during, and after the blast, the FCDA snapped shots of the damage wrought. Cameras caught house number one – even at 3,500 feet away from the center of the blast – get completely devastated within a few seconds.

FCDA officials had house number two placed 7,500 feet away from the blast. They had this home stocked with furniture and mannequins to help inspectors better understand the damage that the blast could deal to a typical family home — and family — at this relatively safer distance.

Furthermore, the FCDA scattered 50 cars throughout the area to help determine if “the family car could provide any effective protection” against a 16-kiloton nuclear weapon detonated a few miles away.

The resulting before-and-after images offer a fascinating glimpse into what a bomb of this magnitude can do to a home, even if it’s thousands of feet away from the center of the blast.

But the bone-chilling mannequin tableaus created by the blast give the Operation Doorstep photos a macabre quality – even if you’re not pediophobic (especially afraid of dummies, dolls, or mannequins). More to the point, it underscores the living and breathing Cold War paranoia of 1950s America – where nuclear weapons tests were televised and federal agencies offered the public visual proof of imminent annihilation for under a dollar.

Enjoy stories and photographs about nuclear weapons and the Atomic Age? Try our other posts on nuclear test sites that saw worse devastation than Chernobyl and step inside a top secret 1950s Cold War bunker.

These little-seen photos reveal a secret Cold War test conducted by the U.S. government to show what nuclear annihilation would look like.#

These little-seen photos reveal a secret Cold War test conducted by the U.S. government to show what nuclear annihilation would look like.