Safe rooms date back to ancient Egypt. Secret rooms were constructed inside the pyramids to protect entombed pharaohs and their treasures from grave robbers. In the Middle Ages, European castles typically contained “keeps”—large fortified towers that were used as a refuge of last resort if enemies breached the castle walls. “Priest holes” in 16th century England were hiding places built inside the homes of Catholics for priests who were fleeing persecution. Today’s safe rooms are first cousins to the nuclear fallout shelters of the 1960s.
Starting in the 1980s, every U.S. embassy had a safe room. Since 1992, weapon-resistent safe rooms are required in all new embassy construction. People put safe rooms in their houses, and even on their boats, for various reasons, not the least of which is to protect some of their greatest valuables.
Let’s consider one specially designed safe room I know of. Placed strategically and inconspicuously in the center of the house, it is extremely easy to reach, but only if you know just where to look. Imagine the walls reinforced with multiple layers of hardened steel so they’re bulletproof and then some. Think of a door, also bulletproof, with internal steel framing. Because of biometric locks, it’s easy and quick to open while secure and impossible to tamper with from the outside. The floor and the ceiling are made of concrete, with an overlay of a specially designed composite material. The entire house is replete with an extremely sophisticated security and response system that makes extensive use of closed-circuit cameras. The cameras can be monitored anywhere on a network, through the use of encrypted software.
While such a safe room can be used in emergency situations, for escaping a burglar for example, or surviving a nuclear holocaust or living through a full-blown zombie attack, the safe room we’re talking about houses the family treasure: more than 300 pairs of astoundingly beautiful shoes. So in case someone breaks into the house, or the world is confronted with Armageddon, or there’s a merciless assault by werewolves or vampires, at least the shoes—forget the family and their menagerie—will be safe.
