If only someone told me this sooner

1.Grand Central Station Secret Underground Room

Grand Central Station is one of the gems of New York City, but there is a lot going on there that people don’t know about. For one, there is a secret bar and tennis courts. But there is one top-secret room in Grand Central Station that doesn’t show up on any blueprints. The room is known as M42 and its existence was acknowledge in the ‘80s. The 22,000 square-foot bunker is located 10 floors down from the main floor.

2.Area 51

Obviously, this one has to make the list just because it’s so famously shrouded in mystery. Despite Area 51 turning into an alien pop culture reference, experts say that the top-secret base in Nevada probably doesn’t have anything to do with aliens. In the ‘60s, the base was used as a secret flying zone where they tested spy planes. Today it is believed to have a similar function. Some think that Area 51 also houses and sells top-secret weapons.

3.Area ... 52?

The Dugway Proving Grounds in Nevada are rumored to be a second Area 51-style army base. The base is absolutely massive; it’s about the size of Rhode Island. When you have an enormous super-secret military base like that, people start assuming some pretty crazy stuff goes down there. For example, some say that biological and chemical warfare tactics are tested out there.

4.MK-Ultra

This was one of the most f***ed up things the CIA ever did. During the Cold War era, the CIA put $20 million into Project MK-ULTRA. The project comprised of mind-control experiments on unknowing human subjects. The CIA dosed these human subjects with LSD to find a way to make the perfect submissive soldiers.

5.Area 6

This site, only referred to as Area 6, is located in the Yucca Flat of the Nevada desert. Apparently, the site is the home of the National Nuclear Security Administration projects. But not a lot of people, including the defense department, know about it. Only a few details about the site have been leaked. The purpose of the site is to test “unmanned aerial vehicles,” but not much more information than that was given out.

6.Faking Terrorist Attacks

In the ‘60s, the US and Cuba weren’t exactly the best of pals. The U.S. government was planning on taking out Castro and his regime by any means necessary, even if that meant committing acts of terrorism. The plan, which was called “Operation Northwoods,”was meant to trick the American people into supporting a war against Cuba.

7.A Conch To Take Out Castro?

During the ‘60s, the United States unsuccessfully devised several assassination attempts on Cuban dictator, Fidel Castro. One of those plans was a in a league of its own … about 20,000 leagues. The CIA planned to mask an explosive as an attractive shell in one of Castro’s favorite diving spots. The shell was meant to be distinct, but not too much, just enough to catch his eye. When Castro picked it up … BOOM! Yeah, it didn’t work.

8.The X-37 B

The X-37 B was an aircraft that was launched into orbit in 2010, and not a lot of people really know what it’s doing up there. The only things that are really known about the aircraft is that it’s fully robotic and about 29-feet-long. There are rumors, of course, that the X-37 is meant to damage other nation’s spacecraft.

9.The USS Jimmy Carter

The USS Jimmy Carter is another impressive piece of super-secret military machinery. The USS Jimmy Carter was first launched in 2004 and was said to be involved in a secret mission to spy on North Korea. The submarine has some pretty advanced technology on board, like being able to pick up conversations from other submarines.

10.Are We Being Spied On?

There is a data center out in the Utah desert that supposedly spies on everything we do on the internet and on our phones. The official name of the center is the Intelligence Community Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative Data Center.

I don’t like the looks of this place. On their actual website it says “if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear.” Yeah, a little bit too Big Brother, if you ask me.

11.Let Him Be

During the Vietnam War, the FBI put John Lennon on their watch list for his outspoken comments about the war. The FBI deemed The Beatles singer as a threat to national security. They restricted his visa and also kept a close eye on Yoko Ono and her daughter.

12. We Have A Pakistani Army?

To keep some semblance of control in the Middle East, the United States funded and helped train a Pakistani army. It was originally a secret agreement worked out between the U.S. and Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence. The army may have been dismantled by now, though.

13.Secret Afghan Prisons

In 2009, the Obama administration said that they had eliminated all the Afghan prisons, or “Black Sites.” However, in 2011, Associate Press journalist, Kimberly Dozier, wrote an article that revealed the Joint Special Operations Command was hiding 20 prisons where Afghans were been tortured by the guards.

By Katia Kleyman