A closer look

Mother Nature literally opened the gates to American fascism in 1987. When the Whittier earthquake struck, it shattered the sealed entrances to Murphy Ranch, a heavily fortified, self-sustaining compound built in the 1930s by wealthy Nazi sympathizers waiting for the fall of the US. Today, it's just another weekend hiking spot where activewear-clad tourists take selfies next to the crumbling graffiti-covered ruins of a terrifying ideological delusion.