Men of Letters Bunker

Sam and Dean enter the Bunker.

It is warded against any evil ever created. It is the supernatural mother lode. If knowledge is power, then this is the most powerful place on Earth. – Larry Ganem, 8.12 As Time Goes By

History

The Men of Letters' Bunker is located in Lebanon, Kansas, the geographic center of the contiguous lower 48 states of the United States. Here, they stored their collected knowledge of "every object, scroll, spell ever collected for thousands of years under one roof... the safest place on earth, warded against any evil ever created." The witch Olivette revealed to Rowena that there is not just one bunker but several scattered around the world. Mick Davies later reveals to the Winchesters that the key to the Bunker opens up every chapter house of the Men of Letters in the world.

The Bunker took three years to build and was completed in 1935. The style of architecture and decoration in the Bunker is Art Deco and WPA style. The Men of Letter's crest, the Aquarian Star appears as a motif, such as in the floor tiles and on the telephones. It is built between a WPA power plant that sits along a river and which supplies its power and water (Source).

In 1935, Peter Jenkins and James Haggerty are the first of the Men of Letters to be based there. The disappearance of Dorothy Baum and the Wicked Witch of the West is the first case dealt with in the Bunker.

When the Men of Letters were destroyed by Abaddon in 1958, the Bunker was abandoned. However, after learning of its existence in 2013, Sam and Dean Winchester moved in and made the Bunker their home.

Inside the Bunker

The power plant built over the Bunker.

The door to the Bunker opens onto a balcony surrounding a large circular room containing a ham radio, telegraph, and switchboard. There is also a chess board. Leading off this room is a large library, full of books, weapons, and an extensive card file. At the far end is a large telescope.

When they first arrive, Dean refers to the Bunker as the Batcave, referring to the secret lair where Batman did his research and kept his weapons. Sam and Dean discover that the facility has power, running water (Dean and Castiel both report that the shower has very good water pressure), and sleeping quarters.

Warding

The Bunker has magical warding that prohibits the entry of supernatural beings. Most of it was designed by Cuthbert Sinclair, former Men of Letters' Master of Spells. The warding is damaged when Amara arrives at the Bunker and erases the warding sigils so she can enter and search for Chuck.

The Winchesters later replace the warding sigils used against monsters and demons, but not the higher level cosmic warding. Even though they can't completely repair the warding over the short term, Castiel and the reaper Merle temporarily strengthen the remnants of the warding sigils when trying to hide Jack's use of powers from Chuck and save Kaia Nieves from The Bad Place.

General Layout

• Bunker Floorplan - Actual production plans for the Bunker

Bunker layout from the technical package for 14.07 Unhuman Nature

The engravings on the library table

• The main space consists of the "War Room", which centers around a table with an illuminated map of the world. There is also a bank of computers and communication devices.

• There is a large library with shelves of books, a card file index, and many files. A variety of weapons are also on display. At the rear of the library is a very large telescope.

• There are large wooden tables in the library. At the end of 12.18 The Memory Remains, Sam and Dean sit in the library wondering what their legacy will be a hundred years from now. Sam suggests the people they saved will be their legacy, because they left the world better than they found it. Dean wonders about the bunker, if other hunters will move in. Dean gets out his knife and he and Sam carve their initials into the library table as they had done in the Impala (as see 5.22 Swan Song). The final shot of 14.18 Absence shows Mary Winchester's initials engraved alongside Sam and Dean's Initials.

• There is a firing range in the Bunker.

• Room 7B contains archived material. Two of the shelves push back to reveal a dungeon with a large devil's trap and manacles engraved with spellwork. This is where Crowley was held between 9.02 Devil May Care and 9.10 Road Trip and again in 9.16 Blade Runners. (This room is across the hall from room 7D, which contains currently unknown contents). The room was set-up as Nick's quarters after it was revealed he survived Lucifer being killed.

• Room 11 is Dean's Bedroom.

• Room 15 has been used as Mary's Bedroom and also been used by Castiel.

• Room 21 is Sam's Bedroom.

• Room 22 is where Jack Kline stays at the Bunker.

• Room 23 is a fully equipped kitchen in which Dean shows off his culinary skills. There is also a small table and chairs.

• Room 28, level 2 - A storage room where Dorothy mixes up the spell to bind her soul to that of the the Wicked Witch of the West to keep her captive. It also houses a large computer which was installed in 1951 and used to lock down the Bunker and track the locations of angels through the War Room's table.

• Room 32 is where Gabriel stayed while recovering at the bunker. During the stay he writes the story of his recent life on the walls in Enochian.

• The Dean-Cave is a man-cave that Dean made in the Bunker for him and Sam to relax whenever they are not hunting.

• There is a garage where many vintage vehicles, including several motorcycles - one of which is Dorothy Baum's - are still stored. After its discovery, Dean stores the Impala here.

• There are a number of other bedrooms.

• Behind the staircase is an infirmary filled with antique medical supplies, hospital cots, a gurney, operating tables, and a morgue.

• The Bunker is also equipped with a full functional gym, complete with weights and vintage boxing equipment.

• The Bunker has a luxury bathroom with a bathtub, medicine cabinets, a nearby shower, two sinks, tables, a rack filled with bath robes (presumably where Dean first found the Dead Guy Robe), towels, and various assortments of bath salts, lotions, and hair products (possibly Sam's). Dean compliments the water pressure coming from the Steam Shower.

Detail of the floor.

Visitors

People aside from Sam and Dean who have visited the bunker, in alphabetical order:

• Adam Milligan
• Amara / The Darkness
• Anubis
• Lady Antonia Bevell
• Arthur Ketch
• Asmodeus
• Billie
• Bobby Singer (Apocalypse World)
• Castiel
• Charlie Bradbury
• Charlie Bradbury (Apocalypse World)
• Chuck Shurley / God
• Crowley
• Cyrus Styne
• Donatello Redfield
• Dorothy Baum
• Eileen Leahy
• Eldon Styne
• Fiona Duncan
• Gabriel
• Gadreel
• Gavin MacLeod
• Hayley
• Jack Kline
• Jessica
• Jody Mills
• John Winchester
• Jules
• Kaia Nieves
• Dark Kaia
• Kevin Tran
• Lily Sunder
• Linda Tran
• Lora
• Lucifer
• Maggie (Apocalypse World)
• Mary Winchester
• Michael
• Michael (Apocalypse World)
• Mick Davies
• Merle
• Metatron
• Nick
• Oliver
• Prometheus
• Roscoe Styne
• Rowena
• Sam and Dean Winchester (HunterCorp)
• Sergei
• Smithy
• The Wicked Witch of the West
• Violet

United States Men of Letters Capitula

In 13.17 The Thing, Dean finds a file in the archives which tells them that there are multiple capitula throughout the United States. Capitulum (or capitellum) means "chapter" in Latin and capitula is the plural version of the phrase. Sam knows this, because he found a ledger in 10.19 The Werther Project with various chapter house locations listed, but never told Dean. He explains to Dean that, because this document talks of capitulum 7, "the Men of Letters have only one bunker, but have smaller outposts all over the place."

List of U.S. Capitula

In alphabetical order by city:

• Capitulum 1 - Jamestown, Virginia(?)/North Dakota(?) (address unknown)
• Capitulum ? - Canton, Michigan (43211 Chino Street, Canton, MI)
• Capitulum ? - Missoula, Montana (1 North Central Street, Missoula, MT)
• Capitulum ? - Normal, Illinois (242 Gaines Street, Normal, IL)
• Capitulum ? - Roswell, New Mexico (Area 3682 bunker, Roswell, NM)
• Capitulum ? - St. Louis, Missouri (2111 De Fay Street, St. Louis, MO)
• Capitulum 7 - Portsmouth, Rhode Island (address unknown)

Behind the Scenes

View from the main war room into the library. Pic by Tara Larsen.

The reveal of that [bunker], which I believe is in the next episode... it’s a really stunning set. It's full of mysteries, [and] it'll become kind of a home base for the boys. We're really excited about it. After eight years of never really having a home base, this will be home base for quite some time, and I think you guys will really dig the set. It's really cool. They'll go to great pains to keep it hidden. It's also kind of impenetrable. We've had places like this before [ie. Rufus' cabin]. They need a place, not just for us to have a set to shoot on, but I think that the boys need a place where they can decompress, have their bromance. When you see this set you realize they have lots of room to move around and there's lots of really cool things in there. Adam [Glass, the episode's writer] came up with this idea and we really latched on to it immediately. It's a very expensive set, and we're going to be using it [a lot]. – Bob Singer, Source

When Adam Glass brought the Men of Letters into his episode, it was the opportunity to give [the Winchester brothers] a really, really cool atmosphere -- a rich kind of space for them to be in. Jerry Wanek has done a beautiful job making it real. – Ben Edlund, Source

When Edlund first sat down to write the language to make the set become real he said that he:

Kind of got really prosey in the scripts because I was just so excited to do it I had to limit myself. It started out unproducible, and then we scaled it back. At one point, it was constructed as ‘an echo of the Axis Mundi’ and it actually was a mini-universe underground that had all of these spiral staircases. But this is just gorgeous. I made something that was unshootable, and Jerry made it something incredible. – Ben Edlund, Source

The design was overseen by John Marcynuk and Jerry Wanek. Jerry describes some of the background and detail in the bunker :

"Because the Men of Letters were well-versed in everything from physics to astrology and the occult, they needed a power base. So I thought if they piggybacked off a WPA power station, that would license to have an art deco theme throughout the bunker. What started off as a bunker, we adapted into a sanctuary, that has a working laboratory and a huge library. We have a shooting range and a storage area with a dungeon behind it, as well as bedrooms and an observatory with a telescope."

• The map on the wall is marked with every city Sam and Dean have visited. Jerry Wanek said "I know it doesn't make sense for the Men of Letters to have this but we did it as a nod to our fans and our writers."

• The war room is inspired by the one in Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove. "All these gauges signified something at some time, but now we'll never know. We have an old teletype, a reel-to-reel tape deck, and old phones. We are historically accurate but it also has to have a sense of design and versatility."

• There are hidden symbols in the frieze around the library, plus sigils and devil traps above the bookcases. At the bottom is a bronze devil trap. At every doorway, there is a symbol which would be the next line of defense if a demon broke in.

• The library bookcases and columns are on wheels to make it camera-friendly.

• The staircase was originally used in Crowley's torture chamber in Season 7.

• The devil's trap used in the dungeon was previously used in Bobby's Panic Room in Seasons 4-6.

• Detailed photos of the set by Clarissa of ScreenFad

• Photos from the set by S.E. Hinton

Episodes

Season 8

In 1958, Abaddon, one of the Knights of Hell, was sent by party or parties unknown to kill the members of the group who were gathered in Normal, Illinois. The group were gathered for the initiations of Henry Winchester and Josie Sands. Possessing Josie Sands, Abaddon killed David Ackers and Ted Bowen, and blinded Larry Ganem. After Henry bursts through to find out what was happening, Larry crawls to Henry and entrusts him with the Box which contains the key to the Bunker. Abaddon then burns down their quarters and follows Henry through the portal created using the blood sigil.

In the present, Sam visits Larry Ganem, the other survivor of the incident, who tells Sam about the Bunker, and gives him coordinates to it. He tells Sam to lock it forever to keep it out of the hands of the demons. Abaddon, possessing Larry's wife, kills Larry and captures Sam. Abaddon then calls Dean for a trade: Sam and Henry for the Box. During the trade, Henry shoots Abaddon in the head with a bullet that had a devil's trap carved onto it. This immobilizes Abaddon which allows Dean to decapitate and cut her into pieces. After Henry's death, Sam and Dean decide to find out if the bunker is still intact.

Sam and Dean doing research in the library.

Sam and Dean follow the coordinates provided by Larry, and find the underground bunker, which they are able to enter using the key inside the box. The boys are stunned at what they find, with everything perfectly preserved. Sam is thrilled at the rich store of information contained in the Bunker, although Dean is initially dismissive of its worth. While Dean is visiting Kevin Tran, Sam researches the Men of Letters and their networks. During this he discovers the Judah Initiative, and finds out that a member, Rabbi Bass, recently died in what is reported as a case of spontaneous combustion. The boys leave to investigate.

After the case the boys return to the bunker, and Sam immediately starts entering information from their copies of the Thule Society's red ledger on the index cards. As Dean pours them each a scotch, he asks whether Sam is becoming a Man of Letters. Sam considers but doesn't reply. "Good," says Dean. And silently they toast each other.

Sam and Dean have completely moved into the Bunker as their new home and Dean sets up his own room, excited as he hasn't had a room of his own for most of his life. As Sam researches in the library, Kevin calls saying he has something important and Sam and Dean leave to meet with Kevin.

Sam and Dean stay at the Bunker while waiting for word from Kevin on cracking the next trial. During that time, Sam hides the fact that he is coughing up blood as a side effect of doing the trials. After reading in a magazine about an apparent zombie in Great Falls, Montana, Sam and Dean leave to investigate.

After finding out that it is actually Prometheus, Sam and Dean bring him and his ex-girlfriend Hayley and their son Oliver back to the bunker for protection. While there, they search through the Bunker's books for information on Zeus and find the journal of an ancient Greek hunter named Dracopolis who trapped Zeus and learned how to kill him. After learning how to trap and summon Zeus, the group leaves the bunker to get the ingredients and break the curse. After everything is over, Sam and Dean return to the Bunker and Dean prays to Castiel to look after Sam who he knows is not doing as well as he is trying to pretend. Castiel does not respond or appear.

While looking through the Bunker's artifacts, Dean finds the Spear of Destiny, a vintage porn magazine and, unknown to him, the Key to Oz. Sam finds a case where people who die across the Midwest have burns on their hands and feet along with their organs being liquefied causing Sam and Dean to leave and investigate.

Sam and Dean look through the Bunker's files on demonic possessions for any clues on how to cure a demon. Their supplies of food are also running low and Castiel, who compliments the tidiness of the Bunker, is staying with them as he recovers from the wound Crowley gave him. Sam and Dean find that there are files on every possession for 300 years up until the time the Men were destroyed. Sam finds a file numbered 1138 that has a note saying to look in Room 7B and that it's "weird!!!" In the room, along with a film, they find the Bunker's dungeon. The film was taken by Josie Sands and is of a new type of exorcism performed by two priests, Father Max Thompson and Father Simon. The exorcism fails and interested, Sam and Dean track down Father Simon to ask about it while Castiel later leaves to get supplies in an attempt to get back in Dean's favor.

After getting Father Thompson's records, they return to the Bunker and listen to the tape of his last attempt at curing a demon two days before he died. The attempt succeeded and now knowing how to do it from the tape and Father Thompson's notes, Sam and Dean leave to put back together Abaddon to cure her.

After everything is over, Sam and Dean return to the Bunker and Sam suggests they accept Crowley's deal to turn over the tablet and give up the trials as innocent people are dying and they have no demon to cure though they now have the method. Dean, however, is determined to finish the job.

At the Bunker, Sam and Dean get a call from Crowley who is killing Jody Mills and demanding their surrender in exchange for sparing her life. They agree as long as they trade the demon tablet with the angel tablet. After they make the deal, the two leave the Bunker.

Sam and Dean send Kevin Tran to the Bunker for safety, and Dean and Castiel return to the Bunker to try to get the trials to close the Gates of Heaven using the angel tablet. Dean later calls Kevin, who reveals that he can't find anything within the tablet that specifies the "trials" they are currently completing, and he tries to leave the Bunker. Before he can leave, however, the Bunker's world map becomes fully lit and alarms go off as, all around the world, angels begin to fall from Heaven.

Season 9

Returning to the Bunker with Crowley, Dean is shot at by a panicking Kevin, who explains that after the angels fell, the Bunker locked down, which included blocking cell phone signals. Opening the Bunker from the outside seems to break the lockdown and Crowley is locked in the dungeon, left in the darkness to consider helping them hunt down the demons on Earth. After finding massive demonic omens, Sam and Dean leave to check them out while Kevin remains behind.

As Kevin goes over the angel tablet in the Bunker, he gets a call from Dean to get him to cover for his and Sam's FBI cover with a military sergeant which he does through blackmail. Looking through the file room attached to the dungeon, Kevin is taunted by Crowley and beats him up in revenge for being tortured by Crowley. Crowley tempts Kevin to set him free and flee the Bunker together by promising the location of his mother and claiming that the Winchesters will just use Kevin and discard him.

Returning to the Bunker, Sam and Dean find Crowley still locked in the dungeon and he offers a deal in exchange for helping them with the demons on Earth. Finding Kevin getting ready to leave, Dean convinces him to stay by telling him that he is family now and the Winchesters would do anything to protect him. Sam and Dean later sit in the main room discussing the current situation.

After Castiel is rescued from a rogue reaper, he returns to the Bunker with the Winchesters, but Ezekiel warns that he must leave as he is too dangerous to have around with angels searching for him as even with the Bunker's protections, they won't survive a full angel incursion. As Ezekiel will leave Sam and flee if Castiel stays and this means a death sentence for Sam, Dean is forced to tell Castiel to leave the Bunker.

The Bunker's motor pool.

In 1935, after the Bunker is finished, James Haggerty and Peter Jenkins settle in as the first two Men of Letters assigned there. Six months later, they have grown bored with nothing to do -- until Dorothy Baum arrives with the Wicked Witch of the West, trying to find a way to kill her using the Bunker's files. The three are unable to find anything and soon the Wicked Witch escapes and possesses Jenkins, forcing Haggerty to kill him. Dorothy then casts a spell to bind herself and the Wicked Witch to stop her and her plans. Haggerty spends the rest of his career trying to find Dorothy and stop the Wicked Witch, recording his efforts in the Bunker's files.

In 2013, Sam discovers that the map table is connected to an antique computer, so he and Dean call in Charlie Bradbury to hack it and use it to try to find the location of all the angels in the world. Dean accidentally knocks over the bottle containing Dorothy and the Wicked Witch, freeing them. As Charlie downloads all of the information in the computer, the three soon discover Dorothy who explains what happened. Sam, Dean, Charlie and Dorothy team up to hunt down the Wicked Witch who is still in the Bunker trying to get the key to Oz which the Men of Letters had somehow gotten into their possession and was now in Dean's room after finding it while doing inventory. Using poppy seed extract bullets, the four are able to fight, but not defeat the near-invincible Witch. Eventually Charlie figures out that the Oz books were written by L. Frank Baum to leave clues for his daughter Dorothy, and the two find Dorothy's motorcycle still in the Bunker's garage even after over 75 years. In the motorcycle, they find the ruby slippers which Dorothy figures can be used to kill the Wicked Witch. While Dorothy distracts a possessed Sam and Dean, Charlie kills the Wicked Witch with the slippers and stops her from bringing her army of Flying Monkeys to Earth through the door to Oz, which she opened with one of the Bunker's doors. With the crisis over, Dean moves the Impala into the Bunker's newly-discovered garage and Dorothy and Charlie travel to Oz to free it from the forces of evil.

Unable to translate the angel tablet into English, Kevin is able to use the Bunker's books to translate it into an obscure form of Cuneiform. As he, Sam and Dean set out to use the Bunker's 24 volume Cuneiform books to try to translate it, Dean gets a call from Castiel in Rexford, Idaho and leaves to investigate, using it as an excuse to get out of translating. Later, Kevin and Sam make a deal with Crowley to translate the bits referring to Metatron's spell in exchange for allowing him to call Abaddon. After the call, Crowley translates the text to learn that Metatron's spell is irreversible and Sam calls Dean to let him know. Alone in the dungeon, Crowley is later seen injecting himself with Kevin's blood.

In the Bunker, Kevin Tran finds a section of the angel tablet that's so obscure that it's as if Metatron wanted to keep it hidden from a prophet. Dean asks Kevin for a spell that would hobble an angel, so that one could speak to the vessel's owner without the residing angel listening in. Kevin uses the angel tablet and an old Men of Letters book to find an angel suppressing sigil which Kevin and Dean paint in the storeroom. Kevin knows Dean is withholding information, but trusts him anyway.

Dean takes Sam to the storeroom, where he activates the sigil with his blood and quickly admits everything about Ezekial's possession after the trials, urging Sam to expel the angel. Sam is furious at being tricked, and punches Dean unconscious. Dean awakens just in time to see Gadreel lay a hand on Kevin's head and smite him. Gadreel pins Dean to the wall, confessing that he’d overheard Dean and Kevin's earlier conversation, altered the sigils so they would fail, and pretended to be Sam in the storeroom. Taking the angel and demon tablets, Gadreel exits the Bunker, leaving Dean to weep beside Kevin's body.

After giving Kevin a hunter's funeral, Dean smashes up part of the Bunker's main room in his anger. Castiel arrives and Dean explains what happened. After Castiel comes up with the idea to use Crowley to free Sam from Gadreel's control, the two visit him in the dungeon and eventually release him to help them.

After attempting to enjoy a sandwich in the Bunker's main room, Castiel continues the process of healing Sam which is nearly complete only to discover that he still has some of Gadreel's grace inside him. After learning from a file written by James Haggerty that if the grace is extracted it could be used in a spell to track Gadreel, Sam and Castiel go to a room with a chair set up for the procedure and Castiel proceeds to start extracting the grace. However, after it nearly kills Sam who doesn't care, Castiel stops the extraction and finishes healing Sam, eliminating the rest of the grace. The two try the spell, but find that they didn't have enough grace to do it. Castiel then leaves to find Metatron, believing him to be the key to setting everything right.

Sam and Dean discover the Bunker is haunted by the ghost of Kevin Tran. Kevin explains that as he died there and people who die can't get into Heaven now that its closed off, he is trapped on Earth. Kevin asks for Sam and Dean to find his mother who he has learned is alive from another ghost named Candy. Sam and Dean agree and leave.

Returning to the Bunker with Linda, Sam and Dean reunite mother and son. Linda decides to take Kevin's ghost with her despite the risks when she leaves and despite Kevin's request for Sam and Dean to put their problems behind them, they go to their separate rooms without talking.

Sam and Castiel are trying to restrain Dean after he has attacked and slashed Gadreel. They lock him in the dungeon, Dean argues he is the only one who can kill Metatron, but Sam warns that the Mark of Cain is affecting him. Sam and Castiel leave, locking Dean inside. In the Bunker, Dean is throwing up blood. He manages to find the ingredients for a spell, and summons Crowley who reveals he needs to keep killing to feed the Mark, otherwise he will die.

After Dean is killed by Metatron, Sam brings his body back to the Bunker, laying it in Dean's room as he goes to summon Crowley to "fix" Dean. Crowley, however, enters Dean's room and begins telling him of the power the Mark truly holds, after placing the First Blade in Dean's hand, Dean's eyes open, revealing black demonic eyes.

Season 10

At the Bunker, Sam keeps researching -- looking for signs of demonic activity by tracking weather events, cattle deaths, and crop failures, and by calling other hunters. He wanders into Dean's bedroom and looks at the only clue he has, a note left presumably by Dean that reads, "Sammy let me go."

Sam finds what he think may be a clue -- a man called Drew Neely who had killed his family and disappeared three years earlier has been found dead. Sam theorizes that Neely was possessed by a demon, who may have possessed Dean and left Neely's body to die. Sam calls to share the news with Castiel, who is anxious for news of Dean. Picking up that Cas is seriously unwell, Sam backtracks and tells him not to worry, that the clue probably isn't anything.

Having captured the now-demon Dean, Sam traps him in the Bunker's dungeon and attempts to treat him with the demon cure, although this is complicated due to the Mark of Cain further corrupting Dean's emotions. While the cure begins to take effect, it eventually reaches a point where Dean becomes just human enough where devil's traps have no effect on him, while still emotionally corrupting him to try and kill Sam. After pursuing Sam through the Bunker, Dean is captured by Castiel, allowing Sam to complete the cure and return Dean to normal. It is revealed that they keep a master set of keys in a drawer in the War Room.

Dean holes up in his room for a week pouring over any info he can find about removing the Mark of Cain. This prompts Sam to get Dean to join him on a missing person's case instead of obsessing over the Mark and letting it consume his life. After some poking, Dean reluctantly agrees to go on the case with Sam.

As Sam is sleeping in his room, he hears Dean screaming out his name in his sleep. Sam rushes to Dean's room with his gun and discovers Dean having an intense nightmare caused by the Mark of Cain. The next morning Dean asks Sam if there are any cases available. Sam tells him that there is one but that another hunter named Rudy is handling it. Sam then tells Dean that he is going off to watch a French movie being aired at some theater and that Dean is welcome to join him, which Dean refuses. He also tells Dean to stay out of his room.

After Sam has left, Dean, being the good brother that he is, goes into Sam's room and proceeds to prank him in various ways including rubbing Sam's toothbrush under his armpit and taping his phone.

When Sam returns after having busted Metatron out of heaven along with Castiel, both he and Dean decline to mention any of the events that occurred during their time apart. Sam then goes into his room and reads a letter that Bobby had written to him concerning his mission to cure Dean of the Mark of Cain.

At the Bunker, Castiel joins Sam, Dean and Charlie -- who is thrilled to finally meet the angel, and asks him to heal her carpal tunnel, which he obliges, healing her bullet wound as well. The four sit down to a meal of pizza and beer, Dean seems relaxed and good spirits, laughing and enjoying his time with his brother and friends, but Sam continues to worry about him.

At the Bunker, Sam returns to a curious Dean who wonders where he has been. When Sam is not forthcoming with truthfully answering Dean's questions, he quickly changes the subject by asking what Dean has been up to. Dean tells him he's been looking into the Styne family but has not been able to find records beyond 200 years ago. The murder of the woman whose eyes were removed has caught his eye – mainly because the killer escaped unharmed after jumping from a third story window. Sam agrees that they should investigate the case the next day. That night, he sneaks out to meet Charlie and plead for her help in decoding the Codex.

As Dean and Sam return to the Bunker later, Dean tells Sam he's glad that at least the Book of the Damned is beyond the reach of the Stynes – still believing Sam burned it. The Winchesters do not notice Eldon Stynes following them. Rowena and Charlie continue to argue and not cooperate on their common task, which prompts Castiel to call Sam and urge him to come over and take control of the situation. However, Dean answers the phone. Castiel lies, badly, about why he is ringing. Dean confronts Sam about what Castiel is up to, but Sam denies knowing anything. Dean doesn't challenge him further, and decides to go out to buy pizza.

Having failed to retrieve the Book of the Damned from Charlie Bradbury, Eldon Styne suggests to his father that they raid the Bunker, taking what they can and destroying the rest. Monroe agrees, getting Eldon a new arm to replace the one he ripped off and sending him, his cousin Roscoe and younger brother Cyrus to do it.

Arriving at the Bunker, Eldon blows the door off its hinges and finds it empty. He and Roscoe begin to steal what's valuable and prepare to burn the rest as Cyrus excitedly examines the books. Cyrus tries to convince his brother not to burn everything and fails, but they are interrupted by Roscoe stumbling in and dying after being stabbed in the back by Dean. In the main room, Dean and Eldon face off and Eldon taunts Dean about Charlie Bradbury's murder before Dean reveals that he wiped out Eldon's family in revenge. He then shoots Eldon dead and murders Cyrus as he believes that despite the fact that Cyrus isn't evil now, he has evil in his blood and will eventually turn. A horrified Castiel confronts Dean and tries to convince him to let them cure him, but Dean refuses and tries to leave. When Castiel tries to stop him, Dean beats him up and nearly kills him. Dean leaves Castiel alive ultimately and leaves, warning Castiel to leave him alone or he will kill him next time.

Season 11

After Dean deals with baby Amara and Sam finds a cure for the rabids, they both return to the Bunker. The Bunker is in the same chaotic state that it was in after the Stynes raided it, and Dean jokes that they need to get a maid. Hearing groaning coming from behind a stack of books, they find Castiel who begs for their help.

Castiel tells Dean he has found no new leads from angel radio or any new info on Metatron while he has been holed up in the Bunker, bingeing on daytime TV talk shows. Dean chastises him for switching from quality TV like The Wire or Game of Thrones and encourages Cas to turn off the TV altogether and get outside for a bit. Meanwhile, Sam is fielding a call from Detective Madsen, letting the boys know that Len is dead.

Back at the Bunker, Castiel puts on his jacket and approaches the Bunker door, but has a flashback to his trying to kill Dean before Rowena removed the spell, his torture by the angels responsible for Hannah’s death, his attempt to kill Crowley, and even his fight with Dean at the Bunker as Dean succumbed to the Mark of Cain. The flashbacks force Castiel to return to Sam's bedroom and continue watching TV. The news plays a clip of a murder, shot by a witness on scene. Cas catches a reflection in the side mirror of a vehicle and is overwhelmed as he realizes Metatron is the cameraman.

Later, Sam, Dean and Cas are together in the Bunker, discussing Metatron’s revelation and Amara’s plans. Dean gives Cas a hard time about letting Metatron go. Cas assures them Metatron is human and not a threat. Cas asks Dean why he was unable to get a hit on Amara and she got away, and he insists she overpowered him. Sam goes to check the lore, and is overpowered again by a vision of hands reaching through cracks and the Cage suspended in nothing... As Crowley holds court in apathy and Dean begins drinking in the Bunker, Amara walks through a crowd of people looking at the city and lets her freedom soak in.

After another vision of himself with Lucifer in the Cage, Sam discusses with Dean the idea of going to the Cage and speaking to Lucifer over drinks in the library. Dean is reluctant to listen to Sam's idea since Lucifer had caused them so much trouble in the past, but Sam is insistent on the idea.

Once getting Rowena to agree to help, Sam takes her to the Bunker's dungeon to work on decoding the Book of the Damned in order to find a way to safely open Lucifer's Cage and talk to him. Sam calls Dean who is investigating an attack on a church by Amara and lets him know that the Book of the Damned definitely has what they are looking for though they're still trying to find it. The two discuss Dean's case and after Sam hangs up, Rowena comments on his lack of trust in her despite the Winchesters telling her that they were partners in their war against Amara. Sam reminds Rowena that she has the Book of the Damned and the means to read every word of it so he's not taking the chance of letting her go free with that. Moments after they finish their conversation, Rowena finds the spell they need and tells Sam to call Crowley and that she will need some ingredients for it. Sam calls Dean but is unable to reach him due to Dean seeing Amara face-to-face. While Sam initially wants to wait for Dean, Rowena convinces him to go ahead with the plan without him and they depart the Bunker for Hell.

Sam has a restless night, haunted by memories of his encounter with Lucifer in Hell. The next morning, Dean finds Sam cleaning his gun and shows him an article about a mysterious death nearby and asks Sam, who hasn't left the Bunker in days to come investigate with him. Sam is reluctant as they haven't heard anything on Amara or Castiel, but Dean insists.

Dean later returns to the Bunker to get gold blades to kill the banshee that is attacking the people at the Oak Park retirement home. There Dean finds Lucifer looking for a spell to draw Amara out and, believing him to be Castiel, admits that he had two shots at Amara and failed to kill her. As Dean gathers three gold blades, he tells Lucifer the story of his encounters with Amara and admits to having an attraction to her. Lucifer is intrigued and tells Dean the attraction between him and Amara could be a good thing and could help draw Amara out. Dean then gets a call from Sam and checks the Men of Letters records for Edward Durban II and finds him as part of a Men of Letters delegation that was sent to Europe. After going over their plan for killing the Banshee, Dean leaves, making Lucifer promise not to tell anyone what they had talked about.

After killing the banshee the Winchesters return to the Bunker where they find Lucifer gone. The two wonder about the strange behavior of "Cas" but dismiss it. Sam tells Dean about Lucifer showing him how Sam had abandoned Dean after he got trapped in Purgatory and admits he's never forgiven himself for it. Dean tells Sam he has and all that matters is they are together. The two then go to bed and Sam, unburdened, is finally able to sleep while Dean remains restless.

Dean enters the kitchen to find Sam pouring over history books and them out of coffee with spoiled milk. Sam tells him that he's going through the history books to find something that can help them defeat Amara and found information that the Nazis got their hands on a Hand of God but it was stolen by Delphine Seydoux who the Nazis believed was a Woman of Letters. The two then look through the Bunker's records and find a report in French written by Clifford Henshaw, a Bunker-based Man of Letters in 1943 that they translate using the Internet. They learn that after Delphine stole the Hand of God, Henshaw arranged for Delphine to transport the weapon back to the Bunker on the USS Bluefin, but the submarine was sank en route and the contents never recovered. As a result, the Hand of God never made it to the Bunker. In order to get at the Hand of God, the Winchesters then call what they believe to be Castiel to the Bunker but is in fact Lucifer. Lucifer is surprised that any of the Hands of God survived the Flood and the twentieth century and tells them that he can get them to the past. After an argument about who will go, Lucifer takes Dean back in time to the Bluefin, leaving Sam behind in the Bunker.

Later, Sam is reading up on the Bluefin when Lucifer returns to the Bunker soaking wet. Lucifer tells Sam that while Dean got on the sub, he couldn't get past the Bluefin's hull due to warding. After Lucifer refutes Sam's ideas to leave a message for Dean before the sub departed or to send Sam back, Sam began looking through the Bunker's books for a way to clear the Bluefin's warding from the outside. Sam eventually finds the "Spell of Gathering" which would allow an angel to focus their power and clear all warding, but discovers that it requires the power of an archangel and begins looking for another way, still believing Lucifer to be Castiel. After Sam finds Lucifer still trying the spell, he offers to let "Castiel" touch his soul to get the power he needs, but Lucifer reveals himself to Sam and starts drawing power from his soul, planning to destroy him at the same time. However, Castiel manages to regain control of his body and stop Lucifer from killing Sam. Castiel tells Sam how he came to be possessed by Lucifer but is unable to expel him as he doesn't have the strength and they need Lucifer to retrieve Dean from the past.

After Dean and Lucifer return from 1943, Sam warns Dean that its not really Castiel who saved him. Lucifer throws Dean across the room and mocks his disguise as Castiel. Lucifer attempts to use the Hand of God to kill the Winchesters, but finds that its power was expended by Delphine using it on the German destroyer. As Lucifer advances on Dean, Sam draws an angel banishing sigil on the Bunker wall and uses it to banish Lucifer out of the Bunker, saving them.

After Chuck Shurley reveals himself as God, he teleports himself, Sam and Dean to the Bunker when Dean expresses doubt that Chuck is who he says he is. Kevin Tran's ghost then appears from behind Chuck to the Winchesters shock and tells them to trust Chuck and whatever he has planned for them. Chuck then waves his hand and sends Kevin's soul to Heaven where it belongs.

Following Kevin's departure, the Winchesters sit down with Chuck to get answers on everything with Sam excited but Dean unhappy because of how long Chuck has been away when the world needed him as God. Chuck explains that he was once very hands-on but it did no good so he stepped back to let his creation find its own way which he believes worked. While Dean feels Chuck is just trying to justify what he did, Chuck tells him not to confuse Chuck with his dad. Chuck tells the Winchesters that Amara is relentless and he has come back to stop her, but she has warded herself from his ability to detect her but he has faith in them. As Chuck heads off to a guestroom in the Bunker, the Winchesters bring up how Amara is holding Lucifer captive and last time, Chuck needed his help to defeat her. Getting emotional, Chuck refuses to hear of him saving Lucifer and leaves the library. Later that night, as Dean searches police databases for clues, Amara telepathically contacts him to let Dean know that she is aware that God has returned and asks him to pass on the message that Lucifer and Castiel aren't doing well if he sees God. The next morning, Dean finds Sam looking through the Internet for clues on Amara's location and the two discuss the weirdness of the situation with having God in the Bunker and how Rowena and the Book of the Damned could be useful to them if they could find them. Dean also fills Sam in on Amara contacting him about Lucifer before Chuck enters and tells them that its a mistake to get involved with Lucifer. Sam then finds an article on a toxic cloud generated by Amara in Lewis, Oklahoma that killed thousands of people, leaving only Donatello Redfield still alive. Chuck explains that Amara is baiting him but refuses to respond to the attack and tells them to find her.

After picking up Donatello who is the next prophet, the Winchesters return to the Bunker where Dean finds Chuck watching curling on his computer. Chuck is unconcerned by the development and tells Dean that he's never seen so much porn in one sitting when questioned by Dean about using his computer. After shutting the lid of his computer and asking Chuck to tone down the "God stuff", Dean has Sam bring in Donatello who is shocked to meet God as he's an atheist. Meeting God gets Donatello to be willing to help them locate Amara.

After an unsuccessful meeting where he tries to convince Chuck not to sacrifice himself to Amara, Dean brings Donatello some beer in the Bunker's library and tells him that he's not sure that Chuck is leaning their way but they have a chance if they can rescue Lucifer for added strength with battling Amara. Sam then leads Metatron into the Bunker after he texted them repeatedly to be let in so he could help them. Metatron reminds the Winchesters that he transcribed the angel tablet and knows all of its spells, has an understanding of Amara and a relationship with God. After Metatron tells them that he cares because he had been with God since the Creation and he feels he should do anything he can to save God and his creation now that he plans to sacrifice himself to Amara, Dean tells him that their plan is to rescue Lucifer and convince Chuck to use him to fight Amara. The group then discusses their plan for rescuing Lucifer, joined by Metatron.

As Amara prepares to kill them, the Impala with Sam, Lucifer and Donatello is suddenly teleported into the Bunker's storage room. The group is shocked to find themselves back in the Bunker and Chuck emerges and tells them that he does occasionally answer a prayer and saved them. From across the Bunker's library, God and Lucifer see each other for the first time in millennia and comment on how much the other has changed. Chuck then heals Lucifer's injuries with a wave of his finger to everyone's shock.

At the Men of Letters Bunker, Lucifer is acting like a sullen child, angry with his Father, wanting an apology for being given the Mark of Cain and then cast out. Sam and Dean try to intercede and get them to reach some kind of reconciliation so they can move forwards against Amara. They orchestrate a Dr. Phil-type intervention to get them to speak. After some bickering, God tells Lucifer that he was His favorite and that He gave him the Mark because He thought he was strong enough to handle it. When He realized He was wrong, He hated Himself and so He punished Lucifer. Then he sincerely apologizes. Chuck and Lucifer agree to work together to capture Amara and put her back in her cage -- she can't be killed because that would cause a disruption in the cosmic balance between Darkness and Light. Without the other archangels, though, they still don't have the power that was needed originally to box Amara. Unfortunately, they don't have the time for Chuck to rebuild the archangels as it's a much larger task than restoring rank and file angels like Castiel. Chuck asks for alternatives. Dean suggests Crowley, Lucifer suggest the angels, and Sam suggests Rowena who has the Book of the Damned. Amara arrives at the Bunker, burning the warding sigils away so that she can enter. Amara is going through things in Dean's room, when Rowena gets inside her head and tells her that she is with God and she will show her where He is. Amara comes, telling Rowena that she knows it is a trap but she just wants a one-on-one with her brother.

Following the disastrous conflict with Amara, Chuck teleports himself, the Winchesters, Crowley and Rowena back to the Bunker, stating that despite his weakened state, he can still do some things. With the universe ending, Dean chooses to get drunk while they wait for the end and briefly leaves to go on a supply run with the restored Castiel. While talking to God, Sam decides that they need to kill Amara to create a new balance. After God tells them that Amara's one weakness is light, the Winchesters depart to get the ghosts from Waverly Hills Sanitorium for a soul bomb. After they return, the reaper Billie arrives at the Bunker and upon learning of the situation, raids the Veil gets them the remaining souls that they need.

Following Dean's apparent death and the universe being saved, Sam and Castiel return to the Bunker to find Lady Antonia Bevell of the British Men of Letters waiting for them. Lady Bevell uses an angel banishing sigil to banish Castiel from the Bunker and shoots Sam when he tries and fails to talk her down.

Season 14

With the influx of refugees from Apocalypse World, the Bunker has become a way station for those who go out on hunts, with Sam delegating tasks to various hunters.

External links

• Blogger visit to the Bunker by Screenfad
• Actual location of the Bunker in Vancouver by SupernaturalLocations
• A Closer Look At Dean's Bedroom by karen on The Winchester Family Business site
• A Closer Look At Sam's Bedroom by karen on The Winchester Family Business site
• Fan floorplans for the bunker rooms by hells-half-acre