This summer, New York City officials released a public service announcement about what people should do in case of nuclear Armageddon. But if an atomic bomb does explode in the city, experts advise against taking cover in a building with a fallout shelter sign.

Thousands of these black-and-yellow signs still remain on structures throughout the city’s five boroughs, marking locations where New Yorkers could take refuge from the deadly radioactivity of a nuke — more than 50 years ago.

Back then, these shelters were mostly concrete windowless rooms packed with canned goods and water supplies to sustain people for days — but they were never all they were cracked up to be in terms of protection. In truth, it didn't matter if the shelters worked or not; if a nuclear bomb went off, most people would be dead from the initial blast.

Fallout shelter signs are the last remnants of an ill-conceived program that was designed to quell the fears and anxieties of Americans who had little faith in the shelters to begin with.

“I'm really struck at the enormous fraud that was perpetrated on the public,” says Dr. Jeffrey Kroessler, an associate professor who specializes in New York City history and is the interim chief librarian at John Jay College. “And let's give New Yorkers credit. They knew that this was ridiculous. That it was a fraud; that there is no such thing as survivability.”

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