Sam and Dean needed a new base of operations after Bobby's house was wrecked. And Supernatural fans can appreciate that the bunker does have some pretty cool stuff in it. The Men of Letters' secret society introduced an interesting element to the supernatural history of Sam and Dean's world, and their archive of occult knowledge made Sam and Dean's success in research a little more plausible than when they did much of it online.
But sometimes things about the bunker and its makers don't quite make sense. Here are a few things that beg some questions about its design and function.
Why Is The Dungeon Behind Archive Boxes?
Considering how heavily warded the bunker supposedly is, it would make sense the dungeon would be, too. Instead, its entrance is a kind of sliding wall with archives and the exit on the other side. Hopefully there's nothing in those boxes that a magical prisoner would find helpful, but even so, is this really the best place for the dungeon? Shouldn't it at least have a solid fourth wall with warding on it?
And if something got out, that shelf-wall doesn't even go all the way to the top. What if someone pulled a box down and tried to climb over it? The only benefit seems to be that it's hidden, but the bunker is supposed to be nearly impenetrable anyway. So who are they hiding it from?
Property Taxes
Some things fans ignore because they just want to enjoy the story. Like how Sam and Dean somehow fund hunting with credit card fraud and occasional hustling. But the bunker has a different issue. The American Men of Letters have been gone for years when Sam and Dean find it.
But the government has to have someone's name on the property since someone had to have permission to build it, and it had several years of use. So who's been paying the property taxes for the past several decades? Wouldn't the government have seized it by now?
Where Did They Get Angel Info?
In season 4, fans learn that angels were pretty much banned from the earth for two millennia, to wait until the apocalypse. Yet the bunker somehow has books with information on them. Is it all from demons? Did they communicate with angels somehow? Rogue angels? It's one thing for the Men of Letters to do research, but they'd have to have a primary source somewhere.
And if the primary sources don't come to earth... how in the world did they get some of this? It's not just the angels, either. If something has been previously undiscovered, it wouldn't be in a book. It's a little strange that some of the cosmic messes Sam and Dean get into have information on them recorded anywhere.
Why Did All Chapters Use The Same Key?
It can make sense for an organization to have a master key somewhere, and even copies of it, for the higher-ups. But the Men of Letters were supposedly trying to protect supernatural relics and a massive amount of arcane knowledge in their bunkers.
So why would all the chapter houses use the same key? Wouldn't it be better to have multiple keys a thief would have to hunt down individually? They went to the trouble of warding the crap out of the bunkers, but using the same key puts all the proverbial eggs in one basket. Different keys seem like a simple added protection.
Why Didn't More Hunters Know?
It's been stated that some hunters were aware of the Men of Letters and even worked with them. Granted, hunters have a pretty high mortality rate. But wouldn't some old-timers have spread the word about this thing?
With all the potential weapons and occult knowledge in there, you'd think at least someone would try to go after it or see who's home. Then there's the flipside: if the Men of Letters went to investigate supernatural occurrences, they had to have accidentally bumped into hunters who got there first. They couldn't control what rumors those hunters chose to spread about them, so someone should've known they existed. It's especially strange that word never got around to John Winchester that his dad was part of it.
Why Is It So Big?
A gigantic bunker for a secret society makes sense in theory. Except they don't seem to have staffed it. In season 9's "Slumber Party," the two members in flashbacks are by themselves for six months. And in later video footage of the bunker during a demon-curing exorcism, only a handful of people are shown in it at once. A dozen are recorded in a meeting in season 10's "The Werther Project."
So what are all the extra beds for? Why have all those books where only two people can access them? Why a giant parking garage? And why would they keep things like the Spear of Destiny there if there are other chapters that could make more use of them? It looks like they were using it as more of a glorified storage closet. Considering the effort it would take to build the thing, why would the Men of Letters waste the money to let it sit?
Why Did The British MoL Never Come For Their Stuff?
Okay, so the American Men of Letters are kaput. But as fans later learn, the British Men of Letters continued. Well, why didn't they want their stuff back? All those books, the old tech, and things like the key to Oz and various relics were in there.
If they knew the American Men of Letters weren't going to need it any more, why didn't they come and raid the place long before Sam and Dean found it? For that matter, if the Men of Letters worked with hunters sometimes, why didn't any hunters try to come for the stuff? Just because it's hard to break in doesn't mean no one would try.
Where's Their Lab?
Ketch and the British Men of Letters have all kinds of cool toys. They have a ruguru gun, a vampire irradiation gun, and a hyperbolic pulse generator to exorcise angels OR demons. Presumably, that requires a research and development lab. The American Men of Letters had some interesting research in the bunker, like the demon cure, but they mostly seem to have books of already-complete research and ancient relics.
They don't seem to have a designated place to test new technology or spellwork; Sam and Dean test things in the dungeon, or in the main two command rooms. So where did the American Men of Letters make their supernatural tools?
How Does That Map Work?
When Charlie tried to help the boys rig the map as an angel tracker in season 9, it seemed pretty useful. But what in the world was it actually sensing? "Global badness" is not an explanation, Charlie. The map doesn't seem to get much use after that, either. Does it sense leviathans? Can it track mass gatherings of reapers like fans saw in season 5 in the apocalypse?
What about Amara? She caused god-level global badness. And why didn't they at least mark the other chapter houses on the map? It seems like this really cool thing but doesn't actually get much to do in the show, which is weird considering how many cosmic problems the brothers have.
That Telescope
Why, why, WHY do they need a telescope? Yes, astrology could be part of the occult. So they might want to check the alignment of planets or stars or something. But they don't use it. Ever. It has no apparent purpose, and the boys seem strangely disinterested in this ever-present background.
Oh, sure, the Men of Letters could've used it for research on spells or predicting the future back in the day, but that would presumably need more than the whole two staff members they assigned to the place. Again, it doesn't make sense to splash out on the funds for this stuff if they're not going to use it.