During the 1940s, the bombs of the Nazi Luftwaffe had
wreaked havoc on Londoners. Many people had lost their
homes. Others had lost their limbs. And still others had
lost their loved ones (Rudnytsky, 2000; Stansky, 2007; Kahr, 2017b).
Some became so traumatised that they began to suffer from a new
syndrome, which eventually became known as the “shelter neurosis”
(Mackintosh, 1944, p. 29): a compulsive urge to seek refuge in
underground bunkers, not only during air raids but, in fact, at every
available opportunity.