--- ---  # The Haunted Desert: Aftermath of a Nevada A-Bomb Test by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove May 30, 2012 5:18 PM UTC  Caption from LIFE. Scorched, male mannequin in suit of dark fabric indicates a human would be burned but alive. Caption from LIFE. Scorched, male mannequin in suit of dark fabric indicates a human would be burned but alive.Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove May 30, 2012 5:18 PM UTC In the spring of 1955, as the Cold War intensified and the arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union escalated at a shocking pace, America — as it had many times before — detonated an atomic weapon in the Nevada desert. The test was not especially noteworthy. The weapon’s “yield” was not dramatically larger or smaller than that of previous A-bombs; the brighter-than-the-sun flash of light, the mushroom cloud and the staggering power unleashed by the weapon were all byproducts familiar to anyone who had either witnessed or paid attention to coverage of earlier tests. And yet today, six decades later, at a time when the prospect of nuclear tests by “rogue states” like North Korea and Iran is once again making headlines and driving international negotiations and debate, the very banality of one long-forgotten atomic test in 1955 feels somehow more chilling than other more memorable or era-defining episodes from the Cold War. After all, whether conducted in the name of deterrence, defense or pure scientific research, the May 1955 blast (the results of which are pictured in this gallery) was in a very real sense _routine_. This is not to suggest that the scientists, engineers and other professionals involved at Yucca Flat were somehow cavalier about detonating atomic weapons. But it’s worth remembering that, in the first half of 1955, the U.S. conducted more than a dozen nuclear test explosions in Nevada alone. After a while, the mushroom clouds from these tests, visible from Las Vegas 60 miles away, had become tourist draws. One needn’t be a pacifist, an anti-nuclear crusader or a modern-day Luddite to shudder at the thought of nuclear explosion after nuclear explosion ripping through the desert air of the American southwest. Here, LIFE.com presents pictures — most of which never ran in LIFE magazine — made in the Nevada desert by photographer Loomis Dean shortly after a 1955 atomic bomb test. These are not “political” pictures. They are eerily beautiful, unsettling photographs made at the height of the Cold War, when the destructive power of the detonation was jaw-droppingly huge — but positively miniscule compared to today’s truly terrifying thermonuclear weapons. As LIFE told its readers in its May 16, 1955, issue (in which some of these photos appeared): --- > “” --- There is, in such words and in such sentiments, an almost unrecognizable optimism _—_ it’s tempting to say, an innocence _—_ that is no longer available to us when it comes to honest discussions of, as LIFE put it, “atomic holocaust.” With conversations about nuclear tests (both theoretical and real) so very much in the news these days, these pictures from more than half a century ago serve as a quiet reminder of just how horrific and deranged the very notion of nuclear warfare really is. \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ _Ben Cosgrove is the Editor of LIFE.com_ Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter at [@LizabethRonk](https://twitter.com/LizabethRonk).  Caption from LIFE. Scorched, male mannequin in suit of dark fabric indicates a human would be burned but alive. Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Burned up except for face, this mannequin ... was 7,000 feet \[one and a quarter miles\] from blast. Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Unburned, a lady mannequin with wig askew is wearing light-colored dress which absorbs less heat. Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Remains of a house \[built for the test more than a mile from ground zero\] after an atomic bomb test, Nevada, 1955. Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  After a nuclear weapon test, Nevada, 1955. Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  After a nuclear weapon test, Nevada, 1955. Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  After a nuclear weapon test, Nevada, 1955. Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Fallen mannequin in house 5,500 feet from bomb is presumed dead. Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  After a nuclear weapon test, Nevada, 1955. Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  After a nuclear weapon test, Nevada, 1955. Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  After a nuclear weapon test, Nevada, 1955. Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  After a nuclear weapon test, Nevada, 1955. Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  After a nuclear weapon test, Nevada, 1955. Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  After a nuclear weapon test, Nevada, 1955. Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Vehicles lines up far from ground ground zero before a nuclear weapon test, Nevada, 1955. Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  After a nuclear weapon test, Nevada, 1955. Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  After a nuclear weapon test, Nevada, 1955. Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  After a nuclear weapon test, Nevada, 1955. Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images Photos From an Atomic Bomb Test in the Nevada Desert, 1955 ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3675016/nevada-a-bomb-test/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3675016/nevada-a-bomb-test/"},"headline":"The Haunted Desert: Aftermath of a Nevada A-Bomb Test","datePublished":"2012-05-30T17:18:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:06:07.815Z","description":"Eerily beautiful pictures by LIFE photographer Loomis Dean, made in the Nevada desert in 1955, shortly after an atomic bomb test","url":"https://time.com/3675016/nevada-a-bomb-test/","keywords":["History","photography","LIFE Magazine","Loomis Dean"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt52bfeeab54ed5341/69877ad08e06014650459ce5/150120-atom-bomb-test-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ben Cosgrove","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt52bfeeab54ed5341/69877ad08e06014650459ce5/150120-atom-bomb-test-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"A-Bomb Test, 1955","caption":"LIFE magazine pictures made after an atomic weapon test, Nevada, 1955.","creditText":"Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3675016/nevada-a-bomb-test/","name":"The Haunted Desert: Aftermath of a Nevada A-Bomb Test"}}]}] ```