World War II Is Shrouded With These Mysteries

By: Mia Williams | Published: Dec 28, 2022

As World War II ended in April 1945, the Nazi forces were sure of their defeat. In trying to protect their loot in the foreign lands, they are believed to have loaded a train with gold and other valuables and sent it off to the owl mountains in Southwest Poland before fleeing.

Known as the Nazi Gold Train, the treasure seems to have mysteriously vanished on the way in one of the tunnels. Since then, several investigative teams have unsuccessfully explored the area for hidden treasures and artifacts from the ghost train.

Foo Fighters Before UFOs

Before the U.S. coined Unidentified Flying Objects, famously known as UFOs, in the early ’50s, World War II was rife with rumors of strange objects spotted in the sky. The mysterious things were initially brought to attention by the 415th Night Fighter Squadron and were thought to be secret weapons designed by the Axis Forces.

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Source: Sandboxx

Some others believed it to be a natural phenomenon, and a radio operator, Donald J. Meiers, even named it “Foo Fighters” in a direct reference to a famous cartoon strip called Smokey Stover.

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Flight 19 Vanished Over the Bermuda Triangle

The Bermuda Triangle is one of the shocking mysteries plaguing our Earth since the mid-1900s, and the disappearance of Flight 19 immediately post-World War II helped validate the urban legend. As part of their training mission, a group of five Grumman TBM Avenger torpedo bo**ers from the U.S. Navy set out over the North Atlantic Ocean.

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Source: Wikimedia Commons

A short while into their flight, they lost contact with the tower; a search operation was launched, but nothing came of it. In fact, the Mariner sent to find the planes also disappeared off the radar.

Strange Orange Object on the LA Skyline

The military strike on Pearl Harbor by Japanese aircraft in December 1941 shocked the Americans and the world. A few months after the devastating incident, the citizens spotted a strange round object glowing orange on the Los Angeles skyline.

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Source: Imgur

Still reeling from the surprise attack on their airbase, the worst was assumed, and soon the mysterious object was targeted with over 1,400 shellings. Nothing was hit since no wreckage was found, but there’s still a debate about its identity. While some chalk it down to war nerves, others claimed it to be a brightly-colored weather balloon.

The Merry-Go-Round of the Hitler's Globe

In 1940, Charlie Chaplin’s genius depiction of Hitler’s Globe in his anti-war satirical movie The Great Dictator brought the famous artifact to the public’s notice. Also known as the Fuhrer’s Globe, it was a centerpiece in the Nazi leader’s office.

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Source: Getty Images / Bettmann

The Columbus factory manufactured Hitler’s prized possession, the gigantic globe with a wooden stand. The mystery of the missing piece from the Fuhrer’s collection seems to be on a never-ending merry-go-round with no one knowing where it went. It vanished from his office after the end of the war, never to be seen again.

The Hoax Called Die Glocke

One of the many propagandas floated by the Nazi camp during World War II was the existence of miracle weapons or the Wunderwaffe that would help Germany win the war quickly. The most chilling among them was purported to be a 12-feet tall bell-shaped weapon known as Die Glocke.

Source: Getty Images / brandstaetter images

It was believed to have two rotating cylindrical sections filled with a metallic radioactive element, Xerum-525, that could coagulate the blood inside one’s body and also had the power to decompose plants. Even though many scientists supposedly lost their lives testing it, most consider it merely a hoax.

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The Saga of the Blood Flag

The Flag of the German Reich with a black Swastika on a white circle featured on the red background was used prominently as the Nazi party flag before the rise of the Third Reich. In 1923, it took center stage in Hitler’s failed coup at the Beer Hall Putsch in Munich.

Source: Getty Images / Keystone

During the attack, the flag got soaked with a soldier’s blood and has since been referred to as the blood flag or the Blutfahne. Hitler supposedly used many replicas during the rallies that followed, and no one has spotted the original since its last appearance in 1944.

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The Mysterious British Soldiers Auschwitz List

Auschwitz is one of the most famous Nazi concentration camps, and for all the horrors that happened in the town, there was a mystery involved, too. In 2009, during an excavation on the site, a list was found containing the names of 17 British soldiers.

Source: Getty Images / Omar Marques

The puzzle was, what was the list for? Were the soldiers pri**ners of war? Were they defectors who decided to join the SS? Apart from that, some of the names on the list had marks beside them meant to indicate something. What that was, or the list’s purpose is something we may never know.

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Anne Frank's Unexpected Betrayal

For the most part, we have an accurate first-hand insight into the horrors of the Holocaust thanks to Anne Frank’s diary entries. Unfortunately, while the diary was majorly written when Anne was living in Amsterdam, she sadly passed on in the Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp.

Source: Getty Images / Sean Gallup

Anne’s diary entries revealed many details about her life, but one thing that remains unsolved is the cause of her demise. The authorities at the time had no way of knowing who she was, and it’s clear whether someone reported her. The anonymous tip ultimately led to the capture and subsequent execution of Anne and her family.

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The Big Stoop Mystery

World War II had close to 50 million casualties, although there’s more mystery within those numbers; over 70,000 Allied Forces soldiers remain listed as MIA. Most of those men were lost within the Pacific theater, where several factors hindered recovery efforts.

Source: Explore The Archive

Among them were the crew members of a B-24 bo**er called Big Stoop that was shot down at Palau in 1944, and for decades, the plane and its occupants were considered MIA. Finally, in 2004, a team of divers found the plane’s fuselage, and it wasn’t until 2010 that the soldiers’ families buried the remains at the Arlington National Cemetery.

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The Amber Room Whereabouts

The original Amber Room was built in 1701, and it was a chamber of gold-plated panels and mirrors installed in Catherine Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia. In 1941, German forces attacked the city and overran the Catherine Palace, taking apart the room before sending it to Konigsberg, where it was reconstructed and considered priceless. 

Source: Getty Images / Antoine Gyori - Corbis

An order from Berlin to move all looted artwork came in 1945, but details about the chamber’s movement remain sketchy. There’s speculation that it was shipped to Mamerki, Poland, but the reports are not conclusive. Well, the Russians opted to build another Amber Room, completed in 2003.

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The Elusive Heinrich Mueller

As the war came to an end, many Nazi leaders knew that their fates were sealed if the Russians captured them. The other option was to surrender to the British or Americans or, better yet, flee to South America. Meanwhile, the leader of the Gestapo, Heinrich Mueller, had all the information he needed to escape.

Source: Getty Images / Bettmann

Yet, to date, the mystery of what happened to Mueller remains unsolved. He was never taken in, and his last confirmed sighting was on May 1, 1945, in Hitler’s bunker. There are many conspiracy theories about him, but nothing has been confirmed.

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It Was Too Cold to Be There

The Nazi regime had its fair share of mysteries, and a secret polar base in Alexandria is one of them. Many believe the base was set up to collect weather data crucial to the war efforts, but its location has many people questioning the validity of this theory.

Source: Getty Images / Bettmann

The regime had an uncanny fixation with mythological artifacts, making many skeptics say the soldiers were tasked with recovering Norse mythology tools. Whatever the reason, the base remained operational till 1944, which coincided with the Soviets pushing West. Some experts are still studying the base’s documents, hoping to get answers.

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What Happened to Herman Goering?

Herman Goering was a prolific person in the second world war with close ties with Adolf Hitler. His capture and detention were a massive win for the allied forces, but the man was as stoic as ever. Even when Herman was given a chance to defend himself, he echoed the witnesses’ statements claiming he was unaware of the vile nature of concentration camps.

Source: Getty Images / brandstaetter images

Additionally, Herman asked to be shot instead of being hanged, but his request was denied. Sadly, the man would poison himself with cyanide despite being under close surveillance, giving rise to many tall tales.

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The Invisible Hand Strikes

The aftermath of WWII saw a lot of European infrastructures take a hit. Germany was the most affected, making traveling within the nation almost impossible. Surprisingly, despite this deplorable state, many Nazi officials escaped from captivity to neighboring continents and countries, escaping conviction.

Source: Getty Images / Bettmann

Looking at the evidence, it’s easy to pinpoint that these guys either had the luck of the gods or had a helping hand to pull this off. The sheer number of escapees led many to believe the U.S., which was in charge of securing the prisoners, played a role for political reasons.

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He Was Meant to Be a Hero

Raoul Wallenberg’s story is pretty interesting. Typically, a man of his caliber should be hailed as a war hero for rescuing the Jews from the Nazis. The upstanding citizen protected and saved hundreds of lives until the Soviets took Budapest.

Source: Getty Images / Laski Diffusion

Then, Wallenberg’s story turns dark as the top brass believed him to be a spy. It was reported that he passed away in July 1947 due to natural causes. Even so, many witnesses insist the man was still in detention until the late ’60s.

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The Oddly Innocent Offender

Rudolph Heiss was a prominent figure in the Nazi regime with only two people more powerful than him. When the war broke out, Heiss wanted to broker a peace treaty with the British to prevent the overexertion of Germany’s resources.

Source: Getty Images / Keystone

Unfortunately, upon landing in Scotland, Heiss was arrested and detained. Luckily, he’d sent Hitler a letter explaining his motives, but this was not received well. The Nazi regime insisted Heiss was tired from overworking. Meanwhile, in England, he was a pri**ner of war until his untimely demise in 1987. Surprisingly, despite his arrest and detention, Heiss was never charged with any cr*me.

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