10: Antique Artillery Shells In New Jersey, a landscaper made
an explosive discovery. His name is Ed George, and he was working with his crew at a home in
Cape May, New Jersey when they uncovered three unexploded artillery shells. According to George,
these things looked like giant bullets, absolutely massive underneath the lawn of
this perfectly ordinary house. The discovery led to the entire area being evacuated for two days
while authorities worked to get rid of the dangerous bombs.
According to the professionals, the artillery shells dated all the way back to World War Two.
But how in the world did giant artillery shells from the war make it underneath
a suburban lawn in New Jersey? It may not have had anything to do with the military.
The man who previously owned the home was a collector of antiques who died in 2020.
He may have collected these bombs as part of his hobby, then simply buried them under his
lawn and neglected to tell anyone. Kind of a dangerous hobby don’t you think??
Oh yes I collect artillery shells from WWII and then bury them in my backyard!
Luckily, explosives experts were able to take the artillery shells away and safely detonate them.
And it's a good thing too. If one of these artillery shells had exploded,
it probably would have caused the other two to explode as well, potentially blowing
the entire house to smithereens. 9: Artifacts from The Kharkov Battle
The second attempt at the liberation of Kharkov took place in May of 1942. The area was controlled
by the Germans and the Soviets desperately wanted to take it back. They launched an offensive that
resulted in a huge battle being waged near Kharkov and the village of Barvenkovo. During
the fighting, the Red Army lost nearly 300,000 soldiers. The offensive was a massive failure
and the Red Army was utterly defeated, with the Germans capturing thousands of prisoners of war.
All these years later, archaeologists decided to do excavations in the region to see what they
could uncover. They ended up stumbling upon a field literally ripe with the remains of
dead soldiers. They also found a small hoard of artifacts from the war, such as Soviet coins,
spoons and forks, abandoned rifles, and rusty cartridges. One of the excavation sites revealed
a small collection of rotten skeletons, nearly two dozen of them. Because the fighting had been
so brutal and the Soviets were forced to retreat unexpectedly, there wasn't exactly enough time to
take all the bodies away. This means in the fields around Kharkov, dead soldiers just like the poor
souls recently discovered are still waiting to be uncovered and taken to be properly buried.
8: Enormous Lost Torpedo An absolutely massive German bomb was
discovered completely by accident by a fishing vessel off the coast of the United Kingdom.
The vessel accidentally dragged the unexploded piece of ordnance up in its fishing nets.
The fishermen were shocked when they saw the huge bomb sitting on the floor of their boat,
looking extremely similar to an enormous bullet. They first thought it was a torpedo, perhaps
left behind by some kind of war submarine. The crew immediately contacted the authorities, who
sent out a Royal Navy Bomb Disposal unit in the middle of the night to take care of the situation.
As it turned out, this supposed torpedo was actually an SC500 bomb, something that was
used by the Germans during World War Two. They dropped these types of bombs from airplanes to
destroy ships, cities, or whatever else they had in their sights. This one was probably meant to
hit a ship but missed, sank to the bottom of the ocean, and sat there for 75 years.
The Royal Navy took the enormous bomb farther out to sea, where they performed a controlled
explosion at about 7:00 in the morning. They lowered it back to the seabed before blowing
it up, that way it couldn’t cause any accidental damage to passing vessels. The local sea life,
however, did not get the same courtesy. 7: German Bunker in a Roman Fort
Excavations on the island of Alderney in the Channel Islands have revealed a bunker
built by the Nazis during World War Two. But this bunker is unlike any other from the war.
The Nazis used the preserved ruins of a Roman fortress as the base for their operations.
They used what was already there to fortify their own bunker, which they occupied from between 1940
and 1945. The Channel Islands are the only place in British territory that the Germans seized
successfully. They actually built a pair of Nazi concentration camps here that most people
don't even know exist. The Channel Islands also happen to have the best-preserved
Roman fortresses anywhere in Britain. What's really amazing is that nobody
found this Nazi base until just now. According to archaeologist Jason Monaghan, one of the leading
researchers involved in the new discovery, the Nazi troops placed their base exactly inside
the walls of the Roman fortification. Because the Romans built their fort with walls 10 feet thick,
it was the perfect natural barrier. When the archaeologists started their excavations,
they had no idea what was going on. There were different levels of floors that all seemed to
be from different eras. But as they continued their investigations, they realized this could
only have been the work of the Nazis. In fact, there was only one part of the
ancient fortress, which was originally built 1700 years ago, that the Nazis didn't ruin.
It's called a sunroom, and the Romans would have used it for a bit of rest and relaxation during
the warm English summer. 6: The Deepest Shipwreck
For the first time in history, the deepest known shipwreck in the world has been mapped
and filmed by a crew from the United States. The ship operated during World War Two as a destroyer,
named the USS Johnson. Researchers found it at a dizzying depth of 21,180 feet in the
Philippine Sea. And while its location has been known ever since the war, nobody could
actually go down there and look at it until just recently because the technology just wasn't there.
Caladan Oceanic is the company that finally reached the deepest shipwreck ever.
They used the research vessel DSV Limiting Factor to reach the ghostly ruin of the ship
over 4 miles beneath the surface of the ocean. It took two trips of eight hours each to fully
map the shipwreck and get all the necessary images. While they can't exactly bring it
back and refurbish it, it was still amazing for everyone to get a look at the destroyer.
How did the USS Johnson end up at the bottom of the ocean in the first place?
It was sunk by Japanese forces on October 25, 1944. It was the Battle of Samar,
one of the four major naval battles fought against the Japanese and one of the biggest clashes in
naval warfare history. The USS Johnson attacked the superior Japanese force of 4 battleships,
6 heavy cruisers, and at least 11 destroyers. The Johnson managed to do a fair bit of damage,
but after two and a half hours, it was crippled, had no power, and was surrounded. The captain had
no choice but to abandon ship with his crew, then deliberately sink the ship to keep it out of the
hands of the Japanese. 5: Lost Letter
Eileen Pfaff has been living in her home in Shenandoah for 16 years. But the piece of history
that she just found hidden in her basement goes back much further. Her son, Michael, was working
in the basement when he uncovered a mysterious letter from World War Two preserved inside a
piece of plastic. The letter came out of a hole in the wall, which had been filled in with dirt.
After digging the letter out of the wall, he saw that it was dated December 31, 1942.
The letter was addressed to Mickey. It was written by a soldier who wanted to wish his family a Merry
Christmas. And while this may sound heartwarming, the letter then takes a dark turn. Whoever wrote
it warned Mickey not to write to him again because he was shipping out later that day. Considering
the letter was so important that it was preserved in plastic and then buried within the walls of the
house, chances are this unfortunate soldier may not have made it back from the war.
Since making the shocking discovery, Eileen and her son have been trying to find the original
owner. The letter must belong to somebody, and the family of the soldier would undoubtedly be
happy to have it. Unfortunately, no one has yet come forward to claim the letter,
leaving the fate of the unknown soldier a compelling mystery!!
Do you have any family stories from WWII?? Let me know in the comments below!!
My grandfather was a colonel in the airforce but he didn’t like to talk about it.
And now for number 4, but first I wanted to give a big shout out to Dragonkiss76 and
Kieron from DiyEcoProjects. Thanks so much for your support, we wouldn't be here without you!
Be sure to subscribe if you haven’t already and join the Origins Explained family!!!
4: Lost Plane Wreck An amateur diver from Canada
recently discovered the wreckage of a plane that dates back to World War Two. He made this amazing
discovery at the bottom of Lake Simon, Quebec. The diver didn't manage to identify the aircraft, but
he did take some photographs of what looks like an airplane that's been at the bottom of the lake
for a very long time. He apparently saw bodies, barrels of kerosene, and even whacked his head on
the propeller. Because of the sensitive materials, he went straight to the police with what he
discovered. He believes the aircraft is probably a Latecoere 631 seaplane used back in the 40s.
Unfortunately, the army and police have not been much help. The police are supposed to be carrying
out checks and bringing in divers, but they haven’t revealed where the plane could have
come from or if it had been used by the Department of National Defense. This could have something to
do with what the diver thought were dozens of barrels of kerosene dumped around the vehicle.
The seaplane may have been carrying hazardous materials during the war when it mysteriously
fell into the lake and was forgotten. 3: War Time Stimulants
People looking to lose weight and get into shape may unknowingly be ingesting experimental
stimulant drugs from World War Two. According to a new study, a stimulant called phenpromethamine
has been showing up in sports supplements and weight loss supplements that are being used
right now by millions of people. The reason this is a little alarming is that the stimulant was
last sold in the 1940s as a nasal inhaler. It was ultimately withdrawn from the market in the 50s.
The stimulant has never even been approved for oral use and is banned from competitive sports,
according to the World Anti-Doping Agency. During World War Two, phenpromethamine was sold as
Vonedrine. People would use it as a nasal inhaler to get a short-lived buzz with each inhale. As you
can imagine, soldiers fighting in the war could have benefited from a sudden burst of energy.
But after the war was over, the drug was considered dangerous for everyday use
and prohibited. What it's doing now in ordinary weight loss supplements has the experts baffled.
Well, they’re more baffled by the fact that companies are getting away with it.
According to Clinical Toxicology, studies have also shown that there are other prohibited
stimulant drugs in weight loss supplements dating back to the 40s. Many of these companies
are actually using cocktails of stimulants – in low doses, mind you, inside their supplements.
Next time you take a pill for losing weight, remember you could be ingesting stimulants used
by World War Two era soldiers. 2: Artifacts Under the Floor
Underneath the floorboards of a British hotel, construction workers doing renovations stumbled
upon a fascinating discovery. While working at the Esplanade Hotel in Scarborough, a quiet little
town on the northern coast of England, the workers were shocked to find loads of WWII era artifacts.
The hotel is considered a historic building, with the renovations being necessary to keep
the place standing. But what the workers hadn't expected was to find a literal treasure trove of
artifacts from World War Two. It was on the first floor, hidden underneath one of the floorboards
of a utility room. Workers uncovered an old Vaseline tin, crumbling packages of cigarettes,
wrappers from chocolates, and old-timey toothpaste tubes. They also found handwritten
love letters from between 1941 and 1944. The letters contain correspondence between
a pair of lovers separated by miles and war. Sadly, the names are missing from the letters
and the owners of the hotel don't have a clue who they were or how to get ahold of their living
relatives. It's believed that a British soldier was stationed at the hotel during World War Two.
The Esplanade Hotel was used as a rest stop between training exercises or deployment to the
front lines. While stuck in the lonely confines of this remote place, the unknown soldier was
corresponding with his lover wherever she lived. 1: Sunken Minesweeper
A minesweeper from World War 2 has been discovered sitting on the bottom of the Irish Sea.
Archaeologists with Bournemouth University and scientists from Bangor University worked together
to track down and document the mysterious vessel, which they had previously thought was a wrecked
submarine. The teams used multibeam sonar data to identify the sunken vessel as the HMS Mercury.
The vessel was originally a ferry, built in 1934, but was requisitioned by the British Admiral back
in 1939 for use as a minesweeper. Its duty was to detect and remove mines around the British Isles,
keeping the waters safe for friendly vessels. Less than one year into its service,
the HMS Mercury was trying to clear a mine when the thing got too close to its hull, detonated,
and completely annihilated the ship. Attempts were made to bring the ship back to shore,
but it flooded too quickly and sank. Luckily, the crew was able to be rescued – but there was
nothing that could be done for the HMS Mercury. Thanks for watching!! Which of these discoveries
from World War II do you think is the most interesting? Let me know in the comments
below! Be sure to subscribe if you haven’t already for more amazing discoveries! See you next time!!