All language subtitles for The UnXplained S06E09 Strange Stories of World War II 1080p HULU WEB-DL AAC2 0 H 264-playWEB_track4_[eng]

WILLIAM SHATNER:
A vast Nazi fortune

hidden beneath a Polish castle.

An otherworldly presence,

spawned by
an infamous surprise attack...

...and a top secret
German invention

with the power...

...to defy gravity.

World War II was the largest,

and deadliest conflict
in history.

From 1939 until 1945,
more than 50 nations

engaged in harrowing combat.

And during that time,

a number of intriguing and
persistent mysteries were born.

Curious stories about
everything from lost gold

to secret societies

and highly advanced technology.

Nearly 80 years later,
can new information help us

better understand the strangest
tales of the Second World War?

Well, that is what
we'll try and find out.

♪ ♪

As dawn breaks, Nazi Germany
launches a surprise attack

with one and a half million
soldiers,

2,500 tanks,

and 2,000 war planes.

This massive invasion marks
the beginning of World War II.

After conquering Poland,
Hitler expands German territory

throughout Europe,

and steals
billions of dollars...

...in gold.

RICHARD SPENCE:
One of the things connected to Hitler's grand scheme

of completely restructuring
Europe is loot.

As Nazi Germany extended
its control

over most of continental Europe,

a great deal of acquisition
of valuables went on.

And so, they were just
sort of grabbing anything

that might be of value.

Nazi Germany had to be very
minded toward the accumulation

of gold as a resource that was
going to help it win the war.

Their military went
to war with the world,

and then stole a great deal of
wealth from millions of people.

SHATNER:
In April 1945, near the end of the war,

the U.S. Army received
intelligence

about a hidden stash
of stolen Nazi gold

in Merkers, Germany.

There,
in an abandoned salt mine,

American soldiers discovered
a jaw-dropping fortune.

The U.S. Army discovered the
most astonishing hidden horde

of Nazi gold.

I mean, they literally
walked in and were almost

knee-deep in gold coins
and other treasures.

They couldn't
believe their eyes.

And the sum total value was,
by today's valuation,

8.5 billion dollars' worth.

And that's just
in that one tunnel.

So, it makes sense
that there are other tunnels

and other caves elsewhere
that have more Nazi gold.

SHATNER:
Is there billions of dollars in stolen Nazi gold

that has yet to be found?

And if so, where could it be?

Well, according to local legend,
some of this vast treasure

could still be hidden
where the war started...

in Poland.

During the closing weeks
of World War II,

the Germans are hurriedly
trying to evacuate things

out of occupied Poland.

And there was a lot of stuff,

in the chaos
at the end of the war,

that was being loaded up
any way you could

and spirited out of the country.

And then a lot of valuables
go missing.

And so that's where
you get stories of things

like the Nazi gold train.

SHATNER:
The fabled Nazi gold train

is one of the most enduring
mysteries of World War II,

and an obsession for treasure
hunters around the world.

Legend has it that a Nazi train,

brimming with stolen gold
and valuables,

departed from
Wroclaw, Poland, in 1945.

And then, it reportedly
disappeared without a trace.

As the story is told,
they had a special train,

which was to transport
this contents.

At least the most
valuable contents.

It was armor-plated,
and they had gun turrets on it.

So it was very well protected.

And it was filled with 300 tons

of gold bullion,
and other valuables

and artwork that were
loaded onto the train.

And the train was
never seen again.

MORGAN:
The belief is that that train,

carrying God only knows
how much gold,

was on its way between Wroclaw
and a town called Walbrzych.

And somewhere
between Wroclaw and Walbrzych,

the train was sent
onto a siding,

where it was then ultimately
stopped permanently,

and then buried to prevent it

from falling into
the enemy's hands.

SHATNER:
Could the Nazi gold train really be buried somewhere near

the 40 miles of track
between these two Polish towns?

For Polish treasure hunter
Michael Dembinski,

this persistent local legend is
a fascinating mystery.

MICHAEL DEMBINSKI:
Did the Germans hide this train somewhere along the line?

That is the possibility
that has intrigued

treasure hunters for
the best part of 80 years.

It's all about
eyewitnesses, really.

There's nothing on paper.

But this story was
doing the rounds.

In Walbrzych, if you talk
to older people there,

they will say,
"Yes, I remember that story

"from childhood,
about these trains

full of treasures that have
mysteriously disappeared."

SHATNER:
Not only do the people of Walbrzych

distinctly remember
the gold train,

they also say that
during the German occupation,

there was a stretch
of train track

that branched off
the main railway line.

And it led to
a fortified location

that was under Nazi control...

a place called Ksiaz Castle.

DEMBINKSKI:
Ksiaz Castle finds itself just outside of Walbrzych ?

The castle itself is beautiful.

It's a magnificent palace,
really.

Now, very important
in all of this is

the rumor that many,
many people talk about.

That between Ksiaz Castle itself

and the main Wroclaw
to Walbrzych railway line,

there was a spur, linking
Ksiaz Castle and the main line.

This is still to be confirmed,

but there are enough rumors
to suggest that this

actually was the case.

PICKNETT:
Ksiaz Castle has been described as the pearl

of Lower Silesia in Poland.

It's a beautiful,
fairy-tale place

that the Nazis certainly took
a great interest in.

And not only aboveground,
but below it.

Local people tell the story
of an underground city...

where they would have a lot of

Nazi looted gold and treasures,

and, perhaps,

the great legendary
Nazi gold train.

DEMBINSKI:
This is crucial to the whole story,

because it was here that
the Germans were building

a top secret complex
of underground tunnels

and bunkers and caverns.

And to this day,
no one can really come up with

a good reason as to why

the Nazis were so obsessed
with completing this project.

We don't know what the plan was

for how this site was
going to be used.

All we know is there
is a massive underground network

of tunnels and caves that were
all being interlinked together,

and that there might be a train

with unimaginable
gold wealth on it,

buried there in 1945.

SHATNER:
A secret underground lair

in the same region
that the Nazi gold train

was said to disappear.

For many, it's just
too coincidental to ignore.

But only about 10%

of this massive underground
complex has been explored.

So even if the legendary
Nazi gold train

was buried there,

there's still no guarantee
it will ever be found.

The problem for treasure hunters

in that area is where to start.

There are thousands
upon thousands of tunnels...

and the difficulty is finding
where they begin and end.

DEMBINSKI:
The tunnels branch off here and there,

and some of them go underwater.

Each of them is
extensive in size,

and it really does
beg the question,

why were the Nazis doing this?

So in terms of further searches

for the gold train,

my hunch is that

it's going to be found
under Ksiaz Castle.

SHATNER:
This active naval and air force base is also home

to the Pearl Harbor
National Memorial,

a hallowed site
that draws nearly

two million visitors every year.

At the heart
of this historic landmark

is a floating memorial built
over the sunken wreckage

of the USS Arizona battleship.

It is a solemn place
to contemplate

a dark day which will forever

live in infamy.

LANCE GEIGER:
The morning of December 7th, a substantial Japanese fleet

launched an air assault
on the U.S. at Pearl Harbor.

The goal was to cripple
the U.S. Pacific Fleet

so that they could not contest

Japanese plans for invasion
across the Pacific.

They launched
about 353 aircraft.

They attacked for
about an hour and a half.

And over the period,

they killed
some 2,403 Americans...

...including 68 civilians.

And they damaged or destroyed 19
ships of the United States Navy.

The Arizona was
one of the first ships

to be attacked
in the very first attack.

Ten aircraft went after it,
and they were dropping

armor-piercing aerial bombs.

One went through five decks
into the Arizona...

...which had about a million
pounds of gunpowder in it.

Caused an explosion so large

that the ship's bulkheads
blew outwards.

The entire 30,000-ton ship

was lifted bodily from the water
and then sank very quickly.

Fires burned
for two days afterwards,

making it almost impossible

to engage in recovery efforts.

And so 1,104 sailors and Marines

of the Arizona are still aboard.

They went down with the ship,

and then the remains
were never removed.

So it is definitely a cemetery.

SHATNER: The names of the men
who died on the USS Arizona

are immortalized
on a marble wall

at the Pearl Harbor Memorial.

And for over 80 years,
the attack on Pearl Harbor

has continued to haunt
the American people.

NELSON: With Pearl Harbor,
we have a tragedy

that's become
part of our national story.

So when we see at Pearl Harbor,

"Oh, this is where
this happened."

Or "This is where
so and so was killed."

I've got goosebumps right now
just talking about it.

It is a spiritual experience
for anyone.

RICKSECKER: When you talk
about Pearl Harbor, there are

a lot of reports
of ghost hauntings.

This is a location
that saw so much death,

so much tragedy,
and now as people go back,

there's an energy
that still permeates the area.

These are echoes of the past.

GEIGER: The people that died
in the attack at Pearl Harbor

died in horrible circumstances.

They were burned to death
or drowned or both.

If any place
was going to be haunted,

Pearl Harbor is such a place.

SHATNER:
Pearl Harbor is a graveyard,

but could it also be home
to restless spirits?

Some say yes,
in light of the fact

that both civilians
and military personnel

have reported
strange apparitions

and supernatural phenomena
throughout the base,

the most famous of which
is a mysterious spirit

referred to as Charley.

Reportedly,
Charley is this sort of

benevolent, mischievous spirit.

Charley's on Ford Island.

So Ford Island is
in the middle of Pearl Harbor.

And it was actually the first
to be attacked in the battle.

So many people think
of Ford Island as being haunted.

And according to the stories,

sometimes a light will be left
on that wasn't supposed to,

or a radio will turn on,
or its station will just change.

And when that happens,

they'll say, "Oh, that's,
that's just Charley."

RICKSECKER: This is a spirit
that's been around the area

for a long, long time.

People attribute it
to somebody that perished

there at Pearl Harbor.

So, it's one
of those things that really

heightens that idea
that Pearl Harbor is haunted.

SHATNER: While encounters
with Charley have been

reported on Ford Island
for decades,

many visitors have also felt

a ghostly presence near
the wreckage of the USS Arizona.

RICKSECKER:
The USS Arizona Memorial is a very reverent location.

You can feel
the sadness that is there.

And they've done
a really beautiful job

of creating this memorial,

so these sailors
who lost their lives

in such a gruesome,
horrific fashion

can be remembered to this day.

SPENCE: You go out
to this bridge-like structure,

and there isn't
a ship sitting there.

It's underwater.

The water is fairly murky.

But you can only
sort of make out this...

the-the kind of vague outlines.

And you really have
to examine things

to figure out
what you're looking at.

You have to keep in mind

that what you're
essentially standing over

is a grave.

That, to me,
is the most important part.

RICKSECKER: When the Pearl
Harbor attack occurred,

the USS Arizona had
just been topped off

the day before
on all of its fluids.

So, when it sank,
over a million gallons of oil

were trapped
within the superstructure.

And what's happening
to this day is

oil will rise to the surface.

and they call these the black
tears of the USS Arizona.

GEIGER: This oil rises up,
and it creates

kind of a slick on the water,

which you can see
from the memorial.

And occasionally,
people will see in the slick

what appears to be
like a ghostly face,

and some of the photos
of these are truly haunting.

And of course,
it's not surprising that people

would take that as being
some sort of representation

of the agony of the men
who died aboard the Arizona.

NELSON: Skeptics may scoff
at the idea of ghosts

or things of this nature.

But you cannot deny
that when you walk

aboard that memorial,

it is a powerful experience.

It's just a fascinating

and unique piece
of American history.

Do the events
of December 7, 1941,

continue to cast
a dark shadow over Pearl Harbor?

It's a sobering thought.

And that day of infamy

still looms large
in our collective consciousness.

But on another note,

historians remain fascinated
by a much different kind

of World War II mystery.

Because there are reports
which suggest

that German engineers

successfully pioneered
technology

that may have actually

defied the laws of physics.

SHATNER: At a top secret
military research

and development facility,
Nazi Germany unleashes

a terrifying new weapon:

the V-2 rocket.

During the next six months,

the Nazis launch roughly 1,100
V-2 rockets against England,

which decimate buildings
throughout London,

and kill
approximately 9,000 people.

These missiles belong
to a category

of advanced technology that
the Nazis call "Wunderwaffe,"

or "wonder weapons."

Hitler's wonder weapons were

high technology weapons.

While the Allies were dropping

bombs on German cities,

the Germans were launching
a ballistic missile,

which could travel
from Germany to London

in just minutes

and unleash hell.

In many respects,

the Germans were well ahead

of the Allies
in technological advances

in a whole range of fields.

And Hitler was promising
the party faithful

that "We have a game-changing
addition to the war.

We can turn the tide."

So that confidence
must have come from somewhere.

SHATNER: What secret technology
were Nazi scientists working on

that convinced Hitler
that Germany could win the war?

Well, according
to Polish researcher

and author Igor Witkowski,

who has investigated that very
question for more than 20 years,

it was a mysterious Nazi weapon

known as "die glocke,"

or "the bell."

SHATNER:
In 2007,

Igor Witkowski's
extraordinary claims

were revealed to the wider world

when he published a book titled

The Truth About the Wunderwaffe.

SWARTZ:
According to Igor Witkowski,

the bell was described

as being
about 12 to 15 feet tall,

and shaped like a bell.

It had two counter-rotating
cylinders that were filled

with a mercury-like substance

that was highly radioactive.

Once it was activated,

it emitted a field
that was about

600 feet in diameter.

Anybody that got too close
to this field died.

Several of the scientists
who were working on the Bell

suffered this fate.

The theory was that
when the Bell was activated,

if you create a powerful enough
electromagnetic field,

that you could actually

warp space-time in
a highly localized area,

creating anti-gravity,
and possibly even time travel.

SHATNER:
But if the Bell did exist, as Igor Witkowski claims,

then where were the Nazis
developing

such an extraordinary piece
of secret technology?

This densely forested area
hides remnants of

an ultra-clandestine
test facility

with secret
subterranean chambers,

tunnels and fortifications.

And Igor Witkowski contends
that this town

was dedicated to
the development of the Bell.

SHATNER:
Could this secret facility have been the test site for the Bell?

Some believe the proof lies
with an enigmatic structure

at the center of the complex

known as The Henge.

POPE:
The Henge is a name given

to this bizarre structure,

which really does look almost
like a concrete Stonehenge.

And some researchers believe
that Die Glocke,

or the Bell, was somehow
inserted into this structure.

POPE:
The biggest mystery about Die Glocke is what it was.

We've heard all the theories,
but we don't know,

because, apparently, it was
not ready for operational use.

But had the Bell been developed,

and had it proven
to be an effective weapon,

Hitler would have used it.

The infamous Nazi Bell continues
to capture the imagination

of both historians
and amateur researchers alike.

Perhaps further clues about
the scientific achievements of

the Third Reich can
be found by examining

what happened to 1,600 brilliant
German scientists after the war.

Because,
in an ironic twist of fate,

these former Nazis
ended up working

for the United States
government.

The Soviet Red Army has
surrounded the city,

and the total defeat of
the Third Reich is at hand.

On May 7, 1945,
the remaining leadership

of the German army officially
surrenders to Allied forces.

But as people rejoice
around the world...

the United States government
initiates a top secret program.

Code name: Operation Paperclip.

Operation Paperclip was
a secret Allied plan

at the end of World War II

to acquire former
Nazi German talent

in the areas of aeronautics,
especially,

but also physics,
chemistry and medicine.

In other words,
they were rounding up

former Nazi scientists,

and bringing many of them
to the United States.

GEIGER:
The name Operation Paperclip came because

if you were a high-value target,

a scientist that
we really wanted,

then there was a paperclip
on your folder.

This would have been things
like aircraft production,

rocketry, atomic weapons.

Eventually, about 1,600
scientists and their families

were brought
to the United States,

where, officially,
they did not exist.

POPE:
Paperclip was essentially an acknowledgment

by the Allied powers
that the Germans,

in so many areas,
were technologically ahead.

They had science
and engineering skills

that we simply didn't have.

So, they wanted
to identify these people,

bring them back to the U.S.
and set them to work.

GEIGER:
We kept Paperclip very secret

because we did not want to tell
the American public that we were

out finding Nazi scientists

to come work
in the United States.

And so a lot of the paper
trail is still just missing.

That's why Operation Paperclip

still leaves
you wondering today,

you know, what came from it,
and what are we hiding?

SHATNER:
What were Nazi scientists working on in the United States

that, even today, remains
a closely guarded secret?

Some say a clue lies
in the remarkable events

which transpired
throughout 1947,

which has been referred to

as "The Year of
the Flying Saucer."

During 1947, flying saucers were
sighted all over the country,

from the northwest all the way
to the southeast.

There was so much panic
about what are these things,

who's piloting them,
where are they from?

And the sightings of UFOs
were on front pages

of newspapers
across the country.

SHATNER:
On July 8, 1947, the Roswell Daily Record

famously reported
that a flying saucer had crashed

in the New Mexico desert,

and was seized by the U.S. Army.

While many people believe
that the unidentified craft

was extraterrestrial in origin,

others claim that it may have
actually been the result

of Operation Paperclip.

GEIGER:
The Germans were known to use non-traditional techniques

and unconventional
aircraft design.

Some people say what
happened at Roswell was

a saucer-shaped disc that
we got from Nazi technology.

Because there's some anecdotal
evidence that they were

working on some sort
of saucer-shaped aircraft.

And that's the sort of thing
we would have been taking

to the United States,
that we would have hidden

from the American public.

SHATNER:
Is it possible that the mysterious flying object

recovered in
Roswell, New Mexico,

was an experimental craft
developed by Nazi scientists?

Perhaps the answer
can be found by examining

an iconic UFO sighting
that took place

only a month before
the Roswell crash.

On June 24,
pilot Kenneth Arnold reported

seeing UFOs near Mount Rainier
in Washington State

flying at supersonic speeds
which, interestingly,

matches the velocity
of the German V-2 rocket.

And when Arnold described
the mysterious crafts

that he had seen, some pointed
out their striking similarity to

an aircraft developed by German
scientists in World War II.

GEIGER:
The Germans did a lot of

crazy aircraft design,
and one of them

was this massive bomber
that was called the Horton 229.

It was a flying wing.
The two look so similar,

how could they not be related?

And those are
the sort of scientists

that Operation Paperclip
was grabbing,

was the people
that built that aircraft.

And so when you keep
a lot of secrets,

then you leave room
for a lot of speculation.

SHATNER:
It's intriguing to think that aircraft

built by former Nazi scientists

may have been mis-identified
as extraterrestrial spacecraft.

But on the other hand,
many still believe

that these UFOs came
from another world.

So, is it possible that one
purpose of Operation Paperclip

was to analyze
recovered alien technology?

Let's say that you got ahold
of some sort of alien craft.

Who are you gonna bring in
to look at it?

You would bring in
the most savvy people in terms

of aeronautics, rocketry,
propulsion systems.

And if you're talking about
the late 1940s or 1950s,

Paperclip-connected scientists
would be some of

the key individuals
you would want to have there.

POPE:
There is a direct potential connection here

between Nazi scientists
and the Roswell crash.

But there's still vast parts
of it that we don't know,

and maybe we never will.

Was the flying disc that
crashed in Roswell, New Mexico,

created by
the German war machine,

or by an extraterrestrial
civilization?

Either way,
it's a fascinating mystery.

Just like another
alleged alien encounter

that took place in 1942
between the U.S. military

and an unidentified
flying object.

SHATNER:
The day after the attack on Pearl Harbor,

Congress declares war on Japan.

Three days later, Japan's
allies, Germany and Italy,

declare war
on the United States.

And as the country prepares
to send millions of troops

to fight in Europe
and the South Pacific,

Americans on the home front
anxiously wonder

whether the war
will reach the mainland.

In the days and weeks
that followed Pearl Harbor,

the American military was
on high alert.

The American people were
aware of the possibilities

of an enemy attack
of some kind

that might fall somewhere else.

It wasn't just Pearl Harbor.

The island of Midway
also came under enemy attack.

And so the American people
suddenly had to recognize

that we had a long coastline,
and it was open and vulnerable.

SHATNER:
Just two months after the attack on Pearl Harbor,

a Japanese submarine surfaces
off the coast...

and fires armor-piercing shells
at the Ellwood Oil Field.

While the bombardment
causes little damage...

America is on high alert.

Civilians are reading
in their newspapers

on the morning of February 24th
about a submarine attack.

And then on the evening
of February 24th,

the headquarters of
the 37th Anti-Aircraft Brigade

and the Fourth Anti-Aircraft
Command received a message

from the Office of
Naval Intelligence, stating,

"Predict Los Angeles attack
tonight."

MORGAN:
Everyone was on the lookout for the submarine

that had shelled
the oil refining complex

right near Santa Barbara
the night before.

All of Southern California
went under a blackout.

No radio stations
could broadcast.

There was a full military alert.

POPE:
What happened was,

over a series of some hours,

strange objects were
seen over Los Angeles...

...in and around
the city itself.

And the witnesses included
members of the public,

but also some of the people
manning the coastal batteries.

And these people opened fire on

whatever this object
or objects were.

SHATNER:
Anti-aircraft guns erupted,

firing blindly at
unidentified objects in the sky.

But were these objects
Japanese planes?

Or could they have been
something else?

This strange incident
has come to be known as

"The Battle of Los Angeles."

POPE:
You've got to imagine all these coastal batteries

firing up into the air.

So, the Battle of Los Angeles,
in many respects,

took the war to the mainland,
continental United States.

And it was apocalyptic.

The city of Los Angeles
is stunned.

Nobody's quite sure
what's happening.

Are we under attack?

They looked as if they were,
but by who or what?

SHATNER:
In total, 1,400 rounds were fired

into the sky
at unidentified objects.

Remarkably,
after the smoke cleared,

there was no evidence
of any downed planes,

and no coherent explanation
for what happened.

Within hours, Secretary
of the Navy Frank Knox

held a press conference,
dismissing the incident

as "war nerves."

Frank Knox makes a very
interesting statement

that it was a false alarm.

A lot of people say that there
was a cover-up, and the military

was obfuscating the truth,
and everyone's dodging this.

There more than likely
is some truth to that.

The civilians didn't know
anything except that shrapnel

was raining down
on the citizens of Los Angeles,

because many rounds didn't
impact and didn't detonate

until they hit the ground.

And this is pretty alarming.

SHATNER:
What really happened on February 24, 1942,

over the skies of Los Angeles?

Some say the answer can be found
by examining the iconic photo

of the attack that appeared
in the Los Angeles Times.

NELSON:
It's an amazing photograph.

And it shows these beams
of light going up into the sky

and terminating
at one large object

that is, in fact,
some kind of oblong shape.

MORGAN:
The photo enters the general American cultural zeitgeist

in a powerful way,
because in that photograph,

what they think they see
is that U.S. Army

coast artillery anti-aircraft
searchlight batteries

have illuminated
a flying saucer.

SHATNER:
Did the U.S. military engage in a firefight

with a flying saucer during
World War II, as some believe?

It's a tantalizing question

that is still up for debate,
especially considering

that the photo
in the Los Angeles Times

was altered for publication.

The original photograph
is so faint

that it shows some blurry
blobs of light.

And then a few search lights
that sort of fade out.

So they helped the viewer
see the searchlights

by doctoring it and making it
more acceptable for print.

So what is up there?

(air-raid sirens wailing)

SHATNER:
More than 80 years

after the Battle
of Los Angeles...

...people still debate whether

a firefight
with extraterrestrials

actually took place
over a major American city.

Not unlike another strange
World War II mystery

that has also
stirred controversy.

It involves
the Nazis' bizarre quest

to obtain mystical objects
believed to possess...

supernatural powers.

SHATNER:
World War II spanned six years,

inflicted upwards of
80 million casualties,

and shaped our modern world.

But what most people
don't realize

is that remnants
of the ideology

that gave rise
to this monumental conflict

can still be seen today

in a remote town
in Western Germany.

Near the small village
of Wewelsburg,

stands an ominous castle

that was home
to the strange beliefs

and occult practices
of Nazi Germany.

This 400-year-old stronghold
is sometimes called

the Nazi Temple of Doom.

PICKNETT:
Wewelsburg Castle was Heinrich Himmler's headquarters.

It was, to him, a temple for

his particular brand of
black magic, if you like.

They had their
unholy ceremonies there.

It was the center of
the most devilish,

genuinely satanic operation
the world has ever seen.

CHRISTOPHER HALE:
Heinrich Himmler was in charge

of what was called
the Schutzstaffel-- the SS.

Himmler was very concerned
with rituals

and strange occult ideas.

And he invited members
of the officer class of the SS

to meetings at Wewelsburg.

KIRKPATRICK:
In the dungeon area,

they had
an eternal flame burning,

and crypts containing
Nazi military heroes.

And it's presumed
that all kinds of

what would be considered
pagan rituals were conducted.

SPENCE:
You can visit it today,

and you can still see
the 12-armed Black Sun emblem

that Heinrich Himmler had
inlaid in the floor

at a considerable cost.

And the point of ritual magic

is to bend reality
to your desires.

Well, just imagine
what the Nazis wanted.

A world controlled by Nazis.

So everything
they're doing there is

this attempt
to manifest that reality.

SHATNER:
Not only did Himmler and the SS perform dark rituals

at Wewelsburg Castle,

they also sent expeditions
to the far reaches of Tibet

and Antarctica in search
of relics said to possess

mystical properties.

And while this fascination with
the occult is certainly bizarre,

some historians believe
it embodies

the Nazis' relentless quest
for absolute power.

PICKNETT:
When we talk about the Nazi obsession

with the occult,
I mean, it sounds crazy.

And indeed, it probably is.

The real roots of Nazi occultism

was a great desire
to dominate the entire Earth.

So, to establish some kind
of mystical contact

and, obviously,
get a bit of their power,

was a sensible idea
from their perspective.

SHATNER:
Despite numerous theories and intense study,

we may never fully understand
what drove Nazi Germany

to embrace the occult.

And the surprising truth
is that even though

World War II ended
more than 70 years ago,

there is still much more
we have to learn about

the most devastating conflict
in human history.

Why does World War II spawn
so many unexplained things,

so many, so many mysteries?

Simple explanation
is that it is

the single biggest event
in human history.

More blood and treasure,
more energy was expended on that

than anything else
that we have ever done.

And the world
and everybody since has been

irreparably shaped
by those events.

World War II was
just massive in scale.

We were hiding technologies
and developing stuff,

and keeping secrets.

It's not a shock that
we come out of there

with an awful lot
in our minds,

in our spirits,
that is still just unexplained.

It's remarkable
how many bizarre,

unsolved mysteries emerged
from the Second World War.

These extraordinary tales
show the profound influence

that the war continues to have,
even in the 21st century.

Which is precisely why
both historians

and curious members
of the public

will keep investigating
the many strange stories

of World War II that remain...

...unexplained.

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