Top 10 Wartime Urban Legends That You Probably Didn't Know About

1.      The Angels of Mons 

The Angels of Mons is a popular legend about a group of angels who supposedly protected members of the British Army in the Battle of Mons at the outset of World War I.

During the 22-23 August 1914, the British Expeditionary Force had their first big engagement in World War I against the Germans.  British troops were cornered and greatly outnumbered, but the advancing Germans fled from the battle.  Many British soldiers recalled seeing mysterious angel-like entities protecting them from the Germans, and this is believed to have caused the superior German army to flee the battlefield, and it also allowed the British troops to retreat.

2.      The Templar Knights and Robert the Bruce

There is an urban legend in which the Templar Knights helped Robert the Bruce battle against the English and win the Battle of Bannockburn in June 1314.

A small group of Templar Knights travelled to Scotland during the time that Robert the Bruce was fighting against the English.  The Knights joined the battle and helped Robert the Bruce destroy the enemy.  It’s unclear how Robert the Bruce won the battle, but historians argue that the Knights Templar were never there.

3.      Germany’s Factory for Corpses 

The Times released a story in 1917 about how Germany was recycling the dead bodies of soldiers in strange “Corpse Factories”.  The bodies were supposed to have been put into a big cauldron where they would be broken down, and fats, oils, and glycerine were used to make soap, and their bones were then ground down in order to make pig feed.

The rumours were purposely made by the British, and they continued to say that they were true, even when the Germans denied the allegations, and the rumours lasted until 1925.

The German public were very angry when they first thought that the rumours were true, but they were then upset when they later found out that they were untrue.  

Germany did have factories in which it would do this to animals, but they never did it to dead soldiers.

4.      The Wild Soldiers of World War I 

There were rumours during World War 1, that soldiers from the opposing sides had become crazy and deserted their posts, and that they would run wild and live in caves, villages, and abandoned trenches.  These soldiers were believed to only come out at night in order to collect food and clothing from the bodies of dead and drying soldiers.  It was also believed that the number of these soldiers had gotten so large that the military eventually had to kill them all with gas.

5.      Pippo, the Night Terror Plane of WWII 

One of the myths that came out during the Second World War was about a terrifying yet mysterious plane called Pippo.

Stories regarding Pippo were widespread throughout Italy.  The eerie plane’s origins seem to be a mystery, and many people felt as if the plane had always been about at night.  The plane wasn’t as innocent as it may sound, and it was said to always drop bombs onto buildings and villages which happened to be in its path.  The noise made from its engines also seemed to be unique, and this allowed it to be easily identified.

There are not any accepted sources to show that this plane was really in the war, and historians believe that the legend of the plane was created by people confusing it with real night fighter planes at night in the countryside.

6.      Prague’s Spring-Man, Perak 

A legend of a Spring-man was created during the German occupation of Czechoslovakia during WW2.  Perak was a mysterious man who supposedly waked the streets at night, hiding within the shadows, and able to accomplish impressive leaps, jumping over buildings and rivers in order to spread anti-German graffiti, and cause panic within the citizens, resulting in a decrease in the production of munitions and other materials which the Germans had the public producing for their armies.

There were rumours that Perak was an American or British secret agent, while others believed that he was a ghostly entity, while others believed that he was just an acrobat.

7.      Pigeons Collecting Iraqi Ransoms 

There was a strange urban legend during the war in Iraq involving kidnaps and homing pigeons.  Police in Iraq reported cases in which kidnappers had left homing pigeons in cages on the doorsteps of houses where someone had recently been kidnapped.  There would be a note stating that if they wanted to see the victim alive again, they would need to tie bank notes to the feet of the pigeons and release them at a certain time.  Kidnappers had supposedly begun to use this new tactic as a way of avoiding being caught by police when they would try and collect ransom money, since it would be pretty hard for the police to follow the pigeons to their location.

8.      The Amputee’s Letter/Phone Call 

There have been various versions of this sad urban legend throughout the years.  Many of them involve a soldier who calls his parents, and he tells them that he is coming home and if he can bring a friend to come live with them, who saved his life, but is missing an arm and a leg.  The parents refuse this, and tell their son that it would be a burden on them, then the son ends the call.  A few days later, the parents receive a call from the police telling them that their son had committed suicide and had fallen from a building.  When the parents go to the morgue to identify the body, they discovered that their son was missing an arm and a leg.

9.      Hitler the Carpet Eater 

There was an urban legend that Hitler liked to chew on carpets.  "Chewing the carpet" is a German idiom for somebody acting nervously.  William Shirer first wrote about this in his 1941 book Berlin Diary that Hitler was on the verge on a nervous breakdown, then lost control and leapt to the floor and began to chew on a carpet. 

It is believed that Shirer purposely misinterpreted the idiom as a way for Hitler’s enemies to joke about him.

10.   The Philadelphia Experiment 

There was a rumour during WWII, involving the United States conducting strange experiments and figuring out how to successfully time travel, how to make their Navy Destroyer, the USS Eldridge invisible, and even teleport it to other docks throughout the country. 

There were also rumours that the ship had reappeared in Philadelphia, and the crew were all mangled and screaming in agony.  Unsurprisingly, these rumours turned out to be untrue.