Articles in ‘Mysteries’

Sixty years later, an underwater research group has discovered U-196 partially submerged, stern down, in the sand and apparently not fully flooded in 15 meters of water. It is surmised that U-196 refuelled from the German convoy raider ‘Orion’, somewhere near Palau, before the German surrender brought inevitable internment, then headed south as the Japanese navy was preparing for…

The U-196 arrived off the Northland coast sometime in May 1945, with a small team of German nuclear scientists and their equipment. They had been ordered there by the commander of the German submarine forces, Admiral Dönitz, as part of a secret agreement between Germany and Britain, after the United States had determined to exclude Britain from the Manhattan Project, immediately…

I believe with the unconditional surrender of Germany on May 8, 1945, the then commander of Germany’s submarine fleet, Admiral Karl Dönitz, used the only bargaining chip he had left, German nuclear research, spirited away from the advancing Russians, often with only hours to spare. Germany had begun a joint nuclear research programme with Japan some time in 1942, establishing a…

In a country as small as New Zealand, with a slowly burgeoning population (4,772,980 at last count), it might be a surprise to hear that mysterious disappearances and strange happenings still remain uncovered. Surely someone must have stumbled upon something by now? But often, sometimes centuries later, these mysteries still remain unsolved. eLocal unravels some of the most…

It might be a small country but New Zealand has had its fair share of murder mysteries, some of which have remained unsolved for decades. In this edition of elocal, we look back at three of those head-scratching cases that have confused the nation and remain unexplained - in some cases over four decades later. Each of the disappearances include teenage women and while there is a…

On May 8, 1945, with Germany’s unconditional surrender, Admiral Dönitz, the commander of Germany’s submarine force, ordered a number of specialised cargo U-boats, still at sea, to proceed to foreign ports across the world. In the early 1980s local divers discovered the hulk of the U-196 in Dargaville, sparking a renewed search for those who came ashore in 1945 AUTHOR'S NOTE…

New Zealand might seem like a far-flung place isolated from the rest of the world, but we still have our fair share of weird and wonderful mysteries that remain unsolved. In fact, according to a report from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), obtained under the official information act, by Newshub in August this year, there had been 30 reports of UFOs seen in the New Zealand…

Gold Bullion, Uranium, Loot… What really happened? Will we ever know? The ‘Monsun Gruppe’ Before continuing my attempt to reconstruct what I believe to be the fate of the crew of U-196 after they reached New Zealand, it might be useful to give readers an overview of the events surrounding U-196 at that time. Beginning in December 1942, the German navy had been requested to make a…

A look at some of the weird and sometimes very sad unsolved crimes and mysteries of New Zealand. A relatively new country by most standards, New Zealand is most likely not at the top of the list when it comes to unsolved crimes and mysteries, but there have been some spine-tingling events that have taken place on our quiet isles throughout the years, some of which have been…

Sixty years later, an underwater research group has discovered U-196 partially submerged, stern down, in the sand and apparently not fully flooded in 15 meters of water. It is surmised that U-196 refuelled from the German convoy raider ‘Orion’, somewhere near Palau, before the German surrender brought inevitable internment, then headed south as the Japanese navy was preparing for…