" " Was the U.S. military attacked by Nazi UFOs in the Antarctic during Operation Highjump after World War II? Mark Stevenson/Stocktrek Images/Getty Images

The sick and twisted actions of Nazi Germany have been extensively documented. Beyond starting a war with the entire world, the Nazi Party attempted to exterminate Jews, homosexuals, the disabled and the elderly. Fortunately, the Allies defeated the Nazis and Hitler in 1945 ... or did they?

Some believe that as many as 250,000 senior officers in the Nazi Party, perhaps even Hitler, escaped in U-boats from Germany in the last days of the World War II. But where would they have gone? Some say they went to Argentina, protected by the sympathetic Juan Peron administration, but others believe they escaped to a secret base in Antarctica that was already developing startling and powerful new weapons. Stuff They Don't Want You To Know hosts Matt Frederick and Ben Bowlin look all the theories — and facts — in the podcast Did the Nazis Really Make UFOs?



Shortly after World War II ended, the United States mounted a huge expedition to Antarctica called Operation Highjump. It wasn't the first time the U.S. went there: As early as the 1800s, scientific teams from several countries were trying to explore, map and gain dominion over the last uninhabited continent. But the size of Operation Highjump exceeded all others; more than 4,000 U.S. personnel, plus dozens of aircraft and ships were part of the expedition led by Adm. Richard Byrd. Although the mission was intended to last six to nine months, it ended abruptly after just one.

Conspiracy theorists believe it ended because the contingent was being constantly bombarded by artillery, and the men sustained heavy casualties. Byrd was quoted in the Chilean Press saying they were met by a new enemy that "could fly from pole to pole at incredible speeds," though the U.S. would not confirm his information. And what's more, several reports exist of pilots seeing UFOs — flat, disc-like aircraft that chased, but never shot at, them. They also reported balls of light that followed their planes.

The pilots called them "foo fighters," and these UFOs were supposedly able to shut down their planes' bombing capabilities. Did these UFOs come from Neuschwabenland, the secret Nazi base built in the 1930s, bragged about by German Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz in 1943? Did all the brilliant but twisted scientists involved in Nazi atrocities really hunker down in the frozen desolation of the South Pole to continue inventing new weapons, unseen by the world? Or to make contact with reptilian extraterrestrials who shared their advanced technology?

The official story from the United States regarding Operation Highjump is that only one plane crashed, killing three pilots. And it's true the Nazis did mount their own expedition to Antarctica in 1938, though they didn't take enough personnel to build much of anything, let alone a technologically advanced base capable of creating UFOs.

So why were they there in 1938? And how did the U.S. Army and Navy explain those balls of light so many pilots reported seeing during Operation Highjump? Were they being chased by UFOs? Or was it just St. Elmo's fire perhaps? Listen to the entire podcast as Matt and Ben break down all the details of Nazis, UFOs, reptilian overlords and Adm. Byrd and decide for yourself if the Neuschwabenland theory really holds water ... or, um, ice.