When the British captured the Libyan coast from Axis forces in 1943, the captured Germans and Italians were shipped to Camp Shelby in Mississippi, while the UK soldiers found themselves among the ancient Roman ruins of Leptis Magna. Trained archaeologists attached to the British as artillerymen did their best to keep the ruins from being damaged during the occupation.

In the course of their work trying to conserve the old ruins, the British came across a mummified corpse in one of the outbuildings, itself almost 2000 years old. They didn’t recognize the uniform the dead body wore, nor could they read the language on items it carried. Furthermore, there was no reliable way to tell how long it had been there.

Wild speculation set in, with some soldiers claiming that the body had been present for as long as the ruins had, and that it was proof of an ancient and advanced civilization. Other rumors had the chamber covered with dark symbols indicating a demonic origin.

The reality, as it often is, was more prosaic. Eventually, a British occupier with a talent for languages examined the body and declared the writing to be Russian. A little further detective work showed that the body was that of a Soviet POW, a pilot, who had been captured after bailing out over Bessarabia and shipped to North Africa as a forced laborer, working to maintain the engines and equipment of a Luftwaffe unit stationed nearby.

He’d fled as soon as he was able, only to die of thirst hiding in the ruins nearly a year before his body was discovered.

  • Like what you see? Purchase a print or ebook version!