This story was told by Nick Groman. His mother grew up during the Second World War and once personally encountered the paranormal.
“My parents grew up in Italy during World War II. Superstitions and supernatural beliefs played a large role in their childhood. At the beginning of the war, they were seven years old and twelve at the end. Times were tough. Hunger, deprivation and death were constant companions.
This ghost story was one of the first stories I heard from my mom. After the war, she and my father ended up in the United States and all her life she loved to read various ghost stories.
When the fighting approached very close to their area, either German or American troops appeared. They forcibly took residents out of this or that area, and then people came back, if there was any.
One day, a German battalion arrived in the suburban village of Montoro and began evacuating civilians. The little garrison made my mother's house its headquarters. One German, a handsome blonde with blue eyes, began giving the children candy and showing them his medals and various personal items.
He pointed to his antique watch and said that it was his grandfather's watch and that he wore it during the battles of the First World War. Allegedly, this watch was charmed and saved his life, and now the grandfather gave it to his grandson to protect him.
As soon as all the civilians were taken out of the village, fighting began there. After two days, the residents were told that it was now safe to return to their homes and try to collect all their belongings that might have survived the battle.
My mom's family arrived at their ruined home and started looking for something that could be saved. In the field, they found a barn door with which they covered something. And when several children opened this door, they saw three dead German soldiers under it.
Promotional video:
My mom was shocked when she saw that one of them was that beautiful blonde. He was dead, and one of his legs was torn off. And my mom immediately noticed that his expensive antique watch was still on his wrist.
At some other time, it would seem blasphemous to take the personal belongings of the dead soldiers. But there was very little food, and this expensive watch could be exchanged for food.
However, my mother did not take this watch herself. And none of the others took it either. They were left with the corpse, again covering the bodies with a door.
When the mother's family collected all the surviving things and the people went from the village to a safer place, in the middle of the road, mother felt that some other people were walking behind them and quickly catching up with them. She assumed they were other refugees.
As they got closer, my mom turned to greet them. To her surprise, she saw that these were not refugees, but three soldiers in German uniform. At the same time, they looked very unusual, since they were partly transparent.
When they got very close, my mother was really shocked to see that one of the soldiers was none other than that handsome blond. All three walked past her and then the blonde turned, smiled broadly at the girl and clearly said: "Grazie" ("Thank you" in Italian).
Then all three went further along the road and slowly disappeared. My mom was shocked. When she was speechless, she asked her family if they had seen the soldiers. But they didn't say anything.
Then my mother saw many more strange things that she could not explain. There was a lot of death, destruction and suffering around and I believe that this somehow influenced reality."
The story was told on the paranormal site Darkness Radio in the October 17, 2016 issue.