Treasure hunters say they've found legendary Nazi train loaded with gold

In the final days of World War II, a Nazi train was rumored to have set off for the mountains near the modern day Polish-Czech border, loaded with gold and gems — only to vanish and never be seen again. While once a thing of folklore and myth, the ghost train could turn out to be more fact than fiction, if the claim of two treasure hunters proves to be true.

According to local media in Walbrzych, Poland, two claimants, a Pole and a German, say they have found a 500-foot-long "armored train," complete with gun platforms and, yes, the mysterious glittering Nazi cargo. The men have since filed a "finder's claim," which would allow them to earn 10 percent of the loot if it proves to be legitimate. An emergency committee is investigating the validity of the case.

"The area has never been excavated before and we don't know what we might find," an official at the Walbrzych district council told Reuters.

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While the rumor of the gold train is 70 years old and counting, no evidence of it has ever been uncovered. However, historians agree that the Nazis dug out miles of tunnels in the southwest mountains of Poland in the days of the Third Reich, and their purpose remains a mystery to this day.