Two random guys said they’d found a long-lost Nazi train last week, buried underground at the end of World War II. Local legends said that one matching the description went missing in the closing days of the war, and it was full of plundered gold. It sounded crazy, but the Polish government said they might be onto something.
From the BBC:
A Polish official says ground-penetrating radar images have left him “99% convinced” that a World War Two German military train is buried near the south-western city of Walbrzych.
Deputy Culture Minister Piotr Zuchowski said images appeared to show a train equipped with gun turrets.
The two men found the train with the help of a map drawn by one of a man who helped to hide the train in 1945, NBC reports, when he was on his deathbed. There’s no word on whether or not the train actually holds anything valuable (beyond the sheer historicity of the find), but even then, things get murky.
The two men who found the train believe that they’re entitled to 10% of the value of whatever the train holds. At the same time, it’s not like the Nazis just conjured gold out of thin air, try as they might. It was stolen from somewhere, and the rightful owners of the property and their heirs probably have some sort of claim.
The Polish government isn’t saying exactly where the train is, as they’re still evaluating the next steps to take.
But in the meantime, please, for the love of all that is holy, do not try to find it yourself. Zuchowski said that there’s a “huge probability” the train is mined and booby-trapped. And you can’t collect on lost Nazi gold if you’re, you know, dead.
Anyways, if you’re looking for buried trains in general, it’s probably a lot easier to just start in the United States.
Contact the author at ballaban@jalopnik.com.
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