Poland says the rumored Nazi ghost train isn't real

After analyzing mining data, Polish experts say there is no World War II-era Nazi ghost train in southwestern Poland, the BBC reports.

In November Polish mining experts began analyzing data from the site where two amateur treasure hunters said they found "irrefutable proof" of a Nazi ghost train filled with stolen gold in late August.

Professor Janusz Madej from Krakow's Academy of Mining said the geological survey of the site showed that there was no evidence of a train after using magnetic and gravitation methods.

"There may be a tunnel. There is no train,"Madej said at a news conference in Walbrzych, according to the BBC.

One of the treasure hunters, Piotr Koper, insists that "there is a tunnel and there is a train" and that the results are skewed because of different technology used, the Telegraph reports.

Hunting for the Nazi ghost train

In late August, two amateur treasure hunters said they found "irrefutable proof" of a World War II-era Nazi ghost train in southwestern Poland alongside a railway that stretches between the towns Wroclaw and Walbrzych.

Amid claims that the train's existence was a hoax, the two men who said they found the train in Poland identified themselves last week as Andreas Richter and Piotr Koper on TVP.INFO, the Associated Press reports.

"As the finders of a World War II armored train, we, Andreas Richter and Piotr Koper, declare that we have legally informed state authorities about the find and have precisely indicated the location in the presence of Walbrzych authorities and the police," Koper said in a prepared statement, according to the Associated Press.

"We have irrefutable proof of its existence," he added.

According to Koper, he and Richter found the train by using their "own resources, eyewitness testimony, and our own equipment and skills," the AP notes.

Along with their statement, the men released an image taken with ground-penetrating radar that purportedly showed the armored Nazi train.

Here's the first radar image:

Six days later, on September 1o, a second radar image purportedly showing the rumored World War II-era Nazi ghost train was published by the Polish newspaper Gazeta Wroclawska.

The ground-penetrating image appears to show a row of tanks, which supports initial reports that the train was of "military nature."

In early September, the Polish military began began clearing trees and shrubs alongside the rumored Nazi ghost train site.

"Our goal is to check whether there's any hazardous material at the site," Colonel Artur Talik, who is leading the search using ground-penetrating radar, reportedly told Agence France Presse.

Polish Defense Minister Tomasz Siemoniak said military chemical-weapons experts inspected the site because of suspicions the train was rigged with explosives.

Local folklore

According to a local myth, the German train is believed to have vanished in 1945 with stolen gold, gems, and weapons while fleeing the Russians.

The only living source of the train legend, retired miner Tadeusz Slowikowski, confirmed to the Associated Press that Koper and Richter shared their findings with him before alerting authorities.

Slowikowski, who searched for the train in 2001, believes it is near the 65th kilometer of railway tracks from Wroclaw to Walbrzych.