For generations tales have been told of a Nazi ghost train loaded with gold which allegedly disappeared without trace in the dying days of the Second World War in Poland.
Now a "finder's claim" registered with a district council there could put an end to 70 years of rumour, myth and fruitless searches.
According to local media, a Pole and a German say that they have found a 500ft "armoured train" with gun platforms and a cargo of "precious metals".
The claim was lodged, in the south-western town of Walbrzych, because under Polish law treasure hunters can keep 10 per cent of the value of their find. "Lawyers, the army, the police and the fire brigade are dealing with this," said Marika Tokarska, an official at the council, yesterday. "The area has never been excavated before and we don't know what we might find."
According to local legend, Nazis loaded the train with gold and other treasures in the last days of the Third Reich and sent it south west, towards Walbrzych. It is said to have vanished after heading into mountains straddling the current Polish-Czech border.
Joanna Lamparska, a local historian, told Radio Wroclaw: "There are stories about tunnels being bricked up. There have also been serious explorations by groups, which claim to have come close to discovering the tunnels, but so far nothing has been found.
"No one has ever seen documentary evidence confirming the existence of such trains."
Walbrzych's local government has asked the claimants to come forward and give the location of the apparent find, warning the site may have been rigged with mines.
Taduesz Slowikowski, a treasure hunter who has searched for the missing train, said he was sceptical that the discovery would lead to the Nazi loot.
"They may have found the train, but not the gold," he told a Polish national radio station.