It reads like incredible fiction.

The World War II story of how the Japanese took all the gold they looted from the treasuries

of all the Asian countries they conquered and hid it away in fantastic tunnel networks

in the mountains of the Philippines.

There's a good reason it reads like fiction.

It is fiction.

It is commonly believed as fact, often enough, that people spend money on treasure hunts

and expeditions and network television shows.

Yamashita's gold is coming up next on Skeptoid.

You're listening to Skeptoid.

I'm Brian Dunning from Skeptoid.com.

Yamashita's gold.

Imagine countless fabulous tunnels bored through the green mountains of the Philippines.

All filled with mind-boggling stacks of gold bullion and other riches.

All waiting there, even today, for some lucky adventurer to discover them.

This is the basic theme of the urban legend known today as Yamashita's gold.

The idea is that during Japan's imperialist phase before World War II, they looted every

country throughout Asia that they invaded, melted down all that booty into ingots of pure

gold and buried it all in Philippine strongholds to wait out the end of the war.

Unfortunately, they lost that war and lost the Philippines, and thus never recovered

the gold.

There, some say it remains today waiting for someone, possibly you, to find it and walk

...