The Amelia Earhart mystery may be unclouding a little

blacbird · Jun 24, 2013

Various theories about the most famous disappearance in U.S. history have been propounded over the years, ranging from ridiculous to plausible. Recent investigations, very thorough ones, have focused on a small uninhabited atoll in the South Pacific, some 300 miles from Earhart's destination island when she and navigator Fred Noonan were lost. Now, some intriguing lost photographs have been uncovered:

http://science.nbcnews.com/_news/20...art-live-as-castaway-old-photos-may-tell?lite

No tangible thing that can be regarded as proof has yet been found, but the hints and clues and plausibility factors seem to be aligning around this place. If it turns out that she did die as a castaway, it makes the entire story even bleaker and sadder. It would have been a horrid way to perish.

caw

DeleyanLee · Jun 24, 2013

I saw a documentary a year or so ago, on TIGHAR's last expedition to Gardner Island. They were looking for her plane, but couldn't verify any of the three anomlies they could get to. Disappointing, but not expected for an under promoted documentary.What I do remember is the aggressiveness of the crabs, though. They had to lay out meat at certain places so the crabs didn't start on them, IIRC. A terrible place to end up with no real shelter from the beasties.If that's where they ended up (and I believe it was), it was very sad indeed.

southbel · Jun 24, 2013

DeleyanLee said:
I saw a documentary a year or so ago, on TIGHAR's last expedition to Gardner Island. They were looking for her plane, but couldn't verify any of the three anomlies they could get to. Disappointing, but not expected for an under promoted documentary.What I do remember is the aggressiveness of the crabs, though. They had to lay out meat at certain places so the crabs didn't start on them, IIRC. A terrible place to end up with no real shelter from the beasties.If that's where they ended up (and I believe it was), it was very sad indeed.

I saw that too. Quite interesting. I shudder to think what it would have been like there as a castaway.

mirandashell · Jun 25, 2013

I'm not sure what evidence the photos are meant to show?

DeleyanLee · Jun 25, 2013

Those were taken approximately 18 months (my pre-coffee memory guess) after Earnhardt's plane went missing.

According to TIGHAR's suppositions, the plane landed on the coral reef on the east (? again my pre-coffee memory guess) of the island. Coral is strong, but not quite that strong, so they believe that it was available to the castaways for a time, perhaps a few months. And then the coral broke away and the plane sank.

The water there is not that deep (considering it's ocean) and it's fairly clear. I'm guessing that their hopes are that, with their knowledge of aircraft underwater, they might be able to see something that will help pinpoint (and further validate) its location.

The Amelia Earhart mystery may be unclouding a little

blacbird

DeleyanLee

Writing Anarchist

southbel

Bless Your Heart

mirandashell

DeleyanLee

Writing Anarchist