Lathan Windley
Ms.Pomeroy
English III
13 April 2018
Amelia Earhart’s Disappearance
Amelia Earhart was a great American aviator and the first to fly across the Atlantic Ocean solo. She received many awards and had best-selling books. During one of her famous flights, Earhart disappeared and became one of the most famous mysteries in history.
Earhart was born in Atchison, Kansas on July 24, 1897. She attended an airshow in Long Beach, California where a ten-minute plane ride changed her life. An unexpected phone call in 1928 asked Earhart if she wanted to be the first woman to fly across the Atlantic, and she accepted the offer, but she wasn’t able to fly even though she was listed as a co-pilot (Szalay 1). Earhart faced many other challenges, but she became the first female pilot to fly (Gonzalez 2). After becoming an aviation celebrity, Earhart was dubbed “Lady Lindy”, and George Putnam made her his next bestseller. Even though it was almost her 40th birthday, Earhart wanted to be the first woman to fly around the world (Szalay 1). On June 1, 1937, Earhart and Noonan departed from California and reached New Guinea. Departing from Lae, Earhart and Noonan tried to reach their next destination to refuel, but due to weather, plane issues, and low fuel, they didn’t make it. Even though there was a lot of effort to locate the plane, Earhart and Noonan were nowhere to be found, and they were both declared dead in January 1939 (Gonzalez 2).
Although no one heard from Earhart and Noonan again, TIGHAR, the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery, thinks that they survived on an uninhabited island (Szalay 1). TIGHAR visited Nikumaroro (formerly known as Gardner Island) seven times to find more evidence that Earhart crashed on an island (Jacobson 6). Many months after Earhart's disappearance, TIGHAR found a skeleton on the island that had a similar height and origin to Earhart. Other people think that Earhart and Noonan crashed into the ocean. Another theory is that Amelia landed on a reef, but died due to the radio being broken (Levenson 3). The search went on for about 70 years and TIGHAR did not give up looking for evidence. Many others believed that both Earhart and Noonan lived out their lives, but they were living under secret identities (Hamilton 5). Many rumors have been speculating that Earhart had been captured by the Japanese, but the Japanese government denied it (Stevenson 4). Along with TIGHAR and the Japanese theories, there was also theories made by Allied airmen.
Several Allied airmen in 1943 during World War II were suffering from hallucinations and thought that they were looking at Earhart working as a nurse, but they could’ve been looking at someone completely different. Some people thought that Earhart landed on New Britain Island since it was in her flight path, but that theory is unlikely true because she was running out of gas and wouldn’t have enough to make it to the island. Another theory is that Earhart landed in Japan and was renamed “Tokyo Rose”, and became a woman that spread propaganda over the radio (Haines 7). A Lot of people thought that Noonan was an alcoholic, and he got drunk and made both him and Earhart crash, but this theory isn’t true since there isn’t any evidence of Noonan being drunk or being an alcoholic. Another theory is that Earhart crash-landed on an island, was rescued by U.S. Forces, changed her name to Irene Bolam, and got a job as a banker, but this theory probably isn’t true either. One of the terrifying theories out there is that Earhart was eaten by giant coconut crabs. There is a theory that explains that Earhart has been abducted by aliens. Several pieces of evidence include that the aliens froze her and used her for examination, and another piece is that the Star Trek crew found both Earhart and Noonan on a planet (Robins 8). One man traveled to Emirau Island and saw a picture of Earhart on a wall of a hut. It could have been her, but the island was far from Earhart’s last radio signal. Even though the Japanese government keeps denying that they have Earhart, many people believe that she was held prisoner (Haines 7). Most people don’t know why Gillespie believes that Earhart’s plane antenna broke, but Earhart never heard any urgent calls (Alder 9).
Supporting the theory of the skeleton found on an island by TIGHAR, researchers re-examined the bones and found out that they belonged to a female. TIGHAR then had to re-evaluate one of their past theories to get even more evidence about Earhart’s disappearance. Dr. Richard L. Jantz collaborated with Stephen Ousley to create a computer program that discovers the background of any skeleton. They used this program to try to solve the mystery of Earhart’s disappearance. Another theory that was supported by TIGHAR reported parts of a skeleton that was found under a tree and many people believe that they were Earhart’s. Those bones were examined by Dr. David Hoodless, and he theorized that the bones belonged to a male, but Karen Burns made a different conclusion. There were many arguments and some people believed Hoodless since he had the bones first. In 2017, Dr. Jantz began new research using newer software and found out that the bones were similar to Earhart, but they could have been from someone else. Dr. Jantz’s conclusion turned out to be quantitative, but any other conclusion made is qualitative (Ryall 10).
The mystery of Earhart’s disappearance baffled almost everyone in the world. More theories popped up and more theories pop up all the time. A recent theory that showed up presents a never before seen picture of both Earhart and Noonan. This theory also supports one of the older ones explaining that Earhart was taken by the Japanese. An older theory explains that Amelia died on an island makes new problems with this new theory. Scientists let dogs search the island, and they found more evidence in the same place where the bones were. Some pieces of evidence include a knife, glass jars, and signs of campfires. Very recently, Dawn Johnson, an archeologist, and Kim Zimmerman, a physician, took samples from the site and sent them to a lab. According to National Geographic, the chances of getting evidence from the site are very slim. Now Earhart has been gone for about 81 years now and there is still no trace of her anywhere. People are still not giving up, even if this mystery is one of the most famous, but confusing mysteries out there (Cuskelly 11).
Even though Earhart became famous by mysteriously disappearing, that doesn’t stop people from trying to figure out where Earhart’s location. Theories are constantly being made and more and more research is being examined.