The Untold History Of Amelia Earhart

May 2024 · 2 minute read

The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) have been diligently researching the Earhart crash for years and the believe the Earhart mystery is solved. According to their theory, she never actually crashed. Instead, she died a castaway on a deserted island.

In 1940, three years after she disappeared, British authorities found a partial skeleton on Nikumaroro, a tiny island near Earhart's intended landing place. At the time, they ruled that the bones were male. But according to The Telegraph, TIGHAR consulted with a forensic imaging specialist, Jeff Glickman. By comparing the records of the bones' measurements and photographs of Earhart, Glickman found that the bones were very likely a match for the missing pilot.

Speaking with CNN, TIGHAR's executive director Ric Gillespie explained, "There are historical documents that prove official airlines received radio calls for help in 1937. If we look at the press of the time — people believed she was still alive. It was only when planes were sent to fly over the islands where the distress signals were coming from and no plane was seen that the searches shifted towards the ocean."

So where'd the plane go? According to TIGHAR's explanation, the plane was washed into the ocean from the reef with the tide. Moreover, rescuers did find "signs of habitation" on Nikumaroro. They assumed it was from natives of the island — but in truth, it had been uninhabited since 1892. TIGHAR later excavated the site and found evidence of campfires, parts of a woman's shoe, and a box that once held a sextant. All matches for what Earhart had on the plane.

Though we'll never know for sure, evidence seems to suggest that TIGHAR's castaway theory is true. Earhart wasn't a woman lost at sea, but a pioneer who struggled to stay alive in the darkest of circumstances.

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