The day is July 2, 1937, and the world’s first woman to fly across the Pacific solo, Amelia Earhart, goes missing as she attempts to circumnavigate the globe at the equator. Earhart was preparing to land for refueling and for more supplies at the Howland Islands, where the Coast Guard along with the ship Itasca were deployed to aid her in landing. Earhart radioed the ship to inform them that she was low on fuel; but the Itasca could not pinpoint her location nor could she pinpoint theirs, despite the Itasca pumping miles of black smoke into the air. She radioed “one-half hour fuel and no landfall” and later tried to give information on her position.1 Soon after, contact was lost, and Earhart presumably tried to land the Lockheed on the water.2 After this, no news of Earhart emerged, and she was officially declared missing, along with her copilot, Fred Noonan. What happened to Amelia Earhart?
Theories suggest that Earhart crash landed near Nikumaroro, an island near her original destination, Howland Island. It is said that Itasca, the nearby ship sent out by the Coast Guard, was able to pick up her transmissions, which is why it is believed that she was near the Howland Islands. In 1940, the colonial administrator of Howland Islands, Gerald Gallagher, discovered thirteen bones in what seemed to be the remnants of a campfire. The bones were shipped to Fiji to be examined by Physician D.W. Hoodless, who examined the bones and determined that they belonged to a stocky, short man of European descent, which would seem to rule out Earhart and Noonan. After deciding this conclusion, Hoodless discarded the bones, completely eliminating the chance for further examination. However, the International Group for Historical Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) took Hoodless’s original measurements and found that the bones could have possibly belonged to a tall woman of European descent.3 Earhart was known to be around 5’7 to 5’8. To entertain the bone evidence, TIGHAR Director Ric Gillespie states that the lack of bones could be caused by the island’s coconut crab population. Coconut crabs are known to grow up to three feet long, and can break open coconuts with their claws. The crabs could have possibly carried the remains of bone and flesh to their burrows for feeding.
Along with these bones, a shoe sole was found with writing on it, stating, “Cats Paw Rubber Company USA.” The sole was from the same type of shoe that Earhart was pictured wearing in Indonesia shortly before her disappearance. However, the sole belonged to a size-nine shoe, which would have been too big for Earhart’s feet, disproving the possibility of it being hers. But along with the sole, a sextant, an instrument used to find latitude and longitude, was discovered with the bones and campfire.4 This instrument could have belonged to Earhart, as it was very common for pilots to navigate through longitude and latitude using a sextant. It made sense that Earhart and Noonan could have used the instrument to determine their location after landing. To further this theory, across the island are findings of campfires, along with remains of fish, clams, birds, and turtles. Based on the way the clams were opened and the way the fish were eaten without their heads, it is more plausibly the activity of non-pacific islanders.
A less likely theory suggests that Earhart and Noonan were given orders that if they could not find the Howland Islands, to crash land near the Marshall Islands, which at the time were controlled by Japanese forces. The purpose of this could be so that the US army could move towards the area, claiming that they were “searching for Earhart.” Another claim is that Earhart and Noonan were captured by the Japanese Army and eventually killed.5 Evidence exists that shows that at the time, locals claimed seeing the plane crash on the island. Also, in 1944, an Army Sergeant named Thomas E. Devine claimed that he came across a group of US Marines guarding a hanger containing Earhart’s Electra, on the formerly settled Japanese Island Saipan.
Furthermore, a photo found in the national archives suggests that the photo contains Earhart and Noonan after landing on the Marshall Islands. However, the photo was subsequently found in a Japanese textbook published in 1935.6 Furthermore, experts claim that at the time, Earhart would not have had enough fuel to make it to the Marshall Islands, considering that in her last radio transmission, she claimed to have only seventy-four gallons remaining.
In conclusion, despite theories ranging from survival on islands to alien interference, most enthusiasts speculate Earhart crashed into the ocean, burned up in the crash, and sank to the bottom of the ocean. However, the world will never know what happened to Amelia Earhart unless the aircraft or a body is discovered. For now, the case of Amelia Earhart remains a mystery.
- Women In World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia, 2002, s.v. “Amelia Earhart,” by Doris L. Rich. ↵
- Candace Flemming, Amelia Lost: The Life and Disappearance of Amelia Earhart (New York: Schwartz & Wade Books, 2011), 30-36. ↵
- Kristina Killgrove, “The Mysterious Disappearance Of Amelia Earhart’s Skeleton,” Forbes Science Journal 02, no.1 (November 2016): 1-3. ↵
- TIGHAR Project Amelia, “The Sextant Box Mystery,” Earhart Project Research Bulletin 2, no.12 (January 1999): 1-2. ↵
- Johnny Dodd, “Does This Photo Prove Amelia Earhart Survived Her Flight,” Journal Of Human Interest 14, no. 4 (July 2017): 1-2. ↵
- Two Leaf Yakosubi Store, The life line of the sea My figure of the South Sea: South Sea archipelago photo book (Two Leaf Yakko Cloth Store, 1935), 34-35. ↵
83 comments
Didier Cadena
Earhart’s disappearance has always interested me, because of how much of an important person she was in history. It is really interesting to read about the different theories about what happened to her, each one more intriguing the other. Even though we never know what happened to her, it is interesting to see what people think happened to her. The article puts all the theories in a well-structured way that keeps the readers attention.
Maricela Guerra
The theories all seemed very intriguing and very believable, however at the same time it still makes me wonder what actually happened to Amelia Earhart. It’s a very sad story, to just think that someone with a dream to do something went to go do it, but to never return is scary. As I kept reading there was just more and more theories, I was kinda hoping that they would say they found her remains, but then again there was nothing to conclude on that.
Caroline Bush
The mysterious disappearance of Amelia Earhart has always been a source of fascination to me. Its tragic yet amazing that this well known women is still missing to this day. I really loved how much detail was put into this article about the different theory’s as to what could have happened to Earhart. I never knew that one of the theory’s floating around was that Earhart was on orders to land near Marshall islands so that the army could move closer to the location. Overall I enjoyed this article and find it tragic that to this day we still don’t know what became of Earhart.
Evian-loren Salgado
The mystery surrounding Amelia Earhart has always been a fascinating one. This article did an excellent job of not only explaining her disappearance but also went into good detail about possible theories regarding what may have happened to Amelia Earhart. I knew a good bit about Amelia Earhart before reading this article however this article did present new information that I was not previously aware of. This article was extremely well written and very informative.
Alejandra Mendez
Although I am very familiar with Amelia Earhart the influence she had and still has to this day on many women and young girls, I never knew she had disappeared and never been found. There is so many theories and interesting ideas thrown out about her mysterious disappearance, but it is astonishing how not one of those leads ended in the finding of her. I wonder if maybe with the advanced technology we have now, we could find where Amelia ended up after she went missing. Great article!
Jasmine Martinez
I honestly had no idea Amelia Earhart went missing before reading this article. This article was very interesting to read because it had so much detailed information. I liked the different theories that were included on what may have happened to her. This article was written very well!
Mario Sosa
Despite Amelia Earhart being one of the most well known unsolved disappearances, I never knew much about the kind of search that when into trying to find her. The main theories I have only heard about was the possibility of the Bermuda Triangle being involved, and even aliens, which is why I was captivated while reading this article about the numerous (more plausible) possibilities of her whereabouts, such as being captured by the Japanese or living on islands. Excellent article!
Michelle Falcon
This was a very well written article. The story of Amelia Earhart is a historical story that most people know of. From this article I have learned more about her story that I ever had before about her mysterious disappearance. To think that there was a chance that she serviced the crash, however like the article said it is still a mystery as to what exactly happened to her. over all this was a very interesting article.
Erik Shannon
This was a very interesting article. Before reading this article, I had no previous knowledge of who Amelia Earhart was. After reading, I learned she is a very brave woman, but the way she went missing was very intriguing. Allot of people always go missing in the Bermuda Triangle. Investigators are going to have to work extremely hard to find this discovery. Overall, this is a very good article.
Luke Willis
This was an awesome article. I have always been fascinated with historic mysteries. I had just read recently about the photo of Earhart and Noonan on the Marshall islands and i am sad to find out that it is a fake. I do believe that she must have crashed somewhere in the middle of the ocean and died in the crash and sank to the bottom. If by some chance she was able to have made it to an island i believe that she would have been found or at least more concrete evidence that she was actually there would have been found.