15 Different Explanations for Amelia Earhart's Disappearance

The official position of the United States government is that the plane Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan were flying, a Lockheed Model 10 Electra, ran out of fuel on the way to Howland Island and crashed in the Pacific Ocean. What supports this theory is Earhart and Noonan had told the U.S Coast Guard ship “Itasca” that they were low on fuel and were having difficulty finding Howland Island.

The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery has hypothesized that Earhart and Noonan landed on tiny Nikumaroro Island, 350 nautical miles southwest of Howland Island, because they didn’t find Howland. Those who believe Earhart and Noonan landed on Nikumaroro think they perished there as castaways. Some expeditions to Nikumaroro claim to have found objects from the doomed plane.

Bill Snavely, a social worker fascinated by the Earhart disappearance, journeyed to Rabaul, a city in Papua New Guinea about 360 miles east of Lae, where Earhart took off on the last part of her flight. By happenstance, Snavely met a New Guinea corrections officer who told him of a plane in 100 feet of water off a beach near Buka Island, not far from Bougainville. Snavely said divers looking inside the plane had reported seeing a suitcase with the initials “GP”— the initials of Earhart’s husband George Putnam.

The Marshall Islands figure in several theories about what happened to Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan. On a History Channel documentary that aired in 2017, “Amelia Earhart: The Lost Evidence,” the program claimed possible photographic evidence showing Earhart and Noonan on a dock at Jaluit Atoll, which is one of the Marshall Islands. A Japanese blogger rebutted the claim, saying the photo was published in a book two years before Earhart disappeared.

Dick Spink, a high school science teacher and Earhart sleuth, has gathered oral accounts from people in the Marshall Islands who say Earhart and Noonan landed on the small island of Mili. Spink is so convinced of these stories he has spent $50,000 of his own money to prove Earhart landed on the atoll.

Another theory holds that Earhart and Noonan, because they were not able to find Howland Island, flew north to the Marshall Islands, at that time controlled by the Japanese Empire, and were captured and killed.

There is also the conjecture that Earhart and Noonan never intended to fly to Howland Island and instead flew north to the Japanese-controlled Marshall Islands on orders from the U.S. government.

Another theory about Earhart’s fate is she and Noonan crashed on the Marshall Islands and were captured by the Japanese, taken to the island of Saipan, and executed as spies. The History Channel’s documentary “Amelia Earhart: The Lost Evidence” suggests the U.S. government knew Earhart was captured and killed by the Japanese and covered it up for decades. The Japanese do not have any record of capturing Earhart.

The theory that Earhart was a spy has had many variations. One put forward by CBS newsman Fred Goerner in the 1960s alleges that Earhart was following secret orders to fly over military facilities on the island of Truk, now called Chuuk, which was a Japanese possession before World War II.

Among the books about Earhart’s fate is one written by retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Rollin C. Reineck, “Amelia Earhart Survived.” Reineck believes Earhart landed in the Marshall Islands and returned to the U.S. under an assumed name for national security reasons.

Another story about Earhart jettisoning her famous identity is the book “Amelia Earhart Lives,” written by Joe Klass. He claims Earhart survived the crash, was taken by the Japanese, rescued by U.S. troops, and then secretly repatriated to America. Klass claims she wound up in New Jersey, where she assumed the identity of housewife Irene Bolam.

One theory regarding her fate holds that Earhart was tired of her celebrity status and that she faked her death and lived the rest of her life in obscurity.

Another story claims Earhart was captured by the Japanese and forced to broadcast propaganda messages to U.S. troops during World War II and was in fact the notorious “Tokyo Rose.”

Some conspiracy theorists think Earhart was captured as a spy by the Japanese and handed over to the United States once the war was over. After the war, they say Earhart lived under an assumed name and out of the public eye.

Source: ChrisEvan Films / YouTube