Nearly 87 years after legendary aviator Amelia Earhart disappeared while attempting to fly around the globe, it appears we may finally have some answers about what happened during that fateful flight.
Underwater exploration company Deep Sea Vision headed to Instagram on Saturday to share their latest discovery, images depicting what appears to be the remains of an airplane – possibly “Earhart’s Lockheed 10-E Electra” — sitting on the floor of the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and Australia.
“All that combined, you'd be hard-pressed to convince me that this is not an airplane and not Amelia's plane," Deep Sea Vision founder Tony Romeo explained of the possible finding, citing the shape of the plane-shaped object beneath the water, one his team discovered after “scanning more than 5,200 square miles of ocean floor.”
While Romeo said his team will likely head back to the site of the purported plane later this year to investigate further, they’re far from the first to claim they solved the mystery of the iconic aviator’s July 1937 disappearance.
From making a delicious lunch for some coconut crabs to aliens, here are some of the craziest theories about what happened to Amelia Earhart.
Coconut Crabs
According to some experts, the reason we haven’t been able to find Earhart is simple — she served as a delicious snack for several coconut crabs. After being unable to find their target destination of Howland, Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan landed on Nikumaroro instead, per National Geographic. While Earhart is thought to have initially survived, she purportedly passed later on after Noonan died and her aircraft floated away. Upon her death, some very hungry coconut crabs saw an opportunity — a delicious dinner. While bones were found on the island in 1940, they were ultimately lost, leaving it nearly impossible to determine whether they had belonged to Earhart.
Noonan got TURNT
While several may have only recently learned about Noonan’s role in Earhart’s flight, another theory pins him as the culprit, alleging that his drunken antics got them lost over the vast Pacific Ocean.
First emerging in the mid-'60s, this theory is dubious at best, citing long-held rumors and an alleged DUI arrest dating back to 1937, one that has since vanished, per PBS.
As such, Earhart's biographer Thomas King purported this theory is dubious at best. "One can speculate that he drank himself silly once the plane was in the air. One could also speculate that he had a nervous breakdown, went blind, or was possessed by the devil,” he said.
She Adopted An Alias
In 1970, writer Joe Klaas published a book touting a new explanation for Earhart’s disappearance — she didn’t. According to Klaas’ book, Amelia Earhart Lives, Earhart had been hiding in plain sight, living as Irene Craigmile Bolam, an ex-pilot turned-banker, in New Jersey. Bolam not only vehemently denied these claims, even submitting an affidavit refuting the book’s argument, but decided to pursue legal action, suing both Klaas and publisher McGraw-Hill. The book was ultimately yanked from shelves, and the parties reportedly reached a settlement. Bolam died roughly 12 years later in 1982. She was 77 years old.
Amelia Earhart was never found. On the left is a photo of her and on the right is a photo of Irene Craigmile Bolam years later. Some say she was captured by the Japanese thinking she was a spy and later released and given a new identity. Idk, what do you think? pic.twitter.com/M2zqg3M5vO
— ✨Kitty✨ (@MananaSunsets) May 12, 2023
Aliens???
Where there is no tangible proof Earhart was swept out of the sky by a UAP, the idea that ETs may have been involved in her disappearance has long captivated creatives, serving as an integral plot point in several works, including American Horror Story and Star Trek: Voyager.
But whether Earhart died after getting lost or found herself hanging out in the armpit of America, there’s one thing we know — those coconut crabs were eating GOOD.
Comments