On July 2, 1937, during her attempt to become the first woman to fly around the world, Amelia Earhart went silent. For nearly eighty years, it’s been assumed that Earhart died in a plane crash that fateful day. Now, however, researchers are reporting that new evidence supports the theory that Earhart successfully landed her plane and later died as a castaway.
According to USA Today, “The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) said in September that they found evidence that they found evidence that Earhart made more than 100 radio transmissions in the days after her plane went missing.” TIGHAR believes these transmissions prove Earhart landed her plane safely and used her radio to call for assistance.
Furthermore, TIGHAR said in a statement that new evidence has linked Earhart to a castaway whose partial skeleton was found on the island of Nikumaroro, located between Hawaii and Australia, in 1940. The group reports that the remains, originally believed to be those of a man, were determined in 1998 to be consistent with those of a woman Earhart’s height and ethnicity. The newest development comes from the rediscovery of arm bones, the length ratio of which seems to correspond with photographs of Earhart.
TIGHAR describes this finding as presenting “a significant new data point” for further investigation of this mystery.
(Via USA Today)