New information suggests Amelia Earhart died a castaway

Amelia Earhart earned her fame for being the first woman to fly solo over the Atlantic Ocean and attempt to circumnavigate the globe in 1937. The use of the word attempt here is very important because although she did set off to do so, she never made it to her end destination. Though theories circulated that she and her navigator Fred Noonan were taken captive and held as prisoners in Japan, the most commonly held belief is that her plane inexplicably crashed into the Pacific Ocean, never to be seen again. This certainly isn't news to anyone above the second-grade level, however, what might be news to all is that new evidence shows the possibility that, contrary to popular belief, she and her navigator did survive.

At least for a little while. A report by the Chicago Tribune was used for most of the information in this article.

Possible evidence of whereabouts...

In 1940, Bones were found on Nikumaroro Island, a solid 350+ miles away from Earhart's intended destination. At the time, analysis of the bones deemed them to be too large to belong to a woman, thus they were written off. Among the bones found on this island were personal belongings including a woman's shoe and other objects that Earhart was known to carry on her person. "Were the scientists responsible for looking into these bones correct, or were they wrong?" Furthermore, "did the physician charged with identifying the bones in 1941 make a mistake?" University of Tennessee's Richard Jantz thinks so.

Further study

After conducting studies involving the use of computer programs and photographs taken of Amelia Earhart, Jantz was able to deduce that the likelihood of whether or not the bones found upon Nikumaroro Island were hers was great. His findings state that "there is 99 percent chance that the bones found on the Island belong to Earhart." The fact, that she was around 5'8 and above-average height for a female at the time, may have been a misleading point to physicians studying the case in the 1940s.

The bones found may have seemed more likely to belong to a male than a female, but in Jantz's opinion, that was not the case.

The world may never truly know

After the amount of time that has passed since the bones were initially discovered in 1940, there may never be a clear-cut and certain answer as to what really happened to Amelia Earhart.

The fact that there are so many other possibilities, as well as theories, does nothing to help in the search for answers. But after decades of study, this seems to be the closest the world will ever come to knowing the fate of one of the most influential and widely known female pilots the world has ever seen.

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