It is not easy to hear that the nation's beloved Amelia Earhart lived her final days out in a Japanese prison camp after being captured as a spy, which has suddenly become a leading theory in her disappearance. A theory has emerged due to an archived photo that appears to have Amelia Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan alive after their ill-fated flight around the globe abruptly ended in mystery.
It was 80 years ago this week, when the world got the news that Amelia Earhart's plane had been lost, as no one had heard from her after she failed to land at her next scheduled stop.
Her last transmission conveyed that she couldn't find the island where her flight plan called for her to land and that she was running low on fuel. That was it, nothing more was ever heard from Amelia or her navigator, according to The Telegraph.
Final days around a campfire?
The theories were abundant, with the leading theory up until this picture emerged having Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan landing on a desolate Pacific island. They were thought to have lived out their final days eating fish and crabs cooked over campfires. The island is Nikumaroro Island, which wasn't too far off the flight plan for Amelia Earhart.
There have been more than a dozen expeditions to the uninhibited island since the 1940s when a partial man's shoe and partial woman's shoe was found along with a sextant, much like the one that Fred Noonan would often use.
The expedition at that time was to scope out the area for a possible colonization in the future.
Nikumaroro Island theory
The most excitement came from the 13 human bones that were found buried on Nikumaroro Island at that time. They were found near the remnants of an old campfire, that offered evidence of someone living there for a while.
The bones were shipped to a lab and examed, but other than their measurements, nothing else was learned before the bones were lost.
Clam shells found at the campsite also hinted to Earhart and Noonan possibly being on that island for sometime after their flight was lost. The clam shells were not opened in the way that the natives in those neck of the woods would have opened them.
Skeletal fish heads were found and the natives would not have discarded them, they would have been eaten along with the rest of the fish.
Evidence of people from developed society
The campsite didn't hold the evidence that natives from other islands passed through and set up camp. The site looked like it was used by people from a more developed society. A jar that was the same type of container that held the freckle cream used by Earhart was also found near the campfire from long ago.
Some theorized that the two lived the rest of their lives on that island, with the set of bones they found buried, being put in that grave when the first of the duo died. One theory suggests that the first one who died was buried by the survivor.
Since there were only two of them, this would mean the last of the duo to die would not have been buried.
Coconut crabs carting off the remains
The other set of bones or remains is in theory gone and scattered all over the island and in the waters of the shoreline. Nikumaroro Island is home to the biggest crabs in the world, called coconut crabs. They grow as large as a small dog and they are known to eat chickens and kittens in other areas on the globe where they are found, according to Mental Floss.
The theory suggests whoever lived the longest between Earhart and Noonan, was the one whose remains were left exposed to the elements and the coconut crabs devoured the remains and dragged off the bones, this would explain why only one gravesite and one set of bones were found.
Did they just crash and die?
This theory, along with the others, such as they crashed into the sea and died, are all on the back burner now with this new photo emerging. It is part of a documentary on the theory of what happened to Amelia Earhart and her navigator. According to Buzz Feed, Japanese officials have stated they have no records of ever having Earhart or Noonan in one of their camps or even running into them.
Photo blurry and face isn't seen
The picture is too blurry to make a positive identification of Earhart and Noonan, but there are two Caucasian people in the photo who resemble them right down to the shape of Noonan's nose and the type of shirt and pants Earhart was known to wear.
The same haircut that Earhart sported also appears on the female in the picture.
According to BuzzFeed, the makers of the new documentary about Earhart believe that she and her navigator may have been taken captive after being mistaken as spies. They also believe that the two were "imprisoned by the Japanese on Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands, where they may have died."
