Why Some Think Amelia Earhart Died as a Castaway Maria Gallucci - Mashable
go to original November 2, 2016

Amelia Earhart waves her lanky arms from the Electra before taking off from Los Angeles on March 10, 1937. (Associated Press)

Amelia Earhart continues to capture the world's imagination from beyond the grave.

The American aviator, who mysteriously vanished in 1937, was thought to have crashed her plane into the Pacific Ocean while attempting to circle the Earth.

But a group of historians now say Earhart might have died as a castaway on Kiribati's Nikumaroro island. Their theory, which is far from confirmed, is based on the legendary aviator's lanky arms.

The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) said this week that it got the idea after taking a closer look at a partial skeleton found on Nikumaroro — a virtual speck of sand in the Pacific Ocean, stretching just 4.7 miles long and 1.6 miles wide.

Nikumaroro, formerly known as Garden Island, was uninhabited the year Earhart disappeared and remains so today. But in 1940, a British official named Gerald Gallagher discovered the partial human remains, which he initially suspected of belonging to Earhart.

Amelia Earhart's intended route, shown Feb. 12, 1937, began in Oakland, California then onto Honolulu, Howland Island, Australia, up to Asia over Africa, and across the South Atlantic to Brazil returning to Oakland by way of Mexico or Miami. (AP)

A British doctor later determined the bones belonged to a man, ruling out the female icon. Eventually, the bones were lost and the entire incident forgotten. That is, until TIGHAR said it discovered the original British files in 1998.

The files included the doctor's measurements of the skeleton. Karen Burns and Richard Jantz, both forensic anthropologists, determined at the time that the shape of the recovered bones "appears consistent with a female of Earhart's height and ethnic origin."

This week's finding potentially supports that conclusion.

Read the rest at Mashable

Related: New Video of Amelia Earhart Before Her Last Flight Finally Sees the Light of Day (Mashable)

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