Is the Amelia Earhart mystery finally about to be solved?

I'm not sure how deep or how rocky the bottom is, but it would be a long shot to find a small Electra that was lost 75 years ago. An Electra is a fairly small plane to begin with. The tides are usually quite rough on barrier reef islands, so the plane would have been bashed around. I'm not sure how much of it would be left. My guess is "not that much". Of course, having a rocky bottom would also make it more difficult to find the plane because of "false" sonar images (ie: a rock) and the like. Once again we're at a dead end.

If they did survive for a while on an island, there has to be much more than a jar of freckle cream. If the group truly believes they landed on the island, I think they're better off searching on land for a while -- its cheaper too.

 

Songwriters: MITCHELL, JONI
I was driving across the burning desert
When I spotted six jet planes
Leaving six white vapor trails across the bleak terrain
It was the hexagram of the heavens
It was the strings of my guitar
Amelia, it was just a false alarm

The drone of flying engines
Is a song so wild and blue
It scrambles time and seasons if it gets thru to you
Then your life becomes a travelogue
Of picture-post-card-charms
Amelia, it was just a false alarm

People will tell you where they've gone
They'll tell you where to go
But till you get there yourself you never really know
Where some have found their paradise
Other's just come to harm
Oh Amelia, it was just a false alarm

I wish that he was here tonight
It's so hard to obey
His sad request of me to kindly stay away
So this is how I hide the hurt
As the road leads cursed and charmed
I tell Amelia, it was just a false alarm

A ghost of aviation
She was swallowed by the sky
Or by the sea, like me she had a dream to fly
Like Icarus ascending
On beautiful foolish arms
Amelia, it was just a false alarm

Maybe I've never really loved
I guess that is the truth
I've spent my whole life in clouds at icy altitude
And looking down on everything
I crashed into his arms
Amelia, it was just a false alarm

I pulled into the Cactus Tree Motel
To shower off the dust
And I slept on the strange pillows of my wanderlust
I dreamed of 747s
Over geometric farms
Dreams, Amelia, dreams and false alarms
[ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsfreak.com/j/joni+mitchell/amelia_20075416

Amelia by Joni Mitchell
Fromthe Alblum 'Hijera'

Thnak you Texan66! Here is the complete song

 

Joni Mitchell - Amelia - YouTube
Joni MitchellLive, with film footage of Amelia Earhardt

 

In some ways this is like the old joke about the drunk who lost his wallet, a passerby helps him look for awhile and finally asks the drunk "are you sure you lost your wallet here?" The drunk replies, "well actually no, I lost it down the block aways". The passerby asks him "why are you looking for it here then?" "well because the lights better here ain't it!".

 

The trouble is that if the jar was contemporary to Earhart's disappearance, then it could conceivably have belonged to any female alive at the time who happened to visit that particular barrier reef. It's not really conclusive in itself.

 

Google Image Result for http://tincupcowboy.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/norwich-electra-13.jpg

 

The other side of that coin is: How many women during that time period were mucking about the Southwest Pacific Ocean?

The other thing to look at is that the island also had people on it at various times who easily could have brought the jar with them; freckles (and skin blemmishes for that matter) are not indemic to women.

 

In the immortal words of archaeologists everywhere, the jar could have had a ritual purpose!

 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Given that the island of Nikiroumo was home TO 25 lonely coastguard men at the south end manning a Loran station,& a small village of native Gilbertese at the north end, perhaps the provisionof cosmetics served the same trade purposes as the informal import of chocolate,cosmetics,& nylons into wartime England...
Just sayin'

 

Sweet Bird

Out on some borderline
Some mark of inbetween
I lay down golden-in time
And woke up vanishing

Sweet bird you are
Briefer than a falling star
All these vain promises on beauty jars
Somewhere with your wings on time
You must be laughing
Behind our eyes
Calendars of our lives
Circled with compromise
Sweet bird of time and change
You must be laughing...

Joni Mitchell

 

Jane Resture on Amelia Earhardt:
Oceania - Amelia Earhart - Last Flight

 

for decades people have been trying to solve the amelia earhart mystery but they havent come close to uncovering some evidence into her dissappearance but there was one theory going around that she was an american spy who was captured and executed by the japanese during ww2 and a army sergeant claimed to have seen a hangar that contained her aircraft which was guarded by us marines subsequently the plane was destroyed after that but im not sure if that could help in any way

 

Sounds like a nutty conspiracy theory to me. Too many inconsistencies and no evidence. I did a quick internet search and found several variations on the "Amelia was a spy" theory along with an "abducted by aliens" theory. Don't believe everything you read, especially on the internet.

 

But...but....the Intarwebz wouldn't lie to me! No, really, the 'Net is all true....I read that in Wikipedia!

 

Calm down, RA. It's okay. There are some things on the interwebs that are reliable. After all, this Forum is on the intrawebz.

One just needs to consider the source and apply a little common sense. Bogus conspiracy theories all seem to have the same general features:

1) They talk about someone who saw something. It's never a first person account.

2) They involve the government, the military, the CIA or some combination of the three.

3) The so-called theory usually explains why there is no evidence to prove the theory. (i.e. "the plane was destroyed")

4) They often get basic facts wrong or change them to fit the theory. One of the versions I mentioned earlier had the year AE disappeared as 1942 rather than the actual year 1937. I presume 1942 fit better with the "spying on the Japanese" aspect of the theory.

5) Implausible circumstances. For example, an Army Sgt. just happens "to have seen a hangar that contained her aircraft which was guarded by US Marines". If this was a secret spy mission, it doesn't make sense that the security would be so lax. Another improbability is that he would just happen to be able to distinguish her Lockheed Electra from any other Electra.

Sure, turning the Amelia Earhart mystery into a spy thriller is "sexier" than the going with the truth. However, let's keep it in the realm of fiction where it belongs. Abraham Lincoln - Vampire Slayer might make for an entertaining story, but it's not history.

 

I wonder?
"Researchers may have come one step closer toward solving the mystery of Amelia Earhart’s disappearance after announcing the discovery of what could be remnants of the famed aviator’s plane. The debris located off Nikumaroro island in the southwestern Pacific republic of Kiribati was spotted following a preliminary review of high-definition video taken last month at the uninhabited coral atoll believed to be Earhart's final resting place.
The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) got the underwater search under way on July 12 in hopes of determining what exactly happened to Earhart on her last fateful flight 75 years ago.
From the outset, the expedition has faced a number of technical problems coupled by the atoll’s difficult environment. When the search failed to turn up dramatic and conclusive evidence proving that Earhart perished on the island, some media outlets were quick to declare the $2.2million mission a failure.
‘Early media reports rushed to judgement in saying that the expedition didn't find anything,’ Ric Gillespie, executive director of TIGHAR, told Discovery News. "
Is this Amelia Earhart's plane? Underwater video reveals evidence that 'solves' 75-year mystery of aviator's last flight | Mail Online

 

In all seriousness, how many women from the time were visiting an uninhabited atoll in the southwest pacific?

 

I know, I know!

 

Well, here's an up date to the story of Amelia

Researchers reportedly may have video that shows Amelia Earhart's plane debris | Fox News

 

If they can confirm that the debris in the video is from an Electra, I think that would make a very strong circumstantial case for it being the Earhart crash site. This is a story that is worth watching.