It’s been 80 years since Amelia Earhart went missing during her attempt to become the first person to fly around the equator. It’s arguably the biggest unsolved mystery in aviation history, one that has puzzled historians for nearly a century.
One of the prevailing theories for Amelia Earhart’s disappearance over the years was that she was captured by the Japanese and died as a prisoner. New evidence is giving this theory more weight than ever after a photo’s surfaced that allegedly shows Amelia Earhart as a captive by the Japanese:
Is this a new photo of Amelia Earhart? Investigators reveal new information on her disappearance on @TODAYshow https://t.co/eGlQonxAqC
— NBC News (@NBCNews) July 5, 2017
The theory suggests that Fred Noonan, her navigator on the flight, was beheaded by the Japanese and Amelia Earhart died shortly thereafter in captivity from dysentery.
Is there any possible way to tell if that’s actually Amelia Earhart in the photograph? Fuck no. Should you care about this new evidence? Probably, yes. We were all forced to learn about Amelia Earhart back in grade school so there’s no reason we shouldn’t all see this story through to the end.
Another theory on Amelia Earhart’s disappearance was that she was actually an American spy on a mission to photograph Japanese military buildings and she returned home to America only to assume a new identity…Seems unlikely. I don’t know why, but it seems a lot more plausible that she was caught and held captive as a prisoner by the Japanese.
Do we think that’s her in the photograph above? I’m not really buying it, but it will be the focus of a new documentary on the History Channel, so I suspect we’ll have more evidence in the coming days.