They Saw Amelia Earhart Alive?

[nivek]

Two 93-Year-Olds Claim They Saw Amelia Earhart Alive

The mystery of the disappearance of aviator Amelia Earhart has baffled experts while continuing to capture the attention of world for 81 years. In the summer of 2018, the results of a study were released with evidence confirming that a number of radio transmissions picked up after the disappearance of aviator Amelia Earhart were actual distress signals.

This came a year after a History Channel special on a photograph that showed two people who resembled Earhart and Noonan alive on a dock on a Pacific island was discredited. Now, a woman who claims the picture may be wrong but her eyewitness account is true has returned to Saipan, the Mariana Island where she claimed to see Earhart’s plane go down and the pilot and her navigator taken away. While there, she met with another alleged witness who claimed to have seen them being placed in a truck by the Japanese military on Saipan.

It was in 1937. I was 11 years old when I saw her. I didn’t know her name.

Earlier this week, The Marianas Variety reported that the Amelia Earhart Memorial Monument Inc. hosted a dinner for Josephine Blanco Akiyama, who lives in the U.S., and Joaquin Salas. Akiyama says she never told anyone what she saw until she was 20. That may be because she didn’t realize the couple might be Earhart and Noonan until World War II ended. She says she saw them at Tanapag Harbor, then a Japanese military area in 1937, and the physical descriptions she gave, albeit from a distance, seem to match the short-haired, pants-wearing Earhart and the tall Noonan.

I saw a Japanese military truck. They were loading three people — two men and one lady. A Japanese soldier used black ribbons to tie their hands. They parked in front of our house. We were watching them. I don’t know where the Japanese took them.

Salas says he was also 11 when he saw a truck loading two people who he later determined matched the descriptions of Earhart and Noonan. The truck was in front of his family’s house in the village of Chalan Kanoa, which is on the island’s main road that also runs past the nearby harbor. While Salas saw the couple under military guard, only Akiyama claims to have heard shortly after seeing them that Earhart and Noonan were executed.

Amelia Earhart’s Lockheed Electra 10E

Are these testimonies credible? The dinner was put on by the Amelia Earhart Memorial Monument Inc., a group set up in September 2017 by Rep. Donald Barcinas, who hosted the event, to raise money to build a monument to the woman who was claimed to have been seen or heard about by many others on the island and either died or was executed there. At the announcement in 2017 at a meeting of the Rotary Club of Saipan, Barcinas said the memorial would boost Saipan as a Pacific tourist destination.

Is this a case of hearing one more time the testimonies of these two elderly witnesses or a ploy to raise money to help tourism? Are these and other islander accounts real or a sign of the Mandela effect? Unfortunately, there’s no physical evidence whatsoever of Earhart, Noonan or the plane to back up the claims. Let’s hope at least that the food at the dinner was good.

The mystery continues.

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[wwkirk]

There's a blog dedicated to the claim that Amelia Earhart was captured.
EARHART ON SAIPAN
It includes testimony from Josephine Blanco Akiyama, but on the whole the site is hard to navigate. It doesn't seem to have a search function.

 

[Castle-Yankee54]

There's a blog dedicated to the claim that Amelia Earhart was captured.
EARHART ON SAIPAN
It includes testimony from Josephine Blanco Akiyama, but on the whole the site is hard to navigate. It doesn't seem to have a search function.

Interesting......is there anything in there as to why they were over the Marianas? Being lost won't cover that.

 

[wwkirk]

Interesting......is there anything in there as to why they were over the Marianas? Being lost won't cover that.

I don't know if any of the witnesses spoke to her. But according to one allegation, the U.S. government learned about it and even recovered her body.
Amelia Earhart Mystery: Lost Pilot Spent Days In Prison Before Being Killed In Saipan, Says New Evidence

The idea that Earhart and her companion Fred Noonan were captured by the Japanese when they vanished in 1937 is one of several theories - over half a century later, no one is exactly sure of their fate. But a family tale from William Sablan, a man who lives on the Mariana Islands, says that Earhart was brought to Saipan and spent several days in prison after being brought to the South Pacific island by ship.

The story fits with the theory brought to light by the History Channel’s documentary titled Amelia Earhart: The Lost Evidence. In the TV special, historians purport that the U.S. government knew that Earhart was captured and killed by the Japanese, and that the government even found and exhumed her body before lying about her fate for decades.

Maybe they were spies!!!!

 

[pigfarmer]

Astonishing Legends gave the whole topic a good going over if anyone's interested

 

[Castle-Yankee54]

I don't know if any of the witnesses spoke to her. But according to one allegation, the U.S. government learned about it and even recovered her body.
Amelia Earhart Mystery: Lost Pilot Spent Days In Prison Before Being Killed In Saipan, Says New Evidence
Maybe they were spies!!!!

I've heard they were spies before......but that doesn't really work because they'd have to land to do any spying. Besides it wasn't the area where the Japanese were doing any top secret development.....and also Earhart wasn't exactly a good choice for a spy as she was well known.

 

[Castle-Yankee54]

I don't know if any of the witnesses spoke to her.

Spoke to who?

 

[wwkirk]

Spoke to who?

Amelia. The alleged witnesses only said they saw her. They might not have known why she wound up where she did. (If she did.)

 

[Castle-Yankee54]

Amelia. The alleged witnesses only said they saw her. They might not have known why she wound up where she did. (If she did.)

I wasn't asking about her......I meant the blog you posted. I hope the blog isn't written by two 93 year olds.

I guess I was just wondering why "people" think they flew there to land and spy on the Japanese.

 

[Castle-Yankee54]

Astonishing Legends gave the whole topic a good going over if anyone's interested

What did they say was the reason for Earhart and Noonan landing to spy on Saipan.

 

[pigfarmer]

What did they say was the reason for Earhart and Noonan landing to spy on Saipan.

They went through a number of theories and didn't really hang their hat on any of them. As I remember the idea was that they crashed elsewhere and were taken to Saipan. If you believe the Marines her plane was recovered also and was supposedly at one of the airstrips there when we invaded in 1944.

I've had passing interest in this and this thread (and that podcast) got me to order The search for Amelia Earhart by Fred G Goerner. Published in 1966 he spent 6 years investigating this and the trail then wasn't as totally stone cold as it is now. I prefer something closer to the event, or as close as possible.

Having just looked at Google Maps and seen the vast stretches of absolutely nothing between Papua New Guinea and just about everything else most likely they sleep with the fishes, but until they find the plane or some other irrefutable evidence who the hell knows.

 

[Castle-Yankee54]

I've had passing interest in this and this thread (and that podcast) got me to order The search for Amelia Earhart by Fred G Goerner. Published in 1966 he spent 6 years investigating this and the trail then wasn't as totally stone cold as it is now. I prefer something closer to the event, or as close as possible.

Having just looked at Google Maps and seen the vast stretches of absolutely nothing between Papua New Guinea and just about everything else most likely they sleep with the fishes, but until they find the plane or some other irrefutable evidence who the hell knows.

Its most likely that they became fishfood.......or died on Gardners Island and became crab food. Afterall finding Howland Island wasn't exactly an easy thing to do in the first place.

I've heard people think they flew towards Saipan.......but that is a rather foolish thing to think and they couldn't get that lost. I'm also not sure what they could possibly have been spying on in the South Pacific in 1937.....the Japanese didn't have anything of importance going on there.

I remember reading that book in the 1970s......I should reread it.

 

[Castle-Yankee54]

Having just looked at Google Maps and seen the vast stretches of absolutely nothing between Papua New Guinea and just about everything else most likely they sleep with the fishes, but until they find the plane or some other irrefutable evidence who the hell knows.

Have a look at where Howland Island is and how big it is. Imagine trying to find that from Lae New Guinea.

Since the island is so small its easy to see why they got lost.......all they'd need to be is a degree off in their navigation and they'd miss it.

Saipan is 90 degrees off and those who believe in that recent picture think they got lost at 18 degrees off course. The thing that bothers me the most is why would Japan even take them prisoner in 1937.

 

[pigfarmer]

The thing that bothers me the most is why would Japan even take them prisoner in 1937.

Beats me. The USS Panay incident wasn't until December of 1937 and in the context of the invasion of China that makes a whole lot more sense than imprisoning those two and impounding their plane. I don't know what part of the Japanese military would have been responsible for taking them into custody - The IJN Navy and Army were not on the same page at all so I suppose anything is possible.

I'm with you. Navigation error and they're in the drink somewhere. On Astonishing Legends I was .... astonished ... to hear that she wasn't exactly the best pilot and that neither she or Noonan knew Morse Code, which is (I think) how the USCGC Itasca was trying to communicate.Waiting for that book and it sounds like we're both getting a little hooked on this. Fortunately I haven't heard any theories about the disappearance that involve UFOs or aquatic Bigfoot.

Yet.

 

[Castle-Yankee54]

Beats me. The USS Panay incident wasn't until December of 1937 and in the context of the invasion of China that makes a whole lot more sense than imprisoning those two and impounding their plane. I don't know what part of the Japanese military would have been responsible for taking them into custody - The IJN Navy and Army were not on the same page at all so I suppose anything is possible.

I'm with you. Navigation error and they're in the drink somewhere. On Astonishing Legends I was .... astonished ... to hear that she wasn't exactly the best pilot and that neither she or Noonan knew Morse Code, which is (I think) how the USCGC Itasca was trying to communicate.Waiting for that book and it sounds like we're both getting a little hooked on this. Fortunately I haven't heard any theories about the disappearance that involve UFOs or aquatic Bigfoot.

Yet.

One thing people need to be realize is that Americans were traveling to Japan and not being arrested......if their plan had landed in the Gilberts after they got very lost there would be no reason to arrest them.

I'm not getting interested......I've been reading about it since the 1970s.

 

[pigfarmer]

Americans were traveling to Japan and not being arrested

Just finished Goerner's book and it was a damned good read.

Yes, Americans could travel in Japan without being arrested but if they started snooping around various island groups in the Pacific there were problems. Japan had been preparing for war in the Pacific for many years and as early as 1921 it was recognized. A US Marine colonel paid for that information with his life.

Goerner makes a compelling case that Earhart and Noonan were operating with the full knowledge and cooperation of the US government and military in order to get a peek at Truk. They actually did wind up getting lost and running out of fuel but she managed to put it down on a tiny speck of land and the Japanese eventually got them and the plane. They were brought to Saipan and died before the war either from disease or execution. What convinced me was that the author had a relationship with Admiral Nimitz who believed this to be the case himself. Having read the man's biography recently I don't think he was the type who would willingly peddle BS. I had not heard about Nimitz, but had heard many of the details before. This book lined them up beautifully and made sense of it all.

Classic stuff here. A mystery, eyewitness testimony, many theories, tantalizing bits and pieces of information gleaned from dusty old files, a real government coverup and loads of eyewitness testimony. Even in the early 60s when the disappearance was 25 years old the research required notable resources and effort - and many of the principals were alive and available for comment. Looking into it now over 80 years after the fact is a bit ridiculous - and actually that isn't meant as much for Amelia Earhart as it is those still picking the bones of old UFO cases

 

[Castle-Yankee54]

Just finished Goerner's book and it was a damned good read.

Yes, Americans could travel in Japan without being arrested but if they started snooping around various island groups in the Pacific there were problems. Japan had been preparing for war in the Pacific for many years and as early as 1921 it was recognized. A US Marine colonel paid for that information with his life.

Goerner makes a compelling case that Earhart and Noonan were operating with the full knowledge and cooperation of the US government and military in order to get a peek at Truk. They actually did wind up getting lost and running out of fuel but she managed to put it down on a tiny speck of land and the Japanese eventually got them and the plane. They were brought to Saipan and died before the war either from disease or execution. What convinced me was that the author had a relationship with Admiral Nimitz who believed this to be the case himself. Having read the man's biography recently I don't think he was the type who would willingly peddle BS. I had not heard about Nimitz, but had heard many of the details before. This book lined them up beautifully and made sense of it all.

Classic stuff here. A mystery, eyewitness testimony, many theories, tantalizing bits and pieces of information gleaned from dusty old files, a real government coverup and loads of eyewitness testimony. Even in the early 60s when the disappearance was 25 years old the research required notable resources and effort - and many of the principals were alive and available for comment. Looking into it now over 80 years after the fact is a bit ridiculous - and actually that isn't meant as much for Amelia Earhart as it is those still picking the bones of old UFO cases

I must have missed Goerners book......I wasn't aware it had been out so long. Or perhaps that he was that old.

Maybe I'll try and find it.

 

[Double Nought Spy]

I recommend Goerner's book every chance I get. I found it at my local library when it wasn't yet a collectible, and it started me down my first real mystery rabbit hole. Goerner was an honest-to-goodness journalist and a good writer. Most of what has come along since his book seems to be of ever decreasing credibility. Some of it is howlingly funny; right up there with the screwiest of UFO or Bigfoot lore.

There may not have been much to see along the intended route, as far as war preparations by the Japanese, but Washington didn't know that.

It still blows my mind that Amelia didn't know much about the radios she had with her, and didn't know how to work the direction finding antenna. They were close enough to Howland for the Itasca to be getting very strong signals from the plane. Zeroing in on the ship should have been a piece of cake. Fred was in the tail, with no way to get to the cockpit. I think I read they communicated by passing notes on a stick. Hard to imagine!

 

[Castle-Yankee54]

There may not have been much to see along the intended route, as far as war preparations by the Japanese, but Washington didn't know that.

From what I have seen there wasn't much along her route......of the Japanese or anyone else. If they deviated only slightly off course they'd run out of fuel.

 

[pigfarmer]

From what I have seen there wasn't much along her route......of the Japanese or anyone else. If they deviated only slightly off course they'd run out of fuel.

Goerner's book suggests, more plausibly than I would have thought, that her Electra had been modified with Pratt & Whitney military sourced engines to give it additional speed and a greater service ceiling and had been stuffed to capacity with fuel tanks and photographic equipment. Japan was violating international law by fortifying the mandated islands; dredging harbors, building roads, fuel supply facilities in preparation for the Pacific war everyone seemed to know was coming. They had an exclusion zone and didn't want anyone snooping around and the US military of that era just didn't have the capability for reconnaissance to see what the hell they were really up to. Her flight was an opportunity to take a peek.

The theory says that with the modified Electra and the full blessing of the government from FDR down she flew north to take a look at Truk and then headed to Howland island, and on that last leg pretty much true to the story she hit bad weather, became disoriented and went down. The book talks about the Navy and Coast Guard and Earhart being very confused about who was supposed to transmit exactly what, when and on what frequency.

Goerner could write and the story flowed well. I always figured she went into the drink and that was it, but maybe not. His book is probably about as close to it as we'll ever get unless someone finds the plane or the bodies.

Kind of ironic that the first real action of the war (after the destruction of the ABDA command) took place in the Coral Sea and the first counter strike in the Solomons, which really had nothing to do with her story. So her overflight of Truk would have been essentially worthless - it would have shown something we were unprepared to deal with.