# The disappearance of Amelia Earhart > Amelia Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan vanished on 2 July 1937 near Howland Island in the central Pacific, on the longest leg of a round-the-world… Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/amelia-earhart Publisher: Mysteries Department Licence: CC BY 4.0 (credit Mysteries Department and link the page) Updated: 2026-10-27T17:47:03+00:00 --- **MYS** 0CYPMFQR4AWT·Mystery · disappearance # The disappearance of Amelia Earhart **0** [Follow][Ask a question](https://mysteriesdept.com/questions/key-questions?mystery=amelia-earhart) The disappearance of Amelia Earhart ![[Amelia Earhart and group]](https://mysteriesdept.com/media/folio/amelia-earhart-lead) Harris & Ewing · Public domain Aircraft Lockheed Electra 10E, NR16020⁠[[2]] Last leg Lae, New Guinea to Howland Island, 2,556 statute miles, 2 July 1937⁠[[2]] Last confirmed message 08:43 Itasca time: on the line 157–337, running north and south⁠[[1]] Navy search 2–18 July 1937; Colorado's aircraft overflew Gardner Island on 9 July⁠[[3]] Deep-water search near Howland About 3,610 square miles (Nauticos 2002, 2006, 2017; Waitt 2009)⁠[[10]] Latest result Taraia Object at Nikumaroro identified as trees, October 2026⁠[[9]] Status Unexplained Questions 0 of 3 answered People [**Amelia Earhart** Pilot](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/amelia-earhart/people/FIG0CYPMH6M5HS0/amelia-earhart)[**Fred Noonan** Navigator](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/amelia-earhart/people/FIG0CYPMHEE2QPZ/fred-noonan)[**David W. Hoodless** Principal, Central Medical School, Suva; examined the bones in 1941](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/amelia-earhart/people/FIG0CYPMJ5W0FFG/david-w-hoodless)[**Robert Ballard** Oceanographer; led the 2019 Nikumaroro expedition](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/amelia-earhart/people/FIG0CYPMK546SQB/robert-ballard)[**Richard L. Jantz** Forensic anthropologist, University of Tennessee](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/amelia-earhart/people/FIG0CYPMJXA02VT/richard-l-jantz) All 10 people › [**Fred Goerner** CBS correspondent; author of the Saipan capture claim](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/amelia-earhart/people/FIG0CYPMJDP2V28/fred-goerner)[**Gerald B. Gallagher** Officer in charge, Phoenix Islands Settlement Scheme; reported the bones](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/amelia-earhart/people/FIG0CYPMHY2166S/gerald-b-gallagher)[**John O. Lambrecht** Senior aviator, USS Colorado; led the Phoenix Islands overflight](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/amelia-earhart/people/FIG0CYPMHP83JVW/john-o-lambrecht)[**Richard E. Gillespie** Executive director of TIGHAR](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/amelia-earhart/people/FIG0CYPMJNG2P9M/richard-e-gillespie)[**Richard Pettigrew** Executive director, Archaeological Legacy Institute; director of the 2026 expedition](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/amelia-earhart/people/FIG0CYPMKCY633P/richard-pettigrew) Catalog key**MYS** 0CYPMFQR4AWT Earhart and Noonan left Lae on the morning of 2 July 1937 for Howland Island, a strip of coral two miles long where the United States had built a runway and stationed the Coast Guard cutter Itasca to guide them in. The Itasca heard Earhart's voice with increasing strength through the morning but could not establish two-way contact: she could not hear the cutter's voice transmissions, and her direction-finding loop could not take a bearing on its signal. At 07:42 she reported "we must be on you but cannot see you, gas is running low"; at 08:43 she gave her last confirmed message, that she was "on the line 157 337" and "running north and south," the sun line Noonan would have advanced to pass through Howland⁠[[1]]⁠[[2]]. Nothing certain was heard again. The Navy and Coast Guard searched for sixteen days with the battleship Colorado, the carrier Lexington and their aircraft, covering some 250,000 square miles of ocean and the islands within the Electra's reach. On 9 July Colorado's floatplanes flew over the Phoenix Islands; at Gardner Island the pilot saw "signs of recent habitation" but no aircraft and no one answering his circling⁠[[3]]. The search ended on 18 July, and the official position was that the aircraft had come down at sea near Howland⁠[[2]]. Two things have kept the question open. The first is a set of radio signals heard on Earhart's frequencies in the days after the loss, by Pan American Airways direction-finding stations, Navy and Coast Guard operators and amateurs in the Pacific and North America; some were hoaxes and misidentifications, and a few are hard to dismiss⁠[[1]]. The second is Gardner Island itself, uninhabited in 1937 and settled in 1938, where in 1940 a colonial officer found a partial skeleton, a sextant box, and the remains of a woman's shoe beneath a tree⁠[[4]]. A Fiji physician measured the bones in 1941 and judged them a stocky male; the bones were then lost⁠[[5]]. A 1998 re-analysis of his measurements said female and European; a 2015 review said he had been right; a 2018 study by the forensic anthropologist Richard Jantz found that the bones were more similar to Earhart than to 99 per cent of a reference sample⁠[[6]]⁠[[7]]⁠[[8]]. The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) has mounted a dozen expeditions to the island since 1989, Robert Ballard searched its reef slope in 2019, and in October 2026 a Purdue-backed team went to test a satellite anomaly in the lagoon; all returned without the aircraft⁠[[2]]⁠[[9]]. Of the 3 questions on this site, 0 are answered. The most likely answer to “Where did the Electra come down?”, not yet confirmed: it ran out of fuel and ditched at sea within about a hundred miles of Howland, and sank. ### Key questionsset by the editors [**Where did the Electra come down?** ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/amelia-earhart/questions/QST0CYPMTFG0SXJ/where-did-the-electra-come-down)Most likely: it ran out of fuel and ditched at sea within about a hundred miles of Howland, and sank [**Whose bones were found on Gardner Island in 1940?** ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/amelia-earhart/questions/QST0CYPMTQA45GR/whose-bones-were-found-on-gardner-island-in-1940)No answer ahead yet [All 3 questions ](https://mysteriesdept.com/questions/key-questions?mystery=amelia-earhart) ## What is known The Itasca's radio log is the primary record of the morning. It shows Earhart transmitting on schedule from 02:45 ship time, her signals rising to strength five by 07:42, the cutter transmitting voice and Morse that she did not acknowledge, and the failure of both direction-finding attempts, hers because the Itasca's transmissions were too short and on the wrong frequency for her loop, theirs because the experimental high-frequency finder on Howland could not get a bearing on her brief voice calls⁠[[1]]⁠[[2]]. The last message at 08:43 was heard at strength five, which implies the aircraft was within perhaps a hundred miles of the cutter⁠[[1]]. Fuel estimates for the Electra at that hour run from almost none to several hours, depending on the power settings assumed for the night; the published analyses disagree, and the question is unsettled⁠[[2]]. [![Lockheed 10-E Electra NR16020](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/v/ca1332ebb32d31fa68ad4c749662428f0202e38f3c18a5b90965fae1dda48e8c/w800)](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/amelia-earhart/artifacts/ART0CYPN6P40Y78/lockheed-10-e-electra-nr16020) Lockheed 10-E Electra NR16020Smithsonian Institution (photographer not recorded), 1937. Public domain[Artifact ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/amelia-earhart/artifacts/ART0CYPN6P40Y78/lockheed-10-e-electra-nr16020) The post-loss radio record is large and mixed. TIGHAR's catalogue lists 182 reported receptions between the evening of 2 July and 10 July on 3105 and 6210 kHz or their harmonics, rated for credibility on propagation and content; the Pan Am stations at Wake, Midway and Mokapu Point took bearings on an unidentified carrier on several nights that crossed in the vicinity of the Phoenix Islands⁠[[1]]. The Navy acted on them: the Colorado's search of the Phoenix group followed the bearings. None of the signals is proven to be Earhart's, and the catalogue is compiled by the organisation that holds the Nikumaroro hypothesis, which readers should weigh⁠[[1]]. The Gardner Island record begins with the 1937 overflight and resumes with the 1940 finds. Gerald Gallagher, the Phoenix Islands settlement officer, reported to his superiors in Fiji a skull found by labourers, then a partial skeleton beneath a ren tree on the south-east part of the island, with a sextant box, part of a woman's shoe and a Benedictine bottle, and wrote that there was "a very slight chance" they were Earhart's⁠[[4]]. D. W. Hoodless at the Central Medical School, Suva, examined thirteen bones on 4 April 1941, took measurements, and concluded they were a male of European or mixed ancestry, about 5 feet 5 inches tall⁠[[5]]. The bones and the box have not been found since. Everything later said about the bones rests on his measurements. **Map of the world** [Open the full map](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/amelia-earhart/map) [+][−] 1 **Howland Island** Island Mapped 2 **Nikumaroro (Gardner Island), Phoenix Islands, Kiribati** Atoll Within 1 km 3 **Jaluit Atoll, Marshall Islands** Atoll Within 10 km 4 **Central Medical School, Suva, Fiji** Institution Within 10 km MappedWithin 1 kmA regionNatural Earth ### Timeline **Timeline** Squeezed where little happened. Each mark is a published claim, by how it stands:AcceptedMost likelyStill possibleDisputedRuled out ## The search The crash-and-sink reading has been tested by sonar. Nauticos, with the navigator Elgen Long's fuel and navigation analysis, searched the deep seabed north-west of Howland in 2002, 2006 and 2017; the Waitt Institute searched in 2009; together they covered about 3,610 square miles at depths near 5,000 metres without finding the aircraft⁠[[10]]. In January 2024 Deep Sea Vision published a sonar image of an aircraft-shaped object about 100 miles from Howland; a return visit in November 2024 showed it to be a rock formation⁠[[11]]⁠[[12]]. In August 2025 Nauticos announced a new analysis of the 1937 radio receptions using a restored Electra radio set, which it said narrowed the search area, and a fourth expedition for which it was raising funds; as of October 2026 it had not sailed⁠[[10]]. The Nikumaroro reading has been tested on land and on the reef. TIGHAR's expeditions since 1989 recovered artefacts at the "Seven Site," where the bones were found: a jar of the kind that held freckle cream, a compact, a zip fastener, glass, fish and bird bones from campfires, and elsewhere on the island a sheet of aircraft aluminium; none carries a serial number that ties it to the Electra, and the island was inhabited from 1938 to 1963⁠[[2]]. A 1937 photograph of the reef taken by the British officer Eric Bevington shows an object that TIGHAR read as landing gear; a 2019 survey found rocks of that shape on the reef⁠[[2]]. Ballard's 2019 expedition with National Geographic mapped the reef slope and found no wreckage⁠[[13]]. In 2020 a satellite image of the lagoon beside the Taraia peninsula showed a reflective object of the Electra's size; the Archaeological Legacy Institute and the Purdue Research Foundation, Earhart's former employer and the Electra's original owner, planned an expedition for November 2025, postponed it to 2026, and went in October 2026. The object was a cluster of large tree trunks with a shiny coating of carbonate-cemented coral sand; one Y-shaped segment remained. The team also recovered a steel tube about 30 inches long from the lagoon and said the search would continue⁠[[9]]⁠[[14]]. ## The explanations Crash and sink. The aircraft ran out of fuel near Howland, within the area the last signal strength implies, and sank in deep water. This is the simplest reading of the radio log and was the Navy's conclusion⁠[[2]]. It predicts that no credible post-loss signals exist, because the Electra's transmitter could not operate from the water, and that the wreck lies on the seabed within about a hundred miles of Howland. Against it are the post-loss receptions that the catalogue rates credible and the Pan Am bearings; for it are the 3,610 square miles searched without result, which however cover only a part of the possible area⁠[[1]]⁠[[10]]. Nikumaroro. Unable to find Howland, Earhart flew south-east along the 157–337 line, reached Gardner Island, landed on the reef flat at low tide, transmitted for several nights until the aircraft was taken by the surf, and died on the island as a castaway⁠[[2]]. The reading predicts credible post-loss signals timed to low tides, a castaway's remains and belongings on the island, and aircraft wreckage on the reef slope. The first is argued from the catalogue; the second from the 1940 finds and the Seven Site artefacts; the third has not been found by Ballard's survey or by TIGHAR's own⁠[[1]]⁠[[4]]⁠[[13]]. The bones are the crux. Hoodless said male; Burns and colleagues, from his measurements, said a tall European woman; Cross and Wright, reviewing both, said Hoodless's first-hand examination was the more robust and the bones were a robust middle-aged man; Jantz, using Earhart's own measurements from clothing and photographs against modern reference data, found the bones closer to her than to 99 per cent of the comparison sample⁠[[6]]⁠[[7]]⁠[[8]]. All of them are working from thirteen measurements of bones nobody has seen since 1941. The 1937 overflight that saw "signs of recent habitation" and no one waving is consistent with the reading only if the castaways were dead or unable to signal within a week⁠[[3]]. Japanese capture. The aircraft came down in the Marshall Islands, and Earhart and Noonan were taken to Saipan and died there. The reading dates from wartime rumour and Fred Goerner's 1966 book, rests on Marshallese and Saipanese recollections gathered decades later, and has produced no document, no wreckage and no grave⁠[[2]]. The 2017 photograph said to show the pair on a Jaluit dock was found by a Japanese researcher in a travel book published in 1935⁠[[15]]. The reading is contradicted by the radio log, which has the aircraft near Howland at 08:43, some 800 miles from the Marshalls with little fuel⁠[[1]]. ### Published claims **Published claims and their status** | Year | Who | Claimed | Status | Reason | |---|---|---|---|---| | 1937 | John O. Lambrecht, USS Colorado⁠[3] | Gardner Island showed signs of recent habitation, but no aircraft was seen and no one answered the circling floatplanes. | Accepted | Nobody disputes what the pilots reported; what the signs of habitation were is still argued⁠[2] | | 1940 | Gerald Gallagher⁠[4] | There is a very slight chance that the skeleton, sextant box and shoe found on Gardner Island were Earhart's. | Disputed | The bones were lost after 1941 and the analyses of their measurements disagree⁠[7]⁠[8] | | 1941 | D. W. Hoodless⁠[5] | The Gardner Island bones are a male's, of European or mixed ancestry, about 5 feet 5 inches tall. | Disputed | Re-analyses of his measurements since 1998 disagree about the sex and stature⁠[6]⁠[7]⁠[8] | | 1966 | Fred Goerner⁠[16] | Earhart and Noonan came down in the Marshall Islands and were taken by the Japanese to Saipan, where they died. | Disputed | No document, wreckage or grave has turned up in sixty years, and the radio log puts the aircraft near Howland with little fuel at 08:43⁠[2]⁠[1] | | 1998 | Karen Burns, Richard Jantz, Thomas King and Richard Gillespie⁠[6] | Hoodless's measurements fit a tall white woman of northern European ancestry better than a man. | Disputed | A peer-reviewed review found Hoodless's first-hand male identification the more robust⁠[7] | | 1999 | Elgen and Marie Long⁠[17] | The Electra ran out of fuel near Howland Island and sank. | Most likely | It is the simplest reading of the radio log, but about 3,610 square miles of seabed near Howland have been searched by sonar without finding the aircraft⁠[1]⁠[10] | | 2006 | Ric Gillespie (TIGHAR)⁠[18] | Earhart landed on the reef at Gardner Island, transmitted for several nights, and died there as a castaway. | Disputed | Decades of expeditions have found suggestive artefacts but no wreckage, and the reef-slope surveys came back empty⁠[13]⁠[9] | | 2015 | Pamela Cross and Richard Wright⁠[7] | Hoodless's first-hand examination is more reliable than the later re-analyses, and the bones were a robust middle-aged man's. | Disputed | Jantz's 2018 comparison with Earhart's own dimensions reached the opposite result from the same measurements⁠[8] | | 2017 | History (Amelia Earhart, The Lost Evidence)⁠[19] | A photograph in the National Archives shows Earhart and Noonan alive on a dock at Jaluit after their capture. | Ruled out | The photograph was published in a Japanese travel book in 1935, two years before the flight⁠[15] | | 2018 | Richard Jantz⁠[8] | The Nikumaroro bones are more similar to Earhart than to 99 per cent of a modern reference sample. | Disputed | The result rests on thirteen 1941 measurements and on Earhart's dimensions reconstructed from clothing and photographs; Cross and Wright read the same bones as male⁠[7] | | 2021 | Robert Brandenburg and Richard Gillespie (TIGHAR)⁠[1] | Some radio signals heard after the loss were credible transmissions from the Electra, and Pan Am bearings crossed near the Phoenix Islands. | Disputed | The credibility ratings are TIGHAR's own and have not been independently replicated, and the Navy searched the Phoenix Islands on those bearings without result⁠[3] | | 2024 | Deep Sea Vision⁠[11] | A sonar image about 100 miles from Howland shows an object shaped like the Electra on the seabed. | Ruled out | A return visit with cameras in November 2024 showed the object to be a rock formation⁠[12] | | 2025 | Nauticos⁠[10] | A new analysis of the 1937 radio receptions, using a restored Electra radio set, narrows the area near Howland where the aircraft should lie. | Still possible | The expedition to search the narrowed area had not sailed by October 2026⁠[10] | | 2025 | Archaeological Legacy Institute and Purdue Research Foundation⁠[20] | The Taraia Object, a reflective shape in the Nikumaroro lagoon seen in satellite images, may be the Electra. | Ruled out | The October 2026 expedition found it to be a cluster of coated tree trunks⁠[9]⁠[14] | | 2026 | Archaeological Legacy Institute and Purdue Research Foundation⁠[9] | The Taraia Object is a cluster of large tree trunks coated with carbonate-cemented coral sand, not an aircraft. | Accepted | Seen on site by the expedition and reported independently⁠[14] | ## What would settle it Wreckage with a serial number. The Electra's engines and structure carried numbers that would identify them on the seabed off Howland or on the reef slope at Nikumaroro, and both places have been searched only in part. Nauticos's refined radio analysis, if it holds up, narrows the Howland field; the lagoon and reef at Nikumaroro have been mapped but the deep slope only along transects⁠[[10]]⁠[[9]]. The bones would settle the island question by DNA if they were ever found in Fiji; the search of the medical school's stores has been made more than once without result⁠[[2]]. A full, independent re-analysis of the post-loss radio receptions, using modern propagation models and the original logs rather than TIGHAR's catalogue, would tell whether any of them could have come from a transmitter on Gardner's reef. ## Questions 0 of 3 questions are answered. **Key questions** [All 3](https://mysteriesdept.com/questions/key-questions?mystery=amelia-earhart) **0** [Where did the Electra come down?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/amelia-earhart/questions/QST0CYPMTFG0SXJ/where-did-the-electra-come-down) 0 of 1 sub-questions answered·0 Most likely: it ran out of fuel and ditched at sea within about a hundred miles of Howland, and sank **0** [Whose bones were found on Gardner Island in 1940?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/amelia-earhart/questions/QST0CYPMTQA45GR/whose-bones-were-found-on-gardner-island-in-1940) 0 of 0 sub-questions answered·0 Open: 3 answers, none ahead ## Evidence 22 findings [Where did the Electra come down?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/amelia-earhart/questions/QST0CYPMTFG0SXJ/where-did-the-electra-come-down)14 findings [It ran out of fuel and ditched at sea within about a hundred miles of Howland, and sank.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/amelia-earhart/answers/ANS0CYPMV6Y60MW/it-ran-out-of-fuel-and-ditched-at-sea-within-about-a-hundred)Most likely +[The 08:43 message was heard at strength five, implying the aircraft was close to Howland with little fuel.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/amelia-earhart/evidence/EVD0CYPMVER4HR6/the-08-43-message-was-heard-at-strength-five-implying-the)Supported +[The Navy's 1937 conclusion and the simplest reading of the radio log.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/amelia-earhart/evidence/EVD0CYPMVPJ76H6/the-navys-1937-conclusion-and-the-simplest-reading-of-the)Supported −[About 3,610 square miles of seabed near Howland have been searched by sonar without result.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/amelia-earhart/evidence/EVD0CYPMVYC7GKS/about-3-610-square-miles-of-seabed-near-howland-have-been)Supported −[Some post-loss receptions are rated credible and Pan Am bearings crossed near the Phoenix Islands.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/amelia-earhart/evidence/EVD0CYPMW6676QA/some-post-loss-receptions-are-rated-credible-and-pan-am)Suggestive [It landed on the reef flat of Gardner Island (Nikumaroro); the crew transmitted for several nights, the…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/amelia-earhart/answers/ANS0CYPMWE04Y90/it-landed-on-the-reef-flat-of-gardner-island-nikumaroro-the)Disputed +[A partial skeleton, a sextant box and a woman's shoe part were found on the island in 1940.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/amelia-earhart/evidence/EVD0CYPMWNT647Y/a-partial-skeleton-a-sextant-box-and-a-womans-shoe-part-were)Supported +[Jantz (2018) found the 1941 bone measurements closer to Earhart than to 99 per cent of a reference sample.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/amelia-earhart/evidence/EVD0CYPMWXM0WTP/jantz-2018-found-the-1941-bone-measurements-closer-to)Suggestive −[Cross and Wright (2015) found Hoodless's first-hand male identification more robust than later re-analyses.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/amelia-earhart/evidence/EVD0CYPMX5E5NFD/cross-and-wright-2015-found-hoodlesss-first-hand-male)Suggestive −[Colorado's aircraft saw signs of habitation but no aircraft and no one signalling on 9 July 1937.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/amelia-earhart/evidence/EVD0CYPMXD858Z2/colorados-aircraft-saw-signs-of-habitation-but-no-aircraft)Supported −[Ballard's 2019 survey of the reef slope and TIGHAR's own searches found no wreckage.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/amelia-earhart/evidence/EVD0CYPMXN27RK9/ballards-2019-survey-of-the-reef-slope-and-tighars-own)Supported −[The Taraia Object, the latest candidate, proved to be trees (October 2026).](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/amelia-earhart/evidence/EVD0CYPMXWW0EG0/the-taraia-object-the-latest-candidate-proved-to-be-trees)Established −[The island was inhabited 1938–1963, so artefacts at the Seven Site have other possible sources.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/amelia-earhart/evidence/EVD0CYPMY4P3CJ9/the-island-was-inhabited-19381963-so-artefacts-at-the-seven)Supported [It came down in the Marshall Islands and the crew were taken by the Japanese to Saipan.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/amelia-earhart/answers/ANS0CYPMYCG623A/it-came-down-in-the-marshall-islands-and-the-crew-were-taken)Disputed −[The 2017 photograph offered as proof was published in a 1935 travel book.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/amelia-earhart/evidence/EVD0CYPMYMA0KB3/the-2017-photograph-offered-as-proof-was-published-in-a-1935)Established −[No document, wreckage or grave has been produced in sixty years of claims.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/amelia-earhart/evidence/EVD0CYPMYW47EB1/no-document-wreckage-or-grave-has-been-produced-in-sixty)Supported −[The last message places the aircraft near Howland with gas running low.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/amelia-earhart/evidence/EVD0CYPMZ3Y0N3X/the-last-message-places-the-aircraft-near-howland-with-gas)Supported [Whose bones were found on Gardner Island in 1940?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/amelia-earhart/questions/QST0CYPMTQA45GR/whose-bones-were-found-on-gardner-island-in-1940)5 findings [Amelia Earhart's.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/amelia-earhart/answers/ANS0CYPMZKJ0BTE/amelia-earharts)Disputed +[Jantz's 2018 comparison finds the bones closer to Earhart than to 99 per cent of a reference sample.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/amelia-earhart/evidence/EVD0CYPMZVC5WN0/jantzs-2018-comparison-finds-the-bones-closer-to-earhart)Suggestive +[The 1998 FORDISC analysis classed the bones as a tall white female.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/amelia-earhart/evidence/EVD0CYPN03658KZ/the-1998-fordisc-analysis-classed-the-bones-as-a-tall-white)Suggestive −[Hoodless, who handled the bones, judged them a stocky male; Cross and Wright found his analysis the more robust.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/amelia-earhart/evidence/EVD0CYPN0B05Y0P/hoodless-who-handled-the-bones-judged-them-a-stocky-male)Suggestive [Another castaway, possibly a survivor of the Norwich City wreck of 1929 or a Pacific Islander.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/amelia-earhart/answers/ANS0CYPN0JT0AQ9/another-castaway-possibly-a-survivor-of-the-norwich-city)Disputed +[Hoodless's conclusion: male, European or mixed, about 5 ft 5 in.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/amelia-earhart/evidence/EVD0CYPN0TM45RY/hoodlesss-conclusion-male-european-or-mixed-about-5-ft-5-in)Supported +[The SS Norwich City wrecked on the reef in 1929 with loss of life.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/amelia-earhart/evidence/EVD0CYPN12E31C3/the-ss-norwich-city-wrecked-on-the-reef-in-1929-with-loss-of)Supported [Were any of the post-loss radio signals from the Electra?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/amelia-earhart/questions/QST0CYPMTZ43693/were-any-of-the-post-loss-radio-signals-from-the-electra)3 findings [Some signals were genuine transmissions from the Electra on land.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/amelia-earhart/answers/ANS0CYPN1J20H08/some-signals-were-genuine-transmissions-from-the-electra-on)Disputed +[TIGHAR's catalogue rates a subset of receptions credible and reports Pan Am bearings crossing near the Phoenix Islands.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/amelia-earhart/evidence/EVD0CYPN1SW44CD/tighars-catalogue-rates-a-subset-of-receptions-credible-and)Suggestive −[The Navy searched the Phoenix Islands on the strength of the bearings and found nothing.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/amelia-earhart/evidence/EVD0CYPN21P6Y0C/the-navy-searched-the-phoenix-islands-on-the-strength-of-the)Supported [All were hoaxes, misidentified stations or wishful hearing.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/amelia-earhart/answers/ANS0CYPN29G7TES/all-were-hoaxes-misidentified-stations-or-wishful-hearing)Most likely +[Many 1937 receptions were shown at the time to be hoaxes or other stations.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/amelia-earhart/evidence/EVD0CYPN2HA5QYT/many-1937-receptions-were-shown-at-the-time-to-be-hoaxes-or)Established ## Artifacts The films, photos, papers and objects this mystery rests on, each with its own key and its distance from the original. **Artifacts** [See all 19](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/amelia-earhart/artifacts) Transcription2 steps from object [The Gardner Island bones (thirteen bones and a skull)](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/amelia-earhart/artifacts/ART0CYPN3GJ45MR/the-gardner-island-bones-thirteen-bones-and-a-skull) TIGHAR · publisher Document1 step from object [Sextant box found with the bones](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/amelia-earhart/artifacts/ART0CYPN3RC4V8X/sextant-box-found-with-the-bones) lost Transcription2 steps from object [USCGC Itasca radio logs, 2 July 1937](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/amelia-earhart/artifacts/ART0CYPN4062RN3/uscgc-itasca-radio-logs-2-july-1937) TIGHAR · public-domain Document1 step from object [Aluminium sheet "2-2-V-1" from Nikumaroro](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/amelia-earhart/artifacts/ART0CYPN4FT4CH3/aluminium-sheet-2-2-v-1-from-nikumaroro) TIGHAR Document1 step from object [The "Taraia Object"](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/amelia-earhart/artifacts/ART0CYPN4QM2B5Y/the-taraia-object) in situ, Nikumaroro lagoon Transcription2 steps from object [Gallagher's report and telegrams on the Gardner Island finds, 1940](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/amelia-earhart/artifacts/ART0CYPN4ZE68XC/gallaghers-report-and-telegrams-on-the-gardner-island-finds) TIGHAR (Research Document 13) · public-domain (a colonial officer's official report; the transcription is TIGHAR's) Photo1 step from object [Lockheed 10-E Electra NR16020](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/amelia-earhart/artifacts/ART0CYPN6P40Y78/lockheed-10-e-electra-nr16020) Smithsonian Institution · Public domain (per Commons; from NASA's Great Images in NASA collection) Transcription2 steps from object [Lambrecht's report on the aircraft search of the Phoenix Islands](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/amelia-earhart/artifacts/ART0CYPN7NC5K1G/lambrechts-report-on-the-aircraft-search-of-the-phoenix) TIGHAR (Research Document 6) · public-domain (a US Navy officer's official report; the transcription is TIGHAR's) [See all 19 artifacts](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/amelia-earhart/artifacts) ## See also [ **Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370** A Boeing 777 with 239 aboard that vanished in 2014, thought lost in the Indian Ocean. ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/mh370) [ **Bermuda Triangle** A stretch of the western North Atlantic where ships and aircraft are said to vanish. ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/bermuda-triangle) [ **Lost Colony of Roanoke** About 117 English settlers left on Roanoke Island in 1587 and gone by 1590. ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/lost-colony-roanoke) [ **Franklin expedition (HMS Erebus and HMS Terror)** Franklin's 1845 Arctic expedition, whose 129 men died after their ships were iced in. ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/franklin-expedition) ## References 1. 1.[Brandenburg, R., Gillespie, R. 2021. Catalog and Analysis of Radio Signals During the Search for Amelia Earhart in July 1937. TIGHAR (The Earhart Project Research Papers).](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0CYPMBTR4DA7/catalog-and-analysis-of-radio-signals-during-the-search-for)cited 16 times here**SRC** 0CYPMBTR4DA7 1. 2.[TIGHAR 2025. The Earhart Project: the Nikumaroro hypothesis and the evidence. TIGHAR.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0CYPMC2J1FFE/the-earhart-project-the-nikumaroro-hypothesis-and-the)cited 18 times here**SRC** 0CYPMC2J1FFE 1. 3.[Lambrecht, J. 1937. Aircraft Search of Earhart Plane (report on the search of the Phoenix Islands, 9 July 1937). U.S. Navy, USS Colorado; reproduced by TIGHAR, Earhart Project Research Document.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0CYPMCAC4KKW/aircraft-search-of-earhart-plane-report-on-the-search-of-the)cited 10 times here**SRC** 0CYPMCAC4KKW 1. 4.[Gallagher, G. 1940. Gallagher's Ninth Progress Report, October–December 1940 (Phoenix Islands Settlement Scheme). Western Pacific High Commission records; reproduced by TIGHAR, Earhart Project Research Document 13.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0CYPMCJ602ZC/gallaghers-ninth-progress-report-octoberdecember-1940)cited 10 times here**SRC** 0CYPMCJ602ZC 1. 5.[Hoodless, D., Western Pacific High Commission 1941. The Bones Chronology: the Western Pacific High Commission file on the Gardner Island bones, 1940–1941 (including D. W. Hoodless's report of 4 April 1941). WPHC file, Fiji; reproduced by TIGHAR, Earhart Project Research Documents.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0CYPMCT04JRA/the-bones-chronology-the-western-pacific-high-commission)cited 8 times here**SRC** 0CYPMCT04JRA 1. 6.[Burns, K., Jantz, R., King, T. et al. 1998. Amelia Earhart's Bones and Shoes? Current Anthropological Perspectives on an Historical Mystery. TIGHAR Tracks 14(2).](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0CYPMD1T181F/amelia-earharts-bones-and-shoes-current-anthropological)cited 4 times here**SRC** 0CYPMD1T181F 1. 7.[Cross, P., Wright, R. 2015. The Nikumaroro bones identification controversy: First-hand examination versus evaluation by proxy. Amelia Earhart found or still missing?. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0CYPMD9M6GZX/the-nikumaroro-bones-identification-controversy-first-hand)[doi](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2015.05.015)cited 5 times here**SRC** 0CYPMD9M6GZX 1. 8.[Jantz, R. 2018. Amelia Earhart and the Nikumaroro Bones: A 1941 Analysis versus Modern Quantitative Techniques. Forensic Anthropology.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0CYPMDHE2Z4W/amelia-earhart-and-the-nikumaroro-bones-a-1941-analysis)[doi](https://doi.org/10.5744/fa.2018.0009)cited 5 times here**SRC** 0CYPMDHE2Z4W 1. 9.[Purdue University News 2026. Search for Amelia Earhart's plane continues after Taraia Object expedition on Nikumaroro rules out latest hypothesis. Purdue University Newsroom.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0CYPMF0A7QTC/search-for-amelia-earharts-plane-continues-after-taraia)cited 7 times here**SRC** 0CYPMF0A7QTC 1. 10.[UPI 2025. Nauticos says new analysis narrows search for Amelia Earhart's plane; plans fourth expedition. United Press International.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0CYPMDS82ZVS/nauticos-says-new-analysis-narrows-search-for-amelia)cited 5 times here**SRC** 0CYPMDS82ZVS 1. 11.[Kim, J. 2024. Amelia Earhart's long-lost plane possibly spotted in the Pacific by exploration team. NPR.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0CYPME124494/amelia-earharts-long-lost-plane-possibly-spotted-in-the)cited 4 times here**SRC** 0CYPME124494 1. 12.[NPR 2024. Ocean explorers hoped they photographed Amelia Earhart's plane. Turns out it's a rock. Oregon Public Broadcasting (NPR).](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0CYPME8W73XM/ocean-explorers-hoped-they-photographed-amelia-earharts)cited 2 times here**SRC** 0CYPME8W73XM 1. 13.[The New York Times 2019. The Amelia Earhart Mystery Stays Down in the Deep. The New York Times.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0CYPMEGP3JYY/the-amelia-earhart-mystery-stays-down-in-the-deep)cited 5 times here**SRC** 0CYPMEGP3JYY 1. 14.[National Geographic 2026. The 'Taraia Object' isn't Amelia Earhart's plane. So what is it?. National Geographic.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0CYPMF8432YG/the-taraia-object-isnt-amelia-earharts-plane-so-what-is-it)cited 1 time here**SRC** 0CYPMF8432YG 1. 15.[National Geographic 2017. Amelia Earhart 'Lost Photograph' Discredited. National Geographic.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0CYPMERG76VX/amelia-earhart-lost-photograph-discredited)cited 4 times here**SRC** 0CYPMERG76VX 1. 16.[Goerner, F. 1966. The Search for Amelia Earhart. Doubleday.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0CYPMG7C56BK/the-search-for-amelia-earhart)cited 1 time here**SRC** 0CYPMG7C56BK 1. 17.[Long, E., Long, M. 1999. Amelia Earhart: The Mystery Solved. Simon & Schuster.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0CYPMGF61TSY/amelia-earhart-the-mystery-solved)cited 1 time here**SRC** 0CYPMGF61TSY 1. 18.[Gillespie, R. 2006. Finding Amelia: The True Story of the Earhart Disappearance. Naval Institute Press.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0CYPMGQ009K4/finding-amelia-the-true-story-of-the-earhart-disappearance)cited 1 time here**SRC** 0CYPMGQ009K4 1. 19.[History (television network) 2017. Amelia Earhart: The Lost Evidence. History, first shown 9 July 2017.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0CYPMGYT78G7/amelia-earhart-the-lost-evidence)cited 1 time here**SRC** 0CYPMGYT78G7 1. 20.[Baldwin, S. 2025. New expedition will seek to locate Amelia Earhart's lost plane in the Pacific Ocean. CBS News.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0CYPMH6M0FTD/new-expedition-will-seek-to-locate-amelia-earharts-lost)cited 1 time here**SRC** 0CYPMH6M0FTD Last edited 27 Oct 2026