Did anyone see the show about Amelia Earhart that just aired on the History Channel?

[StevieM]

I thought it was really good. They made a very compelling case.

What did everybody else think?

[Chasstev365]

1. Sure seems to be the case!

[miyazaki]

2. well, you can see this thread:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=1814269

[Mrs. Overall]

4. Yes, I got fucking raked over the coals for posting this story that possibly a photo had been found.

So much for interesting historical speculation. Won't ever do that again.

[Lucinda]

6. Don't let them get you down!

Plenty of people around here love running down even the slimmest of possibilities.

[Mrs. Overall]

10. Thank you!

Your note makes me feel better.

[GallopingGhost]

7. I'm not sure what happened there.

I saw nothing wrong with what you posted. I've always been fascinated by Earhart's story. Millions of people are.

It's an incredible event in history and it's interesting.

[Mrs. Overall]

11. The thread took off in strange directions

as though the Amelia photo was a conspiracy theory.

I have always been fascinated with her as well.

Thanks for this nice post!

[GallopingGhost]

16. I've studied history for over forty years,

for no particular purpose, other than that it's intrigued me since I was a kid.

Earhart, D.B. Cooper, Titanic...There's something in our nature that drives curiosity about what really happened.

Earhart was a brave lady and definitely shattered the expectational ceiling for females of the time!

I don't find the photo unrealistic, and if you couple that with the other evidence, it all points to her having been a prisoner of the Japanese.

[Rhiannon12866]

12. I recced your thread - and I watched. "Compelling" would be the word I'd use, too!

I thought it was very well done - using amazing technology that wasn't available even in 1968 when there was another attempt at solving this incredible mystery. They sure called in some impressive experts and I found the 90-year-old lady the most persuasive of all. It was also heartbreaking, since she managed to land safely with only minor injuries to her navigator and must have believed she had been rescued...

[Mrs. Overall]

17. I missed the documentary but will try to find it and watch.

Sounds like it was "compelling"! I have always been fascinated by Earhart's story and am always eager to learn more about attempts to further unravel the mystery. I'm glad this documentary presented well-researched evidence and wasn't simply wild speculation.

And, thanks for the rec on the thread. I grew weary of the Elvis and alien references. : )

[Kaleva]

20. Nobody in that thread "raked you over the coals".

[Mrs. Overall]

21. I felt figuratively made fun of (over and over) for having posted the Amelia photo story.

Not many on the thread took it seriously, even though it was posted as an interesting and speculative theory for what happened to Earhart.

But, thanks for correcting me.

[Kaleva]

23. You may have felt that way but there is no evidence supporting your view.

There were several, me included, having fun with the story itself and also of the History Channel. But not one bit of it was dierected at you.

[elleng]

27. Sorry. Was up until after 3:00 A.M. today watching,

and I found the evidence, much more than a photograph, persuasive.

[jberryhill]

35. Oh, people were having fun, because it's the History Channel

It took 30 minutes to prove the entire premise wrong:


https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jul/11/blogger-discredits-claim-amelia-earhart-was-taken-prisoner-by-japan

The image was part of a Japanese-language travelogue about the South Seas that was published almost two years before Earhart disappeared. Page 113 states the book was published in Japanese-held Palau on 10 October 1935.

The caption beneath the image makes no mention of the identities of the people in the photograph. It describes maritime activity at the harbour on Jabor in the Jaluit atoll – the headquarters for Japan’s administration of the Marshall Islands between the first world war and its defeat in the second world war.

The caption notes that monthly races between schooners belonging to local tribal leaders and other vessels turned the port into a “bustling spectacle”.

Kota Yamano, a military history blogger who unearthed the Japanese photograph, said it took him just 30 minutes to effectively debunk the documentary’s central claim.



Nobody at HC bothered to ask the Japanese about where a Japanese photo came from.

History Channel is a great place to learn about how aliens built the pyramids. Real history, not so much.

[Lifelong Protester]

3. I thought it was pretty good.

But they always leave you hangin'-but I think we know more now than before.

[dflprincess]

5. I thought it was good

Thanks to a passing storm I had a momentary glitch in my cable (or I'm blaming the storm) and missed a few minutes. Was any mention made of what happened to the bodies the two soldiers were told to dig up on Saipan in 1944?

[GallopingGhost]

9. They said they turned them over

to their captain and never saw them again. The bones mysteriously disappeared and have never been seen or found again. (supposedly) The Navy later denied having ordered the excavation.

The Kothera Group went to Saipan in 1968 and worked with a woman who claimed that she had seen Earhart and Noonan being executed and buried, and they found bones fragments that were identified as having belonged to a woman between forty and forty-five years. Earhart was 39.

[LeftInTX]

18. Have they been able to do DNA testing on the bones?

Amelia's niece is still alive. Amelia's sister is her mom.

The bones were examined as recently as 1998.

Here is an excerpt from yesterday's Washington Post, no mention of DNA. If we can get DNA on Neanderthals, I think we could attempt on these bones:

"Three years later, British officials discovered the skeleton on the island and wondered whether it might belong to the famed aviator. Officials shipped the 13 bones to a medical school in Fiji, where they were examined by D.W. Hoodless, a physician.

He concluded that the bones belonged to a short, stocky European man.

But Gillespie’s group thinks Hoodless was wrong. After running the bones through a more robust anthropological database in 1998, they determined that the bones could have belonged to a taller-than-average woman of European descent — someone like Earhart."

[GallopingGhost]

22. I can't remember now the

reason they gave for not being able to do a DNA match with her niece and the bones fragments from '68.

The host of the show was there when they completely razed and sifted the spot where the Coke bottle was, and they didn't find any more, so I'm assuming the 1968 fragments are it.

[elleng]

28. No, no 'Amelia' bones available now.

[Warren DeMontague]

8. I tend to fall on the side of "they crash landed on a deserted island and died not long after"

However, it's still unsolved. I don't personally think the one piece of photo evidence the HC based their show on, supposedly (didn't watch it, full disclosure) is super-compelling, but since no one knows for sure an open mind is warranted.

It'd be interesting to see that particular historical cold case get solved.

[Rhiannon12866]

13. I thought they made a compelling case, as well.

They left no stone unturned consulting specialists and used technology not available even in 1968 when there was a previous serious attempt to finally solve this mystery. I definitely found it worth watching and I was pretty convinced - and saddened.

[StevieM]

14. I think you should watch the show when it re-airs. I did find the photo to be compelling.

There were only so many white westerners who had been to the Marshall Islands in 1937.

The man definitely looked like Fred Noonan. And the woman had a similar build to Earhart. Finally, the barge was towing something that looked like it was Earhart's plane.

But that photo wasn't all there was to their argument. They presented a lot more evidence, including eyewitness interviews that I found to be convincing.

[Warren DeMontague]

24. We ditched cable a while back, so no history channel for me..

But if I get a chance I will watch it. I still find that stuff fascinating.

[Orrex]

15. Here's some additional info (entry #6)

http://www.cracked.com/article_18718_6-famous-unsolved-mysteries-that-have-totally-been-solved.html

[Kaleva]

19. Most likely they crashed in the ocean died immediately.

With no wreakage or remains, this case will never be solved , IMO.

[StevieM]

25. The History Channel made a very compelling case. It was more than just speculation.

Did you watch?

[GhostofJFK]

26. Were the aliens involved?

They play a bigger role than we know

[ms liberty]

31. Yea, right.

I'm guessing you're here to show us all how to do it aren't you then, new member?Well, welcome to DU. Enjoy your stay. Do you like pizza?

[GhostofJFK]

41. Pizza is great

Who doesn't like it??

[muriel_volestrangler]

34. Turns out they had no idea of the photo date; now we know it was at least 2 years before

Earhart disappeared. See https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=1817807

I think it's incredible The "History" Channel can build that theory without admitting they had no idea about the date of the photo.

[jberryhill]

37. Incredible? From the people who bring us Ancient Aliens?

I'm a little surprised that people don't understand that academic rigor does not apply in the production of commercial television "documentaries".

They presented everything that supports this guy's theory - debunked in 30 minutes - and nothing else.

And that's all it takes to convince people.

[muriel_volestrangler]

39. Maybe it's incredible that people hadn't pointed it out earlier

Many people and reliable sections of the media were treating it as a well backed-up theory. They pointed out it was a long way from where Earhart had been thought to be; but if there was no date for the photo, then it was "wrong place, unknown time, and a couple of people who *might* look a little like Earhart and navigator". Which is basically nothing.

It's wasn't so much "academic rigor" I was expecting, as "a vaguely meaningful bit of evidence to base the program on".

[Kaleva]

38. History Channel has shows that make compelling cases about Aliens

Fox News convinces their viewers that supporting Trump is the right choice.

The number of pilots and aircrews who disappeared without a trace somewhere over the Pacifuc is legion. They crashed. They died.

[ananda]

29. I will say this.

That is an interesting photo, and those two people
do look like Earhart and Noonan!

[cilla4progress]

30. Watched it.

Thought it was excellent and credible, and I believe Earhart and Noonan died in a Japanese POW prison, as the doc alleges!

👍

[StevieM]

33. I am also persuaded. I think they presented a very convincing case. (eom)

[jberryhill]

36. That is the magic of television for you....

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jul/11/blogger-discredits-claim-amelia-earhart-was-taken-prisoner-by-japan

The image was part of a Japanese-language travelogue about the South Seas that was published almost two years before Earhart disappeared. Page 113 states the book was published in Japanese-held Palau on 10 October 1935.

The caption beneath the image makes no mention of the identities of the people in the photograph. It describes maritime activity at the harbour on Jabor in the Jaluit atoll – the headquarters for Japan’s administration of the Marshall Islands between the first world war and its defeat in the second world war.

The caption notes that monthly races between schooners belonging to local tribal leaders and other vessels turned the port into a “bustling spectacle”.

Kota Yamano, a military history blogger who unearthed the Japanese photograph, said it took him just 30 minutes to effectively debunk the documentary’s central claim.



Nobody at HC bothered to ask the Japanese about where a Japanese photo came from. Such is the intellectual "rigor" over at the History Channel.

[USALiberal]

32. It was interesting to me. I am a very skeptical person but the photo was interesting. n/t

[kcr]

40. It's been debunked

http://jezebel.com/japanese-blogger-discredits-new-amelia-earhart-document-1796805871

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jul/11/blogger-discredits-claim-amelia-earhart-was-taken-prisoner-by-japan

And it took the guy 30 minutes. This is really embarrassing.