What do you think happened? Did Amelia crash land on Gardner Island or are we sticking with the story that she crashed into the ocean? NEED MORE? Head over to our weekly newsletter to watch the FULL 2 hours 35 minutes uncut version of our conversation with Ric Gillespie: open.substack.com/pub/tilscience/p/amelia-earhart-didnt-crash-she-survived?r=2mhiea&showWelcomeOnShare=true
The ocean crash theorists still don't have anything to show for it. I've been following TIGHAR for two decades now and it's pretty clear to me who has actual evidence and who has not.
I just want to say thank you for not interrupting him. I see too many interviews where the interviewers just don't listen and don't let people tell their story. You're a great interviewer and it's a pleasure to watch ❤
Thank you for producing this interview. My mother will be 96 in a few weeks. She was seven when Amelia went missing, and clearly remembers the news of the search for her. She and I were mesmerized by a series of interviews given by Fred Goerner author of The Search for Amelia Earhart that was broadcast in the early 1960's on KXL radio, Portland, Oregon. Mother read everything she could find on the investigation of Amelia's disappearance. I called mom tonight and sent her your RUclips link. She was so excited to close this enduring 89 year-old mystery! Thank you.
My mom who would be 105 years old would have loved this discovery. She always praised Amelia and wanted so much to be a pilot someday. Her dreams vanished when her baby brother was killed in a fighter jet during world War II.
There's another documentary that SOLVED the mystery, found parts of her plane. She landed it on the beach but Japs saw and took her and the plane into custody. It was an island with an atoll. There are eyewitnesses who saw her on that island. This guy is accurate about pieces of the Lockheed Electra (her plane) being found on an island. yes, she was able to start the plane engine use the radio for a few days after the beach landing. but not able to have intelligible radio conversations. Then the Japs got the plane and loaded it onto a barge and took it away and her into custody. I'll try to find a link to the documentary to post her.
Not only that, but Fred Noonan was one of the best and most experienced navigators of his time. He was hired by Pan American to pioneer oversees flights in flying boats to Asia - such as the China Clipper - and invented navigational techniques that were still in use well into the 1980s. He was the real deal.
@emilromanoagramonte9190 Flying boats by their nature do not have the range needed for Earhart's flight. The reason flying boats were used for civil aviation in the far East is because ports were much more common than airstrips.
I am a retired Detective. Watching you do the interview is the way it is supposed to be done. Let them talk. People love to talk. Silence makes them talk even more. I cleared a lot of major cases this way. The hardest part was to train new recruits to shut up and let people talk and ask open ended questions. In my case, we had all the time in the world to illicit the information we needed. Slowly bring the questions into a tighter circle to get the commitment. Worked every time!
It was, indeed, a very well-done interview. I enjoyed hearing the gentleman discuss his work on the case. I think he's wrong in his conclusion, but it was a very interesting discussion all the same.
Wow are you confused. Letting people idly talk generates conspiracy theories. Like here. This "she landed on an island" theory was debunked 6 years ago. Millions was spent looking for her plane off this island and Ballard (Titanic; Bismark) found squat
This man with this video will be a time capsule for decades to come. I appreciate the interviewer for not interrupting and allowing him to talk. A good video with editing.
@mtlicqI wonder personally what did cause her death. I mean, through evidence found in releases files it’s clear through signs that she landed on an island with her navigator (I forget his actual title) and survived At least a few weeks. Was it starvation? Eaten by an animal? Could be any number of things honestly
@AllWillBeWell143 You probably guessed it already, actually a combination of factors: insufficient nutrient intake including lack of fresh water, probably the biggest factor, Extra factors, maybe her source of food the turtle became rotten after several days in the heat and in desperation she kept eating it and belly infections happened, insufficient calorie intake, loss of energy to catch new foods, and with less energy, those relentless strawberry-colour crabs started eating at her. It sucks the search didn't bother to go on any island to check, but spent a couple months skimming the ocean as if they'd survive landing in the ocean.
Love this description and agree. My parents were both older when they had kids (my dad was 51 when I was born and I’m the older of two) so I only met one grandparent and that’s because she lived to be 100. My dad passed back in September and it was an ugly descent into dementia but he was a history and education major and a teacher who loved to talk about all the historical scandals and stuff you don’t learn in school. Maybe not as cool as this guy’s stories but seeing an older person (really, any person but so often aging makes people more invisible and lonely) get to talk about what they’re passionate about is always a joy to experience. Brings people to life in a special way. That’s how this guy reminds me of some of my best memories of my dad. He would’ve loved watching this video too. 😊
Pretty depressing that there were only 3 other possible islands to search on the line called out and Gardner Island was given only a cursory search at high tide. They should have landed and spent a day on each island.
@croft4746 If the information provided about the turtle in the video is accurate, we can assume at least 3 months. I can't imagine she'd have survived too much longer, though, given the conditions. It's not much of a stretch to assume she'd have been long dead by the time the skull was found, but based off of the bones of dead animals nearby and the position of the human bones that were found, my guess would be the turtle was her last meal - since only one turtle and, unless Ric misspoke, only one bird were found close by so she wasn't keeping bodies of animals near her - and protein poisoning took over, leaving her in a delirious state, lying on the beach. And, as Ric said, I very much hope the strawberry crabs didn't come along until after the likely kidney failure did her the favour of putting her out of that specific misery.
Betty's note was nothing of a distress call. No radio call sign recorded. No distress message recorded. Nothing to the effect of ..... "calling any station this is KAHQQ, we are stranded on an island...." She has some notes about going to a closet and getting a suitcase, etc....The only similarity with Earhart disappearance and betty's notes is that it was a woman's voice.
@regulargoat7259. The modern bone analysis was done by looking at written notes. I’m going with the original first person examination of the bones. To wit, a middle aged Polynesian man.
Nina Paxton’s statement as to what she overheard is far more interesting as she gives a specific location stated by Earhart: the Mulgrave Islands, the Western name for Mili and Knox Atolls in the Marshall Islands, then mandated to Japan. TIGHAR have spun the notebook on the basis that Betty supposedly hears something like New York City, which they claim was her mishearing Norwich City, the name of a British freighter wrecked on Gardner Island in 1929. And that’s their basis for claiming she landed at Gardner Island. It’s tenuous to say the least.
I think the common mistake is alot of high profile cases get big search groups and everyone sees a hole and thinks "which such a big group someone must have already looked in that hole." And they walk past. With a smaller search group they won't miss things like that. They won't be able to search as much as fast but they can focus on the most likely places without skipping them on accident.
In 2019, Robert Ballard (the explorer who found Titanic and Bismarck) led a deep‑ocean search around Nikumaroro, one of the strongest alternative-theory sites for Earhart’s disappearance. His team scanned the reef slope, deep water, and lagoon approaches using ROVs and sonar. Result: No aircraft debris was found. This woman "investigator" is a complete fraud.
Meanwhile, a National Geographic land team searched the island surface for artifacts. Result: They also found no confirmed aircraft parts or personal items attributable to Earhart or Noonan.
This interview should be shown in journalism school. No interrupting, no op eds by the interviewer, just asking a question and allowing the interviewee to give the full answer, regardless of where it goes.
This was not journalism. This was letting this man tell his story. She do not ask questions on his nonsense theories. Running engines that was out of fuel? How does bones that are identified as male(pelvis bone identifies male or female) all the sudden become female based on no proof. No questions on his belief that the searching vessel didn’t know the navigator was there when it’s been widely covered and they did know he was on the aircraft. No questions about how he believed the ship with 3 float planes only searched for 20 minutes when it’s widely known they searched in those areas for decades now and no legit proof of her plane or her at that island.
That piece of aluminum is from a WW2 era airplane that crashed on another island and was brought to Nikumaroro. This was established years ago and Ric Gillespie just won't give up claiming its from Amelia's plane. See: gardnerghost.blogspot.com/2020/01/is-2-2-v-1-part-of-sydney-island-wreck.html istigharartifact2-2-v-1apieceofac-47wing.yolasite.com/
@mtlicq that’s right. But they existed quite a bit during WWII. Thousands of aircraft use that same material. High probability it was deposited there in WWII. Then TIGHAR found it decades later.
@ralphfisher-d5j If you're deceased, yes. Natures critters will get at you everywhere. On this island various crabs, rats, flies, birds and insects, will gnaw you down to the bones and scatter them within a weeks time. Hey, they gotta eat too!
She was never on that island. She was never even on the plane. She is in area 51. In a cryogenic chamber next to Epstein, Hitler, Elvis, Jackson and Queen Elizabeth. All waiting for the day they rise again and lead the world to a far better place.
Exactly!! I can't stand it when these "so called journalists" can't manage to keep their mouths shut while the interview is being conducted🙄. This young woman knows how to do this the right way!
@ashleybonanno3043 With all due respect this man is providing evidence (whether you agree with his conclusions or not) and not spouting conspiracy theories and flat earth nonsense, and that is why a good journalist would allow him to continue talking without interruption. I don't see anything in these posts that indicate any knowledge of actual journalism, which is a real skill that is studied, learned and honed. And a real journalist WILL interrupt someone who is spouting nonsense. The real problem with journalism is that producers continue to schedule guests who have nothing of value to say, are spouting nonsense and conspiracy theory. At that pont any good journalist WILL interrupt and ask questions to try to get the guest to provide EVIDENCE instead of spouting nonsensical rhetoric and hyperbole.
@bees5461😂 journalism is a real skill huh? You can't even call the main stream mouth pieces journalists. They're all hacks that spread the lies/misinformation/ propaganda that their handlers tell them to. And your take on interrupting if the guest talks about "conspiracy theories " - who's to decide what's a theory? 95% of what these propaganda hacks label as such turn out to be true. So a true journalist would seek the truth instead of being a puppet spreading propaganda and creating division.
This is a heavily edited interview. Cutting to eachothers faces from multiple camera angles to hide and cut and build a narrative whether good, bad, false, or true.
The lady conducting the interview did a fantastic job of just letting this guy explain what he knows. This video should be shown in schools. Well done.
@tedecker3792 it's an all but lost art already. I had the luck of growing up in a drafting shop doing lettering on the original house drawings then had some instruction in calligraphy by a sweet old lady that had been part of the Egyptian underground during WW1 and 2 so many describe my penmanship as elvish lol...barely anyone can read my notes
Years ago we were exploring an old abandoned house and I found a ledger from a general store from the 1860's. The ink used was dark brown in color, of course I have no clue what type of pen was used. But, the writing in that ledger was the most beautiful handwriting I've ever seen. I've never seen anything like it.. so elegant and flowing. I noticed when the year changed from 1860 to 1861, the writer made the same mistake we do today, writing down the wrong year. They would write 1860 and scratch out the zero and write a 1 over it. That store's accounting was all in that ledger and it was so interesting to read the entries.
The lesson here is NO ONE cares about your life as much as you do, even for someone famous like her. They did a half hearted half assed bone headed search, ignored evidence and then quit. No one is coming to save you, plan and act accordingly.
Being an Australian, we were taught at school about Amelia Earhart now I’m 63 and I’m just hearing of this. I’m absolutely devastated for this woman. Rest in peace Amelia🥀
@LawrenceHedgelike most things, the names known are whomever is heading it. (See: Almost every single expedition of exploration being just named after the “main” dude, while dozens or hundreds of men die to get them there.) Methinks the salt is, man
Imagine sending an entire warship out there, doing a 20 minute flyover and then leaving without even landing a party on the shore that most certainly would have found her ready to come home.
This is how all search and rescue works. There is now a professional company who charges $1M to find people who have insurance, or ability to pay. They use a helicopter with FLIR, all sorts of radio receivers. SPOT and Cell data. Etc. This is the only way to have a reasonable chance. Do not leave it to the CAP or Guard.
Betty's disregarded note book... how sad. The fact that her father seems to have believed her, went to the government, and there got fed the line, "We know about it, and we are working on it." Really? How many countless closed doors, lost opportunities, because nobody would take the time to notice, to listen. I have my own saga spanning the past 31 years.... that also is another story, not Amelia Earhart. Excellent interview between the two of you. Thank you so much. 👍 I will share this to my Facebook audience.
I’ve followed this basically my whole life. Back when things like this were only in books and unsolved mysteries episodes with my grandma. Good to see some closure coming.
Bones, a Lockheed Electra's landing gear, metal and glass parts for a makeup tin from the 1930s, a campsite and remains of crabs indicating human consumption, and post-loss transmissions independently documented by multiple sources - that's all pretty "hard" evidence. I think what you mean is "proof". Until we have that, TIGHAR's theory remains the most strongly evidenced, and hence most likely, theory. "Closure" at that point is a subjective response.
Thank you for posting this.. Very sad that rescuers were so close, this is the most definitive research on a very high certainty, about what really happened. Thank you to Mr. Gillespie & the Team for being as thorough as possible.
It's frustrating how most experts stick to the "crashed at sea" theory and dismiss Ric Gillespie's findings, despite him dedicating more time to this case than anyone else and actually recovering physical evidence that likely belonged to Amelia.
I don't know... I think Gillespie is simply trying to amass as much wealthy donor money as he can to make yet another pointless trip to the island. Joe Lodriges' YT vid on this subject is much more compelling where he points out that Earhart only had 11 gallons of fuel left on her last call to the Itasca. No way she had enough fuel to make it to Niku. The Electra is in the deep water 40 miles east of Howland.
Orbital category (Orbital Index): Orbital Index = (33.5 ÷ 38.5) × 100 ≈ 87.0 → Mesoseme (moderate/European-typical orbital shape). Cephalic Index (overall skull shape): Cephalic Index = (137 ÷ 187) × 100 ≈ 73.3 → Dolichocephalic (long-headed; common within European variation). Orbital-to-cranium proportional ratios: Orbit width / skull breadth = 38.5 ÷ 137 ≈ 0.281 Orbit height / skull length = 33.5 ÷ 187 ≈ 0.179 These ratios indicate orbits that are relatively large for the overall cranial dimensions, which tends to be more consistent with a EUROPEAN FEMALE cranial pattern rather than a large robust male pattern.
I didn't think I'd stick around for the whole video, I'm halfway done and want to know how it wraps up! Great technical filmmaking at its finest! Sound quality is good, interview was a flowing conversation with minimal edits, thankfully not warshed out with music or unnecessary narration! This is the stuff I like to see on the youtube.
Poor Fred Noonan. Barely anyone remembers him. And I agree with SS Norwich City vs Earhart's plane. They will never find it anymore if the corals & water can wreck a big ship like that.
Thank you for your coverage of Ric Gillespie. I have bought his two books on the subject and he backs up his theory with a mountain of knowledge. He has "the dirt under his fingernails" when it comes to the Earhart tragedy. I'm a new subscriber!
@tilscience Nope. There a huge gaps in his research. Do you realize that a vast amount of data is archived at Purdue or in the Navy Inquiry after her disappearance. Ric presents almost none of it. When confronted by it , he casts doubt that it’s unreliable or they got it wrong. Watch how many times he says “if” or “maybe “. A lot of what he says is purely his imagination.
@raoulcruz4404anybody who knows anything about practical ramifications of short wave transmissions should have no doubt mr. Gillespie is full of crap. Betty Paige receiving in US the signal sent from 15W aircraft radio with no meaningful antenna and zero elevation is as likely as hearing human voice from neighboring city. Virtually zero chance. And TIGHAR data tables admit as much if you look at their numbers
It's so nice to see Rick express in his own words all the work that has gone into the castaways theory. It remains the _only_ explanation of Amelia's disappearance offering any objective, verifiable evidence. Rick has a sharp mind and is a real gentleman. LTM
@Tugela60 In the absence of objective evidence on Gardner/Nikumaroro, the "crashed and sank" theory would have been the most likely. In the presence of it, however, it is all but ruled out.
@Tugela60 It's a longish video so I can't be too surprised that you apparently didn't watch it. in the video Rick makes it clear that the plane was lifted by the tide and floated off the reef, and then sank. The reef there is sharp coral which breaks on an edge for many hundreds of feet. It's entirely plausible that the plane was shredded between tidal action and the coral. Or that it drifted potentially miles both horizontally and vertically.
@j.heilig7239*It was a great interview in my opinion. No one said that you have to like it. That's the amazing thing about RUclips, you can choose NOT to watch it. Your opinion doesn't matter to me!!*
@FirewaterByDesign and I really couldn’t care less what you think about anything. If you choose to believe bullshit spewed by a bullshitter first class, go for it.
@j.heilig7239*Apparently, you did care because YOU made it a point to comment on my comment. I'm guessing that you are also probably fully covid vaccinated 💉 too!!*
@j.heilig7239let’s hear your investigative information and how you dedicated years to researching data on this. Do you have some info that we should be looking at or you just like to hold to the first narrative that comes out? No need to reply, this is completely rhetorical. We know you don’t have anything, including an independent thought. 😊
Great interview I really enjoyed this conversation You have put in the hard work and effort for this case. Well done. I have an M.A. in history and B.A. Anthropology... I know how much work you did for this... impressive You should consider blocking the crazies... just saying
This is so extremely in depth, specific, informative, yet comfortable. I never became bored. I stayed intrigued the entire time. I want 100 more videos exactly like this about other shocking/ interesting/ scary/ historical events!!!! Please&thxxx
This video is a national treasure. And I’m super thankful for an interviewer that knows when to ask a good question but also when to stay quiet and let a knowledgable person make their case. Great job!
I started researching on Amelia Earhart when I was about 9-10 years old but just listening to someone who’s spent decades trying to uncover the truth is absolutely fascinating! 🎉
@stevengill1736 My opinion is we may find the male body buried on the island or maybe the plane , but I have no idea how degrade the evidence will be now. Think this the best theory, but I get locked in easily into narratives on this kind of mysteries . Also I missed map locations where the items where found. Think people will find very little from now on . Maybe someone will spend millions mapping the seafloor there for a documentary .
@CharleneAnderson-b9d8z Bermuda triangle was because of high amounts of magnetic metal within that triangle causing gauges and equipment to go haywire and crash trying to reach land (from what I've heard)
Authorities don't care about the people and her entire story to me says she was a government spy that went down and her entire story is a cover up. They basically let her die on an island and wiped their hands of it and said this problem solved itself.
I watch a lot of "missing hiker" content, and I've noticed how often when someone (or their body) is finally found they are OUTSIDE of the search area because they "couldn't have gotten that far"
I don't see why she couldn't have lived there for at least 30 or 40 years. There's food, water and I'm sure wood to build a shelter with. I don't think "they" wanted her to survive.
@o0ol1li1ie3e Adorable? Would be interesting to see you and your life actually threatened by that "adorable" animal and to see your actual reaction when trapped with that voracious animal and his companions in a tiny island and you with no food or water.
@philalcoceli6328 ... that was literally the entire point of my comment, out of context they look adorable but knowing they are potentially deadly makes that adorable-ness different. like how a bear is adorable but hell no do I want to run into one in the woods
I met an older man in my barbershop, who said he was a retired Colonel and that he was on the island where they found her plane and her body that the military has known this forever. He said that the Japanese executed her as a spy. I never saw the man again and didn’t know his name, but I’ll never forget his strong, emotional attitude talking about it.
There are several weaknesses to that version, but the main one is the fact that if Japanese executed her and the US government knew about it, one of the sides would have disposed of the body or buried it, and not just left it under a tree for somebody to find.
To me that is the story that has the loudest ring of truth; they covered it up to preserve her reputation as a national hero and also to protect FDR's and the fiction that Japan had no reason to attack us at Pearl Harbor. Amelia truly was a casualty of war if obliquely.
When I saw one of her airplanes and other aviator period airplanes at the Smithsonian air and space museum, I was shocked to see how much of the construction was canvas to keep the craft light. The use of aluminum must have been cutting edge and expensive.
I learned to fly in 1965. The aeroplane in which I took instruction, soloed and did my flying examination was a high-wing, 2-seat, Piper Colt. They were produced between 1961 and 1963. The plane's airframe was constructed using metal and covered with fabric, except for the area around the engine. That was aluminum sheet. Some modern sports and utility aeroplanes are still built using fabric, but cotton and linen has been replaced by synthetic types. Fabric is used extensively in some cases; in others it is restricted to control surfaces. Fabric is light and allows easy access for repairs. Fabric-covered metal tubing and other metal structures is still being used to build modern aeroplanes and is by no means considered retrogressive.
@bbb462cid based on her own radio calls that doesn’t make sense though. She radioed one hour, thirty minutes, and out of fuel. Also why would the landing gear be sitting there after only 3 months but there rest of the plane was gone? If it fell into the sea where the wreckage? It should be right there. If the gentleman went out the island so many times why wouldn’t he just you know.. go to the wreckage? It’s a great theory, but it feels like a combination of pareidolia, a lack of evidence, and confirmation bias. The best theory I’ve seen to date involves the navigator not accounting for crossing the date line which threw off their navigation charts making them fly off course by several dozen/hundred miles.
@Bloodreign137 The inescapable fact remains that you cannnot run out of fuel AND have fuel. So let me ask you a serious question: would any experienced pilot just keep flying until the engines stopped if there was an opportunity to land before that happened, or would they try to land given the opportunity _before_ the fuel ran out. No ifs or buts or wells or therefores, just answer that question.
@iowa61yes. And read the Navy Inquiry, read other books. Ric presents a great story with nothing to back it up. All circumstantial or probably or if they. The whole on the reef scenario is purely from his imagination.
This is exactly why i have not watched television in four years. The gold like this that is available on RUclips is priceless. Pro tip.....paying to not have adds is beyond worth it.
I'm in total agreement with you. I don't watch tv. There are so many fascinating stories on u tube, once you've weeded out the nonsense. Poor Amelia and Fred, to have survived the crash/ditching then to slowly starve in desperation. One is never a survivor until rescued. .
Absolutely agree. I've only watched RUclips and no other news source or subscription service for many many years. Started paying for RUclips Red then and never looked back.
Interview any of the old hospital staff in Fiji I doubt the bones were thrown out. Places like that normally have a lot of respect for the dead. They likely were buried unmarked. 47:37
Well said. As an archaeologist, i can tell you that humans remains are never "just" discarded. They will either be kept for continuous research, or will be placed in a box and re-buried.
Well there would only be one location to search. I believe the only actual hospital in Fiji at that time was in Suva. The second largest city (town), Lautoka, didn't have a full hospital until the 1980s, as I understand. There was just a maternity unit prior to that. The hospital back then was most likely staffed by the English.
Excellent interviewing technique. The guest has all the space to communicate here. I see less of this style these days, with interviewers talking over and interjecting. Great guest too. Arrived here by accident, stayed for the info.
He's a good story teller... but she's an excellent interviewer. I swear every time i thought of what id want to ask... she asked it. And she listened without interruption! Excellent work😊
This is completely bullshit! Earhart and noonan went down in the marshals and were picked up by the Japanese and eventually were taken to Saipan. Read Fred groeners search for Amilia Earheat or Mike Campbell excellent research on the subject
@Number4lead what I mean specifically is spreading on RUclips and getting more views/eyes on the matter. Yes it’s been around for at least that long but not very many people know about TIGHAR
Excellent video! Could the large piece of aluminum mentioned have been used to signal passing ships or planes by reflecting sunlight toward such passing crafts?
That photo Rick Gillespie said is a tree washed up and not the plane is interesting. When that photo was first published I did a search on google earth and found it. Then I did a history search and went back in time as far as I could and it was still there so that object has been there for years but here's the thing, every year it appears and disappears due to tidal movement of sand but it also matches exactly to the same length as the planes fuselage so it would be easy to miss if it was covered by sand periodically. Just a theory, nothing more.
I swear it feels like it should be really damn easy to go see what it is, even if it is buried in sand, unless we are talking about it being buried in 10+ feet of sand or something like that I'm not considering
Ok I hope i've got this right. Go to google earth and copy this GPS coordinate 4°40'06"S 174°31'41"W It looks like a log but use the measurement tool. Fuselage length was 11.76m. What I have found really interesting is I have just done another historical search and it would appear the images I saw have been "doctored". When I initially did the search a while ago the images were clear and easily identifiable.Read into that what you will.
Thank you so much for this series. I was always fascinated by flying as a child, because my great-uncle was the famous Wiley Post. It so great to know that there as still such dedicated researchers out there, like Mr. Gillespie and TIGHAR, and dedicated scientists like you, Dr. Bhat!
Good question. If I recall correctly, the discussion on TIGHAR's forum centered on the difficulty of actually digging a grave, and the difficulty Amelia might've had removing him from the aircraft. But it's been a long time since that forum was available, and I might not be remembering properly.
@Stranglewood he mentioned the possibility of Noonan going down in the rising tide with the plane because Amelia wouldn’t have the strength to lift him out
Gripping interview. Love Ric's determination, focus, care for and knowledge about the subject of his story, his narrative telling and analytical skills, and what he says at the end about the truth is SO important. Excellent interviewing also, letting Ric speak uninterrupted but then asking the right questions at the right time.
These explorers spend years building up donated money to afford to go out to this island for a week.. The flight, equipment, ship and other stuff costs tens of thousands of dollars per person for the expeditions.. I would love to go to this island with my ham radio gear and spend a week or two during the anniversary of the crash making contacts around the world and combing the area with metal detectors especially in the tidal churn zone off the edge of the reef using towed metal detecting equipment and or a submersible drone.. Well out of my budget though, but I will keep wishing for a lottery win..
It's hard to imagine Earhart and Noonan surviving long enough to make repeated radio calls and find food and yet not using debris to spell out SOS on the beach or carving their names on the trees.
Remember, they went to great effort discarding "dead weight": I don't think they brought a hatchet with them; surprised that they may actually have brought a knife with them! Also, I doubt Noonan was of any help...quite likely a hindrance... And check weather logs for storms in the region, that could easily obliterate anything laid out on the beach of such a flat atoll, unless you had a hatchet to cut done palm trees (see above!)
My grandfather was on the battleship that looked for Amelia Earhart. He said that was his first task once joining the Navy. He was also at Perl Harbor when the Japanese bombed it.
ONCE YOU GET OFF, THE CORAL REEF THE OCEAN DROPS 1000 FT. NOW YOUR LOOKING FOR TWO ENGINES THE SIZE OF A PUSH MOWER. IN BOTTOM SILT OF THE OCEAN OVER 1000 FT DOWN. I CAN'T HOLD MY BREATH THAT LONG, CAN YOU ?
My grandfather served aboard the Colorado ( BB45), the ship that the Kingfishers that flew over Gardener and noted the signs of recent habitation launched from. I still have a block of the teakwood deck he acquired during its scrapping after the war. I also had the pleasure of meeting with one of the “99s” when she was in hospital with cancer. We sat and went through her scrapbooks together and she related a few memories of Amelia that she could still recall. It’s been one of the mysteries I’ve followed for most of my life. It would be a wonderful thing if I could know what really happened before I too slip this mortal coil.
I too have an endless need to know about what really happened to her. I want to know everything about her and her life. It keeps me up at night not having closure whenever I think of her.
Well, that is an interview! Riveting, engaging, insightful, and very well presented in such a way that allowed the evidence to be told. Thank you for sharing. Simon of Suffolk (England)
52:00 even if it was shredded by the reef, aluminum can last centuries in salt water without breaking down. With sensitive enough equipment, if the plane was in fact there, someone will eventually find something
It’s about every 5 minutes. Ridiculously annoying. On political/current event related conspiracy videos there’s not much for ads but anything more regular they’re crazy, especially with in video sponsorships
If we dont have the bones that were lost in Figi, you cant compare DNA from her belongings in U.S. how can you be sure the the bones were actually hers?
Someone or entity did not want them found. Her last transmission was clear about her course. They wanted to hide what she saw, not unlike Admiral Byrd, and or they did not want an accomplished woman to get more limelight.
41:05 I find it kinda hard to believe the British had no idea Noonan was with her with all the media coverage and the storm her disappearance triggered. By 1940 they would have to of almost assuredly heard there was another person onboard and that person was Fred Noonan.
I agree. I find this theory intriguing, and parts of it certainly seem credible, but some gaps seem to be filled in with generalizations or assumptions. The radio calls are most intriguing. From the little reading I’ve done since watching this video, it seems like Gallagher had a tendency to bend the truth… doesn’t help at all lol
We can't judge decades old circumstances by what we are accustomed to in 2026 as far as information dissemination. While 1940 may seem "modern," there still were huge gaps in communication and news. For example, just a year later, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in spite of having intelligence that it would happen. Communication break downs.
What do you think happened? Did Amelia crash land on Gardner Island or are we sticking with the story that she crashed into the ocean? NEED MORE? Head over to our weekly newsletter to watch the FULL 2 hours 35 minutes uncut version of our conversation with Ric Gillespie: open.substack.com/pub/tilscience/p/amelia-earhart-didnt-crash-she-survived?r=2mhiea&showWelcomeOnShare=true
Doc Harini Bhat need more long videos like this 🇬🇧🇧🇩🥰🥰🥰🥰
I believe the crash landing on Gardner theory
The part where it was "blown out" from the inside.... water... the surf battered it to pieces...
The ocean crash theorists still don't have anything to show for it. I've been following TIGHAR for two decades now and it's pretty clear to me who has actual evidence and who has not.
@TTFerdinand Ric has no solid evidence.
I just want to say thank you for not interrupting him. I see too many interviews where the interviewers just don't listen and don't let people tell their story. You're a great interviewer and it's a pleasure to watch ❤
I thought the same thing!
Ditto here
Yes!
Yes I know the jerkoffs that interrupt constantly during an interview are exasperating
This made my day, thank you!
That actually makes me sick that she tried so hard to be found and it failed. The fear and desperation she must have felt.
It also makes me sad that she discarded some of her radio gear to save weight.
Here to say this😭
She was a strong independent waman she dont need no transmission antenna.
Crab food.
She is my distant cousin.
They searched for Amelia Earhart like a 14 year old boy cleans his room.
They kicked a bunch of stiff crunchy sport socks and empty cans of Red Bull under the bed while searching for Amelia Earhart?
@jaymiller6009they didn’t try at all, but talked a bunch of shit.
wrong, at the time it was the biggest search ever done, by sea and air.
14 year-olds clean their room?
Or, the three stooges!
Thank you for producing this interview. My mother will be 96 in a few weeks. She was seven when Amelia went missing, and clearly remembers the news of the search for her. She and I were mesmerized by a series of interviews given by Fred Goerner author of The Search for Amelia Earhart that was broadcast in the early 1960's on KXL radio, Portland, Oregon. Mother read everything she could find on the investigation of Amelia's disappearance. I called mom tonight and sent her your RUclips link. She was so excited to close this enduring 89 year-old mystery! Thank you.
Happy birthday to your mom! How wonderful you got to share this video with her!
My mom who would be 105 years old would have loved this discovery. She always praised Amelia and wanted so much to be a pilot someday. Her dreams vanished when her baby brother was killed in a fighter jet during world War II.
Fantastic.
There's another documentary that SOLVED the mystery, found parts of her plane. She landed it on the beach but Japs saw and took her and the plane into custody. It was an island with an atoll. There are eyewitnesses who saw her on that island. This guy is accurate about pieces of the Lockheed Electra (her plane) being found on an island. yes, she was able to start the plane engine use the radio for a few days after the beach landing. but not able to have intelligible radio conversations. Then the Japs got the plane and loaded it onto a barge and took it away and her into custody. I'll try to find a link to the documentary to post her.
If you're ever feeling unseen or underappreciated, just remember...
There was a guy on that plane with Amelia Earhart.
Not only that, but Fred Noonan was one of the best and most experienced navigators of his time. He was hired by Pan American to pioneer oversees flights in flying boats to Asia - such as the China Clipper - and invented navigational techniques that were still in use well into the 1980s. He was the real deal.
So, Amelia was flying a small plane the Lockhead Electra, which do not land in water and there was flying boats she could have been using?
@emilromanoagramonte9190 Flying boats by their nature do not have the range needed for Earhart's flight. The reason flying boats were used for civil aviation in the far East is because ports were much more common than airstrips.
😂😂😂 nailed it!
😂😂😂
I am a retired Detective. Watching you do the interview is the way it is supposed to be done. Let them talk. People love to talk. Silence makes them talk even more. I cleared a lot of major cases this way. The hardest part was to train new recruits to shut up and let people talk and ask open ended questions. In my case, we had all the time in the world to illicit the information we needed. Slowly bring the questions into a tighter circle to get the commitment. Worked every time!
It was, indeed, a very well-done interview. I enjoyed hearing the gentleman discuss his work on the case. I think he's wrong in his conclusion, but it was a very interesting discussion all the same.
Yeah you make them feel comfortable to talk to ya, then they talk their way into a corner :D
Wow are you confused. Letting people idly talk generates conspiracy theories. Like here. This "she landed on an island" theory was debunked 6 years ago. Millions was spent looking for her plane off this island and Ballard (Titanic; Bismark) found squat
This man with this video will be a time capsule for decades to come. I appreciate the interviewer for not interrupting and allowing him to talk. A good video with editing.
“I met with three guys that don’t have last names” is a very cool way to keep anonymity
were they all wearing black suits and had green skin and giant black eyes?
@mtlicqof all the conspiracies that I believe, I don’t think this one had anything to do with that.
@AllWillBeWell143 I was just playing
@mtlicqI wonder personally what did cause her death. I mean, through evidence found in releases files it’s clear through signs that she landed on an island with her navigator (I forget his actual title) and survived At least a few weeks. Was it starvation? Eaten by an animal? Could be any number of things honestly
@AllWillBeWell143 You probably guessed it already, actually a combination of factors: insufficient nutrient intake including lack of fresh water, probably the biggest factor, Extra factors, maybe her source of food the turtle became rotten after several days in the heat and in desperation she kept eating it and belly infections happened, insufficient calorie intake, loss of energy to catch new foods, and with less energy, those relentless strawberry-colour crabs started eating at her. It sucks the search didn't bother to go on any island to check, but spent a couple months skimming the ocean as if they'd survive landing in the ocean.
This feels a lot like if I had a dad or a grandpa who was cool and shared stories with me.
Love this description and agree. My parents were both older when they had kids (my dad was 51 when I was born and I’m the older of two) so I only met one grandparent and that’s because she lived to be 100. My dad passed back in September and it was an ugly descent into dementia but he was a history and education major and a teacher who loved to talk about all the historical scandals and stuff you don’t learn in school.
Maybe not as cool as this guy’s stories but seeing an older person (really, any person but so often aging makes people more invisible and lonely) get to talk about what they’re passionate about is always a joy to experience. Brings people to life in a special way. That’s how this guy reminds me of some of my best memories of my dad. He would’ve loved watching this video too. 😊
It was exactly like that in the best way
@tilscience Robert Breaker - Gino Jennings - Stephen Darby Ministries
on spiritual bread: Matthew and Luke 4:4 KJV
Hah, I just sent this link to my Grand daughter in Rhode Island. She has been intrigued with Earhart since she was very young
@MathumaTao She's lucky to have a grandparent who listened to her and knows that about her.
Pretty depressing that there were only 3 other possible islands to search on the line called out and Gardner Island was given only a cursory search at high tide. They should have landed and spent a day on each island.
I cant believe they didnt put boots on the ground to look for her.
Properly insane, I wonder how long she was surviving there for?
Never send the Navy to look for me!
@johnfontenot7861 Careful what you wish for. Been there AND done that.
@croft4746 If the information provided about the turtle in the video is accurate, we can assume at least 3 months. I can't imagine she'd have survived too much longer, though, given the conditions. It's not much of a stretch to assume she'd have been long dead by the time the skull was found, but based off of the bones of dead animals nearby and the position of the human bones that were found, my guess would be the turtle was her last meal - since only one turtle and, unless Ric misspoke, only one bird were found close by so she wasn't keeping bodies of animals near her - and protein poisoning took over, leaving her in a delirious state, lying on the beach. And, as Ric said, I very much hope the strawberry crabs didn't come along until after the likely kidney failure did her the favour of putting her out of that specific misery.
I think Betty's note book convinced me .
Betty's note was nothing of a distress call. No radio call sign recorded. No distress message recorded. Nothing to the effect of ..... "calling any station this is KAHQQ, we are stranded on an island...." She has some notes about going to a closet and getting a suitcase, etc....The only similarity with Earhart disappearance and betty's notes is that it was a woman's voice.
Eh, nah. I'm way more convinced by the modern bone analysis, bearings, 1937 photo and woman's shoe.
@regulargoat7259. The modern bone analysis was done by looking at written notes. I’m going with the original first person examination of the bones. To wit, a middle aged Polynesian man.
Nina Paxton’s statement as to what she overheard is far more interesting as she gives a specific location stated by Earhart: the Mulgrave Islands, the Western name for Mili and Knox Atolls in the Marshall Islands, then mandated to Japan.
TIGHAR have spun the notebook on the basis that Betty supposedly hears something like New York City, which they claim was her mishearing Norwich City, the name of a British freighter wrecked on Gardner Island in 1929. And that’s their basis for claiming she landed at Gardner Island. It’s tenuous to say the least.
@toucheturtle2707 what a nonsense comment
this guy is so passionate about the search. I honestly hope we find some indisputable, confirming evidence one day while he's alive.
I don't know, I think he's got the whole story pretty well pegged-down! I don't think there's a stone he left unturned!
I was very surprised to not hear anything about DNA. If they likely have some of Amelia's bones is there not a surviving relative out there somewhere?
I watch enough cold case shows to know nobody ever thoroughly checks stuff out in missing persons cases.
I suppose the missing persons cases where they do check things, they find them.
And when it's an impotent local sheriff....⚰️
I think the common mistake is alot of high profile cases get big search groups and everyone sees a hole and thinks "which such a big group someone must have already looked in that hole." And they walk past.
With a smaller search group they won't miss things like that. They won't be able to search as much as fast but they can focus on the most likely places without skipping them on accident.
You've watched enough cold cases? 😂 well, you're obviously an expert. 😂😂
@mcfail3450that's just not how it works at all. Dunning Krueger effect.
Really appreciate you allowing your guest to speak without constant interrupting!!!
You're an awesome and RARE host in this capacity
Don’t ever watch Alex Jones!!! His “interviews” are pretty cringe!!! Unwatchable!
And this guy stammers and speaks so AGONIZINGLY SLOW the temptation to just interrupt must be hard to resist.
Question everything dumb dumb
this guy is a gem he wrote a book and didn’t even mention it until 1:07:45
well, the whole video really is a promo for his book.
He did her dirty with the picture he picked for the cover 😂
Why didn't anyone land and explore?
In 2019, Robert Ballard (the explorer who found Titanic and Bismarck) led a deep‑ocean search around Nikumaroro, one of the strongest alternative-theory sites for Earhart’s disappearance.
His team scanned the reef slope, deep water, and lagoon approaches using ROVs and sonar.
Result: No aircraft debris was found.
This woman "investigator" is a complete fraud.
Meanwhile, a National Geographic land team searched the island surface for artifacts.
Result: They also found no confirmed aircraft parts or personal items attributable to Earhart or Noonan.
This interview should be shown in journalism school. No interrupting, no op eds by the interviewer, just asking a question and allowing the interviewee to give the full answer, regardless of where it goes.
Journalism still exists on the Internet.
Yea this girl is good shes legit first time seeing her but yea shes good at this
This was not journalism. This was letting this man tell his story. She do not ask questions on his nonsense theories. Running engines that was out of fuel? How does bones that are identified as male(pelvis bone identifies male or female) all the sudden become female based on no proof. No questions on his belief that the searching vessel didn’t know the navigator was there when it’s been widely covered and they did know he was on the aircraft. No questions about how he believed the ship with 3 float planes only searched for 20 minutes when it’s widely known they searched in those areas for decades now and no legit proof of her plane or her at that island.
@Rooftroop Whatever it was, it was a 100 times more enjoyable than any interview from a Major news Studio has produced.
@HardRockMaster7577 agreed. But it’s not journalism.
As for that piece of aluminium, as soon as I saw it, I thought someone had moulded that to catch rain water.
It may have been planned for use as a mirror reflector to signal search planes. A mirror is standard survival supply in Lifeboats and Liferafts
@benwilson6145 Double use...
@benwilson6145 planes flying over the ocean basically didn't really exist much in 1937
That piece of aluminum is from a WW2 era airplane that crashed on another island and was brought to Nikumaroro. This was established years ago and Ric Gillespie just won't give up claiming its from Amelia's plane. See:
gardnerghost.blogspot.com/2020/01/is-2-2-v-1-part-of-sydney-island-wreck.html
istigharartifact2-2-v-1apieceofac-47wing.yolasite.com/
@mtlicq that’s right. But they existed quite a bit during WWII. Thousands of aircraft use that same material. High probability it was deposited there in WWII. Then TIGHAR found it decades later.
Understand just how brutal that island environment truly is without our modern conveniences - or food and fresh water.
I’ve read about the very large crabs on these Islands and the theory that anyone injured and dehydrated could be eaten .
@ralphfisher-d5j If you're deceased, yes. Natures critters will get at you everywhere. On this island various crabs, rats, flies, birds and insects, will gnaw you down to the bones and scatter them within a weeks time. Hey, they gotta eat too!
The "easy" part for that around the world trip was over. She knew the risks. She knew the gamble of not flying with more food and provisions...
She was never on that island. She was never even on the plane.
She is in area 51. In a cryogenic chamber next to Epstein, Hitler, Elvis, Jackson and Queen Elizabeth.
All waiting for the day they rise again and lead the world to a far better place.
@Sam-lq2jhShe gave birth to Princess Diana.
Can we just appreciate how insanely impressive this man's attention to and memory for details is? Fascinating man.
Impeccable 👌🏽
Take note RUclipsRS would be journalists. THIS is how you conduct an interview !!! Mwaaa!
Exactly!! I can't stand it when these "so called journalists" can't manage to keep their mouths shut while the interview is being conducted🙄. This young woman knows how to do this the right way!
@ashleybonanno3043 With all due respect this man is providing evidence (whether you agree with his conclusions or not) and not spouting conspiracy theories and flat earth nonsense, and that is why a good journalist would allow him to continue talking without interruption.
I don't see anything in these posts that indicate any knowledge of actual journalism, which is a real skill that is studied, learned and honed. And a real journalist WILL interrupt someone who is spouting nonsense. The real problem with journalism is that producers continue to schedule guests who have nothing of value to say, are spouting nonsense and conspiracy theory. At that pont any good journalist WILL interrupt and ask questions to try to get the guest to provide EVIDENCE instead of spouting nonsensical rhetoric and hyperbole.
With zero pushback Yeah?? I love my own echo chambers 😂😂😂
@bees5461😂 journalism is a real skill huh? You can't even call the main stream mouth pieces journalists. They're all hacks that spread the lies/misinformation/ propaganda that their handlers tell them to. And your take on interrupting if the guest talks about "conspiracy theories " - who's to decide what's a theory? 95% of what these propaganda hacks label as such turn out to be true. So a true journalist would seek the truth instead of being a puppet spreading propaganda and creating division.
This is a heavily edited interview. Cutting to eachothers faces from multiple camera angles to hide and cut and build a narrative whether good, bad, false, or true.
The lady conducting the interview did a fantastic job of just letting this guy explain what he knows. This video should be shown in schools. Well done.
Kids couldn't keep their attention that long.
He literally knows nothing. He’s a charlatan.
@j.heilig7239 knows more than you do, my guy
@j.heilig7239how do you come to that conclusion?
His story is detailed & consistent
He has dozens of detailed documents.
Are you trolling?
@j.heilig7239😂
What is lovely is seeing the beautiful penmanship in the old notebook.
IKR?
Becoming a lost art.
@tedecker3792 it's an all but lost art already. I had the luck of growing up in a drafting shop doing lettering on the original house drawings then had some instruction in calligraphy by a sweet old lady that had been part of the Egyptian underground during WW1 and 2 so many describe my penmanship as elvish lol...barely anyone can read my notes
@pointman2021India ink in pinch type drawing instruments.
Years ago we were exploring an old abandoned house and I found a ledger from a general store from the 1860's. The ink used was dark brown in color, of course I have no clue what type of pen was used. But, the writing in that ledger was the most beautiful handwriting I've ever seen. I've never seen anything like it.. so elegant and flowing. I noticed when the year changed from 1860 to 1861, the writer made the same mistake we do today, writing down the wrong year. They would write 1860 and scratch out the zero and write a 1 over it. That store's accounting was all in that ledger and it was so interesting to read the entries.
The lesson here is NO ONE cares about your life as much as you do, even for someone famous like her. They did a half hearted half assed bone headed search, ignored evidence and then quit. No one is coming to save you, plan and act accordingly.
Being an Australian, we were taught at school about Amelia Earhart now I’m 63 and I’m just hearing of this. I’m absolutely devastated for this woman. Rest in peace Amelia🥀
Did they mention Fred Noonan? He surely should be remembered too?
@LawrenceHedgeExactly
@LawrenceHedgelike most things, the names known are whomever is heading it. (See: Almost every single expedition of exploration being just named after the “main” dude, while dozens or hundreds of men die to get them there.)
Methinks the salt is, man
Imagine sending an entire warship out there, doing a 20 minute flyover and then leaving without even landing a party on the shore that most certainly would have found her ready to come home.
If she only had had a small hand mirror in her pocket to signal the search planes with light flashes. 😥
This seems really stupid of our navy to go 2,000 miles and NEVER land a plane to send out a search party ?????????? Makes NO sense!
I've always said that since the beginning of me learning of this story
@annieg9199college age guys pissed because they had to go to work on the 4th of July instead of partying in Hawaii is why. They didn't care
@tshaika9165she did had a mirror. They found it. It was broken but she had one.
So they found her, several times, they just didn't realize it?
simplest explanation is usually the truth , a series of bungling idiots have caused mysteries to form since forever
A finding implies a realization. Otherwise it's not a finding.
You probably mean they crossed paths without realization
No?
This is how all search and rescue works.
There is now a professional company who charges $1M to find people who have insurance, or ability to pay. They use a helicopter with FLIR, all sorts of radio receivers. SPOT and Cell data. Etc. This is the only way to have a reasonable chance. Do not leave it to the CAP or Guard.
I think someone did not want her to be found.
Betty's disregarded note book... how sad. The fact that her father seems to have believed her, went to the government, and there got fed the line, "We know about it, and we are working on it." Really?
How many countless closed doors, lost opportunities, because nobody would take the time to notice, to listen. I have my own saga spanning the past 31 years.... that also is another story, not Amelia Earhart.
Excellent interview between the two of you. Thank you so much. 👍 I will share this to my Facebook audience.
I wish my dad was still alive to watch this with me. He would have loved this! Well done to both of you xo
I’ve followed this basically my whole life. Back when things like this were only in books and unsolved mysteries episodes with my grandma. Good to see some closure coming.
Until they find hard evidence, there's no closure.
Bones, a Lockheed Electra's landing gear, metal and glass parts for a makeup tin from the 1930s, a campsite and remains of crabs indicating human consumption, and post-loss transmissions independently documented by multiple sources - that's all pretty "hard" evidence. I think what you mean is "proof". Until we have that, TIGHAR's theory remains the most strongly evidenced, and hence most likely, theory. "Closure" at that point is a subjective response.
@StranglewoodAs Candace Owens would say. You know but you dont know know. 😅
There will never be closure on this. No doubt it was some kind of government op with the understanding it would possibly be a one way ticket.
@Stranglewood these people clearly didn’t watch this podcast.
Your are great interviewer.....no interrupting just to be a part. You listen well & allow person to spin narrative. Great job ....you are number 1🎉❤
Thank you for posting this.. Very sad that rescuers were so close, this is the most definitive research on a very high certainty, about what really happened. Thank you to Mr. Gillespie & the Team for being as thorough as possible.
It's frustrating how most experts stick to the "crashed at sea" theory and dismiss Ric Gillespie's findings, despite him dedicating more time to this case than anyone else and actually recovering physical evidence that likely belonged to Amelia.
I agree and I truly hope that Amelia Fred and the plane are found in his lifetime.
I don't know... I think Gillespie is simply trying to amass as much wealthy donor money as he can to make yet another pointless trip to the island. Joe Lodriges' YT vid on this subject is much more compelling where he points out that Earhart only had 11 gallons of fuel left on her last call to the Itasca. No way she had enough fuel to make it to Niku. The Electra is in the deep water 40 miles east of Howland.
Does it matter though? People go missing pretty frequently.
Orbital category (Orbital Index):
Orbital Index = (33.5 ÷ 38.5) × 100 ≈ 87.0 → Mesoseme (moderate/European-typical orbital shape).
Cephalic Index (overall skull shape):
Cephalic Index = (137 ÷ 187) × 100 ≈ 73.3 → Dolichocephalic (long-headed; common within European variation).
Orbital-to-cranium proportional ratios:
Orbit width / skull breadth = 38.5 ÷ 137 ≈ 0.281
Orbit height / skull length = 33.5 ÷ 187 ≈ 0.179
These ratios indicate orbits that are relatively large for the overall cranial dimensions, which tends to be more consistent with a EUROPEAN FEMALE cranial pattern rather than a large robust male pattern.
Its like doctors when patients trying to tell them what they feel
I didn't think I'd stick around for the whole video, I'm halfway done and want to know how it wraps up! Great technical filmmaking at its finest! Sound quality is good, interview was a flowing conversation with minimal edits, thankfully not warshed out with music or unnecessary narration! This is the stuff I like to see on the youtube.
Yes! Real people, real convo
Precious and few. Beautiful.
Therr is an uncut version as well
Amelia Earheart wasnt appreciated by the male establishment of her day No one wanted to find her
Poor Fred Noonan. Barely anyone remembers him. And I agree with SS Norwich City vs Earhart's plane. They will never find it anymore if the corals & water can wreck a big ship like that.
A big ship like what? No ship. It was an airplane
@griffini19
Ship as in Norwich City not plane
If you watch old old news, he’s talkies about then
I did not know a man was on that plane with Amelia Earhart. We were not taught that in school.
lol other than basic math and English school doesn’t teach any life skills needed.😁
His name was Fred Noonan, he was a Professional Aircraft Navigator and Steam Ship Officer.
Seriously?
Could it be you simply weren't paying attention?
Haja. School taught you what?
It was always taught at school that it was a solo flight,
Thank you for your coverage of Ric Gillespie. I have bought his two books on the subject and he backs up his theory with a mountain of knowledge. He has "the dirt under his fingernails" when it comes to the Earhart tragedy. I'm a new subscriber!
His research is incredibly thorough. Hats off to him and the entire team at TIGHAR
@tilscience Nope. There a huge gaps in his research. Do you realize that a vast amount of data is archived at Purdue or in the Navy Inquiry after her disappearance. Ric presents almost none of it. When confronted by it , he casts doubt that it’s unreliable or they got it wrong. Watch how many times he says “if” or “maybe “. A lot of what he says is purely his imagination.
@raoulcruz4404anybody who knows anything about practical ramifications of short wave transmissions should have no doubt mr. Gillespie is full of crap. Betty Paige receiving in US the signal sent from 15W aircraft radio with no meaningful antenna and zero elevation is as likely as hearing human voice from neighboring city. Virtually zero chance. And TIGHAR data tables admit as much if you look at their numbers
BIGGEST PILE OF HORSE HIT I EVER STEPED IN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It's so nice to see Rick express in his own words all the work that has gone into the castaways theory. It remains the _only_ explanation of Amelia's disappearance offering any objective, verifiable evidence. Rick has a sharp mind and is a real gentleman.
LTM
His memory is impeccable!! I was in awe
There is an even more likely explanation, and that is she crashed into the sea.
I am surprised you did not think of it.
@Tugela60 In the absence of objective evidence on Gardner/Nikumaroro, the "crashed and sank" theory would have been the most likely. In the presence of it, however, it is all but ruled out.
@StranglewoodIf the plane crashed there it would still be there. It is not.
@Tugela60 It's a longish video so I can't be too surprised that you apparently didn't watch it. in the video Rick makes it clear that the plane was lifted by the tide and floated off the reef, and then sank. The reef there is sharp coral which breaks on an edge for many hundreds of feet. It's entirely plausible that the plane was shredded between tidal action and the coral. Or that it drifted potentially miles both horizontally and vertically.
I have a group photo with my father and Amelia Earhart in the photograph. He was a photographer for the Kansas City Star.
Rare pull !!
I had no idea that Amelia Earhart was a photographer.
That could have been used to do the height estimation if there was a record of his height.
@jaymiller6009 Clearly you did not read what I wrote.
oh man, you need to share that some how
He could also have had salt poisoning.
Terribly botched search operation by Navy and Coast Guard.
*I'm not sure how or why that this video showed up in my feed, but that was a GREAT interview!! Well worth watching!!*
If you’re into watching charlatans spouting nonsense.
@j.heilig7239*It was a great interview in my opinion. No one said that you have to like it. That's the amazing thing about RUclips, you can choose NOT to watch it. Your opinion doesn't matter to me!!*
@FirewaterByDesign and I really couldn’t care less what you think about anything. If you choose to believe bullshit spewed by a bullshitter first class, go for it.
@j.heilig7239*Apparently, you did care because YOU made it a point to comment on my comment. I'm guessing that you are also probably fully covid vaccinated 💉 too!!*
@j.heilig7239let’s hear your investigative information and how you dedicated years to researching data on this. Do you have some info that we should be looking at or you just like to hold to the first narrative that comes out? No need to reply, this is completely rhetorical. We know you don’t have anything, including an independent thought. 😊
Great interview
I really enjoyed this conversation
You have put in the hard work and effort for this case. Well done.
I have an M.A. in history and B.A. Anthropology... I know how much work you did for this... impressive
You should consider blocking the crazies... just saying
Sharif don't like it
blocking the crazies, block the crazies
Sharif don't like it
blocking the crazies, block the crazies
Until the crazies are right once again
They should search the island for further bones since they didn’t find the complete skeleton.
This is so extremely in depth, specific, informative, yet comfortable. I never became bored. I stayed intrigued the entire time. I want 100 more videos exactly like this about other shocking/ interesting/ scary/ historical events!!!! Please&thxxx
I find the thought of being eaten alive by strawberry hermit crabs very uncomfortable.
This video is a national treasure. And I’m super thankful for an interviewer that knows when to ask a good question but also when to stay quiet and let a knowledgable person make their case. Great job!
I started researching on Amelia Earhart when I was about 9-10 years old but just listening to someone who’s spent decades trying to uncover the truth is absolutely fascinating! 🎉
What do you think of this interview? It seems quite believable to me...
ANOTHER MYSTERY LIKE THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE WE WILL NEVER KNOW ABOUT .
Same. I discovered a book about her in my classroom when I was in the 3rd or 4th grade. I've been fascinated ever since.
@stevengill1736 My opinion is we may find the male body buried on the island or maybe the plane , but I have no idea how degrade the evidence will be now.
Think this the best theory, but I get locked in easily into narratives on this kind of mysteries .
Also I missed map locations where the items where found. Think people will find very little from now on .
Maybe someone will spend millions mapping the seafloor there for a documentary .
@CharleneAnderson-b9d8z Bermuda triangle was because of high amounts of magnetic metal within that triangle causing gauges and equipment to go haywire and crash trying to reach land (from what I've heard)
I can understand the plane may be in bits but the engines? Possible they are heavy and would stand a chance to be findable?
In search efforts, so sad how often authorities say “they can’t possibly be there” and move on.
To me, that's the saddest part of it all. AE survived her worst mistakes and heroically survived, only to never be found.
Roanoke being another good example of such. "They left a note saying exactly where they were going? Nah, it's a mystery!"
Authorities don't care about the people and her entire story to me says she was a government spy that went down and her entire story is a cover up. They basically let her die on an island and wiped their hands of it and said this problem solved itself.
I watch a lot of "missing hiker" content, and I've noticed how often when someone (or their body) is finally found they are OUTSIDE of the search area because they "couldn't have gotten that far"
@kelmil6147 Gotta love a nutty conspiracy theory!
Death is not a failure. She failed at being found. People failed at rescuing her. 😢
They failed her for a reason as I have stated in these comments
"Them", there were two people that didn't get rescued. The other one was an inconsequential man.
@normcrow7981They were afraid for her to report what she learned. Not unlike Admiral Byrd.
She was not meant to be found,,,,take note
I don't see why she couldn't have lived there for at least 30 or 40 years. There's food, water and I'm sure wood to build a shelter with.
I don't think "they" wanted her to survive.
Wow what a captivating interview. Such kudos to Ric & TIGHAR team for their tireless efforts in getting to the truth.
How is it possible, no one has found a single piece of her plane on an island so small?
That bit about the strawberry hermit crabs is wild.
right?? there's something so special about a frightening/potentially harmful animal that is just adorable
@o0ol1li1ie3e Adorable? Would be interesting to see you and your life actually threatened by that "adorable" animal and to see your actual reaction when trapped with that voracious animal and his companions in a tiny island and you with no food or water.
@philalcoceli6328 ... that was literally the entire point of my comment, out of context they look adorable but knowing they are potentially deadly makes that adorable-ness different. like how a bear is adorable but hell no do I want to run into one in the woods
@o0ol1li1ie3e Adorable from very far away, like sharks. Thank you for your clarification.
@philalcoceli6328 exactly like sharks!
I met an older man in my barbershop, who said he was a retired Colonel and that he was on the island where they found her plane and her body that the military has known this forever. He said that the Japanese executed her as a spy. I never saw the man again and didn’t know his name, but I’ll never forget his strong, emotional attitude talking about it.
There are several weaknesses to that version, but the main one is the fact that if Japanese executed her and the US government knew about it, one of the sides would have disposed of the body or buried it, and not just left it under a tree for somebody to find.
Japan wasn't at war with anyone at the time
Wow just random man at a barber shop. Very reliable testimony 😂
To me that is the story that has the loudest ring of truth; they covered it up to preserve her reputation as a national hero and also to protect FDR's and the fiction that Japan had no reason to attack us at Pearl Harbor. Amelia truly was a casualty of war if obliquely.
@LoisoPondohvaRetaliation by the world would have been immense how they not bury the body and hit the plane to promote the idea, lost at sea
When I saw one of her airplanes and other aviator period airplanes at the Smithsonian air and space museum, I was shocked to see how much of the construction was canvas to keep the craft light. The use of aluminum must have been cutting edge and expensive.
I learned to fly in 1965. The aeroplane in which I took instruction, soloed and did my flying examination was a high-wing, 2-seat, Piper Colt. They were produced between 1961 and 1963. The plane's airframe was constructed using metal and covered with fabric, except for the area around the engine. That was aluminum sheet. Some modern sports and utility aeroplanes are still built using fabric, but cotton and linen has been replaced by synthetic types. Fabric is used extensively in some cases; in others it is restricted to control surfaces. Fabric is light and allows easy access for repairs. Fabric-covered metal tubing and other metal structures is still being used to build modern aeroplanes and is by no means considered retrogressive.
Aluminum is not a rare earth material.
If she ran out of fuel , HOW did she run the engine to charge the batterie to operate the radio ?
She didn't run out while flying. In other words, she didn't wait until out of fuel to make an emergency landing.
@bbb462cid based on her own radio calls that doesn’t make sense though. She radioed one hour, thirty minutes, and out of fuel.
Also why would the landing gear be sitting there after only 3 months but there rest of the plane was gone? If it fell into the sea where the wreckage? It should be right there.
If the gentleman went out the island so many times why wouldn’t he just you know.. go to the wreckage?
It’s a great theory, but it feels like a combination of pareidolia, a lack of evidence, and confirmation bias. The best theory I’ve seen to date involves the navigator not accounting for crossing the date line which threw off their navigation charts making them fly off course by several dozen/hundred miles.
@Bloodreign137 The inescapable fact remains that you cannnot run out of fuel AND have fuel. So let me ask you a serious question: would any experienced pilot just keep flying until the engines stopped if there was an opportunity to land before that happened, or would they try to land given the opportunity _before_ the fuel ran out. No ifs or buts or wells or therefores, just answer that question.
This man is fascinating, I could listen to him forever. I learned so much about Amelia Earnhart's flight that I never knew before.
Watching anyone with their passion is priceless.
Or... you mean you learned so much more about Amelia Earharts and Fred Noonans flight than you knew before?
Ric Gillespie certainly is very knowable on the subject.
He’s a charlatan who has been discredited for YEARS.
@thomasozahoskisr2562 LOL. Knowable?
This was fascinating! Thank you!
That’s some pretty darned good detective work, Ric! I think you found Amelia.
Really. Is that 100% certain?
Except there is no evidence of that.
@raoulcruz4404 There's no evidence of anything. They just made a video for the sake of it, and the money of course.
@raoulcruz4404Did you watch the video? Read the books? Good lord.
@iowa61yes. And read the Navy Inquiry, read other books. Ric presents a great story with nothing to back it up. All circumstantial or probably or if they.
The whole on the reef scenario is purely from his imagination.
What an incredible man and an incredible life…
Google maps shows the wreckage. 2024 imagery.
North of the SS Norwich City on the reef 🪸.
🙏🏻✌🏻
Look and share.
This is exactly why i have not watched television in four years. The gold like this that is available on RUclips is priceless. Pro tip.....paying to not have adds is beyond worth it.
🤫 😅
UBlock origin is free. NO ADS.
I'm in total agreement with you. I don't watch tv. There are so many fascinating stories on u tube, once you've weeded out the nonsense. Poor Amelia and Fred, to have survived the crash/ditching then to slowly starve in desperation. One is never a survivor until rescued.
.
Absolutely agree. I've only watched RUclips and no other news source or subscription service for many many years. Started paying for RUclips Red then and never looked back.
pro tip: don't pay yt. get a good ablocker.
Interview any of the old hospital staff in Fiji I doubt the bones were thrown out. Places like that normally have a lot of respect for the dead. They likely were buried unmarked. 47:37
Good point. Now he'll raise another few million to search grave yards in Fiji
If they were old enough to be working in a hospital around that time they would have already passed away.
Well said. As an archaeologist, i can tell you that humans remains are never "just" discarded. They will either be kept for continuous research, or will be placed in a box and re-buried.
Or incinerated!
Well there would only be one location to search. I believe the only actual hospital in Fiji at that time was in Suva. The second largest city (town), Lautoka, didn't have a full hospital until the 1980s, as I understand. There was just a maternity unit prior to that. The hospital back then was most likely staffed by the English.
This was so incredibly interesting! Thank for sharing!!!!
Great work 😊 this was a very interesting video to start my day too! Thank you for making cool videos
Enjoy!!
I feel we fell short on her rescue.
45.5 " musky is my record.😁
Google maps, north of the SS Norwich City on the reef 🪸.
The wreckage is visible.
Look and share.✌🏻🙏🏻
Excellent interviewing technique. The guest has all the space to communicate here. I see less of this style these days, with interviewers talking over and interjecting. Great guest too. Arrived here by accident, stayed for the info.
YT Algorithm... Send me more videos like this !! 🙂
Betty lived near my hometown of Hoopeston, Illinois. I never knew this.
I lived in Crescent City for a few years. Do they still have the corn festival?
@Montana_Lil yes the sweetcorn festival is usually labor day weekend.
He's a good story teller... but she's an excellent interviewer. I swear every time i thought of what id want to ask... she asked it.
And she listened without interruption!
Excellent work😊
I agree with every word you say! An excellent piece of work, this interview!!!
Calm down
@craigpardy6204 I will not 😂
But thank you for caring 🌷
This is completely bullshit! Earhart and noonan went down in the marshals and were picked up by the Japanese and eventually were taken to Saipan. Read Fred groeners search for Amilia Earheat or Mike Campbell excellent research on the subject
@MRYOUNG123451You should have placed a colon at the end of your first sentence, rather than an exclamation mark.
Is there a filter on this video? Great video, but I’m wondering why it looks like that.
I think youre just having a stroke.
@MyPronounsAreHeMan I don’t think so… thank you for being a weirdo
Glad this is getting some light shed onto it. This is the only theory I have found with documentation and physical clues to support it.
I agree. Ric knows more about that day then any other living person.
What do you mean getting light? This theory has been covered to death for the last 30 years.
@Number4lead what I mean specifically is spreading on RUclips and getting more views/eyes on the matter. Yes it’s been around for at least that long but not very many people know about TIGHAR
There is a tremendous amount of documentation at Purdue and the Navy Inquiry. Ric presents only the tidbits he can benefit from.
@raoulcruz4404 he presented the parts that he was involved with.
Excellent video! Could the large piece of aluminum mentioned have been used to signal passing ships or planes by reflecting sunlight toward such passing crafts?
That photo Rick Gillespie said is a tree washed up and not the plane is interesting. When that photo was first published I did a search on google earth and found it. Then I did a history search and went back in time as far as I could and it was still there so that object has been there for years but here's the thing, every year it appears and disappears due to tidal movement of sand but it also matches exactly to the same length as the planes fuselage so it would be easy to miss if it was covered by sand periodically. Just a theory, nothing more.
Great theory though and worth looking into !
Wish you would posted a link to location
I swear it feels like it should be really damn easy to go see what it is, even if it is buried in sand, unless we are talking about it being buried in 10+ feet of sand or something like that I'm not considering
Ok I hope i've got this right. Go to google earth and copy this GPS coordinate 4°40'06"S 174°31'41"W It looks like a log but use the measurement tool. Fuselage length was 11.76m. What I have found really interesting is I have just done another historical search and it would appear the images I saw have been "doctored". When I initially did the search a while ago the images were clear and easily identifiable.Read into that what you will.
You can't say something like that and not also mention when and where it is visible.
So Amelia just wanted to be alone for Independence Day with her side dude. 😂😂
Thank you so much for this series. I was always fascinated by flying as a child, because my great-uncle was the famous Wiley Post. It so great to know that there as still such dedicated researchers out there, like Mr. Gillespie and TIGHAR, and dedicated scientists like you, Dr. Bhat!
What a great heritage!
Gilligan's island is proof you can be lost on an island for a long time
And even get saved and taken off the island only to end up a castaway back on the same island!
Fiction is stranger than truth 😂😂😂😂
But who would make those great “coconut cream pies”? Mary Ann wasn’t there!
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Wilson!!!!
If Noonan had sepsis, and Amelia was alive for up to three months, couldn't he have maybe died and be buried? In which case he could still be there.
Good question. If I recall correctly, the discussion on TIGHAR's forum centered on the difficulty of actually digging a grave, and the difficulty Amelia might've had removing him from the aircraft. But it's been a long time since that forum was available, and I might not be remembering properly.
yea i wonder if they’ve ever brought cadaver dogs to the island
@Stranglewood he mentioned the possibility of Noonan going down in the rising tide with the plane because Amelia wouldn’t have the strength to lift him out
You need professional help
@johnscanlon2598 they did
Gripping interview. Love Ric's determination, focus, care for and knowledge about the subject of his story, his narrative telling and analytical skills, and what he says at the end about the truth is SO important. Excellent interviewing also, letting Ric speak uninterrupted but then asking the right questions at the right time.
A quick Google maps search shows the wreckage.imo.
North of the SS Norwich City on the reef 🪸.
✌🏻🙏🏻😉
Would be nice if more evidence were found and a memorial could be erected for her and Noonan. Even better the bones found and given a proper burial.
These explorers spend years building up donated money to afford to go out to this island for a week.. The flight, equipment, ship and other stuff costs tens of thousands of dollars per person for the expeditions.. I would love to go to this island with my ham radio gear and spend a week or two during the anniversary of the crash making contacts around the world and combing the area with metal detectors especially in the tidal churn zone off the edge of the reef using towed metal detecting equipment and or a submersible drone.. Well out of my budget though, but I will keep wishing for a lottery win..
It's hard to imagine Earhart and Noonan surviving long enough to make repeated radio calls and find food and yet not using debris to spell out SOS on the beach or carving their names on the trees.
It's hard to imagine judging what they could have done 😂
They could have been hurt.
Remember, they went to great effort discarding "dead weight": I don't think they brought a hatchet with them; surprised that they may actually have brought a knife with them!
Also, I doubt Noonan was of any help...quite likely a hindrance...
And check weather logs for storms in the region, that could easily obliterate anything laid out on the beach of such a flat atoll, unless you had a hatchet to cut done palm trees (see above!)
They should have carried a mirror to signal search planes...
Next you will say she should have had a basketball called "Wilson"
My grandfather was on the battleship that looked for Amelia Earhart. He said that was his first task once joining the Navy. He was also at Perl Harbor when the Japanese bombed it.
Did he say anything about the search mission?
I bet it was more than a 20 minute search.
Where are the aircraft parts,sound like a big lie!!!!!
excellent interview and subject.
the engines still have to be there somewhere
Buried under rock and sand
@hankleigh9356 Likely at the bottom of the ocean.
ONCE YOU GET OFF, THE CORAL REEF THE OCEAN DROPS 1000 FT. NOW YOUR LOOKING FOR TWO ENGINES THE SIZE OF A PUSH MOWER. IN BOTTOM SILT OF THE OCEAN OVER 1000 FT DOWN. I CAN'T HOLD MY BREATH THAT LONG, CAN YOU ?
To add to the others, there are microbes that eat metal turning it into scrap
@gdragonlord749 Titannic.
My grandfather served aboard the Colorado ( BB45), the ship that the Kingfishers that flew over Gardener and noted the signs of recent habitation launched from. I still have a block of the teakwood deck he acquired during its scrapping after the war.
I also had the pleasure of meeting with one of the “99s” when she was in hospital with cancer. We sat and went through her scrapbooks together and she related a few memories of Amelia that she could still recall.
It’s been one of the mysteries I’ve followed for most of my life. It would be a wonderful thing if I could know what really happened before I too slip this mortal coil.
I too have an endless need to know about what really happened to her. I want to know everything about her and her life. It keeps me up at night not having closure whenever I think of her.
Well, that is an interview! Riveting, engaging, insightful, and very well presented in such a way that allowed the evidence to be told. Thank you for sharing. Simon of Suffolk (England)
I would have had no idea about Fred Noonan, if not for star trek voyager
Elaborate. I'm genuinely curious how Star Trek told you about Noonan.
I remember that episode.
52:00 even if it was shredded by the reef, aluminum can last centuries in salt water without breaking down. With sensitive enough equipment, if the plane was in fact there, someone will eventually find something
Lets hope!
How bad are you tube ads getting,
I use the Brave browser and app- no ads :)
It’s about every 5 minutes. Ridiculously annoying. On political/current event related conspiracy videos there’s not much for ads but anything more regular they’re crazy, especially with in video sponsorships
Just get RUclips premium and you never watching that again
@Mauitaoist channels still put in sponsorships though right? Kind of a waste of money if those aren’t cut
No adds at my end.
If we dont have the bones that were lost in Figi, you cant compare DNA from her belongings in U.S. how can you be sure the the bones were actually hers?
What a genuinely nice guy
I've watched many of his film reels, I think he's an arrogant snob.
Jim Jones was a nice guy.
I don't understand how they just let it go. That woman deserved at least a good search party.
She made her choices.
They searched.
Whatever arbitrary amount of searching you would have theoretically assigned is irrelevant.
Someone or entity did not want them found. Her last transmission was clear about her course. They wanted to hide what she saw, not unlike Admiral Byrd, and or they did not want an accomplished woman to get more limelight.
They didn't, this is all all BS.
It would be easy to imagine how the weight of crashing waves would hydro form that panel off of the sub structure.
The heavy airplane engines should show up on a scan.
sounds like she was abandoned. makes you wonder if it was on purpose .
Me too! Thinking about it, the situation would make for amazing media and profit for the movement.
Brlliant. Love hearing from people who are absolute experts in their fields. Great interview
Excellent video! Thank you for bringing this to us. You’re a great interviewer- it is SO nice to hear the guest talk.
41:05 I find it kinda hard to believe the British had no idea Noonan was with her with all the media coverage and the storm her disappearance triggered. By 1940 they would have to of almost assuredly heard there was another person onboard and that person was Fred Noonan.
I agree. I find this theory intriguing, and parts of it certainly seem credible, but some gaps seem to be filled in with generalizations or assumptions. The radio calls are most intriguing.
From the little reading I’ve done since watching this video, it seems like Gallagher had a tendency to bend the truth… doesn’t help at all lol
We can't judge decades old circumstances by what we are accustomed to in 2026 as far as information dissemination. While 1940 may seem "modern," there still were huge gaps in communication and news. For example, just a year later, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in spite of having intelligence that it would happen. Communication break downs.
They would have to *have, not have to of. Makes no sense. That's you mishearing have as of and then writing it.
I agree on the gaps in the story.
But very interesting.
Sad that nobody looked deeper.
By 1940 the British had far more important matters to deal with.
The time stamps at the description are wrong after 58th minute