Posted on 10/20/2003 7:57:14 AM PDT by FourtySeven
It is one of the most enduring mysteries of the past century: What happened to Amelia Earhart, the daring young aviator who disappeared with her navigator, Fred Noonan, on July 2, 1937 as they attempted to fly around the world? They last radioed that they were about 100 miles from Howland Island, which is a tiny atoll southwest of Hawaii. Many expeditions to find the bodies, the plane, or even the slightest clues have proven fruitless.
Saint John Naftel says he knows the answer. Naftel is an 81-year-old World War II veteran from Alabama, who says he has identified a site in Tinian, one of the islands of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, that may contain the graves of Earhart and Noonan, reports Pacific Daily News. The Mariana Islands are the southern most islands of the U.S. Territory of Guam.
Local researchers and historians are taking the new information seriously, actively investigating Naftel's claim even though they think it's a long shot. What makes his story different from dozens of others all purporting to know what happened to Earhart is that Naftel insists he knows exactly where she and Noonan are buried.
Naftel was stationed on the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in 1944 as a gunman for the Marines. In an interview with Pacific Daily News reporter Katie Worth, he recalled that soon after he arrived in Tinian, he was approached by a Hawaiian man who said that in 1937 he had taken part in burying a white woman and a white man both dressed in aviator's suits. The man was part of a group who was hired first by the Japanese and later by the U.S. military to build up the military and commercial infrastructure in the Mariana Islands. A Japanese guard told the Hawaiian that if he ever mentioned the burial to anyone he would be buried alive, Naftel explained to Pacific Daily News. Despite the threat, the man showed Naftel where the graves were located.
Because he was fighting a war at the time, Naftel didn't mention any of this to his superiors, but later did try to tell his story to archaeologists and historians. He was dismissed repeatedly. Six months ago, a friend of Naftel's wrote to Guam's governor telling this incredible story. Naftel provided enough landmarks that researchers were able to use decades-old maps to identify the approximate location of the graves. The team even paid to have Naftel flown to Tinian where he pointed out the exact burial site. The area is now cordoned off by police until the archaeologists can begin the dig.
Dirk Ballendorf, a professor at the University of Guam and the leader of the archaeology team, admits Naftel's theory is farfetched, but not impossible. "I suppose I would say it's doubtful," he told Pacific Daily News. "I doubt that Amelia Earhart was anywhere near the Marianas. But if I'm proven wrong, I would be the first one to sing the praises of the discovery."
WTF?
LOL......true.........hey at least the guy got a free trip out of the deal! Probably pretty there too.
Guam is a U.S. territory. The Northern Mariana Islands, which do not include Guam, are a commonwealth of the U.S. And they are to the north, not the south, of Guam.
LOL..................yes, something like that. ;) Although, that was a really cool Voyager episode!
It could have happened.
Or we could apply the democRATs' WMD theory. We haven't found her; therefore, she never existed.
Earhart chose to stay on the planet they found her on, after realizing she'd been abducted by aliens to be a template for a whole colony, based on her DNA and other earth people's DNA who'd been abducted over the years. She chose to stay on the planet to help them start a new human life there. I thought it was entertaining; not the BEST Voyager though. hehe
Live long and prosper!
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