# Blurry, undated photo is evidence that Amelia Earhart survived. Or not. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 5, 2017, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blurry-undated-photo-is-evidence-that-amelia-earhart-survived-or-not/790561 "2017-07-05T21:26:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2017, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blurry-undated-photo-is-evidence-that-amelia-earhart-survived-or-not/790561/61 "2017-07-11T09:58:29Z")
Not looking as solid any more: > **[Blogger discredits claim Amelia Earhart was taken prisoner by Japan](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jul/11/blogger-discredits-claim-amelia-earhart-was-taken-prisoner-by-japan)** > > Documentary claimed photo showed aviator on Japanese-held Marshall Islands in 1937, but image was found in book published two years earlier > [@](#): > > But serious doubts now surround the film’s premise after a Tokyo-based blogger unearthed the same photograph in the archives of the National Diet Library. > The image was part of a [Japanese-language travelogue about the South Seas](http://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/1223403) that was published almost two years before Earhart disappeared. Page 113 states the book was [published in Japanese-held Palau on 10 October 1935](http://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/1223403/113). > The caption beneath the image makes no mention of the identities of the people in the photograph. It describes maritime activity at the harbour on Jabor island in the Jaluit Atoll – the headquarters for Japan’s administration of the Marshall Islands between the first world war and its defeat in the second world war. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2017, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blurry-undated-photo-is-evidence-that-amelia-earhart-survived-or-not/790561/62 "2017-07-11T12:23:09Z")
> [@Battle\_Pope](#): > > Not looking as solid any more: > > [Blogger discredits claim Amelia Earhart was taken prisoner by Japan | Amelia Earhart | The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jul/11/blogger-discredits-claim-amelia-earhart-was-taken-prisoner-by-japan) > [@](#): > > Yamano ran an online search using the keyword “Jaluit atoll” and a decade-long timeframe starting in 1930. > > “The photo was the 10th item that came up,” he said. “I was really happy when I saw it. I find it strange that the documentary makers didn’t confirm the date of the photograph or the publication in which it originally appeared. That’s the first thing they should have done.” :smack: ---
**Author:** ![joeyc09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c57346/32.png) [@joeyc09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joeyc09)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2017, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blurry-undated-photo-is-evidence-that-amelia-earhart-survived-or-not/790561/63 "2017-07-11T13:14:09Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > I did at the time, and still do find this the most persuasive theory. Except that’s the one thing we do know: she didn’t just crash into the sea and die…she did survive a landing somewhere shortwave radio transcripts prove this. I’ve never been able to understand how people can just say she crashed and died ,the end. This is like a criminal case with no eye witness, you either except the circumstantial evidence and make a conclusion based on that or you let it dangle for ever with a mistrial. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2017, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blurry-undated-photo-is-evidence-that-amelia-earhart-survived-or-not/790561/64 "2017-07-11T13:25:00Z")
> [@joeyc09](#): > > Except that’s the one thing we do know: she didn’t just crash into the sea and die…she did survive a landing somewhere shortwave radio transcripts prove this. Are there transcripts that we may read? I am amazed that they were not found if they had a working radio. ---
**Author:** ![joeyc09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c57346/32.png) [@joeyc09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joeyc09)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2017, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blurry-undated-photo-is-evidence-that-amelia-earhart-survived-or-not/790561/65 "2017-07-11T15:00:02Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Are there transcripts that we may read? I am amazed that they were not found if they had a working radio. absolutely yes, easy to google. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2017, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blurry-undated-photo-is-evidence-that-amelia-earhart-survived-or-not/790561/66 "2017-07-11T15:46:11Z")
[That claim](http://www.nbcnews.com/id/47653021/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/credible-amelia-earhart-radio-signals-were-ignored-bogus/#.WWTyEmf1bUc) comes from the same people (actually this one obsessed guy named Ric Gillespie, who has a strong record of presenting any scrap as final, inarguable, positive proof of his theory, and ignores all others). Earhart’s last known transmission was from the air. At least they’re reporting it accurately: > [@](#): > > “We must be on you, but cannot see you — but gas is running low. Have been unable to reach you by radio. We are flying at 1,000 feet,” she said. > > Earhart’s final in-flight radio message occurred a hour later, at 08:43. > > “We are on the line 157 337. We will repeat this message. We will repeat this on 6210 kilocycles. Wait,” she said. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2017, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blurry-undated-photo-is-evidence-that-amelia-earhart-survived-or-not/790561/67 "2017-07-11T23:19:10Z")
Photo thoroughly debunked. It was first published in a book in Japan in 1935. It took some Japanese blogger about 10 minutes to find it. :rolleyes: [http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/amelia-earhart-photo-debunked/ar-BBEfvtx?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartanntp](http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/amelia-earhart-photo-debunked/ar-BBEfvtx?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartanntp) ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blurry-undated-photo-is-evidence-that-amelia-earhart-survived-or-not/790561/68 "2017-07-12T00:00:37Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Photo thoroughly debunked. It was first published in a book in Japan in 1935. > > It took some Japanese blogger about 10 minutes to find it. :rolleyes: > > [MSN](http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/amelia-earhart-photo-debunked/ar-BBEfvtx?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartanntp) I came here to post that. Assuming it’s the same photo and the publishing date is correct, this seems to debunk the whole thing. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blurry-undated-photo-is-evidence-that-amelia-earhart-survived-or-not/790561/69 "2017-07-12T02:59:40Z")
> [@Bayard](#): > > :smack: But then they wouldn’t have a documentary to sell, would they? ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blurry-undated-photo-is-evidence-that-amelia-earhart-survived-or-not/790561/70 "2017-07-12T04:15:08Z")
Somebody zoomed in a lot for the photo the History channel. The original looks much different. It is the same photo without zooming in. > **[Question raised about timeline of Amelia Earhart documentary](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4686612/Question-raised-timeline-Amelia-Earhart-documentary.html)** > > A Japanese military history buff has apparently undermined a new theory that Amelia Earhart survived a crash-landing in the Pacific Ocean. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blurry-undated-photo-is-evidence-that-amelia-earhart-survived-or-not/790561/71 "2017-07-12T06:58:07Z")
Opens up all kinds of new avenues for exploitation, er, exploration… _ **AMELIA EARHART! TIME TRAVELER!** _ ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blurry-undated-photo-is-evidence-that-amelia-earhart-survived-or-not/790561/72 "2017-07-12T12:50:41Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > I came here to post that. Assuming it’s the same photo and the publishing date is correct, this seems to debunk the whole thing. Debunked it by proving it to be bunk. He bunked it. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blurry-undated-photo-is-evidence-that-amelia-earhart-survived-or-not/790561/73 "2017-07-12T12:54:31Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Opens up all kinds of new avenues for exploitation, er, exploration… > > _ **AMELIA EARHART! TIME TRAVELER!** _ Amazingly, despite the perfect natural fit, it appears that Amelia Earhart has not yet appeared on _Doctor Who_. I trust the current producers are hard at work rectifying this situation. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blurry-undated-photo-is-evidence-that-amelia-earhart-survived-or-not/790561/74 "2017-07-12T13:58:18Z")
[Here](http://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/1223403) is the full book if you want to browse it. (The photo in question is number 44.) [Here](http://dl.ndl.go.jp/view/jpegOutput?itemId=info%3Andljp%2Fpid%2F1223403&contentNo=99&outputScale=1) is the page at the full resolution of the scan. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blurry-undated-photo-is-evidence-that-amelia-earhart-survived-or-not/790561/75 "2017-07-12T14:06:37Z")
I know this story excites a lot of people, but you just can’t place high expectations on new evidence showing up after all these years. It’s really not a huge mystery, a plane goes down in the South Pacific in the 1930s, there’s no reason to expect to ever know what happened to it. Then a new discovery is tied to a documentary being hyped on TV, that doesn’t shout credibility. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blurry-undated-photo-is-evidence-that-amelia-earhart-survived-or-not/790561/76 "2017-07-12T15:25:37Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > [Here](http://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/1223403) is the full book if you want to browse it. (The photo in question is number 44.) [Here](http://dl.ndl.go.jp/view/jpegOutput?itemId=info%3Andljp%2Fpid%2F1223403&contentNo=99&outputScale=1) is the page at the full resolution of the scan. I’m just astonished that anyone ever thought the “Earhart” figure was a woman, when it appears to be wearing identical white shirt and dark trousers as the two men to its left. Talk about wishful thinking. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blurry-undated-photo-is-evidence-that-amelia-earhart-survived-or-not/790561/77 "2017-07-12T16:24:00Z")
> [@Battle\_Pope](#): > > Not looking as solid any more: … [snip] You’re not helping us to wish this to be true … I want this to be a smoking gun, therefore _it is_ a smoking gun … let’s all start wishing this to true now, I need the help … Airplanes are bigger than bread boxes … just how hard is it to find one on the bottom of the ocean? … ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blurry-undated-photo-is-evidence-that-amelia-earhart-survived-or-not/790561/78 "2017-07-12T16:32:46Z")
> [@watchwolf49](#): > > Airplanes are bigger than bread boxes … just how hard is it to find one on the bottom of the ocean? … CNN spent weeks on that issue, broadcasting almost 24/7, not too long ago. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blurry-undated-photo-is-evidence-that-amelia-earhart-survived-or-not/790561/79 "2017-07-12T16:35:09Z")
> [@watchwolf49](#): > > Airplanes are bigger than bread boxes … just how hard is it to find one on the bottom of the ocean? … Relative to the size of an ocean, an airplane and a breadbox (and an apartment building and a ping pong ball) are essentially the same size. And most of the ocean bottom is dark. So–very. ---
**Author:** ![Grestarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grestarian/32/3227_2.png) [@Grestarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grestarian)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blurry-undated-photo-is-evidence-that-amelia-earhart-survived-or-not/790561/80 "2017-07-12T22:15:32Z")
This is going to sound like threadshitting, but it’s an honest question. After having read through the posts and responses and having been scorched by the heat of Philster’s and Cory El’s (and a few others’) debate, I sat back and had to wonder, “WHY are people obsessed with this?” I mean, some contributors are obviously laughing at the CTs, some are just yawning, and there’s obviously a lot of time and money being thrown on research, investigation, and presentations. But while someone said it as a joke, the fact is that the celebrity aviatrix would be dead by now – as would Elvis, James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, et al. I don’t mean to be disrespectfully dismissive because I realize every\* life is important. So why keep the conspiracy accusations going? Just because it was a celebrity whom we lost at the peak of stardom? –G? \*But they didn’t find Jahe Turner in San Diego, either, and nobody’s writing volumes on the matter. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blurry-undated-photo-is-evidence-that-amelia-earhart-survived-or-not/790561.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blurry-undated-photo-is-evidence-that-amelia-earhart-survived-or-not/790561.md?page=5)