# Your Weekly Amelia Earhart News! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 7, 2018, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-weekly-amelia-earhart-news/810200 "2018-03-07T20:27:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2018, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-weekly-amelia-earhart-news/810200/1 "2018-03-07T20:27:14Z")
Just kidding about the “weekly” thing; this time the news seems more plausible than that “blurry photo” thing from last year. An article in _Forensic Anthropology_ analyzes the measurements of bones found on Nikumaroro Island in 1940. Among other things, the measurements were compared with an Earhart photo containing a scalable object and some of Earhart’s clothing. The author concludes that “Earhart is more similar to the Nikumaroro bones than 99% of individuals in a large reference sample.” [Abstract](http://journals.upress.ufl.edu/fa/article/view/525) (contains link to full article) [Science Daily summary](https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180307115506.htm) The article does mention that the bones were probably damaged due to “scavenging by crabs,” but does not address the theory that Earhart was [eaten by scary giant crabs](http://www.newsweek.com/amelia-earhart-mystery-was-lost-pilot-eaten-giant-coconut-crabs-709635). ---
**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:** [March 7, 2018, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-weekly-amelia-earhart-news/810200/2 "2018-03-07T20:31:48Z")
> [@erysichthon](#): > > The article does mention that the bones were probably damaged due to “scavenging by crabs,” but does not address the theory that Earhart was [eaten by scary giant crabs](http://www.newsweek.com/amelia-earhart-mystery-was-lost-pilot-eaten-giant-coconut-crabs-709635). Worst case of the crabs in history! ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2018, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-weekly-amelia-earhart-news/810200/3 "2018-03-08T01:44:17Z")
I once delivered a phone book by throwing it on the porch of the house where Amelia Earhart lived as a child. That’s the best I’ve got. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2018, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-weekly-amelia-earhart-news/810200/4 "2018-03-08T05:04:19Z")
Earhart’s disappearance is one of those Great Mysteries that’s only technically a mystery: We never saw her augur in, but the only realistic possibility is that she crashed on her way to Howland Island and died along with Noonan. The next rung down the mystery scale are things which are only mysterious by fiat: That is, they’re only mysteries because someone with a big enough platform _says_ they’re mysteries, even though there’s a perfectly non-mysterious explanation staring us in the face. The Oak Island Money Pit is an example, given that it’s a natural sinkhole some people _state_ is a treasure trove which we haven’t poured enough money into to find the treasure of yet. The crystal skulls are cut from the same cloth, given that we know they’re modern creations which some people _state_ are ancient, and, therefore, mysterious, because they’d _have to be_ ancient in order to be mysterious: We _know_ modern man can carve crystal like that. Below that you have rank conspiracy theories, where the reasonable explanation is violently rejected in favor of variably-insane babblings. ---
**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:** [March 8, 2018, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-weekly-amelia-earhart-news/810200/5 "2018-03-08T05:05:01Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > I once delivered a phone book by throwing it on the porch of the house where Amelia Earhart lived as a child. That’s the best I’ve got. I’m shocked you don’t have your own reality show. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2018, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-weekly-amelia-earhart-news/810200/6 "2018-03-08T05:14:39Z")
I thought Capt.Janeway and the crew of Voyager found them in a cryogenic state on a planet, out there. Oh, sorry I forgot that was just a TV show and fake. ---
**Author:** ![Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/do_not_taunt/32/2968_2.png) [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Do_Not_Taunt)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2018, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-weekly-amelia-earhart-news/810200/7 "2018-03-08T05:46:59Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > Earhart’s disappearance is one of those Great Mysteries that’s only technically a mystery: We never saw her augur in, but the only realistic possibility is that she crashed on her way to Howland Island and died along with Noonan. I assume the mystery is _where_ she crashed. Surely no one thinks something else happened, right? Right? ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2018, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-weekly-amelia-earhart-news/810200/8 "2018-03-08T06:39:01Z")
> [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](#): > > I assume the mystery is _where_ she crashed. Surely no one thinks something else happened, right? Right? Oh, ye of somewhat overmuch faith in the rationality of humanity, I present to you [the Japanese Capture Theory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amelia_Earhart#Japanese_capture_theory) which is, in the Wikipedia article as in real life, just barely above the _truly_ nutty ideas: > [@](#): > > Another theory is that Earhart and Noonan were captured by Japanese forces, perhaps after somehow navigating to somewhere within the Japanese South Pacific Mandate. > > In 1966, CBS Correspondent Fred Goerner published a book claiming that Earhart and Noonan were captured and executed when their aircraft crashed on the island of Saipan, part of the Northern Mariana Islands archipelago.[226][227][Note 49][228][Note 50] Saipan is more than 2,700 miles away from Howland Island, however. Later proponents of the Japanese capture hypothesis have generally suggested the Marshall Islands instead, which while still distant from the intended location (~800 miles), is slightly more possible.[225] Yeah, they were lost and low on fuel… so they went 800 miles off course and managed to get captured by the Japanese. Women pilots, am I right, guys? Oh, wait, Noonan, her navigator, was a man. Probably refused to ask for directions, am I right, gals? It gets nuttier: > [@](#): > > In 1990, the NBC-TV series Unsolved Mysteries broadcast an interview with a Saipanese woman who claimed to have witnessed Earhart and Noonan’s execution by Japanese soldiers. No independent confirmation has ever emerged for any of these claims.[229] Various purported photographs of Earhart during her captivity have been identified as either fraudulent or having been taken before her final flight.[230] > > A slightly different version of the Japanese capture hypothesis is not that the Japanese captured Earhart, but rather that they shot down her plane. Henri Keyzer-Andre, a former Pan Am pilot, propounded this view in his 1993 book Age Of Heroes: Incredible Adventures of a Pan Am Pilot and his Greatest Triumph, Unravelling the Mystery of Amelia Earhart.[231] Why would the Japanese shoot down an American plane years before Pearl Harbor? It’s… unclear, at best, unless you are of a mindset which considers it obvious. A _racist_ mindset, most likely. Wikipedia has this to say: > [@](#): > > A common criticism of all versions of the Japanese capture hypothesis is that the Japanese-controlled Marshall Islands were considerably distant from Howland Island. To reach and land there would have required Earhart and Noonan, though low on fuel, to change her northeast course as she neared Howland Island and fly hundreds of miles northwest, a feat “not supported by the basic rules of geography and navigation.”[239][225] Additionally, had the Japanese found a crashed Earhart and Noonan, they would have had substantial motivation to rescue the famous aviators and be hailed as heroes.[225] Nah, they wanted to play _Rambo: First Blood Part II_ in reverse: Instead of holding prisoners years _after_ the war, they’ll hold them years _before_, and instead of being Vietnamese, they’ll be Japanese. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2018, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-weekly-amelia-earhart-news/810200/9 "2018-03-08T07:00:09Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > Earhart’s disappearance is one of those Great Mysteries that’s only technically a mystery: We never saw her augur in, but the only realistic possibility is that she crashed on her way to Howland Island and died along with Noonan. > > The next rung down the mystery scale are things which are only mysterious by fiat: That is, they’re only mysteries because someone with a big enough platform _says_ they’re mysteries, even though there’s a perfectly non-mysterious explanation staring us in the face. The Oak Island Money Pit is an example, given that it’s a natural sinkhole some people _state_ is a treasure trove which we haven’t poured enough money into to find the treasure of yet. The crystal skulls are cut from the same cloth, given that we know they’re modern creations which some people _state_ are ancient, and, therefore, mysterious, because they’d _have to be_ ancient in order to be mysterious: We _know_ modern man can carve crystal like that. > > Below that you have rank conspiracy theories, where the reasonable explanation is violently rejected in favor of variably-insane babblings. Oh yeah, smart guy, where does Roanoke fall on your scale. Huh? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2018, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-weekly-amelia-earhart-news/810200/10 "2018-03-08T12:55:38Z")
The Earhart matter was solved back in 1937. _" LOS ANGELES, Sept. 23. (AP) Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan were “murdered by Dogmatic Science,” Tiffany Thayer charged in the first issue of the Fortean Society magazine today."_ ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2018, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-weekly-amelia-earhart-news/810200/11 "2018-03-08T19:13:49Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > Oh yeah, smart guy, where does Roanoke fall on your scale. Huh? > > 🙂 The first one, it seems to me. [Just to refresh memories](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roanoke_Colony): > [@](#): > > Because of the continuing war with Spain, White was unable to mount another resupply attempt for an additional three years. He finally gained passage on a privateering expedition organised by John Watts and Walter Raleigh. They agreed to stop off at Roanoke on the way back after raiding the Spanish in the Caribbean. White landed on August 18, 1590, on his granddaughter’s third birthday, but found the settlement deserted. His men could not find any trace of the 90 men, 17 women, and 11 children, nor was there any sign of a struggle or battle.[4]:130–33 > > The only clue was the word “CROATOAN” carved into a post of the fence around the village, and the letters C-R-O carved into a nearby tree. All the houses and fortifications had been dismantled, which meant that their departure had not been hurried. Before he had left the colony, White instructed the colonists that, if anything happened to them, they should carve a Maltese cross on a tree nearby, indicating that their absence had been forced. There was no cross, and White took this to mean that they had moved to Croatoan Island (now known as Hatteras Island), but he was unable to conduct a search. A massive storm was forming and his men refused to go any farther; the next day, they left.[4]:130–33 They found their current location inhospitable, moved on, and left a note. They weren’t suddenly killed off by a raid, they weren’t _slowly_ killed off by a disease or famine, and they even had a destination in mind. It seems plausible they intermarried with a local group: > [@](#): > > In her 2000 book Roanoke: Solving the Mystery of the Lost Colony, historian Lee Miller postulated that some of the Lost Colony survivors sought shelter with the Chowanoke, who were attacked by another tribe, identified by the Jamestown Colony as the “Mandoag” (an Algonquian name commonly given to enemy nations). The Mandoag are believed to be either the Tuscarora, an Iroquois-speaking tribe,[23]:45 or the Eno, also known as the Wainoke.[12]:255–56 > > The so-called “Zuniga Map” (named for Pedro de Zúñiga, the Spanish ambassador to England, who had secured a copy and passed it on to Philip III of Spain[24]:112), drawn about 1607 by the Jamestown settler Francis Nelson, also gives credence to this claim. The map states “four men clothed that came from roonock” were living in an Iroquois site on the Neuse. William Strachey wrote that, at the Indian settlements of Peccarecanick and Ochanahoen, there were reportedly two-story houses with stone walls. The Indians supposedly had learned how to build them from the Roanoke settlers.[25]:222 In both cases, as stated above, it is equally possible that these were survivors of Chief Powhatan’s attack of the first colonists.[20] > > [snip] > > John Lawson wrote in his 1709 work A New Voyage to Carolina that the Croatans living on Hatteras Island used to live on Roanoke Island and claimed to have white ancestors: > > A farther Confirmation of this we have from the Hatteras Indians, who either then lived on Ronoak-Island, or much frequented it. These tell us, that several of their Ancestors were white People, and could talk in a Book, as we do; the Truth of which is confirm’d by gray Eyes being found frequently amongst these Indians, and no others. They value themselves extremely for their Affinity to the English, and are ready to do them all friendly Offices. It is probable, that this Settlement miscarry’d for want of timely Supplies from England; or thro’ the Treachery of the Natives, for we may reasonably suppose that the English were forced to cohabit with them, for Relief and Conversation; and that in process of Time, they conform’d themselves to the Manners of their Indian Relations.[27] > > From the early 17th century to the middle 18th century, European colonists reported encounters with gray-eyed American Indians who claimed descent from the colonists[12]:257, 263 (although at least one, a story of a Welsh priest who met a Doeg warrior who spoke the Welsh language, is likely to be a hoax).[28]:76 Records from French Huguenots who settled along the Tar River in 1696 tell of meeting Tuscaroras with blond hair and blue eyes not long after their arrival. As Jamestown was the nearest English settlement, and they had no record of being attacked by Tuscarora, the likelihood that the origin of those fair-skinned natives was the Lost Colony is high.[23]:28 And more recently: > [@](#): > > In 1998, East Carolina University organized “The Croatoan Project”, an archaeological investigation into the events at Roanoke. The excavation team sent to Hatteras Island uncovered what they believed to be a 10 karat (42%) gold 16th-century English signet ring, gun flints, and two copper farthings (produced sometime in the 1670s) at the site of the ancient Croatan capital, 50 miles (80 km) from the old Roanoke Colony. Genealogists were able to trace the lion crest on the signet ring to the Kendall coat of arms, and concluded that the ring most likely belonged to one Master Kendall who is recorded as having lived in the Roanoke Colony from 1585 to 1586. If this is the case, the ring represents the first material connection between the Roanoke colonists and the Native Americans on Hatteras Island.[35][36][37][38] However, archaeologist David Phelps did not have the ring tested, and Charles Ewen, who continued Phelps’ work after Phelps retired, had the ring tested and found the ring was brass. Ewen announced his findings in April 2017. Mark Horton of the University of Bristol said he was not convinced that this news proved the ring did not date to the 16th century.[39] Technically still only suggestive, but it would be a pretty damned big coincidence. ---
**Author:** ![Corry\_El](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@Corry\_El](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corry_El)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2018, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-weekly-amelia-earhart-news/810200/12 "2018-03-08T19:45:19Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > Oh, ye of somewhat overmuch faith in the rationality of humanity, I present to you [the Japanese Capture Theory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amelia_Earhart#Japanese_capture_theory) which is, in the Wikipedia article as in real life, > > It gets nuttier:Why would the Japanese shoot down an American plane years before Pearl Harbor? It’s… unclear, at best, unless you are of a mindset which considers it obvious. A _racist_ mindset, most likely. I agree Japanese involvement has no real evidence. A thread here not that long ago witnessed in real time a ‘new’ photo possibly actually _showing_ Earhart in Japanese custody was shown to be from a Japanese travel book about the ‘South Seas’ from the 1920’s. That said, another more modern form of irrationality IMO is a tendency to make ‘ism’ the center of everything. ‘Racism’ doesn’t explain a lot of things, or more importantly often isn’t the only reason even when it’s one of them. Racial attitudes currently viewed as bad were common among Americans toward East Asians in past decades but not against Japanese to the exclusion of Chinese. But there wasn’t a broad willingness to believe, especially after WWII, in Chinese govt attempts to harm the US or Americans before WWII. The better explanation for that _differential_ is the fact that Japan ended up attacking the US in 1941, and also in fact did attack and sink the USN gunboat Panay in China later the same year Earhart disappeared\*, while China was generally viewed as a victim of Japan ca. 1937, and was a US ally in 1941-45. Racism existed, as it still does to some degree. It’s just not that plausible an explanation why the US public had a so much lower opinion of one East Asian country vs. another especially after PH, and was more willing to believe in prior hidden acts of aggression by Japan against the US in addition to the known ones. \*post-WWII first hand accounts of Japanese Navy aircrew involved consistently insisted they did not know a USN vessel was present among the merchant ships (some of which were privately US-owned, one reason Panay was escorting them) they were sent to attack. The doubt lies in the information given by the Army, which sighted the vessels from shore, to the Navy about the targets. Local elements of the Japanese Army basically succeeded in starting the original takeover of Manchuria in 1931 with rogue actions. It’s possible they knew a USN vessel was present and deliberately failed to tell the Navy air units, though it’s never been proven. Anyway it was not a ‘racist’ fantasy that the attack occurred. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2018, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-weekly-amelia-earhart-news/810200/13 "2018-03-08T20:02:52Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > The Oak Island Money Pit is an example, given that it’s a natural sinkhole some people _state_ is a treasure trove which we haven’t poured enough money into to find the treasure of yet. Well, if you ignore all the original story about the wooden beams every 10 feet, etc. I have no idea if they are true but you do have to throw them out completely. I’m not _quite_ ready to do that. Hey, if I had won the big lottery I would definitely build a 100 foot diameter caisson on Oak Island and excavate that entire site down to bedrock. I wouldn’t care about making a cent from it. I just want it ended one way of the other. Dennis ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2018, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-weekly-amelia-earhart-news/810200/14 "2018-03-08T20:05:00Z")
> [@erysichthon](#): > > Just [eaten by scary giant crabs](http://www.newsweek.com/amelia-earhart-mystery-was-lost-pilot-eaten-giant-coconut-crabs-709635). > [@Gatopescado](#): > > Worst case of the crabs in history! Precisely why I never travel without antibiotics. ---
**Author:** ![raventhief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raventhief/32/4_2.png) [@raventhief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raventhief)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2018, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-weekly-amelia-earhart-news/810200/15 "2018-03-08T20:12:01Z")
> [@mixdenny](#): > > Well, if you ignore all the original story about the wooden beams every 10 feet, etc. I have no idea if they are true but you do have to throw them out completely. I’m not _quite_ ready to do that. > > Hey, if I had won the big lottery I would definitely build a 100 foot diameter caisson on Oak Island and excavate that entire site down to bedrock. I wouldn’t care about making a cent from it. I just want it ended one way of the other. > > Dennis There is a show where they are doing essentially that. Found some interesting things, I believe (my husband watches it) ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2018, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-weekly-amelia-earhart-news/810200/16 "2018-03-08T20:17:00Z")
> [@erysichthon](#): > > Just kidding about the “weekly” thing; this time the news seems more plausible than that “blurry photo” thing from last year. Actually, on the credibility scale, I would have ranked the blurry photo, crappy evidence that it was, somewhere above this bones thing. He’s making conclusions on bones that have not been seen in almost 80 years, in contradiction to the doctor who examined them, to reach a conclusion that itself is highly implausible. There’s just no way that Earhart and Noonan reached Nikumaroro. There is a small group of fanatics who stick with this fringe idea despite never having any evidence that passes the laugh test. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2018, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-weekly-amelia-earhart-news/810200/17 "2018-03-08T20:55:44Z")
It’s going to take the actual discovery of the wreckage, somewhere at the bottom of the Pacific, for this all to go away, and maybe not even then. The plane was much smaller than a 777, though, and we know by now how hard those are to find. ---
**Author:** ![Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/do_not_taunt/32/2968_2.png) [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Do_Not_Taunt)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2018, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-weekly-amelia-earhart-news/810200/18 "2018-03-08T21:12:02Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > Oh, ye of somewhat overmuch faith in the rationality of humanity, I present to you [the Japanese Capture Theory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amelia_Earhart#Japanese_capture_theory) which is, in the Wikipedia article as in real life, just barely above the _truly_ nutty ideas:Yeah, they were lost and low on fuel… so they went 800 miles off course and managed to get captured by the Japanese. I was familiar with the Saipan theory, since I used to be a huge fan of Unsolved Mysteries (original Robert Stack episodes only - the Law and Order guy never had the right schtick.) Even that, though, is basically a variant of the crash theory: > [@Wikipedia](#): > > In 1966, CBS Correspondent Fred Goerner published a book claiming that Earhart and Noonan were captured and executed **when their aircraft crashed** on the island of Saipan, part of the Northern Mariana Islands archipelago. (bolding mine) Unlikely due to its distance, eyewitness testimony of mysterious Saipanese woman and WWII dudes notwithstanding. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2018, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-weekly-amelia-earhart-news/810200/19 "2018-03-08T21:24:57Z")
> [@raventhief](#): > > There is a show where they are doing essentially that. Found some interesting things, I believe (my husband watches it) No, they are doing what everyone else has done for the past 170 years, boring holes. Nice large holes in some case, the largest is 60" diameter. Previously hand dug shafts were up to 12’ x 20’ across. Lots of smaller ones 6" in diameter to explore areas. I want to excavate the entire diameter of the furthest possible extent of any original pit. I figure a 100’ diameter caisson would do it. Line the shaft with steel and take every freaking thing in the entire shaft out as you go, sift it and dig deeper. Like this: [http://prbinfraprojects.com/images/Shaft%20Sinking.jpg](http://prbinfraprojects.com/images/Shaft%20Sinking.jpg) Dennis ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2018, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-weekly-amelia-earhart-news/810200/20 "2018-03-08T22:02:49Z")
I’d watch that show in a New York minute. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-weekly-amelia-earhart-news/810200.md?page=2)