Column Chronicles: A new claim on Amelia Earhart's fate

A new claim on Amelia Earhart's fate

Frank Cotolo
March 7, 2019

You would think that by now the mysterious disappearance of aviator Amelia Earhart would remain unsolved, leaving people to shrug and say, "Whatever" when hearing or reading about it. However, there surfaces another would-be theory each year on what happened to her.

Recently, another story claimed new information to prove a scenario that explained her disappearance. Using the pseudonym Poy Lens is the source of the new theory, which includes a dramatic story about Amelia's demise.

Lens focuses on a fact that Amelia crash landed in Japan en route around the world in the mid 1930s and was taken prisoner by Imperialist soldiers. She was, claims Lens, secretly shipped to Nikumaroro, where Japanese demanded a ransom from the U.S. government for her safe return.

However, the U.S. government, keeping the offer a secret, claimed it could not fine Nikumaroro on any map, so it could not send the requested ransom of Yen. The Japanese negotiator told the U.S. representative that Japanese currency was not Yen and Nikumaroro was on every South Pacific map. A disagreement ensued.

"Meanwhile," said Lens, "the kidnappers ignored Amelia. She was becoming very hungry as the argument about Japanese money and the position of Nikumaroro on the map went on for a month."

Lens said there were many witnesses and at least nine of them had in their possession authentic autographed pictures of Amelia to prove it. Lens also said that the U.S. negotiators discovered that their ignorance about Japanese currency led to a massive readjustment of the U.S.' international exchange information because when the mistake about Yen and Japan was discovered, so were other mistakes.

"The U.S. had documented, for instance," said Lens, "that the English Pound was filed as Norwegian currency and the Franc was in a folder marked 'Italian Dough.'"

The story continues with the son of a Japanese soldier who swears his father was one of Amelia's guards during her imprisonment.

"My father told me," said the son, "that she was crying out for milk and something called 'Melba Toast' but no one knew of it. My father offered her rice but she refused it because she said it was constipating. And then, my father said, she died of starvation."

The U.S. government is refuting the newest spin concerning the disappearance of Amelia Earhart. When asked, an official said, "Our government would never leave someone to die of starvation and it was quick to add Nikumaroro to maps of the South Pacific once it was verified in nineteen hundred forty-one. Then we went to war with Japan and the last person anyone was thinking about was Amelia Earhart."

Frank Cotolo can be found hosting the talk and interview programme Cotolo Chronicles. You can send him an e-mail at this address: frank@148.ca.