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Take a look at the following list of more than a
dozen 'Earhart investigative books' published since 1960, to include the now late well-known British film Director, Ken Annakin's
2001 screenplay 'Red Wing' based on the Joe Gervais 'Irene-Amelia' story. While doing so, it helps one to realize that the Earhart controversy evolved away from embracing the provocative investigative discoveries made in the 1960s and 1970s as news reporters were led to favor the safe ideas of Elgen Long and his Nauticos group, of Richard
Gillespie's TIGHAR organization, and of the Amelia Earhart Society's Bill Prymak. Recall though, there never
was an official investigation into Amelia Earhart's disappearance, and this helps to explain why the Smithsonian has
only ever offered a limited viewpoint on the matter. Perhaps the following list may help to inspire the more conscientious individual
to overcome the official silence credoAmelia Earhart's truth
has always been greeted by:
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Recommended Past Reading:
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Slant Presented By Author
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 Daughter of the Sky by Paul Briand, 1960 [Duell, Sloan, & Pearce]
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Authored by a World War Two veteran turned college
professor, Paul Briand's Daughter of the Sky marked the first well researched
Earhart disappearance investigative book. Briand researched and analyzed many local islander accounts, statements from representatives
of Japan's military forces, and the recollections of other individuals whom had lived among Japan's Imperial Mandate Islands
during the time Earhart and Noonan turned up missing. Daughter of the Sky
first offered the logical deduction of Amelia Earhart's post-loss 'non-publicized survival' among Japan's Imperial Mandate
Islands and its Naval Authority. Where it appeared the two fliers ended up on Saipan for awhile according to various eyewitness
accounts, Briand first considered they might have actually gone down there. He soon changed his belief to concur with the
Marshall Islands as the place the two fliers initially ended up before they were transferred to Saipan, after he reviewed
the 1960s separate investigations of Joe Gervais and Fred Goerner, whose efforts he inspired.
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The Search for Amelia Earhart by Fred Goerner, 1966, Doubleday
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Fred Goerner's 1966 classic was a New York Times
best seller. The 1965 Admiral Chester Nimitz quote first appeared in it; "Earhart
and her navigator did go down in the Marshall Islands and were picked up by the Japanese." U. S. Naval Commander
John Pillsbury's 1962 quote also appears, where he intimated his opinion to Goerner about the Earhart case; "You're on to something that will stagger your imagination." A CBS Radio Journalist, Fred Goerner expounded
on this curious information in his letters to Amelia's survived Sister, Muriel. He added Nimitz' further accounts to include
how the Admiral mentioned it was "Known and documented in Washington,"
Amelia indeed had survived after July 2, 1937... courtesy of Japan's Naval Authority stationed among its Imperial Mandate
Islands. [Add
this to statements made by Amelia's and Muriel's Mother, Amy Otis Earhart to the New York Times in 1949, when she mentioned
she was always aware her daughter Amelia had survived under the auspice of Japan, and claimed she 'knew' Amelia was permitted
to communicate with Washington for a time.] Goerner's investigation determined Earhart and Noonan went down at Mili atoll of the lower Marshalls.
It is a great, informative read, but in its flawed conclusion Goerner miscalculated that Japan left Amelia to die of
dysentery while she was sequestered on Saipan, something it (Japan) never would have allowed.
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Amelia Earhart Lives by Joe Klaas, 1970, McGraw-Hill
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The Joe Klaas book was also a New York Times best
seller. Based on the investigative account of Joe Gervais, it introduced many theoretical questions about the Earhart saga
that had never been raised before. Irene Craigmile Bolam (the 'Gervais-Irene' whose picture appeared in the book) successfully
sued to get it removed from the stores seven weeks after it was published. Although the book stated 'Hull Island' as the duo's
likely ditching spot, Joe Gervais (like Fred Goerner) later concluded Earhart and Noonan went down at Mili atoll of the lower
Marshall Islands. The book also strongly implicated Amelia Earhart to have somehow survived among
the Japanese, and she eventually changed her name to 'Irene Craigmile' and later to 'Irene Bolam' after she married Guy Bolam
in 1958. (Guy Bolam was English, and a family-described MI6 operative.) Joe Gervais determined Amelia Earhart had served an
unknown purpose, then optioned to further lead a non public-eye life in the United States following the World War Two
era. No doubt accounting for her eight years of absence from 1937 to 1945 would have caused complications not only for for
herself later, but for the U. S. and Japan as well.
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 The Chosen Instrument by Selig Altschull and Marilyn Bender, Simon & Schuster, 1982
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A comprehensive history of Juan Trippe and Pan Am
Airways, this book expounds on the government contracts consistently awarded to Pan Am in the 1930s and 1940s. Yet it also
includes the telling historical quote, "Numerous investigations foundered on official silence in Tokyo and Washington,
leaving the fate of Earhart an everlasting mystery." [Another curious quote found in Emile Gauvreau's great 1944 book, The
Wild Blue Yonder ...spoken by 1938 U. S. Secretary of the Navy, Claude Swanson while referring to Amelia Earhart's 1937
disappearance; "This is a powder keg. Any public discussion of it will furnish
the torch for the explosion."] Before Amelia hired him away from Pan Am in 1936 to participate
in her last flight, Fred Noonan was considered to be Pan Am's top air over ocean navigator. Note: The original Irene
Craigmile's son, Larry Heller also went on to become a Pan Am pilot.
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Below: Beyond 37's descriptions
of the wide variety of Amelia Earhart investigative books:
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Lost Star: The Search For
Amelia Earhart by Randall Brink W.W. Norton, 1994
Author Randall Brink collaborated with Joe Gervais
for better than ten years. We were fortunate to meet with Mr. Brink in Seattle not long after his book's
issue, and found him to be an intelligent and intense 'Amelia Earhart knowledgeable' individual. We were curious as to why he was listed among the personal invitees to Irene Bolam's 1982 Memorial Dinner
event. His book is a superbly written quick-read, one pointing to what Brink and Gervais rationalized as an 'executive order seal' placed over the Earhart loss episode, dating back to the time the event occurred. Initially published in
England, it became an international best seller. Connie
Chung profiled it in a CBS special report. On the cover of a reprinted
American edition a review quote reads; "Brink
writes of a vast cover-up that got as far as the White House.... Terrific reading."
--Larry King, USA Today. [Brink's account offers the best introduction to the works of Briand, Gervais & Klaas, Fred Goerner,
Buddy Brennan, and Vincent Loomis.]
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Left: The
cover of Beyond 37's manuscript that was primarily based on
extensive interviews with Lost Star Author, Randall Brink; USAF Major Joe Gervais (ret.); and USAF Colonel Rollin C. Reineck (ret.)
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Additional Significant
Earhart Research Publications:
'Red Wing' by Ken Annakin
WGAw Registered Screenplay c. 1997-2001
Ken Annakin was
a famous British film Director whose credits dated back to 1946. He passed away a few years ago at the
age of ninety-five. Sporting two past Oscar nominations for 'Those Maginificent Men in their Flying Machines' and 'The Longest
Day,' he also Directed such memorable films as Walt Disney's 'The Swiss Family Robinson' and 'The New Adventures of Pippi
Longstocking.' Annakin's last film was 2009's 'Gengis Khan; The Story of a Lifetime.' Since the World War Two era Mr. Annakin
had been fascinated by the controversy surrounding the Amelia Earhart disappearance story. After the book Amelia Earhart Lives
was published in 1970, he took great interest in the substantial research that supported Amelia Earhart having survived as
'a new' Irene Craigmile without the world public knowing about it. Finally, by the mid-1990s he had met Joe Gervais along
with a former WWII OSS Lieutenant by the name of James 'Jess' Hannon, and after doing so he was thoroughly convinced the Irene
Craigmile Bolam who Joe Gervais met and photographed in 1965 had been none other than the former Amelia Earhart, who had lived
her own preferred life after the WWII era away from the public eye by intentional design. With great reverence, Mr. Annakin
then wrote his screenplay 'Red Wing,' initially commencing to do so in 1996 and continuing to revise it until 2001. I spoke
and corresponded with Mr. Annakin in 1998 after meeting with his production partners, Jack Senter and Jack Green. 'Red Wing'
incorporated Annakin's belief in Lieutenant Hannon's claim, that he had actually 'seen' the survived Amelia Earhart at the
end of the war just before her non-public liberation back to the United States was to take place. Hannon claimed Earhart was
'very sick' at the time and was being privately cared for while sequestered in separate quarters at a civilian internment
camp in northern China. He also observed how 'great care' was taken during her liberation transporting process. Curiously
though, Hannon also mentioned how until he became aware of the Joe Gervais account in 1970, he had believed in an OSS intelligence
offering that cited how the plane liberating the sickly survived Amelia from the internment camp to Japan after VJ Day had
crashed, killing all on board. After he examined the Gervais-Irene information, Hannon came to accept the conveyance of Amelia
Earhart's 'post VJ Day plane crash' as a ruse, meant to make people who existed as far up as the level of Admiral Chester
Nimitz, to believe that although they had been aware of the 'classified truth' of Amelia Earhart's continued war-time existence
under Japan's auspice, she had finally met her certain demise via her tragic liberation plane crash; one that never really
happened. Note: The 'Earhart held in China at a Japanese-run civilian internment camp at the end of the war' account was widely
challenged, although information was found by one 'Patricia Morton' at the State Department in 1987 in a declassified file
labeled "Special War Problems: Earhart, Amelia." Said file did include a post VJ Day telegram to George Putnam,
supposedly sent by one Ahmad Kamal (it was unsigned) from the 'Weihsien' internment camp in northern China after Mr. Kamal
was liberated. George Putnam's written attempt to follow up on it was also filed. Washington never replied back, and Putnam
never discussed such a final 'dead-end' exchange in any of his published memoirs.
Amelia Earhart: The Final Story by Vincent Loomis and Jeffrey Ethell
Random House 1985
In 1985 Random House published a book by Vincent Loomis with Jeffrey Ethell called Amelia Earhart:
The Final Story. Vincent Loomis also determined Mili atoll as the place Amelia went down. He concluded she eventually perished
in the hands of the Japanese. It was after reading this book I became more curious about the Irene-Amelia claim. In its text,
a sentence appeared regarding the Joe Gervais and Joe Klass investigative book, Amelia Earhart Lives. It referenced the book's
previous implication of Amelia Earhart having changed her name to 'Irene Craigmile Bolam.' It was a short sentence following
a 'dissing' of the Irene-Amelia conveyance. It read simply: "Yet to this day, the authors (Joe Gervais & Joe
Klaas) affirm that they are correct." I found it hard to comprehend how fifteen years after their book was all but called
a 'hoax' by the press, the two war heroes who compiled it still stuck to their guns about Amelia surviving and changing her
name to Irene Craigmile Bolam. [As endorsed to meet him by Randall Brink, in 1996 I found myself with Joe Gervais in his famed
'Earhart Den' at his Las Vegas home. His savant-like Earhart knowledge quickly won me over and we soon became friends. We
would meet several more times after that, and we corresponded on a fairly regular basis until his passing in 2005. I also
realized Joe Gervais to have been a truly kind family man of upstanding character, as well as the most thoroughly devoted
Amelia Earhart investigative researcher I ever knew or heard of.]
Edit Text
Stand By To Die; The Disappearance, Rescue, and Return of Amelia Earhart by Robert Myers & Barbara Wiley,
The Lighthouse Writers Guild-1985
Robert Myers' book, Stand By To Die; The Disappearance,
Rescue, and Return of Amelia Earhart was published in 1985 by The Lighthouse Writers Guild. Myers wrote about his friend Amelia
who he knew during his mid-1930s adolescent years, and how she became Irene Craigmile Bolam after she disappeared in 1937.
He actually came to know her as 'Irene' in the 1970s and he recorded phone conversations they had, some of which still exist
today, while others he said were 'taken' from him. He included transcripts of their conversations in his book. Myers was interviewed
for comment in the 1982 Woodbridge Tribune series after the Gervais-Irene died, and was generally portrayed by its reporters
as a curiosity piece. Still, those who knew him believed he was sincere and did not make up any of what he claimed. Working
against him however, was the generally held literary opinion of his book as a non-linear read, and one where Myers' personal
emotions dominated when it came to the Irene-Amelia conveyance. I have corresponded some with Barabara Wiley, who affirmed
Mal Paso (Clint Eastwood's company) had expressed interest in and even courted Myers' participation to develop a film project
based on his story, although the project never materialized. Edit Text
The Earhart Disappearance: The British Connection by James A. Donahue,
Aviation Heritage Library Series-1987
The Earhart Disappearance;
The British Connection by James A. Donahue was published in 1987 by the Aviation Heritage Library Series. A pretty fascinating
study to be sure, Author James Donahue thoroughly researched what he asserted to have been a United Kingdom care angle. His
book also introduced the theory of an additional plane, another Electra or a British Envoy (similar looking at a distance
to an Electra) flown by another man and woman flying team in the same Pacific region at the same time Earhart and Noonan were
flying there. Did the recently trained original Irene Craigmile serve as the female pilot on such a British sponsored team?
Is that how the original Irene Craigmile really disappeared? Some who support the British-Connection theory believe this suggestion
possibly provides the answer to how the 'original' Irene Craigmile met her final fate. Author James Donahue also suggested
the famous British pilot Beryl Markham (Markham's person was loosely portrayed in the film 'Out Of Africa') who was staying
with Jackie Cochran at the time Amelia was reported missing, as potentially involved on the British end. As well it's interesting
to note how the Gervais-Irene married the British Guy Bolam in 1958, whose own family later described him to have been a past
MI6 operative for England.
Eyewitness: The Amelia Earhart Incident by Thomas E. Devine, Renaissance House-1987
In 1987 Renaissance House published Eyewitness: The Amelia Earhart Incident by Thomas
E. Devine. Devine had known and worked with Fred Goerner in the early 1960s. While a U. S. soldier as part of the 1944 U.
S. occupation of Saipan, he claimed Amelia Earhart's Lockheed Electra had been impounded there by Japan, and described how
he actually "witnessed" the U. S. Navy 'burn' it, ostensibly destroying it as evidence. [Combine this with the entirely
separate claim of U. S. soldier, Robert Wallack (see the 'Additional Forensic Argument Info' link) who described how he and
a few other soldiers blew open a Japanese military safe on Saipan after the 1944 U. S. occupation, and within it they discovered
Amelia Earhart's 1937 flight satchel.] Naturally, getting the U. S. Navy to admit it ever did such a thing as burn Earhart's
plane would have proved impossible for anyone to do. Still, Devine also boldly implicated 1944 U. S. Secretary of the Navy,
James Forrestall as all but directly involved with the incident. James Forrestall became U. S. Secretary of Defense in 1947,
and Devine later claimed Forrestall's previous relationship with the 'Earhart cover-up' caused him great mental duress, and
so much directly led to Forrestall's curious death circumstances in 1949, a death that was labeled a suicide.
Witness to the Execution by T.C. Buddy Brennan, Renaissance
House-1988
Renaissance House also published the
T.C. Buddy Brennan Earhart book, Witness to the Execution in 1988. (I met and came to know Mike Harris a bit, who went on
the 1983 Brennan expedition to Saipan with filmmaker Nick Petrik.) Brennan's book included several 'witness' accounts, to
include an extraordinary one from a Japanese fighter pilot by the name of Fuji Formosa. Mr. Formosa claimed he had been ordered
to fire on a plane similar looking to Earhart's as it approached the Marshall Islands in 1937. Formosa mentioned he did not
know if he hit it, but said he watched it go down near an 'atoll' before he returned to his carrier, the Akagi. He mentioned
how later, other Japanese soldiers conveyed to him it was Amelia Earhart's plane he had fired on. Another eyewitness in the
Brennan book claimed she saw Japanese soldiers execute Amelia Earhart on Saipan after driving her bound and blindfolded in
a motorcycle side-car to a pre-dug grave. The problem is she was the only eyewitness to such a horrid occurrence. Still, Brennan
did a nice job with Nick Petrik's filmed interviews of 'Earhart was here' people among the Islands. Side-note: Opposers of
Formosa's account argued the Akagi was 'dry-docked' at the time of Earhart's disappearance. And again, it became impossible
to accept the person the elderly woman claimed she had witnessed the execution of, as a side-car transported, bound and blindfolded
Amelia Earhart. As Joe Gervais aptly pointed out; "Japan (namely Hirohito and/or Yamamoto) never would have handled the
Earhart situation that way. If anything they would have coveted her existence in their company. Like Babe Ruth was in Japan
in the 1930s, so too was Amelia Earhart adored and lionized there."
Flying Blind by Max Allan Collins, Dutton Books-1998
Well known Author, Max Allan Collins (The Road to Perdition, Dark Angel) wrote this
superb historical novel account of the 1937 Earhart disappearance case. He researched the real story to the hilt, then used
his serial detective, Nathan Heller (no visible connection to Larry Heller, the original Irene Craigmile's Son) as the vehicle
to tell the story in real time. It is ironic of course, how after Amelia returned as 'the new Irene' she ended up having co-raised
the original Irene Craigmile's Son Larry Heller..., and in the Collins book after Earhart disappears Nathan Heller hears of
the possibility Amelia might have been carrying his child at the time. So much could exist as a mere coincidence in the book,
though it's one hard to overlook. In its epilogue, in the 1970s the elderly Nathan Heller actually meets the suspected Irene
Craigmile Bolam and some of her friends for a drink at the same country club she (Irene-Amelia) belonged to then near Princeton,
New Jersey. Nathan Heller remarked of a peculiar familiarity he sensed about her, but he had a hard time recognizing the same
Amelia he recalled. Still, he had a good time with Irene and her convivial friends that day, but he added where Irene was
Amelia with a changed name, he'd prefer not to even know it. (Sound familiar? In 1966 when Joe Gervais mentioned the matter
of Irene as the probable former Amelia Earhart to Muriel Earhart Morrissey, Amelia's survived Sister, Muriel replied to him,
"Where such a thing might be true Major Gervais, wouldn't it be best just to leave it alone?") I reviewed Collins'
entertaining and Earhart historically informative read, Flying Blind for the Fort Worth Star Telegram in January of 1999.
Amelia Earhart: Lost Legend by Donald Moyer Wilson, Enigma Press-1999
Donald Moyer Wilson's book, Amelia Earhart: Lost Legend was first published by Enigma
Press in 1999. (Revised and re-issued since.) Wilson became a scholar on the subject of everyday life among the Nipponese
Imperial Islands during World War Two while researching Earhart's 'survival.' His book presents a vast collection of local
accounts describing the general historical awareness of Earhart's post-loss existence among said islands. The accounts ranged
from island government officials, to Japanese military men, to local businessmen, to common folk, to indigenous natives. And
there were many, including several eyewitness ones. Indeed, too many to ignore. Wilson's research also concluded Earhart and
Noonan went down at Mili atoll.
Amelia Earhart Survived by USAF Colonel Rollin C. Reineck, (Ret.)
The Paragon Agency, December 2003
Colonel Rollin Reineck's book, Amelia Earhart Survived was first published in late
2003 by the Paragon Agency. It marked itself as the most recent commercially published book effort (the third since 1970)
that tried to get people to take the Irene-Amelia claim seriously, instead of leaving it mothballed courtesy of historical
dictum obfuscations. It was also the first to display photos of the 'different' Irene Craigimle Bolams and signature comparisons
excerpted from my 2002 forensic study. For decades before he passed away in 2007, Reineck had been considered a top AE researcher
and was a long time Gervais collaborator. Since 1998 I was proud to know him and call him my friend. Joe Gervais had introduced
me to him. Reineck believed Earhart and Noonan went down at Mili atoll of the lower Marshalls Rattak chain, where after a
few days they found themselves in the hands of Japan's Naval Authority. He told me my forensic study and investigative research
analysis (that I included a duplicate sending of to him in late 2002,) caused him to finally accept and believe with certainty
how Earhart somehow made her way back to the U.S. newly re-identified as Irene Craigmile. His 1991 taped interviews with Monsignor
James Francis Kelley, Helen Barber, and Donald Dekoster are essential when it comes to understanding the Irene-Amelia conveyance.
For use in his book Colonel Reineck referenced my label of 'the Gervais-Irene' for Irene-Amelia, after I reminded him 'Brussels
sprouts' were named for 'Brussels.' He liked that, especially because it paid tribute to his good friend, Joe Gervais
who first recognized her for who she used to be in 1965. He errantly referenced myself as a member of the Amelia Earhart Society
that I never was, although Colonel Reineck himself had been a long time prominent AES member until the publication of his
book caused him to fall out of favor there. (Bill Prymak, the President of the Amelia Earhart Society since 1989 has forever
refused to endorse any researchers who support and/or try to advance the Irene-Amelia truth.) The Colonel initially asked
me to co-author his book, except I did not agree with his theorized logic that described how Amelia ended up missing. But
he was greatly appreciated by myself as a research collaborator, and he freely shared his research information with me just
as Gervais always did. Colonel Reineck was also a true WWII hero who flew the last missions over Tokyo just prior to VJ Day.
Legerdemain by Dave Bowman, Authorhouse-2005, revised 2007:
David Bowman's 2005 Authorhouse book called Legerdemain serves as a comprehensive history of Amelia
Earhart's disappearance and its years of curious aftermath. Mr. Bowman is a member of the Amelia Earhart Society, the group
known for being 'non committal' when it comes to expressing a certain viewpoint on what really happened to Amelia. I had not
met him when he contacted me in 2004 requesting permission to feature a sample from my forensic study on his book's cover.
He did so, duly crediting me on the jacket flap. Legerdemain draws no conclusions. I was surprised later, and found it hard
to agree with the way Joe Gervais, Rollin Reineck, and myself were referenced in the revised edition by adversaries. Those
who supported the long held Joe Gervais 'Amelia changed her name to Irene' claim were shunned by Amelia Earhart Society President
Bill Prymak and others who were sedulously devoted to him. The harsh criticism newly appeared in a thirty page span between
pages 363 and 393, with no counterpoint response published, let alone sought at all by Mr. Bowman. The book also mis-identified
credit on a portion of my transparent overlay samples. If anything though, Legerdemain marks the ongoing effort to leave the
Earhart forensic truth as a topic of debate, as opposed to something that was basically figured out by 2002, three decades
after the Joe Gervais 'Irene-Amelia claim' first made national news. (After 1970 the Gervais claim was buried and forgotten
by U. S. historical dictum guiding forces.) Legerdemain also incorrectly labeled myself as a past AES member. Once more, I
was never a member of the Amelia Earhart Society. I was never interested in joining the AES, and was always an independent
researcher only. Bill Prymak, as the AES President does help to control the sway of the media, and therefore the public attitude
towards all Irene-Amelia efforts and support. No doubt because of my many years of devotion to the now late Joe Gervais, and
my long term support of his four-decades worth of Earhart investigative research, my person is consitently singled out by
both TIGHAR and AES constituents. However, such is life in the world of Amelia Earhart research. Self-proclaimed 'important'
Earhart research people exist out there, namely Elgen Long, Richard Gillespie, and Bill Prymak. They appear to operate from
a stance of keeping the American public guessing by misinformation distribution, when it comes to the most important facts
that have long characterized the Irene-Amelia truths. Some feel, because of their individual inside tracks along with
their wealth and upper echelon influence, they serve some 'deemed necessary' function of steering the public away from the
Irene-Amelia reality. Curious though, and noteworthy as well, since the 1970s not one of them has ever disproved the Irene-Amelia
claim.
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NOTE: Below find a few published books either authored by, or strongly
influenced by high-profile individuals who historically opposed the Irene-Amelia truth becoming publicly accepted information.
Recall though, all of the authors below represent mere private citizens who set out to capitalize egotistically and/or financially
by way of exploiting Amelia Earhart's legendary fame. Yet the Irene-Amelia truth still remained through any and all efforts
made to dispute it, and it was never disavowed (even while he was in the cross-hairs of his various combatants) by World War
Two hero Joe Gervais, from the time he first recognized the Irene he met in 1965 as having been the former Amelia Earhart...
to when he passed away forty years later in 2005. In any case, the following well-to-do and influential 'private citizen'
individuals separately arose into view by the 1980s and 1990s, with their lobbied for 'inside track' efforts affording them
media attention. Be advised, none of them ever came close to offering an 'officially accepted' conclusion regarding the fate
of Amelia Earhart. They also offered completely different from each other theories, while individually claiming to sport the
best and most reliable information.
Amelia Earhart: The Mystery Solved by Elgen M. Long and Marie K. Long, Simon &
Schuster-2001
Elgen Long has received the most consistent 'Earhart Mystery'
media attention since the late 1970s. He all but ignored all previous investigative research findings, while claiming to have
calculated where Earhart's plane went down and sank in the Pacific. However, his various trips to find it and bring it back
came up empty. He was long time friends with Amelia's Sister, Muriel Earhart Morrissey... Muriel, who was also Zonta sister
friends with Irene-Amelia, AKA her former 'true sister' in the non-recognized historical sense. Hailing from the Reno, Nevada-Lake
Tahoe area, it was later learned Irene-Amelia had traveled there to 'meet with people' in the 1960s. (One photo of Irene-Amelia
taken in Reno shows her standing next to an unidentified catholic priest, another shows her standing on a downtown Reno street
amid various casino signs.) With Muriel's support and sometimes in his company, for years Mr. Long promoted what was also
the between-the-lines U. S. government preference for people to accept how Amelia Earhart 'simply crashed and sank and that
was it.' And so much is what Elgen and his wife, Marie's 2001 book conveyed. Nothing new, it marked the Earhart family's and
the original Irene Craigmile's family preferred viewpoint, as well as the 'traditionally safest' and most convenient solution
to an otherwise complicated historical issue. I met Elgen Long twice, in 2002 in Oakland and in 2004 at the annual Amelia
Earhart Festival held in Atchison, Kansas. I found him to be a very nice and charismatic fellow, even though I disagreed with
his ability to ignore and even obscure most all of the Briand, Gervais, and Goerner previously amassed investigative research
findings.
Amelia Earhart's Shoes: Is The Mystery Solved? by Thomas L. King, Randall S. Jacobsen,
Karen Ramey Burns, and Kenton Spading, Altamira Press, 2004
This
is one of two TIGHAR (The International Group of Historic Aircraft Recovery) supportive books. TIGHAR has received the second
highest amount of consistent 'Earhart mystery' media attention as compared to Elgen Long since the 1980s. The book's title
refers to a shoe heel found on Nikumororo Island of the Phoenix Islands group. The Authors claimed it came from one of Amelia's
shoes. (It was later proven to have not come from a shoe of Amelia's size.) As well, it was all but generally ignored by the
Authors, (evidently) how previous ship groundings and even an attempt at habitation on the island had no doubt accounted for
the various items they found there over time, and then tried to link to the Earhart flight; (a piece of plexiglass, a scrap
of aluminum, etc.) Plus the Navy had conducted a thorough fly-over search of the island just days after Earhart was reported
missing. TIGHAR initially cited anomalous post-loss radio signals heard to have supposedly come from the Island, as what caused
them to look there in the first place. They claimed Earhart and Noonan went down on the Island of Nikumororo (previously known
as 'Gardner Island') where they radioed for help for three days, before the tide came in and took their plane out to sea where
it sank in deep water, leaving them to die of starvation and thirst. As Irene-Amelia herself once wrote to a friend, "If
you believe this, you'll believe anything." Incidentally, and no surprise, the people who wrote this book never spoke
highly of Beyond 37's investigative research efforts.
Finding Amelia: The True Story of the Earhart Disappearance
by Ric Gillespie, US Naval Institute Press-2006
Richard Gillespie self founded the TIGHAR organization
back in the 1980s. In 1990 Life Magazine reported his claim that he had 'solved the mystery.' Of course he had not, his misleading
claim notwithstanding. He's probably appeared on more TV shows than anyone else promoting his initially self-propelled Nikumororo
theory later advocated by the book 'Amelia Earhart's Shoes,' co-authored by four sedulous devotees of his. He followed their
effort with this one of his own the following year, 'Finding Amelia.' The fact that the U.S. Naval Institute Press at all
published it might hint at one to understand how far the U.S. Navy itself prefers to steer away from having to address the
more substantial amount of authenticated controversial Earhart investigative research. Note: Both Elgen Long's and Richard
Gillespie's claims are considered 'safe history offers' through the eyes of the U.S. Government and national media sources,
when compared to the previous works of Briand, Gervais, and Goerner..., and of course the 1965 spoken words of Admiral Chester
Nimitz. (See the Home page 'Amelia at the microphone' photo link.) I have bantered a time or two with Ric Gillespie over the
years. He has described those who endorse the words of Admiral Nimitz about Earhart
to his TIGHAR club members as 'people from a dark, cold, and desolate planet called Conspiritar.' Beyond
37' disagrees there was a conspiracy.
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