|
As
time passed a variety of rumors surfaced
pertaining to Amelia Earhart's life story. And though the National Geographic Society's recent coverage of the Amelia Earhart controversy was limited, after considering the information below it should be easy to notice
how the 'official' historical dictum jury still remains silent. Perhaps the most prevalent rumor is one where the public was supposed to be told
a different truth about Earhart's fate, yet because it wasn't a different truth must not exist. It appears however, both Amelia's
sister Muriel and select friends and family worked hard to keep myriad stories about Amelia from being publicly regarded.
And still today the likes of Bill Prymak of the Amelia Earhart Society, Richard Gillespie of TIGHAR, and Elgen Long of Nauticos;
heads of Earhart Mystery 'cottage industries' ideal for news story detours, (in line with the preference of convention) shows
how the truth about Earhart's fate was destined to remain obfuscated through the media. Anyway, below the photo panels a list of long held 'rumors' is followed by a brief description of each. Take a look:
|
| Orville Wright & Amelia Earhart |
|
|
|
| Amelia Earhart, age twenty-six. |
|
| 1923 into a mirror self-photo portrait. She would become famous in 1928. |
|
| We don't want to believe this, do we? |
|
| It would only complicate matters, wouldn't it? |
|
| Notice wings below left shoulder. |
|
| The Gervais-Irene |
|
|
| February, 1978 |
|
1.) The 'New Jersey Housewife' Rumor 2.) The 'SPY' Rumor 3.)
The 'She Was A Tokyo Rose' Rumor 4.) The 'She
Lived In The Imperial Palace In Tokyo With Emperor
Hirohito During The War' Rumor 5.)
The 'She Taught Improved English To Isoroku Yamamoto In Boston' Rumor 6.) The 'Howard Hughes Traded His H-1 Racer
Plans To Help Japan Build Its Zero Fighter In Exchange For Her Safety' Rumor 7.) The 'Love to Mother' Telegram Rumor
8.) The 'She Was Abducted By Aliens' Rumor 9.) The 'She Became a Prostitute in Japan' Rumor
10.) The 'She Was A Lesbian' Rumor 11.) The 'She Was Pregnant When She Left' Rumor
The 'New Jersey
Housewife' Rumor The Gervais-Irene
started this rumor herself, no doubt to throw a curve. To the press in 1970 she said, "I'm just a New Jersey housewife."
Yet, was she really 'just a New Jersey Housewife?' To the extent she was married to British MI6 operative Guy Bolam from 1958
until he died in 1970, and together they owned three homes in the United States, including a house in New Jersey she considered
her main residence, in a way she was. Yet the Gervais-Irene (AKA the 1945-1982 identified Irene Craigmile Bolam) in reality
was a very important and 'enigmatic' person who very few came to know all that well. Among her attributes she was a distinguished
Wings Club member, a Bank Vice President, she knew NASA astronauts, she was an International Relations Chairman for the Long
Island Zonta chapter, (She spoke AE's same variety of foreign languages) she also traveled the world throughout the 1960s
and 1970s, (to include trips to Japan where she maintained several friendships) and she was listed as the Corporate President
of Radio Luxembourg in Europe in the 1970s too. So New Jersey housewife or not, she was inordinately wealthy and worldly,
and yes... a veritable enigma. Or as her survived brother in law, John Bolam told the Associated Press in 2002, "She
was not an ordinary housewife as she claimed. She was influential, knew many well placed people and was well traveled."
Recall 1970 was five years after Joe Gervais
believed he recognized her. So she also offered a present-tense denial of "I am not Amelia Earhart" to the press
then, in response to the just released McGraw-Hill book, Amelia Earhart Lives.
After she threw in, "I'm just a New Jersey housewife," ever since then, with some help from the news media,it became
a standing joke, 'Amelia Earhart survived and became a New Jersey housewife.'
Oddly enough, she wouldn't have really 'lied'
to the public in her present tense denial of herself as Amelia Earhart. After all, in theory she had changed her name to 'Irene
Craigmile' after as Amelia Earhart, she had turned up missing in 1937. So for her to say "I am not Amelia Earhart"
in 1970 would have actually been true. Or in 1979, as Monsignor Kelley mentioned about his long time friend Irene, by the
1960s she "barely recognized herself as Amelia anymore," and after World War Two she "didn't want to be Amelia
anymore." The main point being; in 1965 it was Joe Gervais who met her and recognized her for who she used to be. She
never came forward to volunteer such information, nor would she ever have. And after Joe Gervais tried to contact her again
she was always sure to avoid him, with the exception of a letter response to him displaying handwriting exactly like Amelia's.
In such a letter she referred Gervais to two friends of hers, (who she had also known when she was Amelia) Viola Gentry and
Elmo Pickerill. About Viola and Elmo she included the following cryptic passage, "They each knew us both well as Amelia
Earhart and Irene Craigmile." And once again, correct in the present tense she also wrote,"I am not she." This long perpetuated rumor was never fully substantiated. Authors Fred Goerner, Joe Klaas, Randall Brink and a few
others found some compelling documentation in Washington DC during the research phases of their Earhart book efforts, but
nothing ever indicated Amelia Earhart's actual practice of, or engagement in espionage ever took place.
She was also rumored to have served as a kind of 'double agent,' supposedly with an obscure
link to communist Russia. This notion appeared to have no real foundation, other than as a baseless falsehood invented by
one Jerome Steigmann, who had so strongly derided the Joe Gervais 'Irene' discovery. (Mr. Steigmann also tried to suggest
how former Seton Hall University President, Monsignor James Francis Kelley's friendship with the Gervais-Irene was based on
the two having had a secret "forty-year love affair." Of course those who actually knew both Monsignor Kelley and
the Gervais-Irene saw it as a ridiculous, irresponsible suggestion. The Gervais-Irene would have no doubt sued Mr. Steigmann
as well.)
The 'She Was A Tokyo Rose' Rumor First introduced by a variety of World War Two soldiers who were stationed
in the Pacific, it does appear propaganda was steered their way to make them believe the American woman's voice they were
hearing give broadcasts over Japan's NHK radio airwaves was the survived Amelia Earhart's voice. Curious, a Japanese-American
UCLA student named Iva Toguri (D'Aquino) found herself stuck in Japan during a visit while Pearl Harbor occurred, and she
had no choice but to spend the duration of the war there. She admitted to doing broadcasts as 'Orphan Annie' during the war,
though in court she testified she was offered $2,000 to say she was 'the one and only Tokyo Rose' to the press after VJ Day,
and she accepted such an offer not knowing how she was incriminating herself by doing so. Amelia's last "closest friend,"
Jackie Cochran was later featured in a newspaper photo taken in Japan during Iva Toguri's arrest. Curious as well, during
Iva Toguri's trial in San Francisco in 1949, Amelia Earhart's Mother, Amy Otis Earhart attended the proceedings on a daily
basis. Iva was convicted then, but as his last official act President Gerald Ford finally pardoned Iva Toguri D'Aquino. The 'She Lived In The Imperial Palace In Tokyo With Emperor
Hirohito During The War' Rumor
This one was introduced
in the form of a supposition via the 1970 book Amelia Earhart Lives. The idea
was implied where Amelia Earhart had taken up with Japan in order to receive favorable treatment and protection from Emperor
Hirohito during World War Two. It was further suggested the arrangement of her name change to Irene Craigmile was achieved
with the Emperor's omniscient regard and avowed secrecy. Where the latter may be true, it is highly doubtful Earhart ever
lived in the Imperial Palace. The 'She Taught Improved
English To Isoroku Yamamoto In Boston' Rumor Joe Gervais researched this and claimed his information about it was inadvertently turned over by his lawyers to
the New York State Supreme Court, while he and McGraw-Hill were being sued from 1970 to 1975. Joe Gervais professed to have
learned, how the Harvard educated Isoroku Yamamoto, (who would go on to chiefly orchestrate the Pearl Harbor attack and become
Japan's most famous World War Two Admiral) was in Boston in 1925 at the same time Amelia was. Not only that, he claimed Yamamoto
was actually a student of Amelia Earhart's when she taught an 'Improved English' Harvard extension night course to foreign
students. Later attempts to substantiate his claim failed, although it is true Earhart did teach such a course, and Yamamoto
was a student at Harvard before relocating to Washington in 1926 where he served as a Japanese diplomat. It was and is certain,
both Yamamoto and Hirohito were well aware of who Amelia Earhart was as she had become a loved hero in Japan in the 1930s
just like Babe Ruth did. It's also certain, how in July of 1937 neither Hirohito nor Yamamoto would have let any harm come
to Amelia Earhart; and if she would have requested private asylum as a world politics dissident, there's a fair chance they
would have quietly allowed, arranged, and even welcomed such a thing for her, being who she was. The 'Howard Hughes Traded His H-1 Racer Plans To Help Japan Build Its Zero
Fighter In Exchange For Her Safety' Rumor
This was also introduced as a question in the 1970 book Amelia Earhart Lives by Joe Klaas. There never appeared to be certain truth to it though. It was later revealed
how in 1935-36 Japan was in stride with the same style of aircraft Hughes was developing anyway. Of course it is likely Japan
did replicate aspects of the Hughes H-1 racer for its Zero as the planes were quite similar; but it was fairly ludicrous to
suggest Hughes traded anything to Japan for Earhart's safe keeping. It is true though, friends Paul Mantz, Jackie Cochran,
and Amelia Earhart all knew Howard Hughes. But then most anyone who was anybody in American aviation in the mid-1930s either
knew, or wanted to know Howard Hughes. On the other hand and seemingly not including any Howard Hughes' involvement, two years
after Amelia Earhart Lives had mentioned one of the Japanese Zero plane designers
in one Jiro Hirakoshi, it was conveyed how Amelia had known Mr. Hirakoshi at a Garden City, Long Island avionics plant in
1935-36 where he had worked for awhile in the U. S. It was further mentioned how Mr. Hirakoshi had returned to Japan approximate
to the time Amelia left on her world flight. This was in accordance to information found in a secured State Department file,
confidently revealed ("leaked") to Joe Gervais in 1972 by State Department employee Arthur Dewayne Gibson of Verdunville,
West Virginia. The '1946' dated file was labeled "Earhart, Amelia; Special War
Problems," and it also described how Amelia met up with Mr. Hirakoshi again to help with "Zero wind tunnel
tests" in Japan in 1938. Needless to say, 1938 would mark a year after Amelia disappeared without a trace. Of course
no official comment was ever offered. A point to keep in mind, by 1972 first hand or government authentication on this was
all but impossible to obtain. Yet after Gervais spoke to and corresponded with Arthur Dewayne Gibson he found him to be an
upstanding family man living in his later years, who truly was still employed at the State Department on a semi-retired basis.
Later in 1990, three years after another
State Department employee by the name of Patricia Morton (as reported on by NBC) discovered an additional declassified file
labeled "Earhart, Amelia; Special War Problems" containing documentation
dated as late as 1945, the office of Secretary of State James Baker did confirm in writing such a file had existed. (But only
after Baker's office was pressed by an official request letter from Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii about it.) However, nothing
was mentioned about the file's contents or why such a "Special War Problems file" on Amelia Earhart ever came to
exist. It seemed a bit odd, since Earhart was a person who was described to have "disappeared" two years before
the war began. Among his earlier exchanges
with Gervais, Arthur Gibson also specified how the file he found indicated Amelia's August 19, 1939 request for Nipponese naturalization in the Imperial Mandate Islands, (just prior to Germany invading Poland.)
As well, according to Gibson the file contained a couple of photos of Amelia, to include at least one displaying her in front
of a Japanese test plane. All of this may sound absurd on the surface, although do recall how Jackie Cochran, who was the
first American woman to enter Japan after World War Two, (again, Jackie asserted herself to have been "closer to Amelia
than anyone else" during the year long period before Amelia left on her world flight in 1937) yes, Cochran specified
in her 1953 book The Stars At Noon how she "found several files on Amelia
Earhart" in Tokyo's Dai Ichi building after being granted special access right after VJ Day. However said files or their
contents never made it into the public realm. The 'Love to Mother' Telegram Rumor
Believe it or not, some still feel this may not resemble a rumor so much. As the story goes, in
1987 State Department employee, Patricia Morton found a declassified file docket labeled "Earhart, Amelia; Special War Problems" still archived at the State Department. In it Ms. Morton found
a pair of August and September of 1945 speedletter telegrams, one sent to Earhart's former husband George Putnam, and the
other was Putnam's reply from a few weeks later. The telegram to Putnam came from a Weihsien, China 'Japanese run' civilian
internment camp just after VJ Day. It had been forwarded through Chungking, China, U. S. military headquarters there during
WWII. It was suggested by Earhart's family as recently as 2004 how Jackie Cochran may have had something to do with making
sure the telegram made it out; and Earhart Author, Randall Brink had found some information to side with such an opinion.
Other enthusiasts offered how the message was written and sent by one Ahmad Kammal, a fellow Putnam had known who indeed had
been interned at the Weihsien camp. This may have been so, but thus far no one has explained the label on the file: "Earhart, Amelia; Special War Problems" that again, in 1990 Secretary of State
James Baker's office did confirm the reality of. The 'consternation causing' telegram to Putnam read: "Camp liberated,
all well, volumes to tell, love to mother." As speedletter telegrams were limited to ten words the sender's name was
often left out. Curious as well, a former OSS Lieutenant by the name of James "Jess" Hannon who participated in
the post VJ Day liberation of the Weihsien camp, all but insisted he had seen and 'knew' a survived Amelia Earhart had been
sequestered there separately in private quarters in a 'sickly way' during the war's end. Hannon even went on to write a manuscript
about his experience concerning Weihsien and Earhart called 'Amelia Earhart Survived.' (Different from the Rollin Reineck
book of the same name.) Status quo Earhart "crashed and sank" traditionalists have fought tooth and nail against
the notion of the telegrams being at all relative to a survived Amelia Earhart. Official silence still prevailed over the
matter however, and in 1991 former Seton Hall University President, Monsignor James Francis Kelley did admit during a taped
interview that he had been part of the quietly survived Amelia's liberation process, and he was certain with his own words
as well, in describing how the Irene Craigmile Bolam he was good friends with after the war had actually been the 'survived'
former Ameia Earhart. The
'She Was Abducted By Aliens' Rumor Why not? The TV show Star Trek even put this idea into an episode it presented. Was she abducted and brought back
though? Did her age not change like in Close Encounters Of The Third Kind? Say what one will, some people do take this explanation
seriously. Beyond 37' however, stands by its simpler conclusion based on forensic comparisons and historical accounts . The 'She Became a Prostitute in Japan' Rumor
This one also emanated from Word War Two soldiers, apparently. Some claimed to
have heard that Amelia had been reduced to selling herself in order to survive in Japan during the war years. The 'She Was A Lesbian' Rumor Because of her tomboy looks and her 'equal playing field for women' credo, it's easy to see how
this rumor came to exist. Still, where Amelia was linked romantically and intellectually to different men both before and
after she became famous, (Lloyd Royer, Sam Chapman, Carl Harper, George Putnam, Gene Vidal, Paul Mantz, Geoffrey Bainbridge...)
never did any real information surface that left her to be justifiably described as "a lesbian." Indeed, her person
left it hard to really ascertain the truth about her sex life habit(s). She was so private there. And from silence comes enigma,
and from enigma rumors start; 'maybe she was a lesbian,' or 'maybe she was a hermaphrodite.' Not so fast. Moreover, she was
just a woman who liked the challenge of flying planes higher and farther than anyone else, and she managed to build a career
around it. The 'She Was Pregnant
When She Left' Rumor A rumor of Amelia
Earhart being pregnant when she left on her world flight did later surface, but it appeared to have been based on hear-say
from photographer Albert Bresnik. It is extremely unlikely Amelia Earhart was 'with child' before she left on her world flight.
No matter, Author Max Allan Collins still incorporated the idea into his 1998 historical novel about Amelia, Flying Blind. It does appear to have been the case however, where Amelia had given birth to a child out
of wedlock in 1924 and she somehow managed to conceal it with help from her Mother and Sister, to include throughout her fame
years from 1928 to 1937. And the strong probability appears, where the other woman who had been identified as Irene Craigmile
Bolam so prominently in 1982, with photo forgeries employed to do so by the 1982 New Jersey Tribune, may have in life been
the non-recognized biological daughter of Amelia Earhart, most likely born in Canada. We know the Gervais-Irene knew her,
and the 1934 born Son of the original Irene Craigmile also recognized her. This would mean, by the time the other 'younger
looking' woman appeared identified as "The late Irene Bolam" on the cover of Irene's memorial dinner program (shown
below) she was fifty-eight years old, or, about as old as the woman seen in the cover photo image looked to be. The currently
being scrutinized by many, and already accepted by some theory became: The woman below was known as "Irene Jr."
as she was being reared by the original Irene Craigmile's family O'Crowley, who Amelia had known. And when the original Irene
no longer appeared, the woman below helped with the raising of the original Irene's Son while still in her teens, before turning
such a duty over to Irene-Amelia by the mid-1940s. One might suggest, 'it was all in the family.'
| Purposefully misidentified as Irene Bolam in 1982. |
|
| Rumormill aside, some feel this could be AE's non-recognized biological daughter shown at age 58. |
|
