Researchers attempting to solve the mystery of missing aviatrix Amelia Earhart have produced a new study looking distress signals thought to have been sent by the pilot following her disappearance. The organization known as TIGHAR released their findings today, which would have been Earhart's 121st birthday. In their report, the group says that they analyzed over 100 curious radio signals which were reported in the days after Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan vanished and found that 57 of the calls appeared to be credible.
TIGHAR notes that these signals are somewhat controversial in the sense that they were "dismissed by authorities as having been hoaxes or misunderstandings" only after the search and rescue mission "failed to find any trace of the airplane or crew." Prior to that, the US Navy and Coast Guard had actually been using the calls as potential indicators of Earhart's location. And, since the manufacturer of Earhart's plane said that the calls could only have been made if the plane was on land, the legitimacy of the signals would confirm that Earhart did not simply crash into the water and perish.
As to what was contained in the calls, the details are rather tantalizing and may provide a glimpse of what Earhart and Noonan had to endure during their final days. Reported by a variety people who picked up the signals from different locations, the messages come together to tell something of a story in which Earhart's plane had crashed on an uninhabited island which caused a significant injury to Noonan and left the pair stranded and desperate for help. Chillingly, the last few calls thought to have come from Earhart warned those listening that the duo could not hold on much longer and, shortly thereafter, the messages stopped altogether.
Based on the time that the signals were sent, seemingly every evening over the course of about a week, TIGHAR speculates that Earhart's plane had been stuck in a position on an island beach where she could only access the radio during low tide. They also believe that their study bolster's the group's previous work which suggests that Earhart and Noonan crashed on the uninhabited Pacific island of Nikumaroro, which known as Gardner Island at the time of her disappearance. The organization has, in the past, scoured the island using forensic dogs and, earlier this year, made headlines with a study surrounding bones found at the site which were determined by an expert to have been those of the famed pilot.