By Tim Binnall
At a recent event in Saipan, two senior citizens recounted seeing famed aviatrix Amelia Earhart in the custody of Japanese forces back when they were children. According to a local media report, the gathering was sponsored by the backers of a proposed Earhart monument on the island which has been the source of considerable controversy in Saipan. Despite the ultimate fate of the lost pilot still being up for debate, the organization subscribes to the theory that she was captured by the Japanese after crashing her plane and wound up being brought to the island.
As Earhart watchers are well aware, this hypothesis has long been argued by researchers who point to eyewitnesses on Saipan that reported seeing Earthart following her disappearance. Alas, these first hand accounts, although documented by investigators over the years, have largely been lost to the sands of time as the individuals in question have passed away. And so the appearance by two of these witnesses in Saipan this past week is particularly noteworthy as it constituted a rather rare opportunity to hear their tales once more.
One of the people honored at the event was a 93-year-old woman named Josephine Blanco who, when she was 11 years old, purportedly saw Earhart on Saipan in 1937. Because it seems like nothing can ever be clear when it comes to the case of the lost aviatrix, Blanco's recollection of the event appeared to directly contradict an account of the sighting ascribed to her in a 2016 book. In that version, she was visiting a military base at a harbor in Saipan when she saw a plane crash and, subsequently, spotted Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan, who had, ostensibly, survived the unplanned landing.
However, at the event this week, Blanco said that she had actually been on her way to the site when she saw "a commotion in the area" and never even made it to the harbor, much less entered the military base. She also recalled only catching a glimpse of a woman's figure rather than looking Earhart and Noonan in the face, which is what has been written about her experience in the past. Even weirder, she claimed that her being at the location was mere happenstance and that she was not there with the intention of meeting anyone, which directly contradicts the earlier version of the story where she was bringing lunch to her brother-in-law who worked at the base.
Why Blanco's stories are so drastically different is confounding and curious to say the least. Nonetheless, she remains certain that she did see Earhart and assured the audience that her sister, who has since passed away, had a similar encounter. Meanwhile, a second witness appearing at this week's event, Joaquin Salas, had an equally-odd story on seeing Earhart on Saipan. According to him, the sighting took place in 1944, which is a rather whopping seven years after Earhart went missing.
In his case, Salas believes he saw Earhart in the custody of the Japanese military when they parked their truck in front of his home. Only eleven years old at the time, he remembers looking at the vehicle and seeing a blond woman with "one ribbon on her face, and her hands were tied." After lingering in front of his house for about an hour, the truck eventually departed, leaving Salas with an incredible story to tell, but sadly little more than that.
Whether Blanco and Salas truly saw Earhart in the custody of the Japanese remains a matter of conjecture, although both appear to be certain that they did. No doubt hoping to bolster their case for a monument dedicated to the legendary pilot, the organization behind the Earhart statute does as well. What's your take on the witnesses' stories? Let us know at the Coast to Coast AM Facebook page.