10/18/2026
We love islands. Especially the ones with a good mystery.
Somewhere in the South Pacific sits a remote, uninhabited island crawling with giant coconut crabs. And right now, a team of researchers is there trying to solve one of the greatest mysteries in aviation history.
In 1937, Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan vanished while attempting to fly around the world.
89 years later, the search has led to Nikumaroro, a tiny coral atoll where some researchers believe the pair may have landed and survived for a time.
Here's where it gets interesting.
A mysterious object was identified in the island's lagoon using satellite imagery. Researchers later found what appears to be the same object in aerial photographs taken in 1938, just one year after Earhart disappeared.
Could it be her missing Lockheed Electra? Maybe. Could it be a fallen tree? Also maybe.
And then there are the coconut crabs.
These enormous creatures can span three feet across, eat just about anything, and have even inspired theories about what happened to Earhart and Noonan's remains. There's no proof of that, but the crabs themselves are very real.
As of October 16, rough seas have complicated the expedition, and researchers have extended their stay.
Nearly nine decades later, we still don't know exactly what happened to Amelia Earhart.
But somewhere on a tiny island in the Pacific, we might be getting closer.
We love a good island story. What's your theory? 🏝️
Read more: https://amelia.prf.org/
