A startling new revelation about Amelia Earhart tells a different story of her demise

Where in the world is Carmen - um - Amelia Earhart?

amelia earhart photo
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Where in the world is Carmen - um - Amelia Earhart?

Words by Caitlin Gallagher

From the editors of HelloGiggles

The legend of Amelia Earhart has lived on, not only due to her many contributions to flight and feminism, but because of the mystery surrounding her death. As for the latest theory surrounding Amelia Earhart’s death, it’s a whopper — and comes with potential photographic evidence.

As PEOPLE reported, the History Channel and former executive assistant director of the FBI, Shawn Henry, are claiming a recently discovered photo shows Amelia Earhart alive after she disappeared in 1937. Since it has long been presumed that she died when she went missing, this new photo of Earhart is blowing people’s minds (quite understandably).

In 1937, Earhart was attempting to fly around the world in her airplane, the Lockheed Electra. On July 2nd, she took off from Papua New Guinea to Howland Island with her navigator Fred Noonan. The two of them were never seen again, and it was assumed her plane had crashed and the pair had died.

But theories about Earhart’s disappearance have prevailed and the History Channel’s photo may show that instead of dying, Earhart and Noonan survived and were later captured by the Japanese.

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The photo shows a woman from behind, sitting on the dock, that could be Earhart. And a man standing by a sign that could be Noonan.

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Another piece of potential evidence? The boat on the far right of the photo appears to be towing something — possibly Earhart’s Lockheed Electra.

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NBC reported how the towed barge is 38-feet-long — the same length as Earhart’s plane.

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Of course, this news broke the internet, with people astounded at how what they were taught about Earhart in school could be all wrong.

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Once the initial surprise settled, people on Twitter also had fun with this breaking story. Like, comparing it to the other news of the day, of Rob Kardashian and Blac Chyna.

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Some used it to mock New Jersey Governor Chris Christie with his beach photo, after he shut down New Jersey state beaches:

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Others embraced additional pop culture references, like from Friends:

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A Night at the Roxbury:

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… and Gone Girl:

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And someone even saw it in her dreams:

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While we’re still a bit skeptical, you can see what you think about the photo’s legitimacy when the History Channel airs its two-hour documentary Amelia Earhart: The Lost Evidence on Sunday, July 9 at 9 p.m. ET.

Until then, let the conspiracy theories continue!

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