There was also an interview of an old woman who claimed that there had been a lot of talk in the Japanese POW camp where she lived about a pilot woman who was captured.
Eyewitness and anecdotal testimony is notoriously unreliable and as such is considered basically worthless, scientifically speaking (as a side note, courts really should stop placing such high importance on witnesses. It's been demonstrated time and time again that witnesses are unreliable, for a multitude of reasons)
But that's not really relevant anyway as my point is really about this photo everyone's lost their shit over specifically. It could literally be anyone in the picture. Old woman or not, this picture is basically nothing. Admittedly the man on the left does sort of look like he
could be non-asian, but it's really hard to tell as most of his face is in total shadow and can't be seen. The person with their back to the camera sitting down could be Earhart sure, but it could be anyone else too. All you can say for sure is it's someone of a relatively slight build with short hair...like all the Japanese men in the photo.
Further more, were the Japanese of that era known for letting their POW's and other prisoners sit casually on the end of piers paddling their feet in public places, unshackled and without armed guards while they pose for photos? The 1930's Japan I've heard about wasn't exactly well known for their kind, almost lackadaisical treatment of captives. For that matter, does any country, ever, treat their prisoners like this? Especially foreign ones who, presumably, they assume to be spies?
And yeah, no one in the pic looks like military so you might say it's before they were captured. But:
A) they weren't injured at all in the crash?
B) An American plane crashes in the Marshal Islands in the late 30's and the military aren't on the scene almost immediately? Seems unlikely to me.
C) two Americans crash in the Marshall Islands in the late 30s and they just go and chill by the pier whilst someone takes photos? Again, seems unlikely. Or at least idiotic, and I don't think Earhart was an idiot.
This pic actually raises more questions than it answers and requires a lot of filling in the gaps with "well maybe...", which is not a good sign for "proof".
Of course this doesn't mean they died in the crash or that the, apparently many, locals who say they they were on the island are necessarily wrong. I'm just saying this photo is not proof of anything either way and does not settle the matter. It can, and should, be ignored: you need way way better evidence than this before drawing any conclusion.
Also, I don't consider marketing stunts for History Channel shows to be the best sources of evidence, call me mad.
Edit: Turns out the Japanese have basically denied ever having Earhart in custody, or at least said they have no knowledge of it. Seems odd for the current day gov to lie about it now.
