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2020 Amelia Earhart
Vision
This website was
launched in 2007, amid an in-progress 'forensic research study' being conducted by an investigative journalist. It profiles
the first-ever objective analysis of Amelia Earhart's
1937 'disappearance' and 'missing person case' to compare two women pilots from the 1930s; Amelia Earhart and Irene O'Crowley
Craigmile. During the past two decades
the now completed study became recognized as the most comprehensive evaluation of Amelia Earhart's failed world-flight attempt
to date. It is also the first to offer a bona fide forensic answer to what became of Amelia.
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Above & combined with Amelia Earhart below:
The post-World War Two only,
Irene O'Crowley Craigmile.
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Above & enhanced below: The original Irene O'Crowley Craigmile. This once aspiring pilot was acquainted with Amelia Earhart. Here she is shown with her first husband in 1930, a civil engineer named, 'Charles James Craigmile.'
Below: The
original Irene O'Crowley Craigmile is
shown in 1934 with her son. History has it that after Charles Craigmile died, she married Guy Bolam of England in 1958. History is inaccurate here. This Irene O'Crowley Craigmile was never married to Guy Bolam, although she once knew the person who was, shown on the left, who used her same identity after World War Two.
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| From Charles J. Craigmile's obituary |
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To understand
the significance of the new millennium forensic study--and the images above--it is essential to revisit a controversial story that made national news some fifty-years ago:
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Above:
A newspaper photo shows the post-World War Two only, Irene O'Crowley Craigmile-Bolam in November of 1970.
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Most people who heard about this story chalked it up as a hoax.
It wasn't a hoax. Before the surname of
'Bolam' was added to it in 1958, the name of 'Irene O'Crowley Craigmile' had been attributed to a 1930s' pilot who had flown
with Amelia Earhart. Except by the time World War Two began, the original Irene O'Crowley Craigmile no longer appeared
in plain view. The study displays this reality in no uncertain terms. It was through her aunt,
a prominent attorney by the name of Irene Rutherford O'Crowley,
that the original Irene O'Crowley Craigmile and Amelia became acquainted with each other. (Amelia had earlier befriended the
original Irene's attorney-aunt through the Zonta organization.)
The story about the original Irene O'Crowley Craigmile's
identity being reapplied to the former Amelia Earhart, began to take form in the mid-1960s. It
was based on a well researched study when it surfaced in 1970--before
it swiftly went away from the public
mindset--something
initially propelled by the instant denial from the woman
in question, the post-World War Two only Irene O'Crowley Craigmile-Bolam, shown in the above-right news photo. Presently, if anyone has a hard time believing, accepting, or
recognizing that the person shown refuting the claim in the above news photo was the former
Amelia Earhart--keep going. You soon will recognize it. The analysis results left it obvious.
To account for why she refused to admit her past identity, after avoiding direct interaction with the investigator who first realized--and then became intent on outing her for who she used to be--the former Amelia Earhart chose to lay-low and prepare a press conference to be held after the book inspired by
the investigator's research, Amelia Earhart Lives, by Joe Klaas, was published. True to her objective, as soon as it
was released into the marketplace, during the short but forceful press conference she held at the famous Time-Life Building in New York
City, the post-World War Two only Irene O'Crowley Craigmile-Bolam sternly denounced the book's contents, most specifically where
it included the implication that she was the survived Amelia Earhart living under an assumed identity. Then after
fielding no questions, she marched out of the room. She was angry, and upset for a long time afterward. Who could
blame her? No one knew what she went through before she became known as Irene and she was not about to start explaining it
to anybody. Conversely, had she admitted her true past then, such an explanation and more would have been demanded of her.
By virtue
of the Twenty-First Century forensic analysis results, the
first Irene-Amelia comparison study on record, any further it is undeniable that the person refuting her past in the above photo
used to be known as, Amelia Earhart
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Above left, Amelia; above right, she is combined with her later life self as, 'Irene'.
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Amelia as Irene at her 1970 press conference. She had no other choice but to deny her famous past.
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Senator Hiram Bingham & Amelia Earhart
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Above: Distinguished and proud with her trademark wings and pearls is the post-World
War Two only, 'Irene O'Crowley
Craigmile'. (Surname 'Bolam'
added in 1958.) She was identified
nowhere as 'Irene' prior to the end of
World War Two. During the post-war era she emerged from out of the blue working at
a bank in Mineola, New York, close to the Long Island airfield where she chartered the 99's women's flying organization seventeen years earlier. Anymore it is obvious, she was not the original, Irene O'Crowley Craigmile. Rather, she was the former Amelia Earhart.
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Shirley Dobson Gilroy's classic 1985, "artistic
tribute to Amelia Earhart"
book, Amelia / Pilot In Pearls
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It may seem
hard to decipher and it proved hard to explain as well, but today, people who do not recognize the obvious human plurality
discovered about Irene O'Crowley Craigmile, and how Amelia
Earhart played into it by becoming further known as, 'Irene O'Crowley Craigmile' after World War Two, have either been misinformed
or are in denial when it comes to the true, life-long physical history of Amelia Earhart's person. Was her name change
the result of a well orchestrated, Federal Witness Protection Program? More than likely, yes. A link to former FBI Director,
J. Edgar Hoover's involvement with Amelia's well-cloaked existence in the United States from the mid-1940s on until he died in 1972, is noticeable. His World
War Two FBI file on Amelia Earhart featured several accounts of her ongoing existence during the war. This, when coupled with his late war-time and post-war years alliance with Monsignor James Francis Kelley, offers some insight.
"He did speak of knowing Amelia Earhart but I never met her in his company." A
quote from Monsignor Thomas Ivory of West Orange, New Jersey, a past friend of Monsignor Kelley's who presided over his 1996
funeral.
Above: Monsignor James Francis Kelley and Archbishop Thomas
Walsh award FBI Director, J. Edgar Hoover with an LLD degree in 1944. A few months after World War Two ended, J. Edgar Hoover
awarded Monsignor Kelley a commendation for assistance he had rendered to the Department of Justice.
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Rockville, Illinois TV news reporter, Merrill 'Dean'
Magley, and his wife, Carol, visited and spoke at length with Monsignor James Francis Kelley in 1987, at the Monsignor's Rumson,
New Jersey home. After doing so, both were convinced the post-World War Two only Irene O'Crowley Craigmile-Bolam
used to be known as, 'Amelia Earhart.'
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"After all she had been through, she didn't want to be the famous
Amelia Earhart anymore." Monsignor James Francis Kelley as spoken
to reporter Merrill Dean Magley in 1987.
Above left: A 1982 newspaper article quotes Monsignor
James Francis Kelley (1902-1996) in reference to his later life close friend, the post-World
War Two only, Irene O'Crowley Craigmile-Bolam, AKA the former Amelia Earhart, who he is pictured
with on the right in 1978. During the last decade of his life, Father Kelley admitted to select individuals
that he had helped with Amelia's return to the U.S. and he was instrumental with the process of her assuming the left over
identity of Irene O'Crowley Craigmile. He also mentioned he served as a post-war 'spiritual guide' for her.
A
past president of Seton Hall College who came to know many famous people during the course of his lifetime, Father Kelley
held PhD's in philosophy and psychology. Yet from the time he disclosed what he did about Amelia, dissenters and non-believers
tried to claim later life senility caused him to 'make up' what he did about his long time friend, Irene O'Crowley Craigmile.
(The post-war only.) People who knew him well, however, spoke of how Father Kelley was 'lucid' when he described
what he did to them about Amelia Earhart's hidden post-loss survival and subsequent identity change.
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Monsignor James Francis Kelley introduces LPGA golfer, Janey Blalock to Pope Paul VI
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Monsignor Kelley with then New Jersey Governor Brendan Byrne and his wife, Jean; Commissioner of Baseball Bowie Kuhn and his wife, Luisa; and the LPGA's, Sandra Palmer.
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Monsignor Kelley with First Lady Betty Ford and Marge Montana
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From above, the 'sports figures' and
LPGA connection to Monsignor Kelley is worth recalling here. Father Kelley had been a friend of LPGA promoter, Peter Busatti,
and he introduced Irene to Mr. Bussatti and famous lady golfers as well. (See the 'hot air balloon'
and 'Busatti' photos directly below.) Amelia's last residence before she went missing backed up to
a golf course fairway in Toluca Lake of North Hollywood, California. As well, when she was known as 'Irene' in the 1970s,
her New Jersey home backed up to a golf course fairway that belonged to the Forsgate Country Club that she was known to frequent,
and where LPGA tournaments sometimes took place.
The above 'hot air balloon' newspaper photo from 1980, features the
post-World War Two only, Irene O'Crowley Craigmile-Bolam, accompanied by famous golfer, Kathy Whitworth.
Especially in the 1970s, when she was simply known as 'Irene' to friends of hers, the former Amelia Earhart was respected
and admired by people in high places worldwide, although those same people never talked about her much in public.
"All the admirals and generals seemed to know her." LPGA promoter, Peter Bussatti, in 1982, comments above about
his friend, the post-World War Two only Irene O'Crowley Craigmile-Bolam, who used to be known as, 'Amelia Earhart.' Mr. Busatti was well liked by famous LPGA
golfers, including Nancy Lopez, and as noted, Sandra Palmer, Janey Blaylock, and Kathy Whitworth. His death from cancer in
1988 when he was only 57, was considered a great loss to the LPGA community. Below: The post-war only Irene with LPGA promoter,
Peter Busatti in 1975
Above left, the post-World War
Two only Irene O'Crowley Craigmile; Above center, the post-war only Irene & Amelia superimposed;
Above right, a profile photo of Amelia Earhart.
"Peter
Busatti said he accompanied Mrs. Bolam to the Wings Club in New York City
on one occasion. He said a full length portrait of Amelia Earhart hangs in the room dedicated in her honor. ""It
was a dead ringer for Irene,"" he said. ""Sometimes I thought she was, sometimes I thought
she wasn't. Once when I asked her directly she replied, "When I die you'll find out,"" Busatti said. At a Wings Club event in Washington, Busatti
mentioned how, ""All the admirals and generals seemed to know her."" Excerpted from a 1982 New Jersey
News Tribune article where when interviewed, Mr. Busatti openly commented about his suspicion that
his 1970s' & 80s' friend, the post-World War Two only Irene O'Crowley Craigmile-Bolam, used to be known as, "Amelia
Earhart."
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Tod Swindell
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"After her husband,
Charles Craigmile, tragically died in 1931, the newly-widowed original Irene O'Crowley Craigmile (above) began learning to be a pilot
in October of 1932. She earned her license in May of 1933, but realized she was pregnant out of wedlock right after doing
so. She hardly flew again
after that, having experienced a 'shotgun
marriage' that quickly failed after she gave birth to her son in 1934, and she didn't renew her pilot's license beyond
1936. Compared to Amelia and Viola Gentry, who were both acquainted with her, she was barely heard of as a pilot back then
either. She was never a 99's member like they were and it would have been unrealistic for her to later become a member of
the affluent New York Wings Club, let alone be distinguished like royalty there among her peers. Contrarily, the people who
knew the post-World War Two only Irene O'Crowley Craigmile as the former Amelia Earhart, and
indeed there were some who did, were always mindful and respectful of who she used to be. Recall as well, until it made national
news in 1970, hardly a soul had ever heard the name, 'Irene O'Crowley Craigmile' before, as was the intention." Tod
Swindell
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After the war, J. Edgar Hoover awarded a commendation medal to Monsignor
James Francis Kelley for his service to his country. Father Kelley's 1987 published memoirs mentioned the award but did not
provide details for why he received it.
The answer ended up being revealed by Kelley himself. During a recorded interview conducted
in 1991, Father Kelley mentioned to Earhart investigator, Rollin C. Reineck, that he had written a chapter in his memoirs
about his post-war experiences with Amelia Earhart and her becoming known as 'Irene' for the remainder of her days, except
he added it had been omitted from the final version. The explanation found in his book under its cover image below, likely
explains why the decision was made to leave it out, and why any mention of Amelia or his later life close friendship with
her when she was known as Irene was left out as well:
In his 1987 published memoirs, Monsignor James
Francis Kelley included the following passage in his "My Reasons For Writing This Book" chapter that begins on
page 10: "My
reason for not wanting anyone else to do my story was that I knew many of my files contained some very personal and intimate
stories about many people, prominent nationally and internationally. I felt that to allow someone else to have access to
these documents could result in the publication of data about people who could not defend themselves." Below, taken
from a September 17, 1991 tape-recorded interview with Monsignor Kelley conducted by former Air Force Colonel,
Rollin C. Reineck: COL. REINECK: We believe Jackie Cochran was sent to Japan to help bring Amelia
home. Are you aware of that?MSGR. KELLEY: Yes, I was involved with that. COL. REINECK:
If you have things of hers [Earhart's] I would like to see them. You are aware that she was Irene
Bolam?MSGR. KELLEY: What? COL. REINECK: Amelia Earhart was Irene Bolam?
MSGR. KELLEY: That's right, yes. [Further below, note another war-time commendation Monsignor Kelley received
from Henry P. Morgenthau Jr.] ~~~
Looking Back: Then and Now
Since 1970, and still to this day, the Smithsonian
Institution has continued to field the question of whether or not Amelia Earhart quietly survived her 1937 disappearance
and eventually changed her name. While it has always managed to fend off the curious with negative sounding replies, it
is worth noting the Smithsonian never examined the claim itself, nor was the claim ever disproved.
This is because the controversy over Amelia's ongoing existence
with a different name managed to avoid being forensically evaluated back then and therefore was never falsified.
Rather, the public was conditioned to believe it was a false claim by news media sources, Amelia Earhart's family, and the family
of the original Irene O'Crowley Craigmile. Hindsight shows it is hard to blame the Smithsonian for never taking the lead here. As a ward of the
U.S. federal government it is obliged to honor 'governmental protocol' where certain controversial subject matters are
concerned. Amelia Earhart's 1937 disappearance was one of them. As Dr. Tom Crouch of the Smithsonian's National Air and Space
Museum once put it, "We do not favor any particular Earhart mystery solving theory." If one looks at the past
track record of the Smithsonian's expressed viewpoints toward it, this is easy to discern.
Beyond the restriction placed on the Smithsonian that has long prevented it from independently investigating
the claim of Amelia Earhart's post-loss existence with a
different name, in the interim it was ascertained that the U.S. federal government had covered-up an unreported 'different
version' of Amelia Earhart's 1937 world flight ending by way of its executive branch. Note: "What that woman [Earhart], happened to her the last few minutes, I hope I've just got to never
make it public." These were the words of FDR right hand man, Henry P. Morgenthau Jr., concerning something else that
took place during Amelia Earhart's world flight ending and outcome the White House withheld from the public. Other revealing
quotes appeared adjacent to it in a 1938 dated, official White House transcript that surfaced four decades after Amelia
Earhart's famous world flight took place.
Above: Henry P. Morgenthau Jr. (left) and President Franklin
Roosevelt (right) were aware of a different version of Amelia Earhart's world flight ending they never made public.
The above excerpt came from the aforementioned 'official
White House transcript' dated May 13, 1938, nine months after Amelia Earhart went missing. Amelia was still considered a 'missing
person' at the time. The top paragraph features the end of a conversation between Henry P. Morgenthau Jr. and Eleanor Roosevelt's
secretary, Malvina Scheider. Miss Scheider had contacted Mr. Morgenthau about a letter sent to him by the First Lady expressing
the interest of individuals who were convinced Amelia survived her world flight outcome in Japan's mandate
islands--and they felt another search and rescue attempt on Amelia's behalf was in order. There were eight people present
at a White House meeting Morgenthau was holding at the time the above conversation took place, that was recorded by Dictaphone.
After his conversation with Miss Scheider ended, Morgenthau, who was FDR's Secretary of the Treasury and a long time personal
friend and confidant, turned to his Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, Stephen Gibbons, to help him qualify to the others
why the White House believed further searching for Amelia Earhart was pointless. Gibbons' "We have evidence that the
thing is all over, sure, terrible, it would be awful to make it public" response closed the door on further hope that
Amelia Earhart might still be found to those in attendance that day--even though whatever 'evidence' the
White House had, it was not Amelia Earhart's body. The main scuttlebutt had been that the 'last few minutes of Earhart's flight' Morgenthau
referred to concerned a relay suggesting Earhart and Noonan were intercepted and fired upon as they entered Japan's Marshall
Islands air space. The hushed White House understanding was the two had perished that way, even though there was no absolute
certainty such a thing was true. In any case, based on her conversation with Morgenthau, below
was Malvina Scheider's reply she forwarded to the First Lady:
Below, Malvina
"Tommy" Scheider on the left and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt on the right in 1936. Malvina Scheider's duties were
many; she was a close friend, personal advisor, gatekeeper, press secretary, and image protector for Mrs. Roosevelt. She made
her mark in the White House as the first, 'First Lady' staffer whose role was not limited to that of a social secretary.
A note
from Tod Swindell: The original response Malvina Scheider forwarded to Eleanor Roosevelt included words that suggested
Amelia's reputation would be 'ruined' if the White House disclosed all it knew to the public about what happened during the
time of her disappearance. [Morgenthau had mentioned this in front of the eight people in attendance when his May 13, 1938
conversation with Malvina Scheider took place.] In the above version I took the liberty to omit those words. It was my feeling
it was added fodder, or 'negative flavoring' that was included by Morgenthau to Malvina that he knew would better persuade
the First Lady to demur--should more inquiries about Amelia Earhart's disappearance come her way. And it worked. Mrs. Roosevelt
immediately adapted the policy. My feeling remains, though, nothing Amelia did then could or would have 'ruined' her reputation.
Just the same, for the record here is the full version:
A curious side note that relates to the same year
of 1938, the subsequent time period of 1938 to 1941, and Henry P. Morgenthau Jr.; in his 1987 published memoirs on page 367,
Monsignor James Francis Kelley wrote of his having received the following: "July 11, 1941, received a citation and medal
from the Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Morgenthau, for 'three years of patriotic service with integrity and dilligence
for the Treasury Department of the United States of America.'" Again, Father Kelley's memoirs failed to explain what
he was doing for the treasury department those three years that led to his citation award. Today it is hard to overlook the
fact, given what is now known about his post-war involvement with the former Amelia Earhart, that from 1938 to 1945, Father
Kelley ended up being held in high esteem by both Henry P. Morgenthau Jr. and J. Edgar Hoover, two top players from the executive
branch and department of justice housed by the U.S. federal government.
Cut To The 1960s The same high-government-level attitude toward Amelia Earhart's loss remained in place decades later. For instance, in 1966, when CBS radio journalist, Fred Goerner, disclosed U.S. Navy Admiral Chester Nimitz' admission
of how it was "known and documented in Washington" that "Earhart and Noonan went down in the Marshall Islands
and were picked up by Japan", coupled with retired U.S. Navy Commander, John Pillsbury's 1962 comment to Goerner where
he intimated what really happened to Earhart and Noonan would, "stagger the imagination", the federal government's
executive branch and its Federal Bureau of Investigation, (the FBI) remained ominously silent.
Above, CBS radio journalist, Fred Goerner's 1966 groundbreaking book about Amelia Earhart's disappearance
that virtually exposed an ongoing cover-up in Washington, was
a top-ten New York Times "best
seller" for several weeks after it was published. As detailed and revealing as it was, however, the U.S. federal government
offered no opinion about its contents. Cut To The 1970s Four years later, in 1970, after the claim of Amelia Earhart's ongoing survival with a different name
surfaced, when he was asked about it President Nixon dryly replied,
"We don't discuss that subject around here." [That 'subject' being 'Earhart' and 'around
here' being 'the White House'.] Below: President
Richard Nixon in 1970
Where President Nixon's legacy associates his name with the Watergate
scandal, it is worth recalling he served as Vice President under the famous World War Two General-turned-President, Dwight
D. Eisenhower, from 1953 to 1961. It can be said, eight years after World War Two ended when Eisenhower took office, he stood
to inherit an unresolved issue or two left behind by the Truman and FDR administrations. No doubt one of them was the pre-World
War Two debacle of Earhart's loss--and the ongoing war-time controversy over what actually
happened to her--that featured a tightly-sealed lid. Richard Nixon may not have known what was in that 'sealed' Earhart container,
but he certainly knew not to touch it. It was no surprise then, how as rumblings about Earhart continued to grow into the
mid-1970s, to be repeated in quiet circles on Capitol Hill, the case of Amelia Earhart's 1937 disappearance
grew to casually be referred to as, "FDR's Watergate."
In a 1999
interview with Bill Prymak, the founding president of the Amelia Earhart Society of Researchers, he referenced an AES newsletter
that described the war-time account of one James Golden, (shown above) that surfaced in 1978. Golden had served in the Pacific during World
War Two and later ended up working for the U.S. justice department. James Golden had learned
of Amelia Earhart's and her navigator, Fred Noonan's post-loss survival under Japan's stewardship after they were picked up in the Marshall
Islands--and
were first taken to Jaluit--then on to Maloelap--and then on to Kwajalein there. He did not know what became of them after that, (he
suspected they died while in Japan's custody) but his information came from a classified report he described--that was assembled after
the U.S. occupied the Marshall Islands in 1944, then sent by a Marine division to U.S. Naval Intelligence. Golden felt that FDR, who was known for his proclivity for secrecy, would
surely have been made aware of it, and there is little doubt he was correct. James Golden later cited
how back in May of 1938, when Henry P. Morgenthau Jr. was forwarded the query letter by Eleanor Roosevelt that asked if the
idea of conducting more searches for Amelia Earhart was possible for the White House to consider, the request was denied
based on this and other information the White House had--that led it to determine more search efforts were not practical at the time. Recall in 1938, the advent of the Sino-Japanese War--a war the U.S. was newly (and secretly)
supporting China's fight against Japan with its Flying Tigers effort, left FDR's hands tied when it came to further challenging
Japan about Earhart. As well, beyond FDR appearing to firmly adhere to isolationism, the U.S. military was not yet ready for
war and therefore not about to provoke Japan. According to Henry P. Morgenthau Jr.'s response to Malvina Scheider,
neither he nor the president had disclosed the post-loss Earhart information they shared to the First Lady prior to her May of 1938 query.
As noted, he did however, mention to her that he was willing to discuss the matter with Mrs. Roosevelt later if she wanted
to hear the, "not very nice story" the White House claimed to know about what really happened to her friend, Amelia,
after she was declared missing. [This is all documented and part of the public record of Amelia Earhart's world flight ending.]
Above, friends Eleanor Roosevelt and Amelia Earhart.
Below,
the post-World
War Two only Irene O'Crowley Craigmile's 1965 photographed image superimposed with Amelia's above.
Continued
from above: To rebuff any future suspicion within its own inner circle, via Morgenthau and Gibbons, the White House claimed it held 'evidence' that 'it was all over' as far as any further
hope in finding Amelia Earhart was concerned. Yet, that simply wasn't true. The executive branch only held intelligence reports
it was calling 'evidence.' In the meantime, any suggestion that the duo might still be
alive in Japan's custody was all-but eliminated within the executive branch constituency at that time, even though it is a sure
bet FDR himself still considered it in the realm of possibilities, if he didn't outright know such a thing. Here, consider the following
archived sentence from J. Edgar Hoover's World War Two FBI file on Amelia Earhart. Within it, a U.S. soldier recovering at
Walter Reed Hospital who had escaped from being held as a Japanese POW, relayed to an FBI agent how in 1944, while being
held captive and having heard that Amelia Earhart remained in Japan's custody, he was told the following by a Japanese officer
who he had asked about Amelia: "Don't worry about her well being, she is perfectly alright." (See the file
excerpt directly below and more details about J. Edgar Hoover's interest further down.) This was just one among several accounts
the FBI collected that described Amelia Earhart's ongoing war-time existence under Japan's stewardship, and it is at least probable that not only
J. Edgar Hoover, who personally commandeered the Earhart file, but FDR as well was privy to them. Note the standard 'blackout'
of the soldier's name and the FBI agent's name:
History revealed
that FDR kept some of his inner circle at arm's length from what he actually knew much of the time. With the Earhart
case it was best, he felt, and surely Morgenthau agreed with him, to impress upon most executive branch constituents that
the dark inner knowledge [or White House theory, really...] of Amelia Earhart's demise was to remain hidden from
the public. The translation of this left the public to assume Earhart and Noonan simply missed Howland Island and ended up
perishing in the vast Pacific Ocean. That worked for awhile, and Earhart and Noonan were both declared
'dead in absentia' by the time 1939 arrived. Except after the Pearl Harbor attack, from different sources, soldiers stationed
in the Pacific began hearing that Earhart and Noonan had survived a Marshall Islands ditching and ended up in Japan's custody
or stewardship in one way or another. Then after the war ended, many individuals from the region Earhart went missing
in came forward with first or second hand accounts. [Note: FDR died a few months before the war ended leaving him to take what he
knew to his grave.] The accounts commonly stated that Earhart and Noonan, even if they had been
fired upon, did manage to ditch their plane on a reef in the lower Marshalls where days later, as the Marco Polo Bridge incident
occurred that triggered the start of the Sino-Japanese War, the two were picked-up by Japan's Imperial Navy. This version of Amelia
Earhart's world flight ending continues to be repeated in the Marshall Islands by its general population and government officials
today. Below left is a 1987 '50th anniversary' commemorative stamp issued
by the Republic of the Marshall Islands, depicting Earhart and Noonan's July of 1937 rescue by Japan's Imperial Navy and the
recovery of Amelia's Lockheed Electra. Below right is a 2002 Associate Press clipping featuring the expressed opinion of Alfred
Capelle, the U.N. Ambassador to the Marshall Islands.
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"Numerous investigations foundered on official silence in Washington
and Tokyo, leaving the true fate of Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan an everlasting mystery." 1982, aviation
historians, Marylin Bender and Selig Altschul on the 1937 disappearance and subsequent missing person case of Amelia Earhart,
quoted from their book, The Chosen Instrument.
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My friend,
Randall Brink, wrote the classic 1994 Amelia Earhart investigative book, Lost Star: The Search For Amelia Earhart. It became an international best seller. Connie Chung profiled it in a special CBS
news segment. I first came to know Randall in 1996, when I tracked him down to interview him about his past collaboration
with renowned Earhart investigator, Joseph A. Gervais. Randall had included the following sentence in the wrap-up of his book,
and I wanted to know more about it: "One tantalizingly persistent account has Amelia supposedly returning to the U.S. and assuming
a new identity." A "tantalizingly persistent account." Right away one notices while the 'Amelia lived-on and changed her name
to Irene' controversy was quickly dismissed in 1970, it never actually went away according to Randall Brink, Joseph A. Gervais,
and several other noteworthy Amelia Earhart scholars. Famous crime novelist, Max Allan Collins, (of 'Road to Perdition'
fame) had his well researched 'Earhart historical novel', Flying Blind, published in 1998. Within it, Collins referred
to Randall Brink's, Lost Star as "the most convincing, coherent, and credible inquiry." This automatically
included the new post-war allies of the United States and Japan quietly ending up being joined at the hip in what became the
ongoing, 'Earhart disappearance cover-up'. Collins had included a segment in his book about the suggestion of Amelia Earhart
quietly living-on and changing her name to Irene and was perplexed by the possibility of it being true. This late 1990s time period was when I commenced
with orchestrating a forensic analysis in order to determine the reality of it all. From an article by Amelia Earhart
investigative journalist, Tod Swindell
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Back to the Smithsonian and the assertion that Amelia managed to live-on and in time changed
her name: Absolutely, as an underling of the U.S. federal government, the Smithsonian would never look into the, 'did
Amelia live-on and become known as Irene' question on its own without being endorsed by the government to do so. Instead,
it has always been left to adhere to the practice of discounting the assertion or avoiding it all together. This is still
its modus operandi today, even though by now the truth of Amelia's post-war existence as 'Irene
Craigmile' has grown to be painfully obvious. Anyone who sincerely delves into the dated 'Amelia lived and became known
as Irene' conveyance soon realizes this:
"Nothing is as invisible as the obvious." Richard Farson
Above: Lonnie G. Bunch III, the new head of the Smithsonian
Institution who took over for Dr. David J. Skorton in 2019, will need to appeal to his own truthful conscience after assessing
the now-obvious forensic reality of what became of Amelia Earhart.
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About
truth: "All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed.
Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident." Arthur Schopenhauer
~~~
On preventing the discovery of
truth:
"The discovery of truth is prevented most effectively
by preconcieved opinion and prejudice." Arthur
Schopenhauer
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In the meantime all of those other stories, believe it or not [the, 'she crashed on a New Britain mountain;
she was eaten by giant crabs on Nikumaroro; she was executed for spying; she flew-on until she crashed
into the ocean; she died of dysentery on Saipan...'] yes, all of those other stories are nothing but tabloid trash anymore--and they always were,
really--sad to say for anyone
who invested money or personal interest in them. Or put it this way: It is time for people to stop investing in them or to at all pay attention to them
anymore. Below: At this point, these 'cottage industry' Earhart clubs and others ought to quit misleading
people with their differing suggestions for the outcome of Amelia Earhart's 1937 world flight attempt--that have nothing to
do with the truth. It is also time for people to stop supporting their off-base ideas.
It is time for the activities of Tighar, Nauticos, Chasing
Earhart and other clubs and individuals that capitalize on the so-called, 'Earhart mystery' to stop asking
people to donate their hard earned money to their misleading efforts.
~~~ Back To: 'Amelia Became
Irene' As noted, the 'Amelia became Irene' assertion first
surfaced in November of 1970. What too few recall is that several months later it turned into a lawsuit that lasted five-years and reached the New
York Supreme Court before ending with a curious,
inconclusive summary judgment that is elaborated on further down. To understand how this
all played out back then, the following newspaper article appeared on Amelia Earhart's 77th birthday,
July 24, 1974, three years into the odd lawsuit its headline referred to as, "Still Up in the Air" at that
time. Easy to read excerpts from the article appear after the 'Preview' of how the lawsuit began:
Enlarged below is the first paragraph; find other enlarged excerpts further down. Automatically, it should be hard for one to figure why the legal system had yet to finalize the true identity of the individual in question:
Preview How The Lawsuit Began
The
'Still Up in the Air' issue at hand in 1974, incredibly enough, was the question of whether or not Amelia Earhart
survived her 1937 disappearance in a stealth manner and went on to assume the identity of Irene O'Crowley Craigmile,
who was very much alive at the time--and shown the lower right portion of the "Still Up in the
Air" article identified as Irene Bolam. ('Bolam' became the post-war only, Irene O'Crowley
Craigmile's added surname after her 1958 marriage to Guy Bolam.) It is worth noting that Mrs. Irene O'Crowley Craigmile-Bolam was never forensically
compared to Amelia Earhart, nor was Digital Face Recognition technology available prior
to the Twenty-First Century analysis taking place.
Before getting into Digital Face Recognition and other 'forensic
studies' that had not been applied to the Irene-Amelia case before, a close examination of the 1974, "Still Up in the
Air" newspaper article helps to enlighten. The article was updating a defamation lawsuit that had challenged some of
the contents from the controversial 1970 book, Amelia Earhart Lives by Joe Klaas, shown here:
To individually evaluate some key points the 1974
"Still Up in the Air" article presented, here they are separated out. It is important to comprehend what each one
conveyed.
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Again
starting with the first paragraph:
Think about that. After four years the legal process still couldn't figure
out if the person in question, Mrs. Irene O'Crowley Craigmile Bolam, was or wasn't the former Amelia Earhart(?) Sure it could have. Easily... if it wanted to.
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The article doesn't include that
she did not sue McGraw-Hill and the authors for asserting she was the 'former' Amelia Earhart. She sued for defamation by
way of contending the book, Amelia Earhart Lives, featured content she felt was damaging to her character image. [See
the next excerpt.]
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The above 'complaints' basically amounted
to some libelous ways she felt the book, Amelia Earhart Lives, referred to her person.
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To further elaborate on the above,
Gervais, (Joseph A. Gervais, a retired USAF Major) had been invited by one of Amelia Earhart's 1930s pilot friends, the well-known
Viola Gentry, to come and lecture about his ongoing investigation of Amelia Earhart's 1937 disappearance. Viola arranged to
travel Joe Gervais and his wife and two children across the country to New York from their home in Nevada, covering their
flight and lodging expenses in the process. The club he was to lecture to was The Early Birds of Aviation that was
holding its annual summer luncheon. It was there, after he noticed Mrs. Irene Bolam and her British husband, Guy Bolam,
and their impressive entrance to the event along with Viola's surprised reaction to their attending that day--and feeling
a slight 'chill' (as he described it), that Joe Gervais asked Viola Gentry to introduce him to the couple. In conversation,
feeling Mrs. Bolam resembled Amelia Earhart in a haunting way, he asked her if she had known Amelia? She replied "yes"
that she "had known Amelia well" and she had "often flown with her." Having never heard of Mrs. Irene
Bolam before and hopelessly intrigued by her, he could not resist asking if he could take her picture(?) She turned to her
husband, Guy, to see how he felt about it, and as he finished saying he 'didn't think it was a good idea', she turned back
to Joe Gervais to politely decline his request... just as Joe clicked his camera shutter. So he ended up taking her picture
anyway. [His gut-feeling initiative later proved to have marked a 'Zapruder-like' moment.] After Gervais took the picture
she quietly uttered, "I wish you hadn't done that." Below is the very photo taken by Joseph A. Gervais on that day,
the way it was presented in the book, Amelia Earhart Lives, five years later:
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| AMELIA AND THE POST-WAR ONLY IRENE |
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Note:
Investigative journalist, Tod Swindell, came to know Joseph
A. Gervais in 1996. He had heard Gervais still maintained his belief that the Irene O'Crowley Craigmile-Bolam he met and photographed
in 1965, used to be known as Amelia Earhart. As well, he learned from him that a forensic analysis designed to compare her
person to Amelia Earhart's person had never been done before--so he began consulting with forensic experts to learn how to orchestrate one. Where
plenty of material on Amelia Earhart existed in the public realm to enable a comparison study, it took him years to acquire
enough material on Irene O'Crowley Craigmile-Bolam to enable a comprehensive evaluation. The past of the original Irene O'Crowley
Craigmile had been thoroughly obfuscated by 1965, and her extended family proved evasive when cooperation was sought from
them. In time, though, the results of the study he orchestrated were nothing short of astounding as evidenced by the volumes
of irrefutable data and comparison samples it produced.
Tod
Swindell and Joseph A. Gervais in 2002
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The analysis revealed this Irene Craigmile- Bolam was identified nowhere as 'Irene' prior to the conclusion of World War Two.
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According to record, there was an Irene
Craigmile who did briefly know Amelia Earhart in the 1930s. Said Irene Craigmile, a young widow then, earned her pilot's license
in May of 1933. At the time she did, however, she realized she had become pregnant out of wedlock and barely flew again after
that. Her license then lapsed in 1937, and it was never renewed after that. The 'Mrs. Bolam' identified in the above photograph,
reprinted from the picture Joe Gervais took of her in 1965, as it turned out [and as you will see] was not the original
Irene Craigmile. Rather, she undeniably was the former Amelia Earhart after all, who had assumed the left-over identity
of Irene Craigmile. By way of Digital Face Recognition [see the sample below and more comparisons further down] and other
forensic evaluations conducted in the complete analysis, there is virtually no doubt about this anymore... no matter how strongly
some individuals--to foremost include Amelia Earhart's and the original Irene Craigmile's extended family members, individuals
at the Smithsonian Institution, or wikipedia for that matter as well--continue to try and persuade the general public not
to pay attention to it.
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| PRINT FROM A DIGITAL FACE RECOGNITION GRID |
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| LEFT-RIGHT PHOTOS COMBINED |
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| THE POST-WAR ONLY IRENE O'CROWLEY CRAIGMILE-BOLAM, 1965 |
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Below: The original Irene Craigmile is shown with her husband
in 1930. Note: Amelia Earhart had first known the original Irene Craigmile's aunt, a prominent attorney by the name
of Irene Rutherford O'Crowley, who she met through the Zonta organization. She learned of how her attorney friend, Irene,
had raised her niece, the original Irene Craigmile, from age twelve on, and so much led to Amelia being introduced to the
original Irene Craigmile.
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Again above & at right enhanced: The original
Irene O'Crowley Craigmile is
pictured next to her husband, Charles James Craigmile, in 1930.
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Note how the
1974 "Still Up in the Air" article never referenced who Irene Craigmile was before her "earlier marriage"
took place. The original Irene Craigmile's birth name was Irene Madeleine O'Crowley. ('Madeline'
was an alternate spelling noticed for her middle name; her birth certificate was never located.) She had been an only child
who was twelve when her mother died. She was nicknamed 'Beatrice' ('Bee' for short) after her attorney aunt, Irene Rutherford
O'Crowley, took her in to further raise her in 1916. Below is a December 20, 1928 newspaper announcement describing her marriage
to her first husband, Charles James Craigmile:
Dr. Clarence
O'Crowley, a respected Urologist, was attorney Irene Rutherford O'Crowley's brother. Sadly, less than three years after Charles
and Irene's wedding took place at Dr. O'Crowley's home, Charles James Craigmile, who was fifteen-years older
than his wife, died of a sudden illness leaving the original Irene Craigmile widowed at age twenty-seven.
Below is a newspaper notice of Charles James Craigmile's passing dated September 23, 1931. The original Mrs. Irene O'Crowley
Craigmile, his survived wife, is listed toward the end of the article in the right hand column. Since the couple was not
married until December of 1928, they had actually been together less than three years when Charles died as opposed to the
"five years" mentioned in the article:
Charles
James Craigmile indeed was survived by his wife, Mrs. Irene O'Crowley Craigmile. Except she was not the person who went on
to marry Guy Bolam of England in 1958. That person was the former Amelia Earhart, who was given the original Irene O'Crowley
Craigmile's identity to use after World War Two and for the remainder of her days.
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The Lawsuit Outcome When the defamation lawsuit finally concluded with a summary judgment handed
down in January of 1976, Mrs. Irene Craigmile-Bolam, [AKA the former Amelia Earhart] was not awarded
$1.5 million dollars. Instead, the McGraw-Hill Publishing Company was ordered to pay her $60 thousand dollars
for the damaging, non-provable conjecture about her it allowed to appear in the book Amelia
Earhart Lives. When it came to Joseph A. Gervais and Joe Klaas, though, they held their ground and
insisted Mrs. Craigmile-Bolam provide some kind of positive identification measure, such as fingerprints,
to once and for all prove she was not the former Amelia Earhart. She refused to do so, and thus was ordered to exchange
$10 dollars of consideration with Gervais and Klaas. Although it was barely noticed at the time, this is how her defamation case against retired USAF Major Joseph
A. Gervais and Joe Klaas ended.
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Amelia Earhart, 1935 "God, the world hounded that woman after she became famous."
A quote from famous pilot, Jackie Cochran recalling her friend, Amelia Earhart. Jackie also mentioned that during the year
Amelia was prepping for her world flight she was "closer to Amelia than anyone else, even her husband, George Putnam."
Jackie's husband, Floyd Odlum helped finance Amelia's 1937 world flight effort. Note: Jackie Cochran was the first woman to
enter Japan immediately after VJ Day and was later ascertained to have been involved with Amelia's non-publicized return to
the U.S.
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November, 1970, the former Amelia Earhart, AKA Irene O'Crowley
Craigmile-Bolam was ready to take on the press in order to preserve her dignity and the legacy of who she used to be.
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"I am not a mystery woman and I am not Amelia Earhart."
the post-war only Irene O'Crowley Craigmile-Bolam
was convincing when she stated this at her press conference in response to the assertion that she was the former Amelia
Earhart made by retired Air Force Major, Joseph A. Gervais, found in the book, Amelia Earhart Lives, shown above in
the foreground. Although her denials were accepted then, decades later, Tod Swindell's thorough analysis of the original Irene
O'Crowley Craigmile's background combined with his human comparison study revealed that she appeared nowhere as 'Irene' prior
to the conclusion of World War Two, enabling the conclusion of
a reality long unrecognized: The post-war only Irene most definitely had been previously known
as, Amelia Earhart.
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Amelia Earhart
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Amelia and her future 'Irene' self combined
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| THE POST WAR ONLY IRENE O'CROWLEY CRAIGMILE-BOLAM, 1965 |
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Left
and Right, where one has trouble recognizing the former Amelia Earhart in either of these two '1965 & 1970' photos,
this is understandable. Except the same person is in both photos and she did used to be known as Amelia Earhart. The image
of any particular individual may sometimes be hard to recognize as one in the same depending on expression, pose, lighting,
and in this case of course, an age difference that would include style changes in both hair and clothing. There's also Amelia
herself during the 1930s. For example, take a look at the two photos of her below taken about a year apart from each other:
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| THE POST WAR ONLY IRENE O'CROWLEY CRAIGMILE-BOLAM, 1970 |
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Photographs of Amelia Earhart are plenty but they are
not always consistently recognizable. In this example, when one compares the 1937 photo of her on the left to the 1936 photo
of her on the right, it's hard to see the same person.
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Below: Solving The 'Height' Debate The original Irene O'Crowley Craigmile's height was listed as 5'4". Amelia was about 5'7" and often
wore heels that left her looking taller, as much as 5'9" or so. Where it was said the post-war only
Irene O'Crowley Craigmile was too short compared to Amelia Earhart, once again the suggestion was void of a comparison study.
Here below, a head-to-toe comparison using a photo of the post-war only
Irene O'Crowley Craigmile-Bolam taken in 1964 on a bridge in Paris, France, reveals the height congruence:
Amelia Earhart, Elinor Smith, Viola Gentry
Below,
what did Amelia Earhart's only sibling, her younger sister, Muriel, think about the sudden 1970 claim that stated Amelia quietly
survived her disappearance and changed her name to Irene? As it turned out, Muriel knew her sister, Amelia, as 'Irene' in
her later life years and became a key instrument in helping to prevent the exposure of it to her dying day in 1998:
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| GRACE MURIEL EARHART MORRISSEY |
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| POST-WAR ONLY IRENE O'CROWLEY CRAIGMILE |
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Above: Grace Muriel Earhart Morrissey, Amelia's
sister and only sibling, was familiarly known as "Muriel." She is shown above a few years prior to her marriage
to Albert Morrissey. (Muriel was nicknamed "Pidge"as she grew up; Amelia's nickname was "Millie.") In the 1980s, of the post-war
only Irene O'Crowley Craigmile-Bolam, Amelia's sister, Muriel, was quoted in a newspaper to have made these
remarks about the still ongoing controversy over who her later life friend, Irene, really was, or used to be: "Of
course I know Irene. She is a sister Zonta." "There is practically no physical resemblance." Muriel protected the truth
of her sister's later-life existence as 'Irene' by consistently denouncing it. The siblings kept their later-life
Zonta Club friendship out of the spotlight as well, although they were seen at times at the same gatherings. The study results contradicted Muriel's, "no physical resemblance" opinion she offered after she was asked
to comment on the suggestion that her later life Zonta friend, Irene O'Crowley Craigmile-Bolam, was actually her survived sister, Amelia, living under
an assumed identity. Comparing the above photos of Muriel and the post-war only Irene, one can also see
the familial resemblance. Muriel never publicly disclosed the truth about her sister before she died in 1998, at the age of 98. To this day it remains uncertain
when her sister, the former Amelia Earhart, died, AKA, the post-World War Two only Irene O'Crowley
Craigmile-Bolam. Although her death was reported in 1982, at that time it was the surrogate mother
of the original Irene O'Crowley Craigmile's 1934 born son who actually died; yet another, entirely different person who while
raising the boy from his early childhood on, was also attributed to his mother's identity. (See below.). Note: In 2006, and again
in writing in 2014, the 1934 born son of the original Irene O'Crowley Craigmile, positively identified the person below as
his "mother" the way she looked, "around 1940." She was not the original Irene O'Crowley Craigmile, nor
was she the former Amelia Earhart, who went by that name after World War Two.
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The New Earhart
Reality People
familiar with the 'Irene-Amelia' controversy from the 1970s, likely recall hearing about Irene O'Crowley
Craigmile, the 1930s' pilot who in 1965, averred she used to 'know' and had 'often flown' with
Amelia Earhart. The results of the 'Digital Face Recognition' comparison
study have determined there was more than one person attributed to the same 'Irene Craigmile' identity. Definitively,
combined with ID placements made by the original Irene O'Crowley Craigmile's extended family (foremost her 1934 born son)
as part of the study, DFR verified this reality. The analysis also verified that one of the
Irene O'Crowley Craigmile's appeared nowhere identified as 'Irene' prior to the end of World War Two. As well, and significantly, according
to the study results the one that only appeared as 'Irene Craigmile' after World War Two
exhibited a complete human congruence to Amelia Earhart, the famous pilot who went 'missing' in 1937. To claim that
the original Irene O'Crowley Craigmile and Amelia Earhart were veritable clones at this point would be nothing short of ridiculous.
Below is another good reason why. According to the photographic record of her person, here are a few pictures showing Irene
O'Crowley Craigmile at different stages of her life prior to the World War Two era:
Where the above photo images seem to significantly vary from one
another, they should. The analysis discovered that prior to World War Two, photographs of Irene O'Crowley Craigmile's person
were scarce, of low quality, and inconsistent when it came to being able to recognize the same person in each one of them.
Otherwise, the post-World
War Two only Irene O'Crowley Craigmile's photo images were precisely consistent from the post-World
War Two era on, all the way to the 1980s. Not to omit, the analysis results evidenced the post-World
War Two only Irene O'Crowley Craigmile's congruence to Amelia Earhart, to any further exist on an obvious
to observe level. Once again, take a look:
Irene O'Crowley Craigmile-Bolam and Guy Bolam in Japan, 1963.
Repeated from above, telling examples featuring Amelia Earhart compared to her post-World War Two self as 'Irene Craigmile':
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Senator Hiram Bingham & Amelia Earhart
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Distinguished and proud with her trademark wings and pearls.
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Above, the post-World War Two only
Irene Craigmile visiting Long
Island, New York, in 1965. [Joseph A. Gervais photo.] She was identified nowhere as 'Irene Craigmile' prior to World War Two because she used to be Amelia Earhart. The world public, however, was never supposed to know about
it.
Here again below, the Digital Face Recognition grid
shows Amelia Earhart's face
template transformed into the
post-World War Two only Irene Craigmile- Bolam's face template from the 1965 Gervais photo:
Handwriting A sample from the 'Character Traits' section of the analysis.
Below, a 1967 handwritten line from the post-World
War Two only Irene Craigmile-Bolam, describes two pilot friends she knew in the 1930s when
she was known as 'Amelia Earhart' whom she knew again in her later-life years whe she was known as 'Irene
Craigmile' and after 1958 as 'Irene Bolam'. The line is cryptically phrased but displayed how she recognized herself to be
a different person after the war years. The
pilots she referred to were Viola Gentry and Elmo Pickerill. Both had known her as 'Amelia' in the 1930s, then again
as 'Irene' in her later years.
Below is Amelia's own 'Amelia M Earhart' signature
the way it appeared on a form
she filled out in high school. The
likeness of both handwriting styles was not a coincidence because they were written by the same individual.
Note: As an adult, Amelia's handwriting varied significantly
depending on who she was writing to or the circumstances she was dealing with. It could be neat and formal or rushed and
loopy. As Irene her handwriting style was the same of course, although she was more consistently 'neat.'
Below, from the Character Traits comparison study, some of the post-World War Two only Irene
Craigmile's cursive letters are shown on the left, and some cursive letter samples from when she was known as Amelia Earhart
are shown on the right:
Note: The above comparisons are part of the extensive Document
Examination portion of the analysis.
~~~ Intro to the Comparison Analysis
The few samples above are part of a
large scale 'head-to-toe
physical' and 'character traits' Irene Craigmile to Amelia Earhart
forensic comparison study achieved during the past two decades. The complete study determined an overall congruence existed
between the post-World War Two only Irene Craigmile and Amelia Earhart, to the point of
exhibiting one in the same human being who went by different names in different eras. Most who remember the controversial 'Amelia
became Irene' assertion making national news in 1970, had dismissed it at some point. When the Twentieth Century came to a close,
however, the debate over who Irene Craigmile really was, or used to be, had not gone away, and the comparison analysis was called for when it was realized the
'Amelia Earhart became known as Irene Craigmile' assertion was never forensically settled. As well, there was
no record of a human comparison analysis having been done before. A current lack of awareness about this is mostly attributed
to the combined posturing of the Smithsonian Institution and the National Geographic Society. From the beginning, both made
no effort to prove the controversial 'Amelia became Irene' assertion true or false after it surfaced. Instead,
they automatically refused to endorse it, let alone take it seriously. Hindsight shows them favoring a viewpoint suggesting
it was absurd to even consider the idea of Amelia Earhart
somehow surviving her 1937 disappearance and assuming a different identity. (A shared viewpoint that never changed much.)
The
'pro' argument included Amelia Earhart changing her name during the World War Two era not only for the sake of her future
privacy, but in the interest of post-World War Two era 'geopolitical politeness' as well, so countries
recently at war with each other (in the former Amelia Earhart's case, Japan and the United States) might better segue
into their new, friendlier and more supportive relationships. The 'New Millennium' research analysis thoroughly reviewed the key findings
of formidable 'Earhart disappearance investigators' from years gone by. It was also the first one to orchestrate and then
feature a comprehensive, Irene Craigmile as compared to Amelia Earhart forensic display.
~~~
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Joseph A. Gervais (above) was a distinguished USAF pilot who served in WWII, Korea, and Vietnam before retiring as a Major. After investigating Amelia Earhart's disappearance for a number of years, in 1965, he realized the truth about Amelia's survival and her name change to 'Irene' after meeting her. Except when he tried to go public with it in a 1970 book, he was reviled for doing so. No matter, to his dying day in 2005, he never disavowed that the Irene Craigmile he met and photographed in 1965 was not the original Irene Craigmile. Instead, he always insisted that she had previously been known as Amelia Earhart.
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Again, above is the 1965 Joseph A. Gervais photo of
Englishman, Guy Bolam, and his
American wife by their 1958
marriage, the post-war only Irene Craigmile, the way it appeared in the 1970 controversial book by Joe Klaas, Amelia Earhart Lives.
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The unprecedented, 'Amelia Earhart compared to Irene Craigmile' analysis was conceived
and orchestrated by independent researcher, Tod Swindell. Not only was his the first comprehensive, Amelia versus Irene
analysis on record, it was the first to use Digital Face Recognition technology combined with physical and character trait
comparisons. He decided a comparison study was needed after he met Joe Gervais in 1996. He was impressed by Joe's honesty
and the veracity he demonstrated in his ascertainment of Amelia Earhart having survived the World War Two era and changing
her name to Irene Craigmile--and then learning as well from him--that a forensic comparison analysis to prove his point had never been done.
The final results of The Swindell Study clearly revealed how the post-World War Two only 'Irene Craigmile'
most definitely had been, previously known as Amelia Earhart.
In 1965 it was not
the original Irene Craigmile who Joseph A. Gervais met and photographed at a gathering of well known pilots from the golden
age of aviation. Rather, Joseph A. Gervais met and photographed the former Amelia Earhart in 1965, who had assumed
the original Irene Craigmile's identity for herself to further use after World War Two.
Above once again: Amelia and Amelia as Irene in her
later-life years. To explain how this sped by unnoticed by the radar gun of truth, from the time Joseph A.
Gervais first made the 'Irene-Amelia' controversy public in 1970, people failed to grasp how the original Irene Craigmile's
existence before World War Two was that of a 'troubled-life' individual with no career ambition to speak
of--to go along with the fact that she looked nothing like Amelia Earhart. All one ever had to do was
objectively study the life of the original Irene Craigmile, and he or she would have realized not only these truths,
but how the original Irene Craigmile no longer existed by the time World War Two began. The historical results of Tod
Swindell's investigation, that left no stone unturned, made it easy to recognize that Amelia Earhart, who
was acquainted with the original Irene Craigmile in the 1930s, continued to quietly live-on after she was declared 'a
missing person' in 1937. It is also evident that Amelia, again
for her own good reasons, had decided she no longer wished to be a famous, public person and was therefore privately afforded
the original Irene Craigmile's left-over identity for her future use. In essence, at some point after
she went missing, Amelia went on to become the 'new' Irene Craigmile... and she was publicly
[and legally] identified that way for the rest of her life.
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As mentioned, Amelia Earhart and the original Irene Craigmile
were acquainted with each other in the 1930s:
Above, this September 1, 1932 Akron, Ohio newspaper photo featured
Amelia Earhart, outlined in white, and the original Irene Craigmile, outlined in black. The original Irene Craigmile was never
'famous' the way most of the other female pilots in the photo were. In fact, she had not yet started taking flying lessons
when the photo was taken. Her late husband, Charles, had died the previous year and sometime after he did, through her attorney
aunt, who Amelia knew, the original Irene expressed an interest in learning to become a pilot. Her aunt mentioned her niece's
wish to learn to fly to Amelia, and soon enough Amelia and her pal, Viola Gentry, took the young widow Irene under their wing.
This is how the original Irene Craigmile ended up in the above photo. Viola Gentry is shown directly to the right of the original Irene. [Note: Viola
Gentry would go on to know Amelia as 'Irene' in her later life years, just as Amelia's sister, Muriel did.] The
original Irene Craigmile did learn to fly but her adventure was cut short several months after the above photo was taken,
when she realized she had become pregnant out of wedlock.
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Another look: In the above-left 1930 photo we find Charles
James Craigmile, age 39, his wife, the original Irene Craigmile, age 26, and Irene's father, Richard Joseph O'Crowley. The
original Irene Craigmile died before the World War Two era began, except where Charles Craigmile's death remains a matter
of public record, the death of the original Irene Craigmile was obscured to make her identity available for Amelia Earhart
to use after the war. Above right, again, the original Irene's image is contrast enhanced. She was a full three inches shorter
than Amelia Earhart, and though only low quality photo images of her remain, they leave it discernible enough to notice she
did not look much at all like Amelia Earhart. Below:
The original Irene's husband, Charles James Craigmile, a civil engineer by trade, is the last one listed in this September
22, 1931 Detroit, Michigan obituaries notice. As the story went, while on a road trip after visiting his parents in Rantoul,
Illinois, (his father was a well known judge there) Charles died from an appendicitis attack he failed to recognize. His
listed Detroit address at the time of his death, however, skims the surface of a slightly more askew scenario.
~~~ How The Truth Reveal Began In the mid-1960s,
something amazing about Amelia Earhart surfaced. It began making news headlines in 1970, until the public was persuaded not
to believe it. Except what surfaced then never went away--because it was true.
The
1997-2017 Swindell Study and the advent of Digital Face Recognition displayed
the reality of it. To show what led to the Study eventually taking place, we need to go back to 1970:
Above:
The former Amelia Earhart, living as 'Mrs. Irene Craigmile Bolam' in November of 1970, was caught off guard when a new book
was published that had been inspired by the tenacious investigative research of Joseph A. Gervais. To maintain her dignity
and her ongoing private existence, she had no choice but to publicly decry the book and flat-out deny who she used to be. She also waged a defamation
lawsuit after her press conference that dragged on for five years. While she cited some inaccurate statements in the book
she felt were damaging to her reputation, she never proved that she was not the former Amelia Earhart and eventually
settled with Joseph A. Gervais by way of exchanging ten dollars of consideration with him. Publisher McGraw-Hill paid her
$60,000 for some inaccurate statements contained in the book, including one that implied she was a potential bigamist and
another that suggested she was a possible traitor to her country. Below, in late July of 1974, obscured by the Watergate
scandal that led to President Nixon's resignation two weeks after this follow-up article ran, few seemed to noticed how the four-year-old by then assertion stating 'Mrs.
Bolam was actually the former Amelia Earhart' was still being referred to as, "up in the air." Today, thanks to proper historification
accomplished by The Swindell Study and its human forensic comparison analysis, it is obvious anymore that Amelia did
survive her 1937 disappearance and went on to become known as "Irene Craigmile," and then "Irene Bolam"
after she married Guy Bolam of England in 1958.
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Senator Hiram Bingham & Amelia Earhart
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Amelia & Amelia as Irene
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Conclusion The 1997-2017 Swindell Study concluded
that Amelia Earhart did survive her storied 'disappearance' and went on to assume the left-over identity of her 1930s'
acquaintance, the original Irene Craigmile. Evidently, this was deemed essential. After the war, any further scrutinizing
of Amelia's 1937 disappearance was not wanted--and Amelia herself wished to live a non-public life in the United States
for the remainder of her days. Investigative research indicates she received help to do such a thing from the original Irene
Craigmile's aunt, Attorney Irene Rutherford O'Crowley; the Federal United States Government by way of J. Edgar Hoover; General
Douglas MacArthur, Monsignor James Francis Kelley and the catholic church, and sedulous others who always held the reality
of it in strict confidence, foremost including Amelia's only sibling, her sister, (Grace) Muriel Earhart Morrissey, who died
in 1998. [Note: It is well documented that Muriel knew her sister, Amelia, as 'Irene' in her
later life years. They were both Zonta members, although Muriel never publicly disclosed who her later life Zonta friend,
Irene, used to be, and she opposed anyone who attempted to expose her.] Ultimately there were a total of three
different Twentieth Century women who were attributed to the same Irene Craigmile Bolam identity: 1.) The original Irene Craigmile
2.) The surrogate mother of the original Irene Craigmile's 1934 born son 3.) The post-war only Irene Craigmile who was
the former Amelia Earhart. Most people, due to media distortion caused by the variety of false 'Amelia
Earhart mystery solving claims' that kept surfacing from the 1980s on, [the never-true Nikumaroro suggestion foremost among them] while also recognizing the always
less-than enthusiastic attention paid to the subject matter of Irene Craigmile (Bolam) by official United States
historians at the Smithsonian Institution. [Here we're reminded that the Smithsonian is a 'ward' of the Federal Government
of the United States and therefore is subject to its authoritative reign.] Yes, for these reasons most people automatically
have a hard time believing the profound, subdued reality of Amelia Earhart. As well, it appears most people cannot envision
any reason for Amelia Earhart to have quietly changed her name to 'Irene' during the World War Two era. Anymore though, it
is obvious she did do such a thing, just as it is obvious the general public was never supposed to know about it.
Above: Amelia & Amelia as Irene. Try as the Study did to determine this summation was not true,
its final human comparison results combined with the extensive research conducted on the original Irene Craigmile's life--left
no other reality to accept.
Keep going, folks. There's so much more to know. Even though
it was never offered-up as public information--this really is the truth about what became of Amelia Earhart.
~~~ Admirals and Generals
"All the admirals and generals seemed to know her." LPGA promoter, Peter Bussatti, comments about his good friend, the post-World
War Two Irene Craigmile Bolam. Along with many others, Mr. Bussatti openly wondered if his friend, Irene, used to be known
as, 'Amelia Earhart.' The following photo showing Mr. Bussatti with the post-war only Irene (FKA 'Amelia Earhart') was used
in the comparison below it:
Above: The post-World War Two Irene Craigmile
Bolam, left, with Peter Bussati, right, 1974.
Above: On the far left is the post-World War
Two Irene Craigmile Bolam; on the far right is her former self, Amelia Earhart; in the center the two images are combined.
©2017 'The 1997-2017
Swindell Study'
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"Peter Busatti said he accompanied Mrs. Bolam to the Wings Club in New
York City on one occasion. He said a full length portrait of Amelia Earhart hangs in the room dedicated
in her honor. ""It was a dead ringer for Irene,"" he said. ""Sometimes
I thought she was [the former Amelia Earhart], sometimes I thought she wasn't. Once when I asked her directly she replied,
"When I die you'll find out."" At a Wings Club event in Washington, Busatti mentioned
that all the admirals and generals seemed to know her." Excerpt from a 1982 New Jersey
News Tribune article.
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Tod Swindell
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"Recognizing the original
Irene Craigmile's somewhat troubled 1930s years that included her very short stint as a pilot, it would have been unrealistic
for her to later be welcomed as a member of the prestigious New York Wings Club, let alone be distinguished like royalty there
among her peers and high ranking U.S. military officers. Yet, important people who knew the post-World War Two only Irene
Craigmile Bolam as the former Amelia Earhart, and indeed the were a select few who did, (the late J. Edgar Hoover
and the late Senator Barry Goldwater for instance) were always respectful of her desire for privacy within their common recognition
of her heroic past." Tod Swindell
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Enter J. Edgar Hoover
and Monsignor James Francis Kelley
In the above 1944 photo, reprinted from the 1987 autobiography of
Monsignor James Francis Kelley, standing left to right are J. Edgar Hoover, Monsignor James Francis Kelley, and Archbishop
Thomas Walsh. The FBI director was being awarded a Legum Doctoral degree (LLD) from Seton Hall College at the time. In November
of 1945, Monsignor Kelley received a citation from J. Edgar Hoover for "assistance rendered during the war years
to the Internal Security of the Nation through the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States Department of Justice."
In the late 1980s, Monsignor Kelley began openly disclosing to people that he had helped the survived Amelia Earhart with
spiritual counseling after World War Two and that he had been instrumental in the process of her name change to 'Irene.' Kelley
died in 1996. He was discredited by people who refused to believe what he had described about his later life friend, Irene
Craigmile (Bolam.)
Above: Monsignor James Francis Kelley and the
post-war only Irene, AKA the
former Amelia Earhart
"Her study of Carl Jung's writings led her to
embrace the concept of her life beginning at age forty instead of ending there." 1991 quote of Monsignor James
Francis Kelley. Recall
Amelia was declared 'missing' just three weeks shy of her fortieth birthday. Monsignor 'Doc' Kelley was a
Doctor of Philosophy and a later life close friend of the former Amelia Earhart, AKA 'Mrs. Irene Craigmile Bolam.' The last
decade of his life he disclosed to several individuals that his good friend, 'Irene' did used to be known as 'Amelia Earhart'
and how after the war he had been instrumental with the transition process that left her to be further known as, 'Irene Craigmile.'
Non-believers cited Msgr. Kelley's on-and-off memory lapses in his later
life years (that they incorrectly labeled as 'senility') within various attempts to call him 'crazy' for saying what he did
about his friend, Irene. He wasn't crazy. He simply told a truth he knew about what became of Amelia Earhart.
The below mention was excerpted from an October, 1982
edition of the New Jersey News Tribune. Although Monsignor Kelley had already confided in some close friends of his about
Amelia's post-loss survival and name change to Irene, he was still careful to avoid publicly expressing his opinion
about her 'dual identity.'
Monsignor James Francis Kelley [1902-1996], shown above
on the cover of his 1987 autobiography, was a long time President of Seton Hall College in New Jersey. He was given much credit
for turning the school into a University in 1949. Father Kelley had many famous friends in government, politics, and show
business, and he was a highly regarded figure in the Catholic Church. He hosted Pope Paul VI as his house guest in 1965, when
the Pontiff became the first ever to visit the United States. According to his New York Times obituary, he also helped teach
English to Pope Pius XII while he was being educated overseas. During the last decade of his life, Monsignor Kelley
openly broke his silence about his later-life friend, Mrs. Irene Craigmile Bolam, having been previously known
as 'Amelia Earhart.' He described how it was true that Amelia quietly survived her disappearance under Japan's stewardship
and she returned to the U.S. after the war. He acknowledged
Amelia had developed a strong desire for future privacy after the war and she assumed a different name for herself, one that
he helped secure for her future use, that of 'Irene Craigmile,' a person Amelia used to know who was no longer living. To his good friends, Donald DeKoster and Helen Barber, Father Kelley first described
how he was the person who had been 'assigned to receive Amelia' when she returned to the U.S., that he had 'helped with her
physical and emotional rehabilitation' and had been 'instrumental with her new-identity transformation.' He would go
on to describe the same thing to researchers, Merrill Dean Magley and USAF Colonel, Rollin C. Reineck (Ret.) in the late 1980s
and early 1990s. Father Kelley
acknowledged that he wrote a chapter for his autobiography about his post-war experience with Amelia that was omitted before
the book was published. The reason is found in the forward of his book where he describes how his personal files contained
information about, "important individuals, some who are now dead and are no longer able to defend themselves," so
he did not feature stories about them in his book. As mentioned, some of his own family members, opposing theorists, and other
non-believers off-hand offered that later life 'senility' had caused the monsignor to 'make up' what he claimed to know about
Amelia becoming Irene. The Swindell Study proved Monsignor Kelley did not make up what he claimed to know about Amelia
Earhart's continued existence after she went missing in 1937, and that he actually did help her to become 'Irene' after World
War Two.
J.
Edgar Hoover's 'Earhart Politburo' While the United States has never been a communist country, a Politburo-like influence established during
the post-World War Two era ended up guiding the common American think-tank about Amelia Earhart's 1937 world flight outcome--into
categorizing what actually happened to Amelia as an, 'unknown mystery.' Briefly, a 'Politburo' consists of select individuals working within the framework
of democratic centralism. It marks a system in which the individuals deem themselves--and are even accepted
as 'higher bodies' (AKA the 'Politburo') that are responsible to all lower bodies, thus leaving every member of the general
public subordinate to decisions they make. In other words, instead of major policy changes being put to a vote, a Politburo
could put sweeping changes into effect without considering how the public feels about them. After World War Two ended, then FBI director, J. Edgar Hoover, personally led
the charge within a small inner circle of military, government, and religious officials when it came to devaluing any legitimate
information that surfaced about Amelia Earhart's ongoing existence beyond July 2, 1937, the date she was declared 'missing.'
The United States national press circuit has never been able to over-challenge J. Edgar Hoover's long established
influence there, that even after his death occurred in May of 1972, remained in tact. Recall as well, following Hoover's death
many FBI files were destroyed--as pre-arranged by Hoover himself. ~~~
Click on the image below to go to page
two for some combined history, or continue to be enlightened on the subdued reality of Amelia Earhart right here:
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| Image credit: Sir Charles Cary |
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Amelia Earhart, age 39 in 1937
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Amelia & her later-life self as Irene combined
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Amelia as Irene, 1965. Photo taken by Joseph A. Gervais.
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Joseph A. Gervais
Recalling Major Joseph A. Gervias 1924-2005
(He didn't need Digital Face Recognition.) The late Major Joseph A. Gervais was war hero
and a highly skilled pilot who flew missions in World War Two, Korea, and Vietnam. In 1959, he commenced with his 'Operation
Earhart' endeavor while stationed overseas in the same region Amelia Earhart was last seen. After years of deeply investigating
the combined factors that led to her failed world flight attempt, in the summer of 1965, he encountered the post-World War
Two only 'Mrs. Irene Craigmile Bolam' at a New York gathering of pilots from the golden age of aviation. He was instantly
struck by her resemblance to Amelia Earhart--and after meeting and talking to her it dawned on him that she was none other
than the alive-and-well former Amelia Earhart going by a different name.
~~~
Preview of Part II Within its detailed review of Amelia Earhart's 1937 disappearance and
subsequent 'missing person' case, The Swindell Study challenged the default 'Null Hypothesis' of her world
flight ending--that suggested at some unknown time Amelia crashed into the Pacific Ocean at some unknown place--and sank.
Citing new discovered evidence to the contrary--to go along with other evidence discovered by earlier investigators--the
Study refortified the less promoted conclusion of Joseph A. Gervais from years past that stated a 'crashed and sank' ending
never happened to Amelia Earhart.
The above 'hot air balloon' newspaper photo features the post-World
War Two Mrs. Irene Craigmile Bolam. She was known, respected, and admired by people in high places worldwide, but those same
people never talked about her much. This photo was taken
in 1978, when the general public was being misled about her true past by important sounding, all be them 'protective' individuals.
This same attitude continues to this day, foremost advanced through the news media by Dr. Tom Crouch and Dorothy Cochrane
of the Smithsonian Institution out of respect for the ongoing wishes of Amelia's family. Not to leave out, the strong preference
of the Smithsonian's owner [the U.S. Federal government] has always been for people to accept that Amelia Earhart
somehow 'died' after she went missing toward the end of her 1937 world flight attempt, even though no authentic evidence
of her death taking place then ever existed. In the meantime, wink-and-nod diversions such as the TIGHAR club
and Nauticos group surfaced that steered public interest away from taking the idea of Amelia's continued survival with a new
name--seriously. Here, it is important to realize
only hearsay ever suggested Amelia Earhart died approximate to when she went missing in 1937, in any way at all. This includes
by crashing and sinking, dying a castaway's death on a desert Island, dying of dysentery on Saipan, or being executed by a
rogue-Nippon military unit; the four most preveleant theories presented over the years that suggested the way Amelia
may have died. Anymore, however, as hard as it
still is for some to believe, the plain truth is the gray-haired 'Irene Bolam' in the balloon basket above, shown with famous
golfer, Kathy Whitworth, did used to be known as Amelia Earhart. The general public was just never supposed to know
about it; hence leaving the official silence that all-but invented the so-called "mystery of Amelia
Earhart's disappearance."
The two books above, Daughter of the Sky, published in 1960,
and especially The Search for Amelia Earhart, a best-seller published in 1966, were first to
publicly detail accounts of Amelia's ongoing 'quiet' survival in Japan's care after she went missing in 1937. However, neither
book was able to offer a solid answer to the question of what became of Amelia after being stewarded by Japan. Sadly, by the
end of the Twentieth Century both books were all but forgotten.
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Lost Star
"My good friend,
Randall Brink, provided my 1996 introduction to Joe Gervais, who Randall came to know as well as anyone in the 1980s and 1990s.
Randall authored the landmark book, Lost Star: The Search For Amelia Earhart issued in 1994 by the W.W. Norton Publishing
House of New York and Bloomsbury Press of London. An international best seller those years ago, for anyone interested in the
lead up to Amelia's 1937 world flight and its controversial outcroppings after she failed to reach Howland Island, this book
is for you. Included in Lost Star, during his wrap up, Randall was sure to notate, ""One tantalizingly
persistent account has Amelia supposedly returning to the U.S. and assuming a new identity."" Randall Brink
wrote this sentence in his book twenty-four years after the general public had been persuaded to conclude there was no controversy
over Irene Craigmile Bolam's true identity, as initiated by the former Amelia Earhart herself. Recall her later life friend,
Monsigner James Francis Kelley's mention to Donald DeKoster, ""After all she'd been through she didn't want to be
Amelia Earhart anymore."" His comment ostensibly referred to what Amelia endured after she went missing,
leading up to and then including the World War Two era. Can we blame her for coming to feel the way she did without knowing
her reasons for it?" Tod Swindell
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©2017 'The 1997-2017
Swindell Study' Click
on the above image to go to Page Three to learn more about The Swindell Study, or stay on this page to continue to
be enlightened about the subdued reality of Amelia Earhart.
CAPSULIZING THE RESULTS OF THE 1997-2017 SWINDELL STUDY OF AMELIA EARHART'S DISAPPEARANCE:
The 1997-2017 SWINDELL STUDY: 1.) FORENSICALLY PROVED MORE THAN ONE TWENTIETH CENTURY WOMAN
had been attributed to the SAME 'Irene Craigmile Bolam' identity. 2.) FORENSICALLY PROVED the Irene
Craigmile Bolam who Joseph A. Gervais met and photographed in 1965, as consistently displayed in hundreds of physical and
character trait comparisons, ALIGNED WITH AMELIA EARHART IN EVERY WAY. 3.) FORENSICALLY PROVED the Irene Craigmile
Bolam in the photo taken in 1965 by Joseph A. Gervais on the day he met her WAS NOT IDENTIFIABLE ANYWHERE AS 'IRENE'
prior to the World War Two years. This is because, against the grain of official United States history that legally declared Amelia Earhart
'dead in absentia' in 1939, and contrary to upper echelon official
history attitudes (that would rather not have to contend with the inconvenient reality of it) she most definitely had
been, previously known as, 'Amelia Earhart.' 4.) The Swindell Study over-challenged the null hypothesis that stated Amelia Earhart
disappeared without a trace in 1937 and was never seen again. It did so by combining incontestable forensic research findings
with incontestable forensic comparison results that exhibited Amelia Earhart alive and well known either as Irene Craigmile
or Irene Bolam in the latter part of the Twentieth Century. As a result of its above discovered realities, as hard
as it still may be for so many to believe and accept, The 1997-2017 Swindell Study forensically confirmed
Joseph A. Gervais was correct in 1970, when he asserted his belief that the Irene Craigmile Bolam in the 1965 35MM
photograph he took, displayed directly below in full color, was not the original Irene Craigmile. RATHER,
she actually was the former Amelia Earhart, just as he had professed the last forty-years of his life.
The post-World War Two
Irene Craigmile Bolam, AKA "the former Amelia Earhart" as photographed by USAF Major Joseph A. Gervais
(Ret.) August 8, 1965.
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Amelia Earhart
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Irene-Amelia superimposed
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Below: This poor quality photo shown in full frame and close-up
was of a questionable origin. It appeared in a 1982 newspaper series that identified the person as, "Irene M. O'Crowley"
(her maiden name) who eventually went on to wed Charles Craigmile in 1928. The series dated the photo, "1908-1914."
That would have meant, according to record, "Irene M. O'Crowley" was anywhere from four to ten years old at the time
the photo was taken.
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Below: The 'plurality
quandary' of Amelia Earhart's 1930s acquaintance, the original Irene Craigmile, whose name Amelia acquiesced for
her own later-life use.
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Above: The original Irene Craigmile
in 1934 with her son, Clarence Note: The original Irene Craigmile's son and
only child was Clarence 'Larry' Heller. In 2006 and again in 2014, Larry Heller positively identified a different person to
have been his mother than the post-World War Two only Irene Craigmile (Bolam). As it turned out, the woman Mr. Heller
recognized as his mother, shown directly below, was actually his adoptive mother. (He was not strongly imprinted
with his biological mother, the original Irene Craigmile.) To this day, resulting from an arrangement contrived several
decades ago, the general public remains unaware of what happened to the original Irene Craigmile, whose left over
identity ended up being shared by Larry Heller's adoptive surrogate mother and the former Amelia Earhart.
'Hard to believe, but true.
Son ID'd Irene Craigmile, 1940
As
mentioned, in 2006 and again in 2014, the original Irene Craigmile's 1934 born son, Clarence 'Larry'
Heller, positively identified the person in the above photograph to have been his 'mother' as she looked "around 1940."
Digital Face Recognition concluded this Irene Craigmile and the post-World War Two Irene Craigmile (Bolam), displayed
below, were not the same human being, although according to history,
they should have been.
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Post-WWII only Irene Craigmile (Bolam), 1946 [Note face template comparison below.]
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Post-WWII only Irene Craigmile (Bolam), 1965 [Face template matched Amelia via Digital Face Recognition.]
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"Though sometimes ridiculed by those unaware of how deeply he had investigated Irene Craigmile's
past, Joseph A. Gervais was right all along. From a forensic research and human comparison standpoint, it is now recognized
to be true that there had been more than one person attributed to the same Irene Craigmile identity, and the post-World War
Two Mrs. Irene
Craigmile Bolam most certainly was, previously known as, 'Amelia Earhart.' Anymore the so-called
'Earhart mystery' has to do with when, where, how, and why this came to be." Tod
Swindell, 2019
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In Brief: The (Subdued) Historical Importance of Joseph A. Gervais By Tod Swindell When I first came to know Major
Joseph A. Gervais in 1996, the renowned Amelia Earhart world-flight investigator whose trusty 35MM camera clicked the 1965
photo of Guy and Irene, I was surprised to learn a forensic comparison analysis of Irene's and Amelia's physical beings,
character traits, and full life histories had never been done before. So I consulted with experts and set out to orchestrate
one. As my Study progressed, beyond confirming that Amelia Earhart had known the original Irene Craigmile, it additionally
revealed how the once world-famous pilot was actually closer to the original Irene's aunt, a New York attorney she
knew through the international Zonta organization for professional women they both belonged to. It was through this friendship
that Amelia met and came to know the original Irene Craigmile, a once fledgling pilot who never really flew much--and
never belonged to the Zontas or the 99's as Amelia did. The complete analysis made it clear: The post-World War Two Irene Craigmile (Bolam), who Major
Gervais met and photographed in 1965, was not the original Irene Craigmile. Instead, at some point, perhaps
during the late stages of the war, the original Irene Craigmile's identity was made available for Amelia to henceforth
use... and to this day the general public remains unaware of what became of the original Irene Craigmile. Retired USAF Major Joseph A. Gervais, was first to discover and reveal
this historical reality. The reason so many people never heard of him is because his solving of the missing person case of
Amelia Earhart by way of producing her body evidence in the form of the post-war Irene Craigmile Bolam, was categorically
subdued after Gervais went public with his discovery in 1970--by the former Amelia
Earhart herself, her sister, Muriel, and general 'official silence' toward the matter. It remained that way from that point
on, until Gervais and myself joined forces to deliver clarity to it all.
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The Story Continues Eighty-two years ago, Amelia Earhart
was declared "missing." Fifty years ago, in 1969, the McGraw-Hill Publishing Company, one of the largest and most
reputable publishers in the world, green-lighted the book, Amelia Earhart Lives to be issued. The book was based on
ten-years of investigative research conducted by one Joseph A. Gervais--who concluded Amelia Earhart quietly survived
after she was declared missing and that she was alive and well in the United States then, going by a different name. His claim
was taken seriously until the enigmatic woman who he asserted to be the 'former' Amelia Earhart refuted it. After
that, within weeks the book was being called a 'hoax' and was removed from the marketplace. However, the woman in question,
the post-World War Two Mrs. Irene Craigmile (Bolam), never proved she was not the former Amelia Earhart--and
as displayed in the Study, Joseph
A. Gervais' postulation about Amelia Earhart's continued existence as a renamed person was not off the mark.
Above, from The 1997-2017 Swindell
Study, this story appeared in the Asbury Park Evening Press on July 24, 1974, a date that marked Amelia Earhart's 77th
birthday. The public was largely unaware that the question concerning the post-World War Two Irene Craigmile Bolam's true
past still remained unanswered--four years after the 1970 book, Amelia Earhart Lives asserted her to be the former
Amelia Earhart. By then the story about her had become
buried by other headline dominating controversies--such as the 1971 Pentagon Papers leak and the Watergate Scandal. Three
weeks after the above article ran, President Richard Nixon resigned due to his Watergate connection. Nine months later, in
1975, the fall of Saigon took place thus ending the Vietnam War--that the Pantagon Papers had revealed to be 'non-winnable.'
Soon after that, as her defamation lawsuit closed out its fifth year, few people were
aware that the post-World War Two Mrs. Irene Craigmile Bolam had been asked to submit her fingerprints
to positively prove her identity. She refused to do so and optioned to settle her case against Amelia Earhart Lives
author, Joe Klaas, and investigative researcher, Joseph A. Gervais, for a mutual consideration amount of $10.00 ...that she
paid to them and they paid to her. The book's publisher, McGraw-Hill, was ordered to pay her $60,000 for what her attorney called "reputation damaging allegations" Amelia Earhart Lives contained
but provided no evidence to support.
Among them, it inferred she was a potential 'bigamist' who may have been a 'traitor to her country.' She flat out denied both
insinuations, but the bottom line, however, after all was said and done, was that she never proved she was not the former Amelia Earhart, and as The
Swindell Study results display, 'Amelia Earhart' most definitely had been the previous name of the post-World War
Two Mrs. Irene Craigmile Bolam.
Next: How history initially viewed Amelia Earhart's missing person case and then quickly gave up on it.
Here's a brief look at
how United States history managed to swiftly close the book on Amelia Earhart's 'missing person case':
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With no evidence to substantiate it, ever since the pre-World War Two
era the general public was encouraged to accept that Amelia Earhart died, "on or around July 2,
1937," the date she was reported 'missing' amid odd circumstances. Then in January of 1939, a year and
a half after she went missing, Amelia Earhart was legally declared "dead in absentia" thus closing
the book on her missing person case. Yet in subsequent decades much telling information was gathered that pointed
to a rush to judgment that left behind a miscalculated conclusion.
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After Amelia's Missing Person Case Was Prematurely
Closed: In the decades that followed Amelia Earhart being declared "dead in absentia," a variety of conflicting
reports attempted to explain what really happened to her: "She was captured and executed," "She
died in a foreign prison," "She crashed her plane into the ocean," and "She died a castaway's
death on a desert island," became the most promoted ideas among them. Contrarily, any suggestions that presented
the possibility of Amelia continuing to live-on were swiftly dismissed. That is, until The 1997-2017 Swindell Study
results presented the first comprehensive analysis to clearly exhibit Amelia Earhart's continued existence
well beyond 1937, with a different name applied to her person.
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On the subject of the post-World War Two Mrs.
Irene Craigmile (Bolam), (shown in another comparison below) since 1970, scholars kept asking a lingering, unanswered
question about this highly respected, all
be her 'enigmatic' woman. The Swindell Study learned how after World War Two she emerged from nowhere to begin working
as a respected figure in the New York banking industry, and to acquaintances she sometimes described herself as a 'former pilot' who 'used to know' Amelia
Earhart. Anymore, however, by virtue of the Study, the reality of her past is now clearly observable in a forensic way...
and there is no going back.
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Tear-Duct To Tear-Duct
Above: Top row Amelia's eyes; Second row Irene's eyes;
Third row superimposed in perfect alignment.
©2017 'The 1997-2017
Swindell Study'
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Handwriting Comparison Intro
Below find two exhibits from the handwriting portion of the study. The first one features a 1967 sample of the post-World War Two Irene Craigmile (Bolam's) cursive handwriting compared to Amelia Earhart's
own cursive, "Amelia M Earhart" High School signature. Notice here as well, the post-war Irene's use of non-denial
'denial' language within her reply letter to Joseph A. Gervais, who two years after they met each other had written to
inquire if she was previously known as 'Amelia Earhart.' They day they met in 1965--at a gathering of pilots from the 'golden
age' of aviation--is when retired Air Force Major, Joseph A. Gervais, a formidable pilot himself, first began to suspect
the post-World War Two Irene Craigmile (Bolam) to be the living, former Amelia Earhart--who had somehow 'privately
survived and assumed a new identity' after she was declared 'missing.' In her present-tense rebuttal here, the post-war Irene refers
Joseph A. Gervais to two long time pilot friends of hers, Viola Gentry and Elmo Pickerill, by writing:
"...because
they each knew us both well as Amelia Earhart and Irene Craigmile."
Note
Amelia's own "Amelia M Earhart" signature from a form she filled out in high school added to the document.
©2017 'The 1997-2017 Swindell Study.'
Left side above: Post-war Irene Craigmile (Bolam) cursive letter samples; Right
side above: Amelia Earhart cursive letter samples. ©2017 'The 1997-2017
Swindell Study'
In consideration of some
opinions expressed about the Irene-Amelia controversy...
"It did become evident that Amelia's family, the original
Irene Craigmile's family, and the Smithsonian Institution did not like what I had done. The study I conducted revealed how
this five-decades-old, never proved-false claim was true all along--in lieu of common influences that left people believing
it wasn't true ever since 1970, when the 'claim' of Amelia's quiet survival and name-change to 'Irene' first made national
headlines. The problem remained though, that no one ever proved it wasn't true because it wasn't possible.
Now it is clear that Amelia did live-on after she went missing and later became known as 'Irene,' and that there was more
than one person attributed to the same 'Irene' identity. Although the general public still finds it difficult to accept this
truth, where the study results made it so obvious, it is time for history to address the reality of it as pragmatically as
possible." Tod Swindell, 2019
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The comparison
analysis contained in The 1997-2017 Swindell Study displayed how the post-World War Two 'Irene Craigmile (Bolam)' used
to be known as 'Amelia Earhart.' However, as of this writing constituents of the Smithsonian Institution--along with the families
of Amelia Earhart and the original Irene Craigmile have yet to endorse this truth--even though it now stands
out as an obvious reality. It seems their common preference is for the general public to ignore the
reality of Amelia Earhart's ongoing existence with a different name--in favor of always believing and accepting
that Amelia 'must have died somehow' approximate to when she became a 'missing person' in 1937.
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Next: More On The Original 'Irene Craigmile,'
Who Amelia Earhart Was Acquainted With In The 1930s
Above: An old newspaper photo
of the original Irene Craigmile. As part of a thoroughly arranged effort to enable Amelia Earhart's post-loss name
change, The Swindell Study discovered how clear photos of the original Irene Craigmile were expunged
at some point, leaving them to no longer be evident in the public realm. So much
enabled the post-World War Two Mrs. Irene Craigmile (Bolam) to not be indentified in photos of Irene Craigmile prior to the
mid-1940s, since she did not exist as Irene Craigmile before then. [This is a true statement solidly edified within The
Swindell Study results]
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"The above photo appeared in the September 1, 1932
edition of the Akron Beacon Journal. Amelia Earhart is outlined in white and the original Irene Craigmile is outlined in black.
(The original Irene's husband of three years, Charles Craigmile, tragically died the year before.) The newspaper
image quality is very poor, especially of the original Irene Craigmile who is fully shaded between pilots Viola Gentry
(a past good friend of Amelia's) and Edith Foltz. The original Irene Craigmile was not yet a licensed pilot at the
time this photo was taken. As soon as she became a licensed pilot in mid-1933, she realized she was pregnant out of wedlock,
gave birth to her child in 1934, and barely flew again until her pilot's license lapsed in 1937." Tod Swindell
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Henry P. Morgenthau
Jr. and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt
"I hope I've just got to never make it public." From an official White House transcript
concerning some withheld knowledge it controlled about Amelia Earhart's 1937 world
flight outcome, this 1938 quote came from FDR right hand man, Henry P. Morgenthau Jr. as conveyed to First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt.
His comment pertained to some 'relayed' information the White House learned and regarded as 'classified' about something
troubling that took place during Amelia and her navigator, Fred Noonan's "last few minutes", as also referenced by
Morgenthau in the same transcript. Whatever it was, apparently it left FDR's inner circle assessing that Amelia Earhart
and Fred Noonan met their demise under some kind of duress toward the end of their flight that the White House chose not
to make public. The Dictaphone transcript recorded Morgenthau's words this way: "What that woman--happened to her
the last few minutes. I hope--I've just go to never make it public." The inference here is remarkable. The FDR White House apparently knew something about the
premature ending of Amelia's world flight it did not publicly disclose. Morgenthau's
words, that again were based on relayed information that remains classified to this day, came less than a year after the duo's
loss occurred on July 2, 1937, (the White House transcript was dated May 13, 1938) and at that time, considering if either
or both fliers might have survived their flight's ending was not an openly entertained notion in the White House. Behind closed
doors, though, it surely had been deliberated. Note:
It has long been recognized by World War Two history scholars that FDR's administration furtively withheld important information
it learned about Amelia Earhart's world flight ending the public never knew, and ultimately was never supposed to know. As
well, throughout the conflict and continuing afterward, soldiers once stationed in the Pacific proclaimed an awareness they had gained stating
Amelia was still alive as World War Two raged on. One soldier, machine gunner, Robert
E. Wallack of "D" Company, 29th Marines, (who still lived in 1994 when he was referenced by Lost Star author,
Randall Brink) stated that in 1944 he found Amelia's flight satchel with her world flight documents in a safe he and other
soldiers blew-open on Saipan after American troops occupied it. He recognized its importance and dutifully turned it in to
an officer. After doing so he never saw or heard about it again. FOIA released FBI files revealed other soldier recollections as well (with their names
blotted out) including one in December of 1944 that showed J. Edgar Hoover personally reviewing
a claim from a former POW at Walter Reed Hospital, who stated he learned from an English speaking Japanese official at his
POW camp that as of 1944 Amelia Earhart was, "perfectly all right." So much supports the later gained awareness
of the U.S. enforcing Japan to honor a post-war adapted, 'let's both move on and away from it' attitude concerning
what really happened to Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan on and after July 2, 1937. In different ways, both nations were culpable
when it came to the overall debacle the flying duo's loss turned into.
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According to a 1982 newspaper article, this photo shows the original
Irene Craigmile with her son, Clarence 'Larry' Heller, who she delivered in 1934 during her brief marriage to Al Heller.
About
The Original Irene Craigmile A Brief Look At Her Life Story By Tod Swindell [Excerpted
rom his MSS, Protecting Earhart, ©2017 and
the 1997-2017 Swindell Study ©2017]
The original Irene Craigmile's life was
interspersed with difficult circumstances throughout it. Her birth name was Irene Madalaine O'Crowley, although she was
also known as 'Beatrice' and her middle name was often spelled by her family as, 'Madeline.' (A birth certificate for her
was never located.)
Seven years younger than Amelia Earhart,
the original Irene Craigmile was an only child whose mother died when she was twelve. Her father, Richard Joseph O'Crowley
remarried another woman who apparently felt uncomfortable with continuing to help raise his growing daughter after she had
already been sent to live with her paternal grandmother and aunt in Newark, New Jersey.
Since the original Irene's paternal aunt's name was also 'Irene,' the original Irene was given a new family
name of 'Beatrice' and she became commonly known that way. This led to school friends and family informally calling her "Bee"
and she took to referring to herself that way as well. Even her 1928 wedding announcement listed her as "Beatrice O'Crowley."
After high school, the original Irene briefly attended Columbia
University but chose not to continue pursuing a higher education for herself. She also twice became pregnant out of wedlock,
the first time at age twenty-one and the second time at age twenty-eight, and she delivered sons both times that she never
had the opportunity to raise or know beyond their childhoods.
The
original Irene's first husband, Charles James Craigmile, tragically died in 1931, less than three years after the two were
wed. A year later, Amelia, who was a good Zonta organization
friend of the original Irene Craigmile's aunt, and Amelia's well-known pilot friend, Viola Gentry, helped introduce the original
Irene to the world of piloting airplanes. This took a hard turn as well, leading to the second of the original Irene Craigmile's
two unwed pregnancies due to an affair she had with her last flight instructor, Al Heller. The original Irene realized she
was carrying Al's child at the same time she earned her pilot's license in late May of 1933. She and Al eloped to marry that
August to legitimize their child and the original Irene barely flew again after that. The couple's marriage soon disintegrated,
though, and it is evident by 1937 any civil communication between the original Irene and Al ceased when Al relocated alone
to Buffalo, New York. The annulment of their marriage and an ugly child visitation and custody rights battle commenced soon
after that as well. Amelia's Zonta friend, attorney Irene Rutherford O'Crowley, the aforementioned original Irene Craigmile's
aunt, assisted in guiding the annulment process.
The original
Irene Craigmile never had a professional career but she was employed for awhile as a 'floor walker' at Macy's in the 1930s,
that was basically a low pay shelf-straightening and light 'store security' position. For awhile Amelia had a boutique in
the same Macy's where she sold her self-designed clothing and luggage lines, and she may have been instrumental in getting
the original Irene Craigmile hired there. The true fate of the original Irene Craigmile remains unknown
in the public arena. What is decipherable is at some point, while she was in her thirties, she no longer appeared in plain
view and in due time clear photo records of her person were all-but expunged. One also does not find the later-life
Irene Craigmile's image that aligned with Amelia Earhart's image anywhere prior to the mid-1940s in the photographic
record of Irene Craigmile's person. In 1982, a news article series that appeared in the New Jersey Tribune after Irene's death
was reported amid renewed speculation that she was the former Amelia Earhart, featured a conglomeration of photos
from prior to the World War Two era in it that combined unclear images of the original Irene Craigmile with images of the
surrogate mother figure of her 1934 born son, Larry Heller. It also featured some poorly executed photo forgeries to cloud
the historic photographic trail of Irene Craigmile. This 'red-herring' yellow journalism effort was intent on leaving
all curious souls who observed the photos completely unaware that they were actually looking at photo images of three
different human beings combined to appear as one life-long person. The three different people were the original Irene Craigmile,
the surrogate mother Irene Craigmile, and the former Amelia Earhart Irene Craigmile.
Back to the progeny of the original Irene Craigmile:
The
original Irene's first born son, that she delivered out of wedlock in 1926 two years before she married Charles Craigmile,
was adopted and raised by her paternal uncle, Dr. Clarence Rutherford O'Crowley, and his wife, her aunt Violet. The boy's
given name was Clarence Rutherford O'Crowley Jr. He died in 2014. Her other 1934 born son whose father was Al Heller, ended
up being raised by a surrogate mother figure. He was also placed in a boarding school during the war years. He lives today
known as Clarence Alvin 'Larry' Heller, and certifiably identifies a different 'Irene' to have been his mother than the 'Irene'
who matched Amelia Earhart after the mid-1940s. This is becuase after World War Two ended, Amelia Earhart, who had gone missing
in 1937 and was declared "dead in absentia" in 1939 (even though she did not actually die) assumed the left over
identity of her 1930s 'pal,' the original Irene Craigmile, for herself to use for the remainder of her days.
In other words, the person who was known as Amelia Earhart was to remain 'legally dead' forever after
said declaration was made in 1939, even though her body lived on to become known as 'Irene' until the death of Irene Craigmile
Bolam was recorded in 1982.
Both of the original Irene's natural
born sons were aware of the assertion of it, but appeared unaware that their biological mother's identity was additionally
attributed to the former Amelia Earhart after the war years. It also remains uncertain if the original Irene Craigmile's
first born son, Clarence Rutherford O'Crowley Jr., was ever made aware that the original Irene Craigmile was his true biological
mother. In 2003, his daughter, New Jersey newspaper journalist, Peggy O'Crowley, mentioned that her father's biological O'Crowley
birthright had always existed as a "family bone of contention." In other words his own progeny was left uncertain
when it came to the question of their father's biological lineage.
Larry
Heller, the 1934 born son of Al Heller and the original Irene Craigmile, was always put-off by people who questioned if Amelia
Earhart was his mother. He was justified to feel that way since the woman he recognized as his mother from his childhood on
until her death was recorded in 1982, as mentioned, was also an entirely different Irene Craigmile than the one whose post-World
War Two image and character traits forensically aligned with Amelia Earhart's.
Above: A 1982 newspaper article identified this person
as Amelia's 1930s pilot friend, Irene Craigmile in 1932. Accordingly, the photo would have been taken a year after her husband,
Charles James Craigmile, died from appendicitis The photo quality is poor and the origin of it is questionable. It likely
does not depict the original Irene Craigmile, nor does the person in it resemble Amelia Earhart.
~~~ Closer on Irene's Press Conference and subsequent Lawsuit...
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Amelia Earhart, 1935 "God, the world hounded that woman after she became famous."
A quote from famous pilot, Jackie Cochran recalling her friend, Amelia Earhart. Jackie also mentioned that during the year
Amelia was prepping for her world flight she was "closer to Amelia than anyone else, even her husband, George Putnam."
Jackie's husband, Floyd Odlum helped finance Amelia's 1937 world flight effort.
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November, 1970, the former Amelia Earhart, AKA Irene Craigmile
(Bolam) was ready to take on the press in order to preserve her dignity and the legacy of who she used to be.
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"I am not a mystery woman and I am not Amelia Earhart."
Irene Craigmile (Bolam) was convincing when she stated this at her press conference in response to the assertion made by former
Air Force Captain, Joseph A. Gervais, found in the book, Amelia Earhart Lives shown above in the foreground. Although
her present-tense denial was accepted then, decades later a thorough analysis of her background revealed she appeared nowhere
as 'Irene' prior to the mid-1940s, because she indeed had been previously known as, Amelia Earhart.
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One more look: As mentioned, the above 1970 best-selling book
by Joe Klaas, Amelia Earhart Lives, in time wound up being derided and withdrawn from stores for suggesting that Amelia
Earhart continued to privately live-on for many years after she went missing--with the name of 'Irene' newly applied to her
person. This is because a few far-fetched ideas the book presented in its attempt to explain how Amelia survived--and why
she changed her name--overshadowed the solid investigative research it contained. Not to leave out, due to what she felt were
some misleading suggestions it featured about her, the still-living former Amelia Earhart herself refused to endorse
it. Instead, she ended up suing Joe Klaas, Joseph A. Gervais, (whose ten-year investigation was the book was based on) and
the McGraw-Hill publishing company for defamation--in a case that lasted five years and had nothing to do with whether
she was or wasn't the former Amelia Earhart. Because of this drawn-out lawsuit people lost interest
in the assertion of her past identity to the point of no longer viewing her as suspect, leaving the book to be largely forgotten
today. Anymore though, the first-ever 'comparison analysis' found within The 1997-2017 Swindell Study revealed
how Amelia Earhart Lives actually did strike a chord of pure truth--when it came to answering the 'past
identity' question of the post-World War Two individual known as, Mrs. Irene Craigmile (Bolam.) It is now a 100%
certain reality--she was previously known as, "Amelia Earhart."
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Below, the "plural" Irene's Rear Admiral Tissot referred to.
Since the 1970s, people were led to believe these two individuals were the same person. Digital Face Recognition and a multitude
of other comparisons displayed in The Swindell Study proved they were not the same person--and it wasn't even close.
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Irene Craigmile, 1940
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Irene Craigmile (Bolam), 1965
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Below:
From the 'facial recognition' portion of The Swindell Study, Amelia
Earhart's face was digitally compared to that of the post-World War Two Mrs. Irene Craigmile (Bolam). This had never been
done before. The samples displayed below exist among hundreds that also compared their head-to-toe physical bodies and personal
character traits. The Study deeply investigated the original Irene Craigmile's background as well, to include executing
a signed agreement that enabled interviews with her 1934 born son, Clarence 'Larry' Heller--who in 2006, and again
to edify in 2014, identified a different person to have been his 'mother' than the post-World War Two Irene Craigmile
(Bolam). This was a major breakthrough where ever since 1970, when the controversy over who 'Irene Craigmile (Bolam)' really
was first made national headlines--the general public was encouraged to accept that the original Irene Craigmile
and the post-World War Two Irene Craigmile (Bolam) were one in the same person--when in fact they were entirely different
human beings.
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Amelia Earhart in 1937
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Amelia digitally superimposed with her later-life self
in 1965, shown on the right. The former Amelia Earhart's ongoing existence was first discovered in the 1960s, although
it was not officially endorsed to the public.
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Above, the post-World War Two 'Irene' in 1965, FKA 'Amelia' as she
appeared in the 1970 Joe Klaas book, Amelia Earhart Lives.
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Below, according to history, the post-World War Two Irene Craigmile
(Bolam), who clearly aligned with Amelia Earhart above, was the same person as the one identified by Irene Craigmile's 1934
born son directly below. The Swindell Study delivered the reality of more than one person identified as the same 'Irene'
to an obvious state by way of forensically proving they were not one in the same human being.
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"This is not a new idea or suggestion. The late USAF Major
Joseph A. Gervais (1924-2005), a military hero who flew missions in World War Two, Korea, and Vietnam discovered the 'Amelia
became Irene' truth after deeply investigating it a half-century ago. It was just never publicly endorsed or forensically
verified--so people had a hard time believing it. Now it has been forensically verified and it's time for those who dominate
the official history of what became of Amelia Earhart to stop deceiving the public about it. Instead, it is time
for official history to address this now understood reality head-on. Yet the ones leading the charge will have to
command the same level of courage Amelia herself did--in order to bring an end to the rather awkward tradition of official
historians treating the general U.S. citizenry like fools--where it pertains to the true aftermath of Amelia Earhart's 1937
world flight outcome." Tod Swindell
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Amelia Earhart
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Senator Hiram Bingham and Amelia Earhart
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'Irene' in 1965, FKA 'Amelia'
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'Irene' in 1977, FKA 'Amelia'
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Above: The post-World War Two Irene and Amelia
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Above: The post-World War Two Irene and Amelia
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Another note about the post-World War Two, Mrs. Irene
Craigmile (Bolam): Because Amelia's late sister, her still living niece, the original Irene Craigmile's family and
the Smithsonian Institution have never endorsed her as the former Amelia Earhart, and where the U.S. Federal government
has never commented on the controversy over who she really was, or used to be, the general public still does not recognize
the post-World War Two, 'Mrs. Irene Craigmile (Bolam)' as the former Amelia Earhart--even though Amelia Earhart definitely
was who she used to be.
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Gervais, a former U.S. Air Force Captain who retired as a Major in 1963, did find that a person by the
name of 'Irene Craigmile' had known Amelia Earhart in the 1930s. He learned how at the age of 26 in 1931, she was widowed
when her husband, Charles Craigmile died, and he found evidence of a pilot's license that she held from 1933 to 1937, noticing
she never flew much while she had it.
Joseph A. Gervais also confirmed how
from a second brief 'shotgun' marriage, Irene Craigmile had a son
in 1934 who grew up to become an airline pilot. He further learned how according to record, in 1958, supposedly the same
'Irene Craigmile' was married for a third time to Guy Bolam, an Englishman who was an executive with Radio Luxembourg in
Europe.
Below: Irene to Amelia, ©2017 'The 1997-2017
Swindell Study'
When Joseph A. Gervais looked into the original Irene Craigmile's family lineage--the respected O'Crowley-Rutherford's
of Newark, New Jersey--he noticed the other main 'relative' connection to Amelia. It came by way of Irene Craigmile's aunt,
a New York lawyer by the name of Irene Rutherford O'Crowley who had been a Zonta organization friend of Amelia's and a legal
contract advisor for her 'Amelia Earhart' brand luggage line. It was here that Joe Gervais found it odd, given Irene
Craigmile's impressive family background, that he was unable to locate a single clear photograph that featured Irene Craigmile
prior to 1946. He tried but he could not locate any clear family photos, any school photos, or any wedding or married couple
photos. The few photos he did manage to locate were of such low quality it proved difficult to positively identify the female
person in them, but he could tell the pre-1940s Irene Craigmile did not much resemble her former pilot friend, Amelia Earhart
anywhere close to the way her post-World War Two image did.
Above: Joseph A. Gervais learned both of these photos depicted
Amelia Earhart's 1930s friend, the original Irene Craigmile. The photos were most likely taken in 1932 or 1933. In early 1934, the original
Irene Craigmile (known briefly then as 'Irene Heller') gave birth to a son she named 'Clarence' after eloping to wed Alvin
Heller, her former flying instructor. She was three months into her pregnancy when their county clerk wedding took place in Ohio. Their relationship was rocky from the start, though, and by 1937 the two had separated. Their marriage was subsequently
annulled as well, thus reverting the original Irene's surname back to 'Craigmile.'
After being rebuffed by Irene and her friends and family, and with a firm request to 'stay away' from her grown son
by her ex-husband, Al Heller, by then Joseph A. Gervais was finding the Irene Craigmile connection to Amelia Earhart very
peculiar. Having met Irene
Craigmile Bolam up close in 1965, he had already noticed something hauntingly familiar about her, and after adding everything
together he determined that more than one woman was attributed to the same Irene Craigmile identity--and the post-war Irene
Craigmile Bolam who he met in 1965 with her British husband, Guy, was somehow the still-living 'Amelia Earhart' using her
old friend, Irene Craigmile's identity as a cover.
In fact, Gervais was so confident and sure after nearly five years of being unable to draw any other conclusion,
that when he was approached by a writer and a reputable book publishing company he decided to publicly assert his conclusion.
Joseph
A. Gervais made national news headlines when he did that in 1970, through a touted book by Joe Klaas bearing the title of,
Amelia Earhart Lives. It was a myopic decision on his part, though, because so too did the surprisingly powerful and
enigmatic Irene Craigmile Bolam make headlines then, when she lawyered-up and rigidly dismissed his assertion. Not long after she did that the book was withdrawn and the assertion
made by Joseph A. Gervais was chalked up as a 'hoax' and soon forgotten. Yet what was overlooked by practically everyone
except Gervais, was that Irene Craigmile Bolam never proved that she was not the former
Amelia Earhart.
Although Joseph A. Gervais was discredited, his assertion
about the post-war Irene was never proved false and he certainly was not alone in his thinking. Several of the post-war Irene's
later life friends agreed with him. They strongly believed, notwithstanding her refusal to publicly admit it, that she did
used to be known as Amelia Earhart and they maintained their suspicions of it even after her death was recorded
in 1982. Amazingly, it wasn't until the late 1990s that film producer, Tod Swindell, who found the Irene-Amelia story highly
perplexing, ultimately decided to forensically compare Irene Craigmile (Bolam) and Amelia Earhart to each other. His initial
results were pretty impressive, yet as his study continued they were soon astonishing all who viewed them in a 'how could
this be?' kind of way.
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Above center is Muriel's later-life friend, the post-World
War Two Mrs. Irene Craigmile (Bolam) in 1965. Her look did not remind one of Amelia Earhart until the forensic superimposition's
from The 1997-2017 Swindell Study displayed their inarguable facial and head-to-toe congruence. As mentioned, the Smithsonian
Institution, Amelia's survived family, and the original Irene Craigmile's survived family continue to steer the curious away
from embracing the now obvious reality of Amelia's post-disappearance life as 'Irene.' [Note:
Irene Craigmile (Bolam's) death was recorded in July of 1982, although there
was never any physical evidence the above 1965 Irene Craigmile (Bolam's) death actually occurred then.]
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Amelia Earhart in 1937
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Above, repeated
from before, observe the exact congruence that takes place when the left and right photos are superimposed with each other.
This Swindell Study comparison--that used a 1965 photo taken by Joseph A. Gervais--complements many other comparisons
that combined to display the reality of Amelia's post-loss existence as 'Irene' in no-less than a finite way. Head-to-toe
physically, tear-duct to tear-duct, and character traits all matched. Anymore it is clearly evident the 1965 Irene Craigmile
(Bolam) was not the original Irene Craigmile in lieu of official history's viewpoint that for decades maintained
she was. According to official history, Amelia Earhart was legally declared 'dead in absentia' in January
of 1939, a year and a half after she went missing. Apparently this was never supposed to change, even though it is now a forensic
certainty Amelia continued to live-on for decades after World War Two with the name of 'Irene' newly applied to her person.
©2017
'The 1997-2017 Swindell Study.'
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The post-World
War Two Mrs. Irene Craigmile (Bolam) in 1965.
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"The original Irene
Craigmile barely flew at all during her oft-troubled 1930s years. This is because as soon as she earned her pilot's license
in mid-1933, she learned she was pregnant out-of-wedlock. There is no record of her flying beyond the mid-1930s and her pilot's
license lapsed in 1937. Compared to Amelia Earhart, who was acquainted with her then, she was a veritable nobody as well.
After World War Two the important people who recognized the new Irene Craigmile as the former
Amelia Earhart, (a select few beyond her sister, Muriel, knew who she used to be; Senator Barry Goldwater, some NASA personnel,
FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, General Douglas MacArthur and his wife, Jean, some Zonta and 99's members, and a few foreign
dignitaries among them) were always respectful or her post-war desire to no longer be known as Amelia Earhart. What became
of the original Irene Craigmile? Nobody knows. What my study revealed is that her son ended up being raised by a surrogate
mother figure who also used the original Irene Craigmile's identity--to complete an exasperating, concealed arrangement that
featured three different women attributed to the same 'Irene' identity." Tod Swindell
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It took many years, but after Tod Swindell's comparsion
analysis was finally completed what ultimately surfaced was a mind-bending, comprehensive forensic profile of three different
individual human beings who had the same Irene Craigmile identity attributed to them, and right, the one who matched
Amelia Earhart appeared nowhere identified as 'Irene' prior to the World War Two years.
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Irene Craigmile, 1932
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Irene Craigmile, 1940
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Irene Craigmile in 1946, FKA "Earhart"
In 1958, this
Irene Craigmile married Guy Bolam of England. The fate of the original Irene Craigmile remains unknown.
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 At first glance the look of the 1946 Irene Craigmile above may not
remind one of the way pop-culture left Amelia Earhart's image etched in the common mindset. For instance her nose looks a
bit more noble and her front tooth gap is gone, but these kinds of adjustments are reasonably explainable. Not to leave out
how nine years had passed since Amelia had been seen--allowing for style changes and some aging to take place. Recall here
as well, the title of Shirley Dobson Gilroy's 1985 book, Amelia: Pilot In Pearls. Then take a look directly below
at the picture of Amelia Earhart standing next to her 1930s flight trainer, Hollywood stunt-pilot, Paul Mantz. After that,
see what happens under the Earhart/Mantz photo when Amelia's same facial image is superimposed with the 1946 image of the
post-World War Two Irene Craigmile... to witness the return of, Amelia: The Pilot in Pearls:
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©2017 'The 1997-2017
Swindell Study' The post-war
return of, "the pilot in pearls"
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Upon achieving his solidly based conclusion, Tod
Swindell's remarkable and incontestable expose' was the end result of a long-term investigative research study
and human comparison analysis appropriately titled, 'The Swindell Study.'
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Note: In July of 1960, when he was flying
military transport planes among Pacific Island groups overseas, then USAF Captain Joseph A. Gervais was summoned to appear before a panel of senior military officers that learned he had gathered and held a
large collection of sworn affidavits describing Amelia Earhart's non-publicized rescue after she was said to have 'disappeared'
in 1937; a 'rescue' that had taken place in the same region
Captain Gervais was serving. The officers' panel confiscated the affidavits
and classified them along with the full interview it conducted with Gervais. Learning about this occurrence greatly inspired
CBS Radio journalist, Fred Goerner to further examine what Gervais was onto. The result was his groundbreaking 1966 investigative
book, The Search For Amelia Earhart in which he wrote about the above summons along with the 'Operation Earhart'
movement Joseph A. Gervais started in 1959 with his then partner, Captain Bob Dinger.
 Fred Goerner's best-selling 1966 book issued by Doubleday
While writing his book, Fred Goerner received help and guidance from U.S. Navy Admiral Chester Nimitz, the commander
of the U.S. Pacific Fleet during World War Two, who outright admitted to Fred Goerner it was 'true' that Amelia and
her navigator, Fred Noonan were rescued in 1937 by Japan's naval authority even though the general public never knew about
it. At the same time, the Admiral could not say what happened to them afterward but he did offer to Fred Goerner that the
answer was documented in Washington as 'classified.' Fred Goerner traveled to Washington and gleaned much controversial information,
but fell short of learning a solid final answer about what became of Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan after they were rescued.
Except Goerner did manage to interview many Pacific islanders when he traveled to the same places Joe Gervais did. His interviews
there included some high-level officials who further substantiated the non-publicized Earhart-Noonan rescue story. Goerner
also learned how nearly all high-level military personnel who served in the Pacific during World War Two commonly understood
that Earhart and Noonan were 'picked up' by Japan after they went missing and knowledge of it gained in Washington had been
withheld. Needing an ending for his book, even though he still lacked solid information about what ultimately became of the
flying duo, based on hearsay accounts Goerner suggested Fred Noonan may have been killed after exhibiting hostility toward
his unscheduled hosts, and that Amelia Earhart remained sequestered for a period of time before dying of a dysentery-like
illness as World War Two heated up. Accordingly, these events happened on the island of Saipan, although they were never
substantiated. The vast majority of people bought into Fred Goerner's finalizing conclusion at the time, though,
(even though it was wrong) and his book remained in the Top-Ten of the New York Times best seller list for several weeks after
it was issued. Incredibly, as with Joseph A. Gervais, due to the 'official silence' his findings were greeted with by the U.S. State and Justice
departments, Fred Goerner and his book are barely recalled today.
|
Tod Swindell continued: "Joe Gervais was sharp as a tack and very serious with his ongoing claim that
Amelia Earhart survived her 1937 disappearance and later changed her name to 'Irene.' Yet he qualified it by telling me
in his discernible New England accent, ""The problem I didn't recognize was no one from the general public was
ever supposed to know who the Irene I met and came to know used to be, and she knew that better than anybody. Witness protection
works that way.""
Above, in November of 1970, Irene Craigmile (Bolam) took on
the national press circuit not only to preserve her dignity, but her former self's well buttoned-up by then heroic legacy
as well.
As serious as Joseph A. Gervais still was about the Irene who he met in 1965,
Tod Swindell was surprised to learn that as far as Gervais knew, no one had ever forensically compared Irene Craigmile
Bolam to Amelia Earhart before. So he set out to educate himself on how to do such a thing and in due time began orchestrating
a comparison study designed to weigh the likenesses of Irene Craigmile Bolam and Amelia Earhart to each other. He added,
"What inspired me was the way Joe Gervais mentioned he 'recognized her instantly' when he first saw her in 1965.
I found that incredible because I
looked at a candid photograph he took of her on the day they met and
I didn't see it, but he still insisted that was who she used to be. It dawned on me though, where he had been investigating Earhart's disappearance
since 1959, her image was indelibly etched in his mind so he didn't need any comparisons. He just knew who she was the first
time he saw her at a gathering of well known pilots from the golden age of aviation."
For nearly a decade after they first met, Tod Swindell and Joe Gervais met many more times
and spoke often by phone as well. Joe liberally shared the tonnage of research he gathered on Amelia Earhart and Irene Craimile
Bolam from decades past with Tod during that time period. Joe and his wife, Thelma were also the first to observe the preliminary
results of the Amelia-to-Irene comparisons from Tod's study, that soon began turning heads within the illustrious 'Amelia
Earhart Society' contingency by way of their positive results. As Thelma Gervais commented about them, "...they just
reaffirmed what we knew all along." Thelma had also met Irene Craigmile Bolam in 1965 and had assisted her husband
with his 1960s' investigation of her background. Below are three early examples from the Swindell Study that Joe and Thelma
Gervais were first to lay eyes on. Both remarked they had never seen such a thing done before.
Irene
Irene-Amelia Amelia
©2017 'The 1997-2017
Swindell Study'
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Irene Craigmile Bolam [1965 photo taken by Joseph A. Gervais]
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Amelia Earhart
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Irene & Amelia superimposed ©2017 'The 1997-2017
Swindell Study'
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Reactions Before The Swindell Study From the 1970s on, the
'Amelia became Irene' claim originally asserted by Joseph A. Gervais was plagued by divisive rhetoric and ridicule.
Conventional reality was unable to find merit in it and there are several reasons for this. The first and foremost has to
do with Amelia Earhart's living relatives instantly dismissing the assertion out of hand dating back to the time Joe Gervais
first went public with it. The National Geographic Society and the Smithsonian Institution have also never devoted serious
attention to it, mainly because during the World War Two era the Federal government of the United States
moved away from ever officially discussing Amelia Earhart's loss again, and to this day it has always remained silent about
Irene Craigmile Bolam, never offering an official opinion about her at all. Where a tradition of ridicule also exists,
below is an example of how the Associated Press began a story about filmmaker, Tod Swindell's initial forensic comparison
achievements, satirizing Irene as "a New Jersey housewife," a term Tod never used to describe her:
|
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"Special recognition goes
to Tod Swindell, who undertook an extensive, in-depth forensic analysis of Irene Craigmile Bolam and Amelia Earhart to
show the world they were one in the same person." USAF Colonel, Rollin C. Reineck, reprinted
from his book, Amelia Earhart Survived.
|
|
Above, Amelia Earhart in 1937, the year she went missing.
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Above, the two left and right photos superimposed. ©2017 'The 1997-2017 Swindell Study'
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Above, 1965 Joseph A. Gervais photo of Irene Craigmile
Bolam.
|
|
©2017 'The 1997-2017
Swindell Study'
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©2017 'The 1997-2017
Swindell Study'
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©2017 'The 1997-2017
Swindell Study'
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Note:
Do not bother with the non-truthful 'Irene Craigmile Bolam' Wikipedia page. Where it reads, "Bolam's personal life
history has since been thoroughly documented eliminating any possibility she was Earhart," this is a twisted statement
where prior to the World War Two era any documentation would have referenced the original Irene Craigmile, whose identity
Amelia used after the war for the rest of her life. Not to leave out, the National Geographic Society did not hire a forensic
expert in 2006 who concluded the Amelia became Irene assertion was incorrect. That is an absolute false statement. The unremitting
individual who submitted the page, Dr. Alex Mandel of the Ukraine, who also strictly moderates it, is well aware they are
not true statements. What is true is that Dr. Mandel was misguided by his own preconceived opinion and prejudice
against the Amelia became Irene reality. Of note, many other individuals have decried the Irene-Amelia equation over the years
making it difficult for the public to seriously consider the conveyance of it.
The White House 'Executive Order Seal' likely would have remained,
except the Gervais investigation results when later coupled with the Swindell Study results ended up blowing
the lid off of the metaphorical World War Two era Pandora's Box labeled, 'Earhart.'
|
"There's no denying the Irene-Amelia
reality anymore, unless one chooses to remain in denial about it." Tod Swindell
|
While living as Irene, according to insiders the former Amelia Earhart
was highly aware of the person she used to be. She was known to be reticent and at times coy whenever her self-described
'past friendship' to Amelia was brought up in her presence. However, she was put off if directly confronted about her true
past. Before Joseph A. Gervias concluded she was the former Amelia Earhart, in 1967 she wrote a response letter to he and
Joe Klaas, who had politely asked her to admit if she was or wasn't Amelia Earhart in a letter. In her short reply, after
writing "I am not she..." (a present tense denial) she concluded with, "It
has always been my feeling the Amelia Earhart has not passed away completely, so long as there is one person alive who still
remembers her." (Note her odd use of language, "the Amelia Earhart," as if she likened her former-self
to a ship that was long ago lost at sea.)
While it is also true that no one knows the conditions of her
post-loss survival, or where she was or what she was doing the years she was not in view in the United States, the woman
Joseph A. Gervais met and photographed in 1965 did represent the 'remains' of Amelia Earhart (i.e. her 'body evidence'
or more technically perhaps, her still living corpus dilicti.) To be sure, while it can be said
the personage of Amelia Earhart did die all those years ago, her body defintely did continue to live-on...
to later become known as Irene.
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|
"He did
speak of knowing Amelia Earhart but I never met her in his company." A comment
from Monsignor Thomas Ivory of West Orange, New Jersey, a past friend of Monsignor Kelley's who presided over Kelly's 1996
funeral.
|
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Irene Craigmile Bolam proudly displaying her pilot wings in her 1977
formal photo portrait sitting. On the right she is superimposed with photos of Amelia Earhart.
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©2017 'The 1997-2017
Swindell Study'
©2017 'The 1997-2017 Swindell Study'
©2017 'The 1997-2017 Swindell Study'
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Preface: The Real, 'Original' Irene Craigmile "Among the more miss-conveyed high profile
news accounts of the Twentieth Century was the story of Amelia Earhart's long-ago pilot friend, Irene Craigmile. Especially
where it concerned her later-life uncanny resemblance to Amelia. Before the forensic study most people had determined
there wasn't anything to the infamous Irene-Amelia controversy that was summarily buried in 1970 almost as quickly as it surfaced.
Ultimately and hands down, though, the results of the study proved there was a lot to it by displaying how Amelia Earhart
and the original Irene Craigmile were entirely different looking human beings prior to the World War Two years. It wasn't
until after the war that Amelia Earhart and her 'old pal,' Irene Craigmile began to look like carbon copies
of each other, and there was only one way to explain such an anomaly."
Tod Swindell ~~~
|
The second Irene Craigmile identified by her son,
Clarence 'Larry' Heller as, "my mother, around 1940."
©2017 'The 1997-2017
Swindell Study'
|
Above, a "1970s" dated photo of the Irene
Craigmile Bolam identified by her son, adorning the cover of her Memorial Dinner program. Where Irene Craigmile Bolma's death
was recorded on July 7, 1982... the question remains to this day: Who actually died in 1982, the Irene Craigmile Bolam
shown above or the former Amelia Earhart (shown below) who used the same 'Irene' identity in her later life years?
|
Above, the younger and older versions of the Irene Craigmile Bolam
identified by her son are superimposed, displaying one in the same human being. She was not the same Irene Craigmile Bolam,
AKA 'the former Amelia Earhart' who Joseph A. Gervais met and photographed in 1965, even though according to history
she should have been.
©2017 'The 1997-2017
Swindell Study'
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Below:
Welcome home, the former Amelia Earhart.
Amelia Earhart, age 17
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Tod Swindell
Amelia
Earhart 'Aficionado Extraordinaire'
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*Amelia Earhart historian, Lou Foudray not
only believed Amelia quietly returned to the U.S. after she went missing in 1937, but having already heard 'unwed mother'
rumors linked to Amelia's pre-fame years, she seriously considered my postulation that Amelia possibly gave birth to a 'family
secret' child in 1924 (a little girl) four years before she became famous, then deftly managed to conceal its upbringing.
(Such a thing wasn't so uncommon then where unwed parental 'reputation saving measures' were sometimes exercised. Recall
Loretta Young and Clark Gable had baby girl in the 1930s no one knew about until the 1960s, and Charles Lindbergh had three
children in Germany no one knew about until 2004.) My study concurred with other research that marked 1924 as a major
transition year for Amelia, her mother, and her sister. That year Amelia suddenly stopped flying and all three relocated
from California to the east coast--Amelia and her mother separately by way of a long automobile journey. Where Amelia's parents'
divorce became the common given reason for this abrupt change, the move did seem a bit unexpected. As one of Amelia's extended
family members put it, "...it was as if the Earhart's fell off the face of the earth then." I refer to 1924 as
Amelia's 'lost' year. TS
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Next: Reviewing The Monsignor Kelley-Amelia Earhart Connection
Below:
Monsignor James Francis Kelley (1902-1996)
Colonel Reineck:
"Amelia Earhart was Irene Bolam?" Father Kelley: "That's right, yes." USAF Colonel Rollin C. Reineck
(Ret.) asks former Seton Hall College president, Monsignor James Francis Kelley, who replies about his late close friend,
Mrs. Irene Bolam. [Excerpted from a 1991 tape recorded conversation between the two.] A decade earlier, after Mrs. Bolam's passing took place
in 1982, Monsignor Kelley had responded to questions from the press about the ongoing suspicion of her 'past dual identity'
in the following manner:
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Monsignor James Francis Kelley introduces LPGA
golfer, Janey Blalock to Pope Paul VI
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Monsignor Kelley with then New Jersey Governor
Brendan Byrne and his wife, Jean; Commissioner of Baseball Bowie Kuhn and his wife, Luisa; and the LPGA's, Sandra Palmer
|
Monsignor Kelley with First Lady Betty Ford and
Marge Montana
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The former Amelia Earhart's
later-life close friend, Monsignor James Francis Kelley of Rumson, New Jersey. Monsignor Kelley came from a wealthy background
and owned properties in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Jamaica. As 'Irene' the former Amelia Earhart was known to visit him at
both places, especially the Monsignor's beautiful home in St. Croix, U.S.V.I. Monsignor
Kelley was the President of Seton Hall College from 1936 to 1949 and was largely credited for its 1950 conversion into a major
university. In 1979, for the first time on record, Monsignor Kelley described to his good friend, Donald Dekoster, an auto
industry executive, that he had helped with Amelia's quiet return to the U.S. after VJ Day and he had been "instrumental"
with her name change to 'Irene.' He added that he had served as her "psychiatric priest" as well. [Monsignor Kelley
held doctoral degrees Psychology and Philosophy.] The former Amelia Earhart was initially known as 'Irene Craigmile' after
the war until she married Guy Bolam of England in 1958, who oversaw the operation of Radio Luxembourg. Guy died in 1970, at
which time the former Amelia Earhart took over Guy's former position with Radio Luxembourg.
Above: Irene
Craigmile Bolam in 1965
If you have not noticed it already, a key discovery from the Swindell study,
observable here below, was how it evidenced more than one woman attributed to the same 'Irene Craigmile Bolam' identity. The
one below on the right was the Irene Craigmile Bolam who Joseph A. Gervais met and photographed in 1965, shown in younger
and older forms. The study showed she was identified nowhere as Irene prior to the end of World War Two. The 1946 dated picture
of her is the earliest known post-war photograph of the former Amelia Earhart.
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Above, Irene Craigmile in the early 1940s.
Above, Irene Craigmile Bolam in the 1970s.
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Above, Irene Craigmile in 1946.
Above, Irene Craigmile Bolam in 1965.
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The 35MM color photograph Joe Gervais took of Irene Craigmile Bolam on August
8, 1965 is the only photograph he would ever take of her. Yet today, it is justifiably likened to the Zapruder film of the
Kennedy assassination taken in Dallas two years earlier, simply because, thanks to the undeniable results delivered by the
Swindell study beginning with the sample below, it revealed the truth about what became of Amelia Earhart after she
went missing in 1937:
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Hello. Throughout this website you have occasionally
seen my comments interspersed where I felt further insight or explaining might be needed. As you combed through the information
presented here, somehow you hung in there. Since I first launched Irene-Amelia.com in 2007, it has grown to include twenty-seven
original links featuring a thousand pages of Amelia Earhart related research material. I'm responsible for all of it. While
only a third of the page links are listed on this 'Home Page' anymore, perhaps they will inspire you to look for the others.
Of course, I am also excited to announce the near completion of my two-decades long documentary film project scheduled to
be released this fall. By the way, about the differing, 'maybe Amelia's plane has been found' rumors that
seem to pop up every year in news releases: Insurmountable odds dictate Amelia Earhart's plane will never be seen again. In
defying these odds, if her plane ever is located or produced, it is certain the place it happens will not be anywhere
near to where Amelia came down with it. This is because we now know the truth, that Amelia lived-on and therefore recalled
the last place she saw her plane, and it wasn't underwater. Protecting Earhart does not advocate plane hunting. It deals with truths only;
some new ones, some forgotten ones. For example, consider a 1962 comment made by newly retired U.S.
Navy Commander, John Pillsbury. In describing the fairly common Navy brass viewpoint back then about Amelia Earhart's
disappearance to CBS radio's Fred Goerner, who was investigating it at the time, Pillsbury encouraged him not to give up.
He also added Admiral Chester Nimitz' opinion about Goerner's hunt to learn the true circumstances of Earhart's loss as well:
"You're on to something that will stagger your imagination." Think about that; two high-ranking U.S.
Navy figureheads intimating how the true circumstances of Amelia's 1937 disappearance amounted to some kind of 'imagination
staggering' reality the public never knew. No surprise, when Fred Goerner's controversial book about Amelia's disappearance
was published in 1966, it sat atop the New York Times best-seller list for twelve straight weeks. Sadly, few seem to remember
it today.
Wait a second,
I read Fred Goerner's 1966 book cover to cover and remember it very well. Especially the part that refers to USAF captains,
Joseph A. Gervais and Bob Dinger and their July of 1960 experience after being
summoned to the U.S. air base in Fuchu, Japan by a panel of senior Air Force officers. The following appears in the
Goerner book about that: "The Air Force refused to divulge the complete story told by Captain Gervais..." and "Nevertheless
most of the interview with the two captains was kept secret and the Air Force clamped a security classification on the claims
of Gervais and Dinger." Hey, you may want to tighten your chinstraps if you want to keep
flying with Amelia and me in our plane dubbed, 'The Paradigm Shift' that re-navigates the so-called "mystery"
of her disappearance. For as already shown, our journey includes what truly became of her after 1937. To be sure,
it is blatantly clear the universal charge of Amelia herself is finally ready for this flight that is intent on delivering
to all of you... the truth. Very Truly Yours, Tod Swindell
|
Click on the YouTube channel link below to
observe forensic video dissolves:
Facebook: "Irene-Amelia Earhart-Craigmile" Friend requests
welcomed. URL:
Protecting Earhart 2018 By Tod Swindell
2017 marked the 20th
anniversary of the Protecting Earhart moniker. Some people think of it as an homage to a Witness Protection Program.
It isn't. Protecting Earhart has always been devoted to correcting, and then protecting Amelia Earhart's profound
legacy--that ended up mired in ambiguity due to the purported mystery of her so-called, 'disappearance.' Today, no matter what anyone
might say or believe to the contrary, Protecting Earhart provides the best historical clarity when it comes to what
happened to Amelia Earhart after the unscheduled ending of her last flight. Anymore it is a forensic certainty that she managed
to survive and later resurfaced in the United States known as one of three 20th century women attributed to the same identity
of, Irene Bolam. Thanks to Protecting Earhart, this long shouted-down historical truth is now easy to recognize
and understand. Retired USAF Major, Joseph A. Gervais steadfastly promoted and lived this truth the last 40 years of his life
until he died in 2005, and I have now lived and promoted this truth for the last 20 years of my own life, after concurring
with and edifying the key findings of Major Gervais, my late good friend and former collaborator, the first several of those
years.
~~~
"All truth passes through three stages. First,
it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident." Arthur Schopenhauer ~~~
|
| Amelia, 1923 'into a mirror taken' self photo portrait five years before she became famous at age 30 |
|
|
| Amelia and her future self superimposed |
|
|
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"Special recognition goes
to Tod Swindell, who undertook an extensive, in-depth forensic analysis of the Gervais-Irene Bolam and Amelia Earhart to
show the world they were one in the same person." USAF Colonel, Rollin C. Reineck, reprinted from his book, Amelia
Earhart Survived. ~~~
|
| The Gervais-Irene Bolam |
"No matter how it
has been discounted in the past, and though some opposing theorists still choose to argue against it, anymore it is certain
three different women were attributed to the same, 'Irene Madeline O'Crowley Craigmile Heller Bolam' identity, and
one of them, the 'Gervais-Irene,' who was identified nowhere as 'Irene' in the United States prior to the mid-1940s, was previously
known as 'Amelia Earhart.' Evolving from the time the controversy about 'Mrs. Irene Bolam' first surfaced in 1970, anymore
this forensic truehood is incontestable." Tod Swindell, 2017
The three different women attributed to the same Irene identity: On the left is the original Irene Craigmile
in 1930, whose family Amelia had known. In the middle is the second Irene shown in the early to
mid-1940s; on the right is the third Irene [Gervais-Irene] in 1946, FKA 'Amelia Earhart.' The
original Irene's son, Larry Heller specifically identified the second Irene shown in the middle
as his 'mother' from his early childhood on. Above left: The Gervais-Irene Bolam in
Japan, 1963 Middle: Superimposed
with her previous 'Amelia' self Right:
As Amelia, age thirty © Protecting Earhart
| Amelia Earhart, age twenty-six. |
|
| 1923 into a mirror self-photo portrait. She would become famous in 1928. |
|
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| Amelia Earhart, 1933 |
|
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| Amelia, 1928 |
|
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| Classic Amelia, the blend begins. |
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| Amelia at Kitty Hawk |
|
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| Gervais-Irene & Amelia |
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| Two photos superimposed. |
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| Gervais-Irene & Amelia superimposed |
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| Gervais-Irene,1965 / Amelia,1933 |
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| Gervais-Irene & Amelia superimposed |
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| Gervais-Irene,1963 / Amelia,1928 |
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| Gervais-Irene & Amelia superimposed |
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| Gervais-Irene,1976 / Amelia,1932 |
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| Gervais-Irene & Amelia superimposed |
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| Gervais-Irene,1978 / Amelia,1929 |
|
The 'believe
it or not' truth about Amelia Earhart has been recognizable for decades, although it has been shouted down over the years
by important sounding individuals who worked hard to encourage the public to ignore it, and to pay attention instead to
their own differing conclusions.
~~~
Protecting Earhart Forensic Analysis Reactions: "Tod,
I have carefully studied the overlays and your presentation. Your conclusion that there were multiple
Irene Bolams has completely convinced me that this is indeed the case. You have also convinced me
that the Gervais-Bolam was AE. Incredible. You have quite an impressive package
there. Keep charging - Gene." From a letter to Tod Swindell from Retired Navy
Rear Admiral, Eugene Tissot. Tissot's Father, Ernie was a friend of Amelia's and served as her head plane mechanic during
her 1935 Hawaii to Oakland flight. This was Gene Tissot's response to his examination
of Protecting Earhart's first distributed forensic analysis results.
"Your
work relating to AE and IB is absolutely outstanding. There is no other way to describe
it. I just wanted you to know that I have nothing but admiration for you and I
am honored and proud to be on the winning team. I'm convinced you have solved the mystery." A note from USAF Colonel
Rollin C. Reineck (Ret.) to Tod Swindell. Colonel Reineck was among the original recipients
of Protecting Earhart's first distributed forensic analysis results. Reineck's book, Amelia Earhart Survived duly credited the achievement. _________________________________________________________________________________________
~~~ Multiple 'Irenes' and a 'Forensic Match'
The Key Findings of the Irene-Amelia
Analysis
The comprehensive Irene-Amelia forensic analysis 'key findings' display why it is correct
to oppose the fulminations of others whom for years soap-boxed misleading information to the American public about the
late-great, Mrs. Irene Bolam. This includes one Dr. Alex Mandel's creation of Wikipedia's public information supplied,
'Irene Craigmile Bolam' page and his overt domination over it. Other people have also taken measures
to publicly discredit the new-millennium learned truths about Mrs. Bolam's past by citing outdated referrals chocked with
slanted and since 'proved incorrect' information. Directly below, take heart in knowing what individuals and organizations that
refuse to support the new realized truth about Amelia are well aware of but do not acknowledge publicly; how there had
been more than one Twentieth Century woman attributed to the same "Irene Bolam" identity. [Note: the
true story on how Amelia became one of the 'Irenes' is found in the second page link down in the left blue column at the
top of the page.] Here, below an artist's rendering of an Amelia photo, are the three different women who used the same 'Irene'
identity in the Twentieth Century. Thank you.
| Artist's photo rendering of Amelia Earhart |
|
| Note superimposed images far right below. |
|
Below, Larry Heller's true birth mother, the original Irene
shown in 1930 between her first husband, Charles, who died suddenly in 1931, and her father, Richard Joseph O'Crowley. A past
friend of Amelia's, the original Irene gave birth to Larry Heller in early 1934, [Larry's actual birth name: "Clarence
Alvin Heller."] Larry was she and her second husband, Alvin Heller's child. It is unknown what became of the original
Irene's physical person. [It was rumored--but far from confirmed--that she became debilitated after a difficult child-birthing
ordeal.] It is evident Larry Heller, who volunteered he held "no photographs" of his mother displaying her prior
to the 1940s, never imprinted his biological mother shown here as his 'true' mother. This particular 'very low quality' photo
he had not seen before it appeared in the 1982 tribune series, that forged and doctored photos to make it appear that the
three different women displayed here, the original Irene below and the other two to the right who later ended up having her
identity attributed to them, were ALL one in the same human being. By virtue of the forensic study it became known they were
all different individual human beings.
|
| Above center: Larry Heller's biological mother in 1930. |
|
|
Below, the 'second Irene,' shown younger in the 1940s, older in the
1970s. In 2006, and again in writing in 2014, the 1934 born, Larry Heller positively identified her as his 'late mother.'
|
| 1940s |
|
| 1970s |
|
| The two above photos superimposed; same person younger to older. |
|
Below, the 'third Irene,' FKA 'Amelia Earhart' shown younger and
older in 1946 and 1964. She used Larry Heller's mother's identity from the mid-1940s until she died in 1982. The last photo
below superimposes her with her former self, Amelia Earhart. Anymore this truth exists as an obvious multi-layered
'forensic reality.'
|
| 1946 |
|
| 1964 |
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| Superimposed with her former self, 'Amelia' |
|
Above are the three different Twentieth Century women
who were attributed to the same 'Irene Bolam' identity. On the left is the 'original Irene' who Amelia was acquainted
with in the 1930s. In the middle is the 'second Irene' who Larry Heller identified as the 'mother' figure he recalled,
and the right column displays the 'third Irene.' The 'third Irene' appeared nowhere identified as 'Irene' prior to
the mid-1940s because she had previously been known as, "Amelia Earhart." The original Irene's birth name was "Irene Madeline
O'Crowley." She was born in 1904, although her birth certificate was never located, and by the early 1940s she no longer
appeared, and maybe no longer existed. The 'second Irene's' true identity remains a mystery. She looked to be a generation
younger than the other two Irenes. She was rumored to have been 'born in 1924' and adopted into the O'Crowley family of Newark,
New Jersey a few years later. The 1934 born son of the original Irene, identified the second Irene as his life-long
mother figure. The 'third Irene' used to be known as Amelia Earhart. She did not take on her 'Irene' identity until the mid-1940s.
The same 'Irene' identity all three used historically featured the names: "Irene Madeline O'Crowley Craigmile Heller
Bolam."
As described, in 1970 Mrs. Bolam was caught off guard
when a black and white version of the above photograph appeared in a nationally published book that implicated her, albeit
without herself endorsing it to, as the living former Amelia Earhart. Defiantly, she lawyered-up and successfully
rebuked the truthful assertion, although it took her five years to do it. Incredibly enough, through it all she never denied
that she had been famously known as "Amelia Earhart" in the 1930s. For more about Mrs. Bolam's legal action click
on the third link down in the upper left blue column.
The Forensic
Study's Important 'Tale of the Tape' Final Results Along with the obvious facial congruence, also observable in
the study is how the entire head-to-toe physical bodies and character traits forensically aligned. Adversarial rumors claiming
"measurable differences cited" were simply untrue. As well, it is imperative to identify how the 'Mrs. Irene Bolam'
who equated herself as the former Amelia Earhart appeared from out of nowhere in the mid-1940s to exist as one of three Twentieth
Century women attributed to the same 'Irene' identity. In essence, her image was not denoted as 'Irene' prior to the mid-1940s
because she had been previously known as 'Amelia Earhart.'
|
|
| Amelia Earhart |
|
|
| Amelia as her later life self in the 1970s, Mrs. Irene Bolam |
|
While it is true the photographs above depict the
same human being in younger and older forms, the world public was never supposed to know this. After she went missing in
1937, Amelia Earhart was legally declared 'dead in absentia' in 1939, and a later evaluation of the matter determined said
'declaration' should never change, even after the U.S. Department of Justice learned she had continued to survive. This, coupled
with Amelia's strong desire for a future private-life following her varied war-time experiences, is why she ended up becoming
known as, 'Irene.' ~~~
A Sample Excerpt From The World War Two-Era 'FBI
File' On Amelia Earhart... "Don't worry about her well being. She is perfectly
all right." A
World War Two Japanese Intelligence officer's comment to an American POW about Amelia Earhart cited in the FBI's file on her
missing person case. Directly below is an excerpt from a two-page "December 27, 1944" dated document
from the FBI file on Amelia Earhart released well after the FOIA went into effect. The document where this sentence appeared featured
an in-depth interview with a former POW held by Japan who managed to escape and was transported to Walter Reed Hospital in
Washington DC to recover from injuries he sustained while doing so. The hospital helped him contact the FBI believing it should
interview the well-decorated soldier based on information he mentioned he had learned about Amelia Earhart, first from Japanese
personnel in the Philippines just before the Pearl Harbor attack, who mentioned Amelia was "transported to Tokyo where
she was being kept at a hotel there," and then again years later from a Japanese intelligence officer while the soldier
was a POW after surviving the infamous "Bataan death march." Nearly
all of the documents contained in the fifty-nine page file, including this one, were evidenced as having been brought to the
attention of then FBI director, J. Edgar Hoover. Several of the documents pertained to information about the location of Amelia's
plane, accordingly after Japan impounded it, and others, dated into the mid-1940s, passed along information that pertained
to conveyances of Amelia's ongoing survival. The names of both the FBI agent and the recovering soldier are blacked out in
the file, something that was standard protocol for sensitive information. In this part of the document, the POW soldier recalled
asking the Japanese intelligence officer he was working as a typist for at the time, if he knew whether or not "his cousin,
Amelia Earhart" was still alive(?) According the the soldier, the Japanese officer, who was somewhat taken aback by the
remark before responding, said he could not tell the soldier anything but assured him at the same time, "not to worry"
about Amelia Earhart because she was, "perfectly all right."
~~~ Below:
The aforementioned Nuclear Physicist and Sedulous Amelia Earhart Devotee, Dr. Alex Mandel
Above: From the time the awareness of the new millennium
'Irene-Amelia' forensic study began drawing public attention, Nuclear Physicist, Dr. Alex Mandel has led a
misinformation charge aimed at devaluing the results the study conveyed. If you are interested, an example of his lengthy
Wikisource diatribe he assembled to thoroughly discount every aspect of Amelia's later-life as 'Irene' can be observed in
the link below the next paragraph. Note how within it, where Dr. Mandel cites author, David Horner's interview with the son
of Irene Bolam, Larry Heller, he avoids mentioning how in the new millennium, Mr. Heller identified an entirely different
person to have been his 'mother' than the Irene Bolam who was identified as the former Amelia Earhart in the forensic comparison
analysis. The simple math realized long ago was the 1934 born Mr. Heller was always telling the truth when he stated his mother
was not Amelia Earhart. It had long been known that Amelia Earhart knew Mr. Heller's true mother in
the 1930s, so after the study revealed the post-war survived Amelia Earhart shared his mother's identity in her later life
years, Mr. Heller was subsequently asked at his attorney's office in New York to positively identify his life-long 'mother'
in photographs, and as mentioned, while doing so he identified a completely different person than the 'Irene Bolam' who matched
Amelia Earhart.
Below:
Even though she existed in full view for decades until she died in 1982, the general public was never supposed to identify
how this beautiful, important looking woman photographed in 1978 used to be known as "Amelia Earhart." Realizing
it may be difficult for some to accept this new millennium proven forensic reality, the following truth none-the-less
exists: Prior to the World War Two era, the proud looking person in the photograph below was known as, "Amelia Earhart."
This website has existed on-line continuously since 2007 and no one has ever legally or forensically overchallenged this
statement about the Mrs. Irene Bolam shown here, because it's true.
 About The Above Photograph The photograph above
displays the former Amelia Earhart, AKA "Mrs. Irene Bolam" in 1978. When this particular formal photo-portrait
was taken she was living in her true eightieth year and she had been known as "Irene" for over three decades. As
it turned out there were three Twentieth Century women attributed to the same 'Irene Bolam' identity. The general public
was never supposed to know this, nor was it supposed to know about the famous past of the Mrs. Bolam shown above. This is
why the news media continues to be persuaded by historical dictum influences--that supplementing those already listed includes
the modern Amelia Earhart®
trademarked
brand owners, the Zonta organization, [of which Amelia and her later-life self as 'Irene' had served as distinguished members]
and Dr. Thomas Crouch and Dorothy Cochrane of the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum, who all continue to encourage
the curious not to regard or pay serious attention to this profound truth that was forensically realized
in the new millennium. No matter, for the following Amelia Earhart reality now openly exists: The
"Mrs. Irene Bolam" displayed above appeared nowhere identified as 'Irene' prior to the mid-1940s because she had
been previously known as, "Amelia Earhart." The original 'Irene,' who Amelia had known in the 1930s before
she assumed her left-over identity after World War Two, looked entirely different and was historically a far less ambitious
individual. For more about the original 'Irene' whose identity Amelia assumed in her later life years, click on "The True Story of Amelia Earhart" page link located in the upper left blue column.
~~~
"To see what is in front of one's nose needs a constant struggle." From the book, 1984 by George Orwell
The above quote
is revealing of people occupying important positions in the last half of the Twentieth Century, who remained 'officially
silent' about certain information they learned on the controversy of Amelia Earhart's 1937 disappearance--that from
a legal standpoint became an, "unresolved missing person case." Foremost including individuals dating back to FDR's
World War Two era administration, their aligned motivations were geared toward obfuscating suspicion toward the volatile
hidden reality of Amelia's continued existence throughout the war years, that inevitably left the U.S. justice
department facilitating a future 'private life' for her away from the public eye after the war--as a common U.S. citizen.
This
worked well until the former Amelia Earhart was recognized for who she used to be and then was 'outed' against
her will in 1970. Amazingly, after the reality of Amelia Earhart's post-war name-changed survival evidenced itself to be
true, it continued to be shouted-down by dominating individuals who remained subjugated by their own denials--when
it came to the reality of Amelia Earhart's ongoing name-changed survival, until she died in 1982. It wasn't until the new
millennium arrived, before Tod Swindell's forensic research analysis and human comparison study finally began to blow
the lid off of this ongoing, ironclad coverup--that appeared to have included post World War Two era 'wink-and-nod' classified
endorsements from the nations of Japan and England.
~~~ The Misdirected
In the 1980s, a variety of new, privately
run cottage industries intent on pecuniary interests began exploiting the invented Amelia Earhart Mystery
by introducing a variety of new theories within their different attempts to explain what happened to her. This practice led
to endless false-hope news briefs that in-turn confused the American public about Amelia's world flight ending and aftermath.
Fortunately, these misleading 'Earhart mystery purveyors' began to fade after knowledge of the incontestable, 'new-millennium forensic achievements' displaying
Amelia's post-war private existence as "Mrs. Irene Bolam" surfaced. ~~~
On Correct and Incorrect Statements
and Truths...
"The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement, but the opposite of a profound truth may be
another profound truth." Niels Bohr, 1885-1962; Danish quantum theorist & physicist, Nobel Prize winner
Considering this interesting
paradoxical sounding quote, it might dawn on one how it could readily be applied to the Earhart conundrum. While
it exists as a profound truth that Amelia Earhart survived and lived the latter part of
her life in the United States known as someone else until she died in 1982, it also appears to be a
profound truth where influential 'connected to the story' individuals remained aware of a potential for precarious
historical ramifications to occur should said truth segue into existing as a recognized fact. So much provided the
impetus for the controversial reality about Amelia to be covered over--with the intention that it was never to surface or
even be promoted to the general public as something worth seriously evaluating. For many years this approach worked. Inevitably, however,
its undoing began when the long-disregarded forensic truth about Amelia Earhart began staring back at people in no
uncertain terms. Tod Swindell ~~~
The Forensic Truth Since the Associated Press reported the emergence of the Irene-Amelia forensic analysis over a dozen years ago, the
following 'forensic truth' about Amelia Earhart has been available to anyone who cares to know it: There were three different Twentieth Century women attributed to the same 'Irene Bolam'
identity and one of them was previously known as "Amelia Earhart." As mentioned, where this proven reality about Amelia Earhart now exists, the viewpoint propagandized through the
news media continues to influence the public NOT to believe it. Amelia Earhart cottage industries and her 'brand image'
enthusiasts still discount it, even though in the new millennium the discovered truth about Amelia Earhart ended up
presenting itself as an obvious forensic certainty.
Think about it: Instead of encouraging people
to accept what is anymore the obvious reality of Amelia Earhart's post-war continued survival as Irene, the U.S. national
press circuit in alignment with ongoing overtures of 'official silence' about her actual fate from the U.S. department of
justice, has continued to persuade the public to consider the ideas that Amelia: 1.) Was eaten by giant
crabs on the desert island of Nikumaroro, 2.) Was executed by Japan's military on Saipan as a suspected spy, or 3.) With a
thousand miles worth of extra fuel reserves, she flew aimlessly over the Pacific Ocean until she simply crashed and sank at
unknown coordinates. Otherwise, it is considered 'taboo' by the U.S. national press circuit to so much as hint
at the reality of Amelia's post-loss, name-changed survival as 'Irene.' Even though the data supporting this truth is overwhelming
and full-proof anymore, national news reporters are not allowed to touch it.
~~~
"There have been so many different
theories and ideas offered by now, and one can think or believe what one will, but the absolute truth of the matter is the
general public still doesn't know exactly what happened to Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan on July 2, 1937, the day they were
said to have, 'disappeared without a trace.' For decades it was professed by a variety of historical scholars that Amelia
went down in the Marshall Islands and likely ended up existing under the stewardship of Japan during the World War Two years.
Maybe that's true, maybe it isn't, but the one thing we do know for certain as a result of the new millennium, comprehensive
forensic analysis that displays it clearly, is that Amelia Earhart reemerged in the United States after World War Two
with a different identity that was attributed to more than one person in the Twentieth Century." Amelia Earhart
Historian, Tod Swindell
Tracking The "Amelia Earhart Mystery"
Invention A brief statement
from Tod Swindell [The difference between understanding what one believes in and believing in what one understands.]
"Most
all Amelia Earhart mystery enthusiasts, or theorists, devoted themselves to understanding answers they individually
decided to believe in. Two notable ones who claimed to understand different conclusions that were first
postulated over seventy years ago--that they individually decided to believe in and promote--are Richard
Gillespie of TIGHAR and Alex Mandel of the Amelia Earhart Society. Both mark perfect examples:
One believed and insisted that Amelia died on a desert island where her remains were eaten by giant crabs; the other believed
and insisted that Amelia was picked up by Japan and soon after died in its custody. Before combing through these wayward miscalculations and
others of a similar ilk, I started from a different vantage point upon embarking on my research journey in the 1990s, and
now view myself as a historian who believes in a truth that took me decades to understand. My arduous process required a thorough
examination of the tonnage of verified research data on Amelia's loss, followed by subjecting my most earnest determinations
to a comprehensive forensic evaluation. Thus, I did not work to understand something I believed in,
rather, I came to believe in something I worked hard to learn about and understand, as any true research analyst does."
Tod Swindell ~~~
A Quick Review Amelia
Earhart displayed different looks during her fame years just as she did in later-life when she was known as 'Irene,' until
her passing took place in 1982. To date the United States government has never offered an 'official opinion' about the decades
old controversy over Mrs. Bolam's true life-long identity, leaving the Smithsonian Institution [a 'ward' of the U.S. government]
no choice but to keep downplaying what in recent decades grew to become the 'obvious reality' of Amelia's later-life with
a different name.
|
Amelia as Amelia side:
|
Amelia as Irene side:
|
~~~ On Amelia's Name Change To Irene
From the Protecting Earhart Chronicles by Tod Swindell
Granted it's hard to fathom it actually happened, but
it did happen. Fortunately, the endeavor of Amelia Earhart's name-change to 'Irene' is no longer difficult to explain or comprehend.
A
Zonta organization friend of Amelia's, a New York/New Jersey attorney by the name of Irene Rutherford O'Crowley, had a niece
she helped raise from childhood who was a contemporary of Amelia's. By marriage her niece's name was, 'Mrs. Irene Craigmile.' After Amelia became famous
in 1928, she became a member of the Zonta women's organization that same year. Upon joining the Zonta's, Amelia's new friend,
Attorney Irene Rutherford O'Crowley, (a prominent Zonta figure) co-emceed the ceremony for Amelia's induction, and in short
order after doing so she introduced Amelia to her niece, Irene Craigmile. Irene Craigmile was seven years younger than the new-famous
pilot, Amelia Earhart, and she looked up to her. When they met, Irene was sure to express her own interest in 'flying' to
Amelia, and the two remained distantly acquainted from that point on. Sadly, a few years later in 1931, Irene Craigmile lost
her husband of four years, Charles Craigmile, to uremic poisoning after his appendix burst during a road trip. A year later, in 1932,
not long after Amelia soloed the Atlantic, the newly widowed Irene Craigmile decided she wanted to learn to be a pilot. Except
while taking flying lessons midway through the following year, just before being awarded her pilot's license, she realized
she was pregnant out of wedlock and ended up eloping to wed the child's father, Alvin Heller, who had served as one of her
flight instructors. She would never pilot a plane again. A son was born to the newlyweds, Al and Irene Heller in early 1934, except it
had been a trying three years for Irene after losing her husband, Charles. Coming out of her bereavement, she looked forward
to the adventure of flying planes and spent months taking lessons. Instead the end-result for her was an unplanned pregnancy
and a new husband she didn't really know that well. Through it all, Irene began suffering from bouts of depression that abetted
the soon-to-be failure of her rushed marriage, and by 1937, Al Heller had relocated alone to Buffalo, New York. His career
as a pilot did not suit the typical 'stay at home husband and father' profile well, and his decision to leave led to Irene
filing for a marriage annulment and soon to follow 'child visitation rights' battle. In the interim, the couple's young son
began being attended to by a surrogate mother figure from within the extended O'Crowley family fold who he would grow to imprint
as his real mother. After Amelia went missing in 1937, and then was declared 'dead in absentia' on January 5,
1939 (even though she was still very much alive) her Zonta friend, Attorney Irene Rutherford O'Crowley, who helped with her
niece's marriage annulment process, would serve as a key player within the arrangement for Amelia to use Irene's identity
after the war years. As recalled by one Diana Dawes in 1992, who was a later-life good friend of Mrs. Irene Bolam's, (AKA
the 'former' Amelia Earhart) at some point, Irene Craigmile Heller's death occurred but the when, where, and how of it was
not publicized, thus enabling Amelia to later assume her identity. The arrangement accordingly took place under the omniscient
guise of the U.S. justice department's, J. Edgar Hoover, and with 'assigned help' administered by one Monsignor James Francis
Kelley of Rumson, New Jersey, (see further below) who counseled and guided the war-years survived, Amelia Earhart, during
the transition phase that left her further known as, 'Irene.' Note: It appears to be the case that Amelia's 'identity
change' endeavor was actually initiated prior to the end of World War Two. For more about this and what became of Al and Irene Heller's
son, click on "The True Story of Amelia Earhart" link at the top of this page to the left.
~~~
Above: By the mid-late 1940s,
clear-legible photographs of the original Irene Craigmile became all but non-extant in the process of Amelia acquiring her
identity to use in her own later-life years. The rare photo above depicts the original Irene Craigmile in 1930, shown between
her first husband, Charles Craigmile (left) and her father, Richard Joseph O'Crowley (right.) The original Irene Craigmile
was an only child of twelve years old when her mother, Bridget Doyle O'Crowley died, thus creating the need for her to be
further reared by her attorney aunt, Irene Rutherford O'Crowley. ~~~
Above:
Mrs. Irene Bolam in Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia in 1976, while on a trip with Monsignor James Francis Kelley's sister, Gertruded
Kelley Hession. The two right panels superimpose her into the person she used to be.
The
Inspiration For Protecting Earhart's Forensic Study:
The
inspiration for Protecting Earhart's new millennium forensic study is traceable to 1970, when the enigmatically important,
'Mrs. Irene Bolam' displayed in the above photographs was called-out on a national news level because she was suspected to
have been previously known as, 'Amelia Earhart.' This may sound crazy to some, except for a few years prior to 1970,
Mrs. Bolam had eluded formidable researchers of Amelia's 1937 disappearance who not only felt she resembled an 'older' version
of Amelia Earhart, but after looking into her past they found highly noticeable connective tissue that existed between she
and Amelia. Mrs. Bolam described herself as one who, "had a career as a pilot once, but I gave that all up years ago."
She also mentioned that she had "known" and had "often flown with Amelia Earhart" in the 1930s. Decades later, after learning that the question of Mrs. Bolam's life-long identity was never
solidly answered, and how more researchers came to ardently believe that she had been previously known as Amelia Earhart,
(to date four books have been published contending she was), Protecting Earhart's forensic study displayed the same
Mrs. Bolam demonstrating a haunting physical congruence and character traits alignment to Amelia Earhart, along with surfacing
the unrecognized fact that more than one woman had been attributed to the same 'Irene' identity. The study further revealed
the Mrs. Bolam featured here appeared from out of nowhere to live in the United States known as 'Irene Craigmile' following
the World War Two years, until she married Guy Bolam in 1958. This
quietly important individual traveled the world with an open-ended ticket on Pan Am Airways throughout the 1960s and 1970s,
hobnobbing with internationally known people while also devoting time to the administration of Radio Luxembourg. She died
in 1982. In the 1930s and prior to, she was known as, 'Amelia Earhart.'
Continue on to learn more about history's quietly important, Mrs. Irene Bolam, who absolutely was, previously
known as, "Amelia Earhart."
~~~The Irene-Amelia.Com
website was launched in 2007. The forensic reality it displays has never been over-challenged and never will be because
displays the forensic truth about Amelia Earhart. In the latter part of the
Twentieth Century, the Smithsonian Institution and the Amelia Earhart brand owned by Amelia's extended family, maintained
a tradition of steering people away from the learned reality of Amelia's private life in the United States after World War
Two. Oddly enough, after the forensic analysis
results were made public in the new millennium, their defensive deflections became more deliberate.
~~~
Acknowledgement 2018 marks eleven years of Irene-Amelia.com presenting unheralded Amelia Earhart truths over the Internet. Its broad-based view of Protecting Earhart's landmark discoveries
enabled it to fully expound on the obfuscated fate of Amelia Earhart. Assembled to enlighten the non-biased, Irene-Amelia.Com
exists today as the most truthful, historically revealing, and overall important Amelia Earhart website
on the internet. Protecting Earhart makes it clear: Amelia's body was not eaten by giant
crabs on the desert island of Nikumaroro, even though many people were conditioned over the years by a media sensationalized
group known as 'TIGHAR' to consider this ridiculous idea. Protecting Earhart further makes
it clear: Amelia was not executed by Japan's military as a suspected spy, nor did she die of medical
neglect while in Japan's custody, although some author-theorists have long been trying to convince
people that one of these two scenarios occurred.
As well, after missing Howland Island,
Amelia did not fly around aimlessly in radio silence until she crashed and sank into the ocean, although this has always appeared
to be the 'officially preferred' viewpoint for people to accept.
Protecting Earhart conveys the truth,
the ONLY truth concerning what became of Amelia Earhart that the U.S. justice department never wished for the public
to identify. Take heart in knowing this was not a conspiracy hidden reality, rather, it was a truth that ended up being
left behind as a result of the World War Two years in a let's move on kind of way. ~~~
Below: A larger version repeated
from above, two 1937 photos of Amelia Earhart followed by one of the many 'telling' examples from Tod Swindell's new-millennium,
Protecting Earhart forensic comparison analysis that forensically revealed Amelia's later-life continued survival as
one of three different women attributed to the same 'Irene' identity.
Above,
the former Amelia Earhart on August 8, 1965 in front of the Sea Spray Inn of East Hampton, Long Island, New York.
~~~
| From a 10/18/82 New Jersey News Tribune article: |
|
| Msgr. Kelley later verified his late friend, Mrs. Irene Bolam used to be, 'Amelia Earhart' |
The famous priest, Monsignor James Francis Kelley,
was an important United States catholic church emissary in the Twentieth Century. He knew many celebrities in his day, including
Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart, and he was decorated in the 1940s for his "patriotic service to his country during
the war years" by U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Henry P. Morgenthau Jr. and the U.S. Department of Justice's J. Edgar
Hoover. Father Kelley never shared the reason he was given these awards but those who studied Amelia Earhart's private survival
story the most estimated they had to do with the help and attention he devoted to securing a private-life future for Amelia
after the war years.
Above: Monsignor James Francis Kelley and the
former Amelia Earhart, 1977. Father Kelley went on to admit that with his help Amelia became known as 'Irene' after World
War Two and they remained close friends from that point on.
Below:
The former Amelia Earhart (right) in 1976, with her good friend and frequent travelling companion, Gertrude Kelley Hession
in Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia. Gertrude was Monsignor Kelley's sister. It's hard to see Amelia here, sure, until you hit the video
dissolve link highlighted in yellow below.
Yes, it is hard to recognize Mrs. Bolam here as an
older version of her former 'Amelia' self, but once-again click on the link directly below to watch a slow motion dissolve
of the same photo as she superimposes into who she used to be. After watching the dissolve a few times, hit the back arrow
to return to Irene-Amelia.Com. As noted the person she is with, Gertrude Kelley Hession, was the sister of Monsignor James
Francis Kelley. As Irene Bolam, the former Amelia Earhart was a close friend of both Monsignor Kelley and his sister, Gertrude.
Beginning in the late 1970s and continuing until his death in 1996, Monsignor Kelley, a past president of Seton Hall College,
confided to certain individuals, some who later went on record about it, that his later-life friend, Irene, used to be known
as 'Amelia Earhart.' As with Joseph A. Gervais, adversaries called Monsignor Kelley 'crazy' for saying what he did about his
friend, Irene, who died in 1982. Monsignor Kelley wasn't crazy, and of course neither was Joseph A. Gervais. Click on the link below to watch the video dissolve.
Encapsulation The information presented in this website pertains to
the well storied, 1937 disappearance of Amelia Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan. The controversy over what really happened
as a result of the failed world-flight attempt that led to their loss remained a highly debated historical subject matter
for many years. Where anyone might offer a legal argument in an effort to explain the actual outcome of their flight,
it is essential to remember how the loss of Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan was originally called, "a missing persons"
case. Solving a missing person case requires finding the person or finding true body evidence of the person.
Since this still had not happened by the time 1939 arrived, Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan were legally declared "dead
in absentia" at that point in time. In the mid-1990s, after
becoming deeply interested in the story of Amelia Earhart's so-called 'disappearance,' I began my own in-depth research
that looked into the peculiar record of her world flight outcome. A few years into the new millennium I drew a certain conclusion
after thoroughly examining the different theories presented over the years that tried to explain what really happened to Amelia.
My opinion was markedly influenced by 1993 Lost Star author, Randall Brink, and a high-profile suggestion offered in
the 1970s from famous Amelia Earhart historian, Joseph A. Gervais, who, based on his own findings, asserted that Amelia continued
to survive after she went missing, and she eventually resurfaced in the United States sporting a different identity. This may sound as outlandish
to you today as it did to most people back then. Just the same, additional information learned about it during past two decades
only added further support to the, 'Amelia survived and took on a new identity' postulation. For starters, it was confirmed
years ago by Grace Muriel Earhart Morrissey, Amelia's sister and only sibling who died in 1998, that she and the Mrs. Irene
Bolam shown on this page were friends and Zonta sisters in their later life years. Protecting Earhart's modern expose'
revealed how this was, 'not just a coincidence.'
Die-hard Amelia Earhart mystery fans are just now starting
to grasp the truthful nature of what the Protecting Earhart forensic study accomplished. To those taking an interest,
the second page-link down on the upper left will direct you to what I ascertain to be, "The True Story of Amelia Earhart,"
of which the information displayed here offers a preview.
Thank
you, Tod Swindell 2018 ~~~
Why the historical truth about Amelia's name change
to Irene has never been officially acknowledged or promoted: Even though it is forensically true that Amelia Earhart
managed to survive her storied disappearance and she eventually changed her name to 'Irene' during the World War Two era,
as mentioned her own family and the Smithsonian Institution have never acknowledged it publicly. Instead, since 1970, after
the forensic truth about Amelia Earhart was first discovered and made public by a third party [Joseph A. Gervais] they maintained
the practice of quickly dismissing it out of hand, describing it as "hokum," "baseless," or "unsupported
by convincing evidence." These rebuttals may have sounded sincere, but they simply weren't true. Still, they managed
to sway the news media--and therefore public opinion as well--away from embracing the reality of it. In the meantime, the
U.S. government always maintained a vigil of 'official silence' toward the controversy over who Mrs. Irene Bolam really
was, or used to be. No matter, history is now in the process of giving-in to what has grown to become the obvious
reality of Amelia's continued private existence as 'Irene.' With all that was learned and revealed about it since
Joseph A. Gervais first surfaced this 'witness protection' truth, one might compare it to the case of Charles Lindbergh's
alternate identity discovery. For it wasn't until 2004, thirty-years after he died that Charles Lindbergh's 1950s-to-1970s
secret alias of 'Careu Kent' was finally verified after facing years of both his survived family and official historians dismissing
it. In Amelia's case, beyond the undeniable forensic comparison
results, the additional undoing of the Amelia-became-Irene reality was Protecting Earhart's forensic discovery of more
than one woman having been attributed to the same 'Irene' identity, with the one who Joseph A. Gervais met and photographed
in 1965, appearing nowhere identified that way prior to the mid-1940s. This is because before that time, to include famously
in the 1930s, she was known as Amelia Earhart.
Question: What does, 'You can't unring a bell'
mean? Answer: This means that
once something has been done, you have to live with the consequences as it can't be undone.
|
| Amelia Earhart |
|
|
| The forensic transition continues... |
|
|
| ...to reveal the congruence |
|
History Can't Unring The Bell Joseph A.
Gervais Rang... In 1965, after Joseph A. Gervais took his telling 35MM photograph and later asserted that the woman who
appeared in it used to be known as Amelia Earhart, it rang a bell of truth that has been impossible to unring ever since.
Many people have tried to unring it over the years, but they couldn't do it. In 2006, forty years after Joe Gervais took his
photo, even The National Geographic Channel ineffectively tried to unring it on national TV by way of soliciting the opinion
of police forensic detective, Kevin Richlin of Riverside, California. Detective Richlin, who was never shown the most convincing
comparisons to include the ones shown above, opined the 'Amelia became Irene' postulation looked to be a frivolous exercise
to him, but his opinion was only based on the limited amount of data the show's producers gave him to work with. Note: Protecting
Earhart's, Tod Swindell, who appeared in the same 2006 Nat Geo special, was not advised about Detective Richlin's participation,
nor was he given the opportunity to meet Detective Richlin and show him the full body of his forensic study achievements before
the show aired, even though the show's producers were well-aware of their existence. His past remarks
notwithstanding, today Detective Richlin will readily admit to anyone that he did not forensically conclude the Gervais-Irene
Bolam and Amelia Earhart were different human beings at any time, even though opposing theorists have soap-boxed that he did
ever since the show aired. Below: Thanks to Protecting Earhart's
in depth, comprehensive forensic analysis of the Gervais' assertion about Mrs. Bolam, this 1965 photograph he took of her
exists today as a documented testimonial of truth, similar to the Zapruder film of President John F. Kennedy's 1963 assassination
two years earlier. Film gamma, specially 35MM film gamma only displays the honest quality of what a normal camera lens captures.
Joe Gervais confirmed the lens he used to take his 1965 photo of Mrs. Bolam was a standard 50MM lens.
| Mrs. Bolam said she had known Amelia... |
|
| ...28 years after Amelia was said to have 'vanished without a trace' |
~~~ What This Means... Of course, at first glance this may be hard to believe.
Trust knowing, though, this forensic reality has loomed on the horizon for some time now. What it means, basically, is that
you have just observed a few of Protecting Earhart's superimposed photo transitions of Amelia Earhart's image morphing
into her later-life self. Joseph A. Gervais photographed Mrs. Bolam on the day he met her in 1965. After studying her background,
which he realized to be highly ambiguous, his controversial assertion about Mrs. Bolam's past made national news by way of
the 1970 book, Amelia Earhart Lives by Joe Klaas, that featured a copy of the 1965 Gervais photo of Mrs. Bolam within
it. Joe Gervais met, conversed with, and photographed Mrs. Bolam at a gathering of noteworthy pilots from the early days of
aviation that year. From then on to his dying day in 2005, he maintained the same Mrs. Bolam used to be known as 'Amelia Earhart.'
To his credit he didn't need a forensic analysis to convince him of a truth he already knew, although he was quite satisfied
when he observed Protecting Earhart's initial forensic results before the event of his passing took place. ~~~
The final summation
once again: After it commenced in 1997, in time Protecting Earhart's study proved how three different Twentieth
Century women were attributed to the same Irene Bolam identity, and the one who Joe Gervais met and photographed in
1965 appeared nowhere identified as 'Irene' prior to the mid-1940s. Not to leave out--she matched Amelia Earhart in every
aspect. This is because she used to be known as Amelia Earhart, and thanks to Protecting Earhart, anymore this forensic
reality exists as an obvious, albeit 'unrecognized' historical truth.
More Brutal
Honesty: About Courage Courage: "Mental or moral strength to venture, perservere, and withstand
danger, fear, or difficulty." When the 'Mrs. Irene Bolam' in question was known as Amelia Earhart,
she wrote her most famous poem called "The Price of Courage," and she lived her entire life, both as Amelia and
as Irene recognizing the value of courage. Unfortunately, some influential people in lofty environs whom
are stricken with Alethephobia cannot bring themselves to acknowledge or promote the discovered forensic truth about Amelia's
continued existence as "Irene" in the United States after World War Two. Their collective fears have caused them
to be short-sighted when it comes to acknowledging and promoting what is anymore the obvious truth about Amelia's later life
existence. These people exist at the Smithsonian Institution, at the National Geographic Society, in the governmental executive
branches of the United States and Japan, in the TIGHAR, Nauticos, Chasing Earhart, and Amelia Earhart Society clubs, and in
the head offices of major news outlets. (Not to leave out Amelia's own survived family appears to be legion with them.) Why
do they continue to promote the non-truth that states the 'Mrs Irene Bolam' in question here was NOT the former Amelia Earhart?
Because they are afraid of publicly acknowledging and siding with the reality they recognize about Amelia Earhart's continued
existence as "Irene." Some of their inner circles have at times expressed ideas suggesting it would be historically
irresponsible to admit the truth about Amelia's later-life name changed existence, although plain laziness is involved
too, where they would rather not have to contend with the enormity of outcroppings such a public verification would enable.
It also appears that at least some of them fear losing face as well. So instead, they myopically encourage the public
to keep believing this proud individual was never known as Amelia Earhart, even to the point of vilifying all of the people
from the past who had the courage to publicly affirm it, and then continuing to vilify people who demonstrate the courage
to publicly affirm it today. These influential individuals simply refuse to acknowledge this profoundly realized historical
truth, even juxtaposed to the years-evolved forensic results that so clearly convey how the Mrs. Irene Bolam in question most
definitely had been, previously known as, "Amelia Earhart." Alethephobia: "Fear of Truth." ~~~
Above: Amelia Earhart in 1935 with
legendary Hawaiian surfer & Olympic swimmer, Duke Kahanamoku doing some outrigging in Hawaii. Amelia's controversial disappearance
in 1937 led to several decades of debates over what really happened to her, the general consenus being the truth had been
withheld from the public. Protecting Earhart's forensic analysis carefully re-examined the long held assertion of Amelia's private,
post-loss existence. The study's inarguable results revealed it clearly was the case how amid complex circumstances, Amelia
Earhart lived well beyond the date of her disappearance known by a different name, and any official knowledge of
it was sequestered away from public
awareness with indefinite intentions.
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Below: The 'former' Amelia
Earhart shown in a 1978 formal photo-portrait sitting. As a result of the World War Two years, Amelia ended up being one of
three Twentieth Century women attributed to the same 'Irene' identity.
Known
as 'Irene' the latter part of her life, the woman above is the same person in the 1965 color photograph displayed on this
page. She appeared nowhere identified as 'Irene' prior to the mid-1940s. Note the wings pinned toward
her left shoulder. Even though official history has been careful not to introduce her in a public way, she remained stately
and beautiful, and proud of who she was historically as well. Understandably, she coveted her privacy as a non-public person
after the war years until her passing in 1982.
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| Senator Hiram Bingham with Amelia Earhart when she was 31 |
Below: Past and future superimposed
The Amelia photo used came from her book, The Fun Of
It
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~~~ The
Goal The goal of this truthful reveal about the late Mrs.
Irene Bolam is to return public thought to recognizing a higher regard for Amelia Earhart's profound legacy. Amelia
Earhart's remarkable life story became mired in ambiguity due to the mystery aspect casually applied to it. This
mode of thought has errantly existed dating back to the time her so-called 'disappearance' occurred. Because of this long-term distraction, over the years people less-recalled what a profound
thinker, superior multi-linguist,
universal philosopher, feeling poet, skilled photographer, engaging writer, and excellent business woman Amelia Earhart
was, beyond being a patriotic American with deep U.S. history roots, and oh yes, a remarkable champion of early aviation.
Why she chose to live the way she did was nobody's business but her own, and she made sure throughout her entire adult life,
especially in her later years, that this truth was clearly understood by those who knew her best.
History's 'Earhart Mystery' Challenge
"Numerous investigations foundered on official silence
in Tokyo and Washington, leaving the true fate of Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan an everlasting
mystery." A 1982 quote from
the Marylin Bender, Selig Altschul Pan Am Airways anthology, The Chosen Instrument. ~~~
On Over-Challenging History After enduring the process of
thoroughly examining and comparing the lives of Amelia Earhart and Irene Bolam, the forensic analysis evidenced
the same human being in different eras going by different names. Regardless of the new-millennium consternation the analysis caused
among U.S. history scholars and myriad theorists suggesting a variety of other ideas, its conclusive results left it undeniably
clear: Unknown to the public, Amelia Earhart survived her storied 1937 disappearance
and in time changed her name to 'Irene.' Oddly enough, in 0pposition to this new paradigm of truth about Amelia Earhart, a
variety of individuals and organizations have waged campaigns through the internet and various media outlets to prevent the
reality of Amelia Earhart's post-World War Two life as a name-changed person from gaining public acceptance.
~~~ The copyrighted Protecting
Earhart intellectual properties featuring the Protecting Earhart MSS, Forensic Study, Documentary & Feature
Film screenplay rights
are owned by Aether Pictures LLC and Tod Swindell.
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| Photo credit: Sasha-Getty |
Above:
A photo portrait of Amelia Earhart taken in England four days after her 1932 solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean--when she
became the first woman and only the second person to accomplish the feat five years after Charles Lindbergh did. Note: In 2004, another long standing rumor was finally verified when it was confirmed that Charles Lindbergh
actually led a double life using the alternate identity of "Careu Kent" in Europe from the mid-1950s on, until
he died in 1974. In turn, it took nearly four decades before the 1970s presentation of Amelia Earhart's ongoing 'private
life' existence proved to be real as well. The new-millennium, comprehensive forensic research study confirmed how
after Amelia went missing in 1937, she continued to survive and she eventually changed her name to "Irene" in pursuit
of further living her life away from the public-eye, and she managed to do that until she died in 1982. There was an attempt
made to 'out her' in 1970, but she smartly refused to reclaim the mantle of the famous pilot she used to be, knowing had she
done so it would have thrust her back into the public eye. That was something she absolutely did not want as it would have
made her life strenuous from that point on, beyond compromising the reputations of those who knew who she used to be--and
protected it from becoming public information. This included Muriel Earhart Morrissey, who continued to know her sister, Amelia,
in her later-life years as 'Irene.' ~~~
~~~ "When I think about my viewpoint of
the never disproved, and by now well-confirmed, 'Amelia Earhart survived and changed her name to Irene assertion,'
then compare it to the viewpoint expressed over the years by Tighar's Richard Gillespie about it, it is akin to comparing
brutal honesty to epic sarcasm." Tod Swindell ~~~
It's easy to recognize how the woman above, who Larry
Heller identified as his 'mother' in younger and older forms, was never known as 'Amelia Earhart.' At the same time, directly
below, this sample from Tod Swindell's forensic comparison analysis makes it easy to recognize how the Mrs. Irene Bolam shown
in younger and older forms after World War Two, who was not identified as 'Irene' prior to the mid-1940s, but also used Mr.
Heller's mother's identity in her later life years, indeed had been previously known as "Amelia Earhart."
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| 1946 |
1965
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...superimposed into...
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...Amelia in 1937, her former
self.
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| Photo credit: Joseph A. Gervais |
~~~
Note: As introduced above, this website profiles the Protecting Earhart Chronicles
and new millennium Irene-Amelia Forensic Analysis arranged by Amelia Earhart historian, Tod Swindell. Past Writers
Guild of America Amelia Earhart registrations include: "The Lost Electra" (1997), "Redefining
Earhart for the New Century" (1999), and "Protecting Earhart" (2004). United States Trademark and
Copyright Office, "Protecting Earhart Research and Forensic Study" copyright registration numbers: TXu
1-915-926 (2014); TXu 2-061-539 (2017).
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