Épisodes

  • S3 Ep29: Amelia Earhart Myth & Memory: A Conversation with Amy Lutz
    Jun 14 2025
    When I say the Amelia Earhart/Fred Noonan case is a monster, you know I’m telling the truth. In 2017, I began my journey into this case publicly. And if there’s one thing I discovered right away, it’s that this case? The one we’ve been covering for well over a hundred episodes now? It’s full of misinformation. It’s gotten so bad that it becomes overwhelming when you start to look at it. And if you choose to answer the why to that question, you might find that maybe we’re all partially to blame for where this case currently stands.

    So how do we shift the narrative? Where in the world do we begin to dismantle even one of these theories? As it turns out the answer came a couple of months ago, when one of our listeners Becky Ott, posted a photo in our Facebook discussion group for Vanished. The photo was taken outside the St. Charles Missouri County Library and it was of a sign that read Discover the Past Amelia Earhart: Myth & Memory.

    The presenter that night is also tonight's guest.

    I’ve believed in synergy all my life, but I can’t explain how it works. It just does - and it almost always occurs at just the right moment, doesn’t it? Thanks to Becky’s post and her follow up with more information, I was able to connect with a guest that’s making her Chasing Earhart debut right now. And she’s about to pull the linchpin on everything you thought you knew about the Amelia Earhart case. You’re not ready for this, but we’re gonna give it to ya anyway. Welcome back to Chasing Earhart. By way of St. Louis Missouri, This is Amy Lutz.

    LINKS:
    • Our Website
    • Vanished on Twitter
    • Vanished on Instagram
    • Vanished on TikTok
    • Vanished Facebook Discussion Group
    • Chasing Earhart on Facebook
    • Chasing Earhart on Twitter
    SHOW NOTES & FURTHER READING:
    • Amelia Earhart Myth & Memory by Amy Lutz @ UMSL.edu
    • Amy Lutz on X
    • Amelia Earhart Lives @ Amazon
    • The Search for Amelia Earhart @ Amazon
    • Amelia Earhart: Does Photo Show she Died a Japanese Prisoner? @ BBC
    • Amelia Earhart: The Lost Evidence @ Wikipedia
    • The Japanese Government’s Offer of Assistance to Help Find Amelia Earhart, July 1937 @ The National Archives
    • Flight for Freedom @ Wikipedia
    • 'Flight for Freedom,' a Film Speculation on Fate of Woman Flier, With Rosalind Russell in Lead, at the Music Hall @ The NY Times
    • Facts and Fiction in the Search for Amelia Earhart @ Air & Space
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    57 min
  • S3 Ep28: The Ghost of Gardner Island: A Conversation with John Kada
    May 6 2025
    We’re 27 episodes into my little experiment with this rebrand now - I never thought we’d still be going. It continues to baffle me. One of the things I really wanted to do when I decided to bring the show back was to make sure I brought new voices into the ongoing conversation that we’ve been having for decades. If you follow the pattern closely though, these last 27 episodes tell a bigger story. And if you’re really keen, you might notice that I like to do my best to manifest guests on this show. My manifesting must have been working overtime, because tonight’s guest has been a long time coming. You might have heard of his blog - It’s called the Ghost of Gardner Island. And there are an awful lot of people that will tell you that the work that’s featured there is nothing short of a master-class in research.

    Tonight, we run through the details of an investigation that began with little more than a follow up question and ended with a reversal in direction for one of Castaway's marquee artifacts - one thought to have belonged to navigator Fred Noonan.

    Some might call him a disrupter of sorts - a man whose own work has rattled the cages of one of this case's biggest summations. Others refer to him as one of the brightest Earhart researchers to come along in decades. And I tend to side with those guys. If we’ve done our best to showcase why castaway makes sense for the ultimate explanation of Earhart and Noonan’s demise, consider tonight a rebuttal of sorts and then, you tell me.

    Say his name, and he shall appear. Welcome back to Chasing Earhart. From New York City, this is John Kada.

    LINKS
    • Our Website
    • Vanished on Twitter
    • Vanished on Instagram
    • Vanished on TikTok
    • Vanished Facebook Discussion Group
    • Chasing Earhart on Facebook
    • Chasing Earhart on Twitter
    SHOW NOTES & FURTHER READING
    • John's The Ghost of Gardner Island Blog
    • The 1940's Sextant Box Identified? @ Tom King's Blog
    • Bushnell Sextant Box @ TIGHAR's Official Website
    • Luke Field Inventory @ TIGAHR's Official Website
    • BVARC Dec 2020 Tom NY0V An HF Systems Engineering Approach in the Search for Amelia Earhart’s L10E @ YouTube
    • Richard Blackburn Black, USNR @ USAS1939
    • Amelia Didn’t Know Radio by Captain Almon A. Gray, U.S. Naval Reserve (Retired) @ The U.S. Naval Institute's Official Website
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    52 min
  • S3 Ep27: In the Palaces of Crowded Kings: A Conversation with Kenton Spading
    Mar 22 2025
    Several years ago, I started hearing about a man making his way through the Amelia Earhart/Fred Noonan disappearance case. What caught my attention wasn’t just his research—it was the way his name kept coming up.

    From the moment I became involved in this story, I’ve been drawn to the lesser-known nuances that make up the towering mystery of Amelia Earhart. As I got to know people in the field, one name surfaced repeatedly. No matter the theory, no matter the angle, everyone seemed to be talking about the same guy. He’s written books, published papers, and contributed to nearly every version of this story—including his appearance on Vanished: Amelia Earhart, where he explored a well-known collection of bones discovered on Nikumaroro. That discovery, made by British colonial officer Gerald Gallagher, remains one of the most hotly debated pieces of evidence in this case. Were those bones the final remains of Amelia and Fred, stranded castaways on a remote Pacific island? Or is the truth something else entirely?

    When I looked into his work, I immediately understood why he was so widely respected. He doesn’t care about being right. He thinks bigger. His neutrality has allowed him to move freely across this story, collaborating with some of the most prominent figures in the investigation—people who sit in opposing camps, defending starkly different theories.

    How does someone do that? How do you keep an open mind in a case that seems determined to pull you down an endless rabbit hole? Tonight, we find out. It’s time to open your ears and your mind. We’re making stops on Nikumaroro, Orona, and Buka—by way of St. Paul, Minnesota.

    Welcome back to Chasing Earhart. This is Kenton Spading.

    LINKS
    • Our Website
    • Vanished on Twitter
    • Vanished on Instagram
    • Vanished on TikTok
    • Vanished Facebook Discussion Group
    • Chasing Earhart on Facebook
    • Chasing Earhart on Twitter
    SHOW NOTES & FURTHER READING
    • A Lost Sailor or Amelia Earhart? Lost Norwich City Crewmen: Potential Sources of the Human Remains Discovered on Gardner Island (now Nikumaroro Island) in 1940 @ Academia.edu
    • St. Paul employee part of team searching for Amelia Earhart @ US Army Corps of Engineers
    • Null Hypothesis @ Wikipedia
    • Amelia Earhart's Shoes: Is the Mystery Solved? @ Amazon
    • Vanished: Amelia Earhart "Left for Dead" (Part Two) @ Spotify
    • The Chater Report @ TIGHAR's Official Website
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    41 min
  • S3 Ep26: Let A Million Flowers Bloom: A Conversation with Dr. Tom King
    Mar 3 2025
    If you’ve ever heard me guest on other podcasts or in media of any kind, you’ve heard the story of how this podcast all started for me. But just in case you haven’t, here it is. The Chasing Earhart project (which this podcast is a part of) officially launched in 2017. But nine years before that, I started what I often refer to as the pre-research phase - a part of the project that lasted a little bit longer than the time we’ve been public. During that time, I made a list of 25 original guests that I felt I needed to convince to come on board and help me tell the most robust version of this story that, at that time, I felt I could. When we decided to go public, I began sending out emails, making cold calls and trying to pull strings as a nobody with no experience and no recognizability in relation to the case. I contacted everyone on my list with basically the same request. Come on my show, talk to me about your research and give me an opportunity to give you a platform that I felt would end up being unique once we gained some traction. Of all the people I reached out to, perhaps one man stood out more than most when it came to his approach and his notoriety in the case. He’s a decorated archaeologist with one of the most impressive resumes that I’ve ever seen. And we had a connection through the University of California Riverside, from which he earned his PhD in anthropology in 1976. In his teens, he organized the Society for California Archaeology and he’s the former senior Archaeologist for the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery, better known to this audience by its famous acronym TIGHAR. He’s authored countless papers, written a pair of books - both fiction and non fiction and is perhaps the most well versed authority on the island of Nikumaroro. He was also the very first guest I ever featured on this podcast, over seven years ago. When I reached out to him initially, I remember telling my wife that we’d likely never hear back. After all, what business did someone like me have, in having a conversation with a man of his stature for a case I was so fascinated by? To my surprise, he said yes and we went on to have what is still the most listened to episode of this entire podcast. Since then, he’s gone on to guest on the show a couple more times, and he was also the first guest I asked to appear on our Chasing Earhart Discussion panel in Atchison, Kansas in 2018. When I came calling again for Vanished, he was in, and he gave some of the most important testimony that, that series has ever seen. I owe a lot to him. And tonight, after six years away from the show, he’s returned to catch up with me in what I’m referring to as a career retrospective when it comes to his involvement in the Amelia Earhart/Fred Noonan disappearance case. I didn’t know it when I started this rebrand 25 episodes ago, but coming full circle has become a dominating theme throughout. Tonight, in perhaps one of the most special conversations I’ve had on this show, I welcome him back into the fold to discuss his thoughts on castaway, and gain some surprising insight into his feelings on the case to be made for Nikumaroro. He’s one of the most highly respected people in his industry and his name will forever be synonymous with Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan. Listen to the following conversation closely - you’re all about to learn something valuable. And I hope you take it to heart. Welcome back to Chasing Earhart. From Silver Spring, Maryland, this is Dr. Tom King. LINKS Our Website Vanished on Twitter Vanished on Instagram Vanished on TikTok Vanished Facebook Discussion Group Chasing Earhart on Facebook Chasing Earhart on Twitter SHOW NOTES & FURTHER READING Dr. Tom King's CRM Plug Blog "The Continuing Search for Amelia Earhart: An Interview with Tom King" @ The Archaeology Channel Dr. Thomas King Lecture on Amelia Earhart Recorded November 11, 2009 @ Texas State University Amelia Earhart Unrescued @ Amazon Amelia Earhart's Shoes: Is the Mystery Solved? @ Amazon Thirteen Bones @ Amazon Amelia Earhart on Nikumaroro: A Summary of the Evidence @ Academia.org Chasing Earhart: The Discussion Panel @ Chasing Earhart on YouTube Castaway: A Conversation with Dr. Tom King @ Chasing Earhart Niku IX Recap: A Conversation with Dr. Tom King & Andrew McKenna @ Chasing Earhart Amelia Earhart Unrescued: A Conversation with Dr. Tom King @ Chasing Earhart
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    24 min
  • S3 Ep25: The Taraia Object: A Conversation with Dr. Richard Pettigrew
    Feb 27 2025
    In 2021, I had a conversation with brothers Mike and Robert Ashmore regarding a highly curious satellite image they’d discovered in a lagoon on an island that’s gotten a lot of play in this Earhart investigation over the years. It’s been some time since that interview and the wheels of this case turn slowly……but they do turn.

    Tonight, in a follow up to that episode, I welcome a man that has been on my radar for years, and over those years, we’ve talked off and on about him being a project guest but we wanted to wait until just the right moment for him to make his debut. Fortunately, now is that moment, and we owe it to that conversation with the Ashmore brothers from over 3 years ago. That satellite image they stumbled across? Now has a name and a true blue expedition out to Nikumaroro to investigate it. It’s called the Taraia object.

    He’s been named dropped for years by multiple guests. Tonight, one of the most decorated archeologists we've ever had on the show makes his Chasing Earhart debut to discuss a brand new expedition out to a very familiar place with an entirely new goal.

    This case has a way of bringing things full circle, and boy are we completing one of those tonight.

    Welcome back to Chasing Earhart. From Eugene Oregon by way of the Archeology Channel, this is Dr. Richard Pettigrew.

    LINKS
    • Our Website
    • Vanished on Twitter
    • Vanished on Instagram
    • Vanished on TikTok
    • Vanished Facebook Discussion Group
    • Chasing Earhart on Facebook
    • Chasing Earhart on Twitter
    SHOW NOTES & FURTHER READING
    • The Taraia Object: Amelia Earhart’s Aircraft? Official Expedition Website
    • The Archaeology Channel's Official Website
    • "New Expedition Hopes to Find Amelia Earhart's Plane" @ Inside Edition on YouTube
    • "Oregon archaeologist to embark on expedition to find Amelia Earhart’s long-lost plane" @ The NY Post
    • Heritage Broadcasting's Official Website
    • "The Last Flight: Local Organization Searching for Amelia Earhart" @ KLCC
    • "The Continuing Search for Amelia Earhart: An Interview with Tom King" @ The Archaeology Channel
    • "The Road to Amelia: A Conversation with Mike & Robert Ashmore" @ Chasing Earhart
    • RECON Offshore's Official Website
    • Aerial Tour of Nikumaroro @ TIGHAR's YouTube Channel
    • Lost & Found - 1938 Nikumaroro New Zealand Images @ TIGHAR's Official Website

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    40 min
  • S3 Ep24: The Amelia Six: A Conversation with Kristin L. Gray
    Jan 13 2025
    If you’ve ever attended the annual Amelia Earhart festival in Atchison Kansas, then you're familiar with an event that’s been a staple of that weekend every year since its inception. It’s called Breakfast with the Books. An event that brings Amelia Earhart authors to the town where the legend began to present their stories and discuss AE’s enduring legacy. A couple of years ago, while I was holding my event for Rabbit Hole, my next guest was there as a featured author for Breakfast with the Books in presentation of a story that we’ll be discussing tonight.

    She’s crafted one of the most clever ideas for a work of fiction that I’ve ever read and if you’re an Amelia Earhart fan, you’ll be absolutely thrilled at the way it’s presented and the attention she’s paid to all the little details that have helped make Earhart’s legend grow for almost 90 years.

    If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like for Amelia Earhart to meet Nancy Drew or Clue, get ready, because this is a mystery within a mystery, and it’s set in one of the most iconic Earhart landmarks in the entire world. Welcome back to Chasing Earhart. This is Kristin Gray and The Amelia Six.

    LINKS
    • Our Website
    • Vanished on Twitter
    • Vanished on Instagram
    • Vanished on TikTok
    • Vanished on Facebook
    • Vanished Facebook Discussion Group
    • Chasing Earhart on Facebook
    • Chasing Earhart on Twitter
    SHOW NOTES & FURTHER READING
    • Kristin Gray's Official Website
    • The Amelia Six @ Amazon
    • The Amelia Earhart Birthplace Museum's Official Website
    • Discover Amelia Earhart's Goggles @ Google Arts & Culture
    • Kristin on Facebook
    • Kristin on X
    • Kristin on Instagram
    • Kristin on Goodreads
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    23 min
  • S3 Ep23: Recovery: A Conversation with Bill Snavely
    Jan 4 2025
    In August of 2017, I helped introduce the world to a man that had been quietly working on an idea that could blow the wheels off the Amelia Earhart/Fred Noonan story. He’d recently put out a book via the Paragon Agency called Tracking Amelia Earhart: Her Flightpath to the End. I happened to know the publisher of that book, Doug Westfall, who I’d met just a few months earlier and it was at that meeting that I first learned of tonight’s guest.

    Once I got his number, I gave him a call, and then I read that book. There aren’t too many moments in this whole thing that I can remember my exact thoughts at an exact point in time. But this one? I know because I wrote it down. A singular question. And here it is. “Why doesn’t everybody know about this?!”

    At the end of tonight, you’ll know two things. One - we have an aircraft off the coast of Buka, sitting a little over 100 feet down with a remarkable set of similarities to the holy grail of aviation. That’s a fact. And it’s inescapable now. And two - we’re gonna go get it. And in doing so, we’re going to mount the most incredible cross theory expedition this case has ever seen. They do say it takes a village.

    You’ve heard from everyone around him, some of the key names involved in Buka III, and you’ve even heard from some detractors who’ve certainly shared their skepticism on what’s become a very curious wreck site in an area of the world that nobody had ever looked in, until he started looking over 15 years ago.

    We have a plane to catch.

    Welcome back to Chasing Earhart. From Salisbury, Maryland, this is Bill Snavely.

    LINKS
    • Our Website
    • Vanished on Twitter
    • Vanished on Instagram
    • Vanished on TikTok
    • Vanished on Facebook
    • Vanished Facebook Discussion Group
    • Chasing Earhart on Facebook
    • Chasing Earhart on Twitter
    SHOW NOTES & FURTHER READING
    • Project Blue Angel's Official Website (Updating Soon!)
    • Tracking Amelia Earhart: Her Flightpath to the End @ Specialbooks.com
    • Lost in Flight: Amelia Earhart Giving Cover as a Decoy for a Spy Plane @ Specialbooks.com
    • Tracking Amelia Earhart: Her Flightpath to the End @ Chasing Earhart
    • Buka III: Bill Snavely, Chris Williamson & the Dependable Engines Association @ Chasing Earhart
    • The BEA Official Website
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    52 min
  • S3 Ep22: The Plot Thickens: A Conversation with Tony Romeo
    Dec 14 2024
    Nearly a year ago, the Amelia Earhart story was rocked by a mysterious and compelling sonar image produced by ocean exploration company Deep Sea Vision. The suspiciously plane-shaped image taken in an area out in the Pacific near Howland Island, rattled the case to its core, and forced a full investigative stop while the world anxiously awaited a confirmation.

    As history was potentially unfolding, I welcomed Deep Sea Vision’s CEO, Tony Romeo to the podcast in his Chasing Earhart debut - and we discussed the possibility of his find being the beginning of the end for the Amelia Earhart/Fred Noonan disappearance case.

    Well, you know how that goes.

    Tonight, 10 months after that episode was recorded, Tony returns to look back in retrospect on that conversation, and discuss the most recent developments in the deep ocean search for the holy grail of aviation. You know, people say this case is cursed. You think there’s something to that?

    Just when you think the investigation may be over, it throws us yet another curve ball and puts us all right back where we were before.

    The plot thickens, indeed. Let’s get to work. Welcome back to Chasing Earhart. Fresh back from deep in the Pacific Ocean, this is Tony Romeo.

    LINKS
    • Our Website
    • Vanished on Twitter
    • Vanished on Instagram
    • Vanished on TikTok
    • Vanished on Facebook
    • Vanished Facebook Discussion Group
    • Chasing Earhart on Facebook
    • Chasing Earhart on Twitter
    SHOW NOTES & FURTHER READING
    • Is This Amelia Earhart’s Long-Lost Plane? @ The Wall Street Journal
    • Deep Sea Vison's Official Website
    • Ocean exploration company's possible proof of Amelia Earhart's wrecked plane nearly vanished: report @ Fox News
    • Researchers Thought They Found Amelia Earhart’s Missing Plane. It Turned Out to Be a Plane-Shaped Pile of Rocks @ Smithsonian Magazine
    • The Beginning of the End: A Conversation with Tony Romeo @ Chasing Earhart
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    33 min