On New Year's Day, "Vanished" co-host Jennifer Taylor debuts her brand new podcast with the first two episodes of "In Defense of Liberty"!

Check out the trailer for "In Defense of Liberty" and subscribe to the show on all major podcast platforms now! 

In 1965, Major Joseph Gervais was invited to speak at a gathering of retired pilots. While he was there, he was introduced to Mrs. Irene Bolam by one of Amelia Earhart's closet friends, Viola Gentry. Gervais felt he instantly recognized her as an older version of Amelia Earhart and commenced to research her past. Using Gervais' research, author Joe Klaas documented his assertion in his book Amelia Earhart Lives released in 1970. Bolam denied being Earhart, filed a $1.5 million lawsuit and submitted a lengthy affidavit refuting the claim. The book's publisher McGraw-Hill pulled Klaas' book from the market shortly after it was released, and court records indicate they made an out of court settlement with her after she refused to give a set of fingerprints to the court upon her victory. 

On Bolam's death, Gervais sought permission to photograph and fingerprint the body, but permission was denied.

After Amelia Earhart Lives was published in 1970, three additional books were subsequently published that continued to support the Irene Bolam hypothesis as it’s come to be known. Those books were titled, Stand by to Die by Robert Myers and Barbara Wiley, Amelia Earhart Survived by Colonel Rollin C. Reineck (2003), and in January 2016, Amelia Earhart: Beyond the Grave by W. C. Jameson was published. The authors of these books continued to promote the theory that Bolam and Earhart were one and the same.

Shortly after the passing of Irene Bolam in 1982 researcher and author Bob Meyers, who we mentioned earlier and who had known Amelia Earhart as a young teenager had multiple conversations with Irene’s closest friend and confidant Diana Dawes about the role that Irene played in the repatriation of Amelia Earhart. Recently courtesy of aviation pioneer Ann Holtgren Pellegreno who herself completed Amelia’s world flight in a Lockheed 10 we received those tapes. Conversations never before heard by the general public. Until now. 

Friends of Amelia Earhart like Bob Meyers, Art Kennedy and many of the Zonta believed that Amelia Earhart returned and that Irene was Amelia. While denying it on public platforms, Irene herself played coy about her background and past in private; even going so far as to tease family and friends that there was more to her than meets the eye. Irene’s own son Larry Heller stated emphatically that when Irene passed away in 1982, the woman pictured on the funeral program was not the woman who raised him. Check the links in the show notes for tonight’s episode for the photo of Irene Bolam that Joe Gervais took on that day in 1965. You won’t’ find any photos of that same woman prior to 1940. That’s because according to the theory, that woman didn’t exist before 1940. At least not as Irene. 

 

For most people, this theory is the most far-fetched of all the many theories in this case. Most people wouldn’t give a platform to such an idea. But we’re not most people. Tonight, we return and theory five is finally upon us. 

 

Exit Amelia Earhart. Enter Irene Bolam.

"Stand by to Die: The Disappearance, Rescue, and Return of Amelia Earhart" by Bob Meyers & Barbara Wiley 

"Amelia Earhart's Survival and Repatriation: Myth or Reality?" by Dr. Alex Mandel, in collaboration with Ronald Bright, Patrick Gaston, and Bill Prymak. Edited by Mike Campbell. 5th Edition

As the diary page of Katrina Van Tassel garners worldwide attention, an investigation on both sides of the story begins. Attorney Jennifer Taylor and investigator Chris Williamson interview experts on both sides of the spectrum and a trial with testimony from both the Van Brunt and Van Tassel families takes place...

 

 Vanished Sleepy Hollow Part Two features the voice talents of:

Vanished Sleepy Hollow was written by Cyris S. Slate, Jennifer Taylor & Chris Williamson. Music by Dane Gerous Schmidt and art by Desdymona Howard.

A new relic is discovered in Sleepy Hollow that could break an over 200-year-old cold case wide open. A never before seen diary entry from Katrina Van Tassel will bring attorney Jennifer Taylor and investigator Chris Williamson back together to unravel a new chapter in one of the most famous vanishings of all time. 

Vanished Sleepy Hollow Part One features the voice talents of:

Vanished Sleepy Hollow was written by Cyris S. Slate, Jennifer Taylor & Chris Williamson. Music by Dane Gerous Schmidt and art by Desdymona Howard.

One of the most horrifying vanishings of all time. A story that you all know. And a shocking piece of evidence that will re-open the investigation. This is the trailer for "Vanished Sleepy Hollow".

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A special announcement on the exciting future of the show from your hosts Jennifer Taylor & Chris Williamson! 

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What makes a good story? Is it in the details? Or the way that someone tells it? There’s a story that’s been told for over 50 years now. And it’s remained the same. Amelia Earhart, Fred Noonan, and their Lockheed Electra 10E were in the Marshall Islands and Saipan. Fred Goerner believed it. Thomas Devine believed it. And modern-day investigators like Dick Spink, Les Kinney, and Mike Campbell believe it. So did members of the US military that were stationed in Saipan after the events of the war.

Tonight, we finish painting this picture for you. And my partner Jennifer brings in for the first time, a witness for the defense that will offer a counterbalance to everything we’re presenting. And we’ll bring in some heavy hitters that might drop a fact or two that will blow your mind. Get ready. We’re back with continuing testimony for Japanese capture.

"Vanished: Amelia Earhart" was recorded in its entirety by the Zoom H1N microphone. Get yours here.

Radio Logs from the Coast Guard

"There are theories and there is truth. And this is the truth at last." 

What happened to Amelia Earhart & Fred Noonan? Were they simply lost at sea like the United States government claimed, or did they fly to Nikumaroro or maybe reverse course just over their halfway point to Buka? As of part 13’s release, we’ve just passed the 82nd year since their vanishing and still; we’re no closer to the truth. In the early 1960’s CBS correspondent Fred Goerner began digging. In what turned into an exhaustive pursuit of the truth, Goerner’s search turned over information that the world wasn’t ready to believe. Sometimes, you don’t have to go out looking for a story. 

As tips began pouring in, Goerner summarized that the idea of Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan being in the hands of the Japanese might be much more than an alternative explanation. 

After his investigation was over, and he’d immersed himself in the story and talked to dozens and dozens of witnesses, Fred Goerner published “The Search for Amelia Earhart” which became a national best seller sitting on the New York Times best seller list for 6 months; a feat not repeated since.  For Goerner there was no mystery. There was only the truth. 

Tonight, we’ll hear from over 25 of the documented eyewitnesses throughout the Marshall Islands, Saipan and the United States military that were stationed there. All of this leads to a single important question. Is the Japanese capture hypothesis truly “the truth at last”? 

The time has come. The most requested piece of our trial is upon us. It’s time to hear witnesses, evidence and experts for Japanese capture.

"Vanished: Amelia Earhart" was recorded in its entirety by the Zoom H1N microphone. Get yours here.

ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES  

Radio Logs from the Coast Guard

On this 82nd anniversary of the vanishing of Amelia Earhart & Fred Noonan, we bring you a special message from Chris Williamson & the Chasing Earhart Project.

Crime scenes might be the running theme for this trial. But here’s a scenario that I want to explain to people who aren’t familiar with this case. It’s an easy visual; so, follow me. Imagine you’re a detective called in to investigate a murder. Let’s say in this case the victim is a woman and the likely suspect is her husband; a domestic situation gone terribly wrong. When you arrive at the crime scene; let’s say it’s the home of this couple, one thing is obvious; there’s no body. At the crime scene there’s multiple pieces of evidence to investigate; it looks like there may have been a struggle of some kind, maybe you find a little blood; you might even find a murder weapon; all solid evidence yet no body in sight. Then suddenly, you learn that a body of a woman was discovered several miles away in an alley that appears to have several similarities to your apparent victim. Here’s the question. Do you investigate the body? Or do you ignore it and try to prove your case based solely off the crime scene? Tonight, we’re going to talk about a theory that’s been at the forefront of the investigation into the vanishing of Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan. And this theory happens to have a body. And that body is none other than that of an airplane carrying multiple similarities to the plane they vanished in almost 82 years ago. It’s time to dissect the third of five theories with experts, evidence and testimony for the Buka hypothesis.

"Vanished: Amelia Earhart" was recorded in its entirety by the Zoom H1N microphone. Get yours here.

ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES  

"Earhart's Plane Found?" @ Astonishing Legends 

"Bonus: Earhart's Plane Update" @ Astonishing Legends 

"The Sound of Wings" by Mary S. Lovell 

Radio Logs from the Coast Guard