Expedition Unknown (2015–…): Season 1, Episode 1 - Amelia Earhart - full transcript

of her historic flight
around the world

when something
goes terribly wrong.

[ Airplane engine roars ]

She is never seen again.

Today, more than 75 years
after her disappearance,

new leads send me across
the world in search of answers.

JACK: If you want to get
more information,

head down to Rabaul.

Get to Rabaul.

Yeah.

[ Ground rumbling ]



Earthquake. Whoa.

[ Children screaming ]

Holy [bleep]

We heard that your tribe has
found wreckage in the jungles.

Look at this.
Rob, come here.

September 1940 --

a man named Gerald Gallagher
found a partial skeleton.

This might be
Amelia Earhart.

Did they go through
the underside of this house

with a fine-tooth comb?

Nope, no further
investigation.

We've heard reports
of some aircraft wreckage.

They think it may be
Earhart's plane.

And the only way to know
is to go out



and see what we can find.

Oh! Rod,
I got a plane!

Rod, I got a plane,
for sure! Come here!

Look at that.
That's a [bleep] plane.

It all leads to a series
of amazing discoveries.

It's an airplane engine,
yeah?

Oh, definitely an
airplane engine, yeah.

Unbelievable.

[ Radio beeps ]

Definitely an airplane.
Look at that.

This does not look like
coral to me.

I got a bone down here.

[ Birds squawking ]

My name is Josh Gates.

With a degree in archaeology
and a passion for exploration,

I have a tendency to end up
in some very strange situations.

There has got to be a better way
to make a living.

My travels have taken me
to the ends of the Earth

as I investigate
the greatest legends in history.

We're good to fly.
Let's go.

This is...

Every year,
thousands of people go missing,

never to be seen again.

But there is one cold case
that looms above all the rest --

Amelia Earhart.

Just the name
evokes a sense of wonder.

Her disappearance
during her attempt

to circumnavigate the globe
in 1937

is perhaps the most iconic
unsolved mystery in the world.

Now, with breakthroughs
in technology

and the discovery
of new evidence,

we may be close to solving
the puzzle once and for all.

[ Crowd cheering ]

1937 --

Amelia Earhart is arguably

the most famous woman
in America,

a pioneer in the field
of aviation and a living legend.

On July 2nd, Earhart
and her navigator, Fred Noonan,

are set to make history

as they begin
one of the last legs

of their daring
trans-world flight.

They take off from an airfield
in Lae, Papua New Guinea,

bound for remote Howland Island
in the Pacific.

Along the way, Earhart,
her navigator,

and the famed Lockheed Electra
vanish.

[ Airplane engine roars ]

In the last 75 years, there
have been countless dead ends,

false leads,
and wild conspiracy theories,

but no answers.

Well, all that
may be about to change,

because recent developments in
two different parts of the world

may finally crack the case.

Theory one --

a team of experts
recently identified

a piece of aluminum debris

on the Pacific atoll
of Nikumaroro,

just south of Howland,

which they believe may
be a part of Earhart's Electra.

Human bones were also discovered
on this same deserted island

in 1940, only to be shipped
to Fiji and lost.

Could these be the bones
of Amelia Earhart?

A new search
is currently under way in Fiji

to locate the remains
and identify them.

Theory two --

Earhart circled back toward
Papua New Guinea

and crashed on or around the
island nation she took off from.

It's a long-standing hypothesis

that's never been
fully explored.

But now one local tribe
claims to have found wreckage

deep in the jungle,

and there are new reports
that there's also

an underwater wreck
just offshore.

Either could be Amelia's plane.

I have been fascinated
with Amelia Earhart

for my entire life,

and I'm eager to know
if these new leads

may bring us closer
to the truth,

or whether the world
is looking in the wrong place.

The only way to find out
is to join the search.

There is new evidence
that Amelia Earhart's plane

may have crashed in the nation
she last took off from,

so I'm here to investigate.

Wheels down, Papua New Guinea --
or "PNG," as the locals call it.

Inside the terminal,

the local baggage claim
is less of a belt

and more of a deli counter.

Order up!

This is an interesting system,
but it works.

Thank God my umbrella
made it.

Oh, sorry.

What are the odds?

Two guys with
the same umbrella.

Mine must still be coming.

While I wait, it's clear that
some of my other equipment

may not have made it here,
either.

I'm missing 799 and 872.

At least it's not warm
in here.

That would really
make this frustrating.

Perhaps the customer-service
reps know where my bag is.

Looking good.

Perhaps not.

Eventually, I'm resigned to
never seeing my extra underwear,

sensible evening shoes, and
whatever else was in case 799.

Well, time to hit the streets.

There are international capitals
in the world

with worse reputations,
but not many.

This is Port Moresby,
capital of Papua New Guinea,

also the largest city
in the South Pacific.

Has kind of a rough reputation.

Can be a little dangerous,
a little gritty.

But if you can look past
its imperfections,

it's actually
a pretty cool spot.

I like to think of Port Moresby

as the Mos Eisley spaceport
from "Star Wars."

On one hand, the cantina bar
has a good happy hour.

On the other hand, Han Solo
might shoot you in the face.

In other words,
it pays to watch your back,

which is exactly what these guys
are here to do.

Hey, Josh.

Are you Dean?

I am.

Nice to meet you.

Good to meet you.

Yeah, good
to meet you, too.

Hi. I'm Jack.

Hey, Jack. How are you?
Nice to meet you.

Good, thank you.
Yourself?

I'm good.
How are things here in PNG?

Good, thanks.

Looking safe and secure?

As safe as PNG can be.

Yeah? How safe is that?

In case it's not safe.

Yes.

Great, perfect.

So, why the muscle?

Well, with rampant
political corruption

and gang-controlled
neighborhoods,

the capital can get
a little interesting.

But I like interesting,

and Port Moresby is the gateway

to one of the wildest nations
on Earth.

It's made up of 1,000 different
ethnic tribes,

speaking more than
800 languages.

Even the National
Parliament House is diverse --

a modern government building

fused with an ancient tribal
spirit house.

The people here,
generally speaking,

are fiercely independent.

Locals are more apt
to identify with their clan

than with
their fellow countrymen.

Case in point --
the Asaro Mudmen.

Legend has it that this tribe

was once on the cusp
of defeat in battle

and retreated into
the nearby river.

When they emerged,
caked in dried white mud,

their enemies believed they were
evil spirits and fled in terror.

I can't say I blame them.

Hi.

Not very talkative.

[ Conversing
in native language ]

Oh, it's heavy.

Those are real teeth?

I'm not gonna ask
where those came from.

Today, thousands of years later,

they still pay homage
to that legendary battle,

and the tradition continues
with me.

It's okay?

Yeah?

MAN: Yeah.

What do you think?

[ Laughs ]

I think I'm
an honorary Mudman now.

This vast melting pot
of Papua New Guinea

played center stage
as one of the last stops

on Earhart's
'round-the-world flight.

But I'm not just here
for nostalgia purposes.

There are those who believe
that Earhart

didn't just take off from PNG,

but that she may have
circled back here.

Newly discovered wreckage
in the jungles and in the ocean

are waiting to be examined.

So from the capital,

I'm boarding a flight
to investigate

the last documented sighting
of Earhart's Electra.

It's a 45-minute trip
from Port Moresby to Lae,

where Earhart began
one of the final legs

of her fateful journey.

Lae is a bustling
industrial port

that links the coastal waters
of PNG

to the wild highlands
of the interior.

I'm here to meet
with a local tribe

who has information
on a recently found wreck.

But first I have
an important stop to make.

In the middle of town,

this narrow field of grass
is today an empty lot,

a place to stack
shipping containers.

Its true significance
has been overgrown

by the dense wilderness
of history.

Doesn't look like much today,

but this is
the old Lae airfield.

This is the very last place

that anybody saw Amelia Earhart
alive.

On May 21, 1937, Amelia Earhart
departs Oakland, California,

in an audacious attempt
to be the first woman in history

to circumnavigate the globe.

Over 21 days and 25,000 miles,

Earhart and her navigator,
Fred Noonan,

make stops along the top
of South America

before crossing central Africa,
the Middle East, India,

and southeast Asia.

Finally, she lands
in Papua New Guinea.

It was here, on July 2, 1937,
in this very spot,

that a fuel-heavy
Lockheed Electra plane

gained momentum
and took off into the blue

for the very last time.

Whole world was watching,

and that shiny Lockheed Electra
would have come right down here,

taken off right over the
Pacific, never to be seen again.

I don't know.

For me,
as someone who loves Earhart,

who really has been obsessed
with her for a long time,

to be here in this spot
is kind of...

I don't know, emotional.

It's kind of a powerful place.

With only 7,000 miles
left to go,

it's easy to imagine
the excitement

she must have felt
at being in the home stretch.

But she still had to face
her most difficult challenge --

crossing the immense
Pacific Ocean.

Amelia's next stop
is Howland Island,

about 2,500 miles
and 18 long hours away.

Howland is merely a speck
in the vast South Pacific Ocean.

But the plane must land
and refuel

for the final onward flights
to Honolulu and Oakland.

Earhart transmits one of
her last radio messages

to the United States
Coast Guard ship Itasca,

which is stationed offshore
to help guide her to the island.

The Itasca receives
the transmission,

but Amelia apparently can't hear
the Coast Guard's response.

Her radio is likely damaged.

Soon after, Earhart,
her navigator, Fred Noonan,

and the Electra disappear.

[ Airplane engine roars ]

The only evidence here in Lae
of that historic flight is this,

a weathered and, by the looks
of it, mostly forgotten memorial

to a woman
whose daring adventure

still soars in our imaginations.

Having made the pilgrimage here,

I feel even more inspired
to search for answers.

To find them, I've arranged
a meeting with a tribal chief

to discuss the news reports
of a recently found wreck

in the jungles to the north.

At the end of a long dirt road,

I'm walked to a makeshift wall

of what looks like
jungle fronds.

[ People singing,
drums banging ]

13-year-old boy, you find
human bones under your house?

It freaked me out.

It never, ever came back
into my life

until I read this thing
about Amelia Earhart.

Was the rest of that
crawl space under the house

thoroughly explored?

No, not at all.

Really?

Never.

I got a bone down here.

My goodness.

There's more down here.
There's more down here.

It's everywhere I look.

I mean, I'm putting a skeleton
together down here.

GATES: I'm in Papua New Guinea,
in the South Pacific,

following new leads in
the search for Amelia Earhart.

I've come to a local village
to meet with a chief

who has information
about a wreck

that's recently been found
in the jungles.

He leads me to what appears
to be a wall of palm fronds.

[ People singing,
drums banging ]

This is the craziest welcome
I've ever seen.

And I assume
it's a welcome.

I...could be murdered
in the next 10 minutes.

I don't know.

This is not
a tourist attraction.

This is not a theme park.
This is the real deal.

It's called a sing-sing,

a ritual in which villages come
together through song and dance.

Reasonably certain

that I'm not gonna end up
as a human pincushion,

I relax and enjoy the welcome.

Like many other tribes
in Papua New Guinea,

its people are caught between
the past and the present.

It seems only fitting
that I meet them halfway.

Good look for me, right?

[ People singing ]

[ Singing, drumming stops ]

[ Laughter ]

Thank you! Good night!

Thank you, Lae!

We'll be here all week!

Okay, I may not be Ringo Starr,

but my drumming is good enough

that my crew and I
have been invited

to don the tribe's colors
and join the clan.

It's a genuine honor,

though something tells me

that they use more
than food coloring

in the strong-smelling paint.

Saliva?
Is there saliva?

Yeah.

Great.

What do these
markings mean?

[ Speaking
native language ]

Brave warrior?

Yeah.

Yeah, right.

Village idiot, probably.

Is that it?

MAN: Yeah.

Okay, how do I look?

[ Crowd cheers ]

I am joining the tribe.

Once the sing-sing winds down,

I'm granted an audience with
the village elder, named Iru,

while my security guard
serves as translator.

So, how many people live
here in the village?

[ Speaking
native language ]

More than 2,500.

More than 2,500? Wow.

2,500, because
it's a very big village.

Yeah.

GATES: I'm not the first
Westerner to come here.

These are the direct descendents
of the tribes

that Earhart met in 1937.

Through oral tradition,

they have preserved
the memory of her time in PNG.

So, listen, you know, we're very
interested in Amelia Earhart,

and I've been told that
you have some knowledge,

some stories about her.

What can you tell me?

[ Speaking
native language ]

INTERPRETER:
According to our elders,

when she landed here,

it was very exciting
for our village

and for Papua New Guinea.

At that time,
airplanes were very uncommon.

Most people
had never seen a plane.

Some had never seen
a white woman.

It was a big event
when she took off.

But other tribes say
that she circled back here,

that the plane crashed
not far form their village.

GATES: Those tribes
weren't the only ones

who thought
she'd crashed in PNG.

In 1945,

an Australian corporal was
on patrol in the same jungles

and stumbled upon something
that has baffled experts --

a rusted and badly damaged
airplane engine.

Though he didn't know
his exact position,

he did jot down a partial serial
number on a weathered map.

Intriguingly, S3H1 is the same
model series as the Electra,

and 1055 matches
the construction number

of her plane.

And has anybody since then
been able to find the wreck?

[ Speaking
native language ]

INTERPRETER:
Just a few weeks ago,

we heard from the village
that the Baining tribe in Rabaul

found the wreckage.

They think it might be
a plane -- her plane.

GATES: Due to the largely
impenetrable jungles,

the plane spotted in 1945
has never been relocated.

But now it sounds like
this remote tribe

may have finally stumbled across
the mysterious wreck.

So why wasn't anyone
searching here earlier?

Within hours
of Earhart's disappearance,

the U.S. launched

one of the most extensive
manhunts in history,

but based on fuel calculations,

only searched a four-hour flight
radius from Howland,

which included the nearby
Gilbert and Phoenix islands.

But some experts believe
those calculations are wrong.

To keep the plane
as light as possible,

Earhart left key navigational
instruments behind.

Though she should have had only
four hours of fuel remaining

when she reached Howland,
if she was off course,

and if she flew conservatively,

researchers have argued
that the Electra

could have limped back to PNG,
only to crash before landing.

JACK: He says that if you want
to get more information,

head down to Rabaul,

and then check the people
up in the tribes out there.

Go for the search.

Get to Rabaul?

Yeah.

Okay.

And...

and the tribe in Rabaul,
they're friendly?

They can be aggressive,
but you'll be okay.

I'll be okay?

You'll be okay.

Thank you very much.

Your village is incredible.

[ Children screaming ]

Whoa. Earthquake.

[ Ground rumbling ]

Whoa. Whoa!

Whoa! Watch out.

Whoa! Holy [bleep]

GATES:
I'm in Papua New Guinea,

investigating the theory
that famed pilot Amelia Earhart

could have crash-landed here.

One of the villagers
has new information

that a fellow tribe to the north
has found a wreck in the jungle

that could be
her missing aircraft.

JACK: He says that if you want
to get more information,

head down to Rabaul,

and then check the people
up in the tribes out there.

Go for the search.

Get to Rabaul?

Yeah.

[ Children screaming ]

Whoa. Earthquake.
Whoa.

[ Ground rumbling ]

Whoa!

Watch out.
Whoa! Whoa!

Holy [bleep]

Whoa! Holy [bleep]

[ Rumbling stops ]

That was insane.

It happens a lot.
It happens a lot here.

That happens a lot here?

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, that was like

the whole planet just
went went like this.

[ Laughter ]

Massive earthquake during
an interview -- check.

I made it through unscathed,

and so did the rest
of the village --

even the pigs.

Life goes on, and so does
my search for Earhart.

With a substantial lead
in the jungles to the northeast,

I'm carrying on
with my investigation.

From Lae,

I'm traveling about 400 miles
to the island of New Britain

and touching down
in the former capital of Rabaul.

The island, like much of PNG,
looks to be a paradise on Earth,

and it is.

But it also has a dark history.

Just beneath the jungle canopy,

long-silenced anti-aircraft guns
still point to the skies,

a reminder that this paradise
was once a war zone.

PNG's strategic location
just north of Australia

made it prime real estate
for the Japanese

during World War II.

If you look closely
along the side of the road,

you can still catch site
of foreboding tunnels

that bore into the mountains.

Inside is another world.

This is actually remains of an
underground Japanese hospital.

All told, there are more than
500 miles of tunnels

underneath Rabaul,

and a lot of them are filled
with bats and creepy-crawlies.

After capturing Rabaul in 1942,

the Japanese Empire immediately
set their army to work

digging miles and miles
of serpentine tunnels

to shelter their forces
from Allied attacks.

By 1943, Rabaul was home
to over 100,000 Japanese troops.

Ghosts of the past
are everywhere...

...tanks, weapons, bombs.

One tunnel even contains
the decomposing remains

of massive Japanese
landing barges.

I have to wonder -- with all
these abandoned relics of war,

there must have been hundreds
of downed planes here,

which makes the hunt for
Earhart's Electra a nightmare.

Nearby, I descend into
one of the most historic bunkers

in the world.

This fortification
was the base of operations

for the commander in chief
of the Imperial Japanese Navy.

This is Admiral Yamamoto's
bunker from World War II.

He's the guy who orchestrated

the attack on Pearl Harbor
at Midway,

and this was the Japanese base
of naval operations

in World War II.

You can still see writing
on the walls.

It's all perfectly preserved
under all this concrete --

absolutely astounding piece
of World War II history.

From this austere war room,

Admiral Yamamoto's forces

coordinated the theater of war
in the Pacific

until his plane was shot down
leaving Rabaul in 1943.

Back above ground,

I make my way to a nearby market
to meet with

a World War II aviation expert
and PNG historian

who can shed more light
on the rumors of a wreck

in the jungles of Rabaul.

While I wait for him to arrive,

I have time to sample
PNG's favorite addiction.

You may notice
that nearly everyone here

has a red-stained mouth.

That's because of this.

Buai is a seemingly random
recipe of betel nut,

mustard stick, and lime.

GATES:
Show me how I do this.

I use my teeth
to open it?

Yeah.

Already, it doesn't seem
like a good idea.

That's not good
for your teeth.

Okay.

Oh, I need -- I want
the middle piece.

I see. Soft piece. Boom.

The whole thing?

Yeah.

Okay. Ugh,
it's bitter.

Now what?

Small one, in the lime?

The ingredients are combined
and chewed,

producing torrential amounts
of bright-red saliva,

which Papuans spit on just about
every surface in sight.

No, that's enough.

Believe it or not,

this is the fourth-most-consumed
drug in the world

after nicotine, booze,
and coffee.

It is definitely
not recommended by

the American Dental Association,
and for the uninitiated,

the chemical combination
can be a little intense.

Whoo!

Starting to feel
a little dizzy.

[ Women singing
in native language ]

It's good.
What does it do?

Your eyes open.
I don't know about that.

My eyes are about to close.

[ Laughter ]

Whoo!

Hoo!

Where'd all these people
come from?

Okay, I'm just gonna
lay here for a while

until the world
stops spinning.

Moments later,
I'm back on my feet, sort of.

Apologies --
just give me a moment, here.

It wears off fast.

I'm good. Let's go.

Finally feeling less dizzy,

I'm ready to meet up with
historian Rob Rowenson.

As an aircraft expert with the
Organization of Pacific Wrecks,

Rob lives here
and speaks Papuan dialects,

making him
a critical intermediary

between outside investigators
and the remote tribe

that claims to have found
a downed plane in the jungle.

We've had someone report,
say there was an engine there,

and some parts
of an airplane.

Of course,
you get these reports,

and then you have
to go there yourself

and try and determine
what sort of airplane it was.

Yeah. What's the road like
out to this village?

It's rough.

You need vehicles that can
handle those sort of conditions.

I do know of a vehicle
that might help you out.

Okay.
[ Chuckles ]

Once airborne, we loft up
over the island of New Britain

and head toward the unknown.

The helicopter will fly us
40 miles inland,

to the remote village
of Vunalama.

Below us are some of the wildest
and least-explored jungles

on Earth.

Papua New Guinea is often
referred to as "the lost world,"

and for good reason.

More new species
are discovered here

than anywhere else on Earth,
an average of two a week.

The tribes that live in
these jungles exist off the grid

and far from the reach
of modern laws.

There are still isolated reports
of murder, cannibalism,

and sacrifice associated with
sorcery and tribal beliefs.

Rob's contacts have given us
the rough location

of the Baining village
that reported the wrecked plane.

But all we're seeing is jungle.

I'm genuinely concerned here,

since landing
in the wrong tribe's territory

could be a fatal mistake.

But with the weather worsening,
we've got one shot at this,

so we touch down
in a nearby clearing.

We're good. We're down.

My cameraman leaps out first
to film the landing,

and before I can unhook
my harness,

he realizes
that we've got company.

They're here to meet us?

With my helicopter pilot

not sticking around
to see how this turns out,

we are on our own.

Wait, wait!
Wait, wait, hey, hey!

GATES:
I've just been dropped into
the jungles of Papua New Guinea,

looking for a local tribe with
information about a plane wreck

that could be Amelia Earhart's.

Good. We're down.

I'm not sure if this is
a welcome crew or a war party,

but at 6'3",

I'm a pretty easy target
for a well-aimed projectile.

Wait, wait!
Wait, wait, hey, hey!

How are you?

Good. All right.

Nice to meet you.
What's your name?

Uh, Bill.

Bill?

Yes.

You don't look
like a Bill.

[ Both laugh ]

Nice to meet you!

Hello.

Hello.

What's your name?

Clement.

Clement,
nice to meet you.

Do you have a place we can
get out of the rain?

Yeah?
Someplace with cover?

[ Speaking
native language ]

Yeah.

Yeah?

[ Conversing
in native language ]

Okay, great. Let's go.

It turns out
that Bill and Clement

are more likely to offer me tea

than the pointy end
of their spears.

[ Laughing ] I don't know.

That was a little touch-and-go
there for a minute.

You were worried they were
gonna put a spear through you?

Yeah.

The show of force
is just a ritual greeting

of the Baining tribe,

and the children
from the village run out

to have a good laugh
at our expense.

Evan, I found an umbrella
for your camera.

I mean, what kind of
"Land of the Lost" leaf is this?

Here you go. Stay dry.

With the rain coming down,

we need to get to the village
as quickly as possible

before the downpour
destroys our camera equipment.

Did you catch Rob's translation?

The Baining tribe,
like many Papuans, speak pidgin

that consists largely
of English and German words

repurposed into
a unique language.

Though the vocabulary
is familiar,

it sounds like total gibberish.

This is the first time
they've ever had any people

out here with cameras.

Really?

Yeah.

Wow.

That's what I was asking.

I'm thankful when we finally
arrive at the village,

and even more thankful that
these jawbones aren't human.

Okay, first order of business
is just to get dry,

to get the equipment dry, yeah?

It looks like they are, like,
in real time, making a shelter.

Can I help?
What can I do?

These first?
Up, up, up?

Yeah.

We're in the middle of the
jungle, but in no time at all,

our new friends have built us
a cozy guest house.

This is now a couch
they've made,

and they're adding banana leaves
as cushions. Amazing.

This is the fastest construction
crew I've ever met.

Five minutes flat --
addition to your house.

This jungle is their home,

and the tribe has welcomed me
with five-star accommodations...

and a complimentary beverage.

I'm anxious to speak
to the chief

about the wreck they discovered.

But first, the tribe
insists on welcoming us

with a sacred fire dance.

This is a seldom-seen ritual.

So, the women --
the women have gone away?

Why's that?

Wow.

Only men are allowed
to participate or watch.

If any women in the village
were to witness this,

they would be killed.

The men tend the fire,

feeding it until the flames
begin to devour the darkness...

[ Staves pounding rhythmically ]

...at which point,
the dance begins.

[ Men chanting ]

The dancers
are completely barefoot

and attempt to ward off
evil spirits

by passing directly through
the flames and embers.

He goes right into
the fire.

Yeah.

That's amazing.

The dance is performed

to initiate young men into
adulthood, or, in this case,

to celebrate visiting outsiders.

The dance itself
is frenetic, wild,

and not for the faint of heart.

And I feel totally overwhelmed

at being able to witness it
firsthand.

With the ceremony complete
and my eyebrows singed,

I'm granted access to the chief

to discuss the plane wreck
in the jungle,

which could be
Earhart's lost Electra.

That was incredible.

I've never seen anything
like that.

Thank you for
welcoming us here.

Thank you.

[ Speaking native language ]

We heard these stories

that your tribe has found
wreckage in the jungles.

[ Speaking
native language ]

Yeah, there's some wreckage
in the bush.

Yeah.

They don't know
who it came from.

Is the wreckage definitely
from an airplane?

[ Speaking
native language ]

It's from a plane.

It's from a plane?

From a plane.

How far is the wreckage
from the village?

[ Speaking
native language ]

He says the wreckage
is close by here.

And could we have permission to
go and to look at the wreckage?

Can you guide us
and show us where it is?

[ Speaking
native language ]

People who know exactly where
it is -- they will guide us.

Terrific.

Let's do it.
Come on.

Okay.

GATES: The jungles
of New Britain are no joke,

especially at night,

but some believe that Earhart's
Electra could be out here,

waiting in the darkness.

[ Exhales sharply ]

These are real-deal jungles.

A lot of predators out here --
snakes, spiders --

and we're very far
from a hospital,

so we have to be very, very
careful going through here.

Ooh, big hole right here.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, big hole.

Drops down.

What do you think,
impact point?

Could be, yeah.

In 1945, in these very jungles,

an Australian army patrol
stumbled on a crash site

they believed was Earhart's,
but no one ever found it again.

Could this be the same wreck?

Well, that's a piece
of wreckage for sure.

Look at this. Rob, come here.

It's an airplane engine, yeah?

Oh, definitely an
airplane engine, yeah.

They've taken
propellers off.

Let's get the vines off it.

Earhart's Electra
was a twin-prop plane.

We've found one engine, and
I'm desperate to find another.

The problem is the wreckage is
scattered all over the jungle.

Rob, check this out.

There's an interlocking
piece there.

It looks like a fold.

Maybe this is the strut?

Part of the strut.

Part of the strut
for the wheel, maybe?

Yeah.

This like looks --
What do you think,

part of the exhaust
or something?

Exhaust, or something
like that, yeah.

Yeah.

I would say that

when the plane
came in, it burned.

It burned quite severely.

Something over there?

MAN: Yeah.

Let's go look. More.

Rob, we got more
over here.

Unbelievable.
Look at this.

GATES: I'm in the jungles
of Papua New Guinea,

investigating a wreck that could
be Amelia Earhart's lost plane.

Suddenly, we find
a crucial piece of evidence.

Something over there?

More. Rob, we got
more over here.

Unbelievable.
Look at this.

What is this part?
It's not the landing gear.

Is it part of the undercarriage?

ROWENSON:
It's undercarriage, yeah.

So we're looking at part
of the wing, yeah?

Yeah, this'll be
part of the wing.

And it's been fairly
badly burnt, too.

Yeah, it looks very burned.

All right, let's pull out
that schematic of the Electra.

So, Electra's
a twin-engine Lockheed.

This looks like a twin
or a single to you?

Well, I think it's a twin.

And what leads you to believe
that it's a twin engine?

Because this is
a very strong undercarriage.

Right.

On a single-engine airplane,
it's usually just the one strut.

Right.

We have a twin strut here.

It's a radial engine, too.

Same type of engine design,
right?

Same type
of engine design.

All right, well, she's
still a candidate, then.

There should be another
engine here somewhere.

Have you found
a second engine?

MAN: No.

One only?

I mean, if it hit so hard,
I mean, it could have gone

200 meters down
the bloody shore.

Electra had
Pratt & Whitney engines.

That's right, yeah.

Can you tell if that's
a Pratt & Whitney or not?

Well, I can't.
That's the problem.

It may well be
a Pratt & Whitney.

Well, if we can get close and
see some identification on it.

Let's see if we can get
some identifying marks

off the engines.

GATES: In 1945,

an Australian army patrol
found a Pratt & Whitney engine

here in this jungle,

and they were convinced it
belonged to Earhart's Electra.

If this is the same engine,
we might have struck gold.

God, I wish we had a propeller
or something like that,

'cause on propellers,
you had dates on them.

Someone's taken a lot
of the stuff away from here.

Although Rabaul is littered
with wrecks,

Earhart's plane has features
that distinguish it

from most World War II aircraft.

It was designed
with a unique twin tail,

unpainted aluminum body,

and was packed with a dozen fuel
tanks in the fuselage and wings

to feed the twin Pratt & Whitney
Wasp engines on her long flight.

Any tags or identifiable parts
with serial numbers

have either been stolen
or destroyed.

Most of what looters left behind
is burned beyond recognition.

So we can't really tell if
it's a Pratt & Whitney or not.

Maybe, because we can't find
any identifying marks on it.

Right.

There's got to be something
we're missing.

I've just realized something.

This is the undercarriage leg
of a dual-leg undercarriage.

The undercarriage on an Electra
is a single oleo leg

with a wishbone on the bottom
and the wheel between them.

Forks over the wheel.

That's right, it forks
over the wheel.

It indicates to me
a much heavier aircraft.

This wreck has two full struts
on each side of the wheels,

but Earhart's Lockheed Electra

had a single strut
for each wheel,

with a wishbone
that wrapped around the tire --

a subtle but damning
piece of evidence.

My opinion is, at present,
it's not an Electra.

Now, what I think it is --
it's probably Japanese,

and the only way to identify
that is to take this information

that I have now and compare it
with information that I have

back in Rabaul.

So, wheel structure doesn't
match the Electra,

so we know it's not
Earhart's plane.

Definitely not.

But still a mystery.

Still a mystery.

And an important mystery.

Yeah, well,
people died here,

so it deserves our attention,
most certainly.

It's not Earhart's plane,
but with further investigation,

this wreck will solve
a different mystery

and answer questions about the
demise of another downed pilot.

Thank you very much
for showing us this.

Also, we're gonna need
somewhere to sleep.

[ Laughs ]

[ Chuckles ]

Helicopter will be back
in the morning.

All right, we're down
to our very last torches, here.

Let's get back to the village.

Otherwise, we're gonna be
like this plane --

we're gonna be
out here forever.

[ Chuckles ]

By the light of a new day,

we leave the jungle behind
and head back to Rabaul.

The wreck may or may not

be the same one that
the Australians found in 1945.

Either way, we know
that it isn't Earhart's plane.

But this isn't the only
developing lead here in PNG.

Locals believe that unidentified
underwater wreckage

off the coast of Rabaul may
in fact be the missing Electra.

After grabbing a set of wheels,

I'm rumbling my way over
to where Rabaul used to be.

Back on the ground,
headed over to Old Rabaul,

or what's left of it.

That is an active volcano
named Vulcan.

Still active, very much alive,
very dangerous.

This is one of two
very pissed-off-looking volcanos

that loom over Rabaul.

But its twin brother, Tavurvur,
is the one to keep an eye on.

In 1937, an eruption
killed more than 500 people,

and less than a month
before my arrival,

it decided to wake up again.

MAN #1: Oh, geez!

MAN #2:
Holy smokin' Toledos.

Along the side of the road here,
you see this big wall --

it's just 10 feet tall --
of ash,

and we're just driving over
volcanic ash.

All of this is just from
the most recent eruption.

Looking up at the hills,

nearly every palm tree
in sight is scorched to bits.

Okay, we should be coming into
Rabaul.

As I approach the crater and
the coordinates of Old Rabaul,

it might seem like
I'm in the wrong spot.

But the town is here,
I'm just driving on top of it.

Peeking up from the ash

are the ghostly remains
of an entire city,

destroyed by the volcanos
in 1994.

Motels, night clubs, banks,

entire city streets -- gone.

Perched atop the Ring of Fire,

PNG is one of the most volcanic
nations in the world.

The earthquake I felt in Lae
is not a good sign,

and judging by the billowing
smoke rising from Tavurvur

and the boiling water
coming up by my feet,

I'm suddenly struck
by a question --

What the hell am I doing here?

Well, nobody said

looking for Earhart was
going to be easy or safe,

so I'm challenging
my inner explorer

and pressing on with the search.

The wreck in the jungle
was one of two leads here.

Next, I'm going to explore
another promising theory --

that Earhart crashed in
the waters off Papua New Guinea.

Next stop here is to meet
with a guy named Rod,

a dive expert
and a World War II historian,

and he knows more
about downed aircraft

in these parts of the waters
than anybody.

Recently, local divers reported
seeing wreckage off of Rabaul

that they believe
looks like the Electra.

To check out the report, I make
my way down to the harbor,

which is today,
home to a listing collection

of ghost ships
decimated by the volcano.

But amidst the waterlogged fleet
are a few seaworthy vessels,

one of which is captained
by Rod Pierce.

Hey. How are you?
Are you Rod?

Josh, g'day. Yep.

Yeah, nice to meet you.

Pleasure.

So, I hear you're the man in
the know about airplane wrecks.

Yes, yes. Been researching
them since the '70s,

and there's a lot
of them here.

From World War II,

there's over 500
in the Gazelle area alone.

Amazing.

I look for MIAs.

Uh-huh.

Seek closure
to a lot of people,

from pilots
of all nations --

Japanese, Australians,
Americans.

How do you locate
these wrecks?

Basically with sonar.

Mm-hmm.

And that will draw you
an outline of a plane,

or a wreck, or whatever
you're looking for.

We've heard reports,
recent reports,

of some aircraft wreckage
out here near Rabaul,

and some people sort
of whispering

that they think it may be
Earhart's plane

that may have
come back here.

Have you heard
those stories?

I've also heard that.

Do you think
it could be her plane?

Anything's possible.

The only way to know
is to go out, investigate it,

and see what we can find.

As we head out to sea
to search the coordinates

where divers claim to see
a wreck matching the Electra,

I'm captivated
by the possibility

of finding the plane,
but also a bit unnerved.

After all, we're cruising in the
shadow of two active volcanos,

one of which is still smoking.

Even more alarming, the entire
harbor is a volcanic caldera.

1,500 years ago,
this bay exploded.

The ash cloud was so huge
it darkened the skies of Europe

for a year.

Rod, walk me through this.
This looks like a missile.

Okay, this is --
This is a towfish.

The idea is to run it about
5 to 10 meters above the bottom

to get ideal footage.

Cool.

Looks like a pretty serious
piece of equipment.

Very serious piece
of equipment,

capable of picking up
a nipple on a mermaid.

[ Laughs ]

But it will do the job,
I can assure you.

I'm just hoping for the nipple
on a mermaid at this point.

Okay, Rod, here we go.

Here we go. She's gone.

All right.

Keep it going.

Okay, she's out.
Let's see what she sees.

With the sonar in the water,
the search begins.

We're scanning
a largely unexplored area

near where the divers
reported seeing a wreck.

Lockheed only produced
147 Model 10 Electras.

Only four ever visited
Papua New Guinea,

and three are accounted for.

So if Rod and I find an Electra
in this harbor, it's Earhart's.

This kind of
a waiting game now.

We've got this
side-scan sonar in the water.

We're towing it behind the boat,
and it's just giving us

a beautiful image
of the ocean floor,

and we're just kind of --
we're going back and forth,

eliminating each sector
as we go through it,

and looking for wreckage
while we go.

Rod has been investigating
Papua New Guinea's waters

for over 30 years.

Needless to say,
he calls the shots...

and I take beverage orders.

Josh, do you know
how to make tea?

Cup of tea coming up.

And I want it
before Christmas.

Aye-aye.

It's like I'm with Quint
from "Jaws."

Oh, for a splash of rum.

Don't have to take
this abuse much longer.

I got the kettle on,
so let's see what we got here.

Peanut butter...

...baked beans...

...condensed milk.

[ Whistling ]

Okay, tea coming up.

Okay, cup o' tea
coming up.

Oh, thanks, Josh.

There you go.
Cheers, mate.

Cheers.

All the best.

Hows it looking up here?

Good, good.

All right, I'm headed
back to my station.

Not the manliest mug.

Oh, Rod! Got something!

Rod, come here!
Off the starboard side!

PIERCE: Coming.

Something big right off
the starboard side.

See it?

Oh, yes, yes.

Oh, that's nice.

That's a big ship.

You think so?

Yeah,
that's a big ship.

Okay.

World War II...

How big do you think --
what's the scale?

It's probably around about
3,000, 4,000 tons.

[ Exhales sharply ]
Unbelievable.

Lying upright.

Crazy.

Okay, so, not a plane,
but we got a wreck.

Not a plane, unfortunately.

Okay. All right.

We'll keep going,
but we're hot to trot.

Keep going. Hot to trot.

We're on it.
We're finding wrecks.

The harbor is eight miles long
and six miles wide,

and slowly but surely,
we're scanning every inch of it.

Oh! Rod, I got a plane!

Rod, I got a plane,
for sure! Come here!

Look at that.
Look at that.

That's a [bleep] plane.

GATES:
I'm in Papua New Guinea,

using side-scan sonar equipment
to scan Rabaul harbor

for Amelia Earhart's
missing plane,

and we just got a major hit.

Oh! Rod, I got a plane!

Rod, I got a plane,
for sure! Come here!

Look at that.
Look at that.

That's a [bleep] plane.
That's a plane, right?

Now, that is definitely
a plane.

Great.

That's amazing.

One wing's buried
in the sand.

Or missing.

Or missing.

Look at that.
That's a plane.

We'll put the anchor down.

Let's do it.

That's a plane!
Let's get wet.

Based on the sonar readings,

there may be multiple wrecks
scattered beneath the boat,

and we descend into the murky
depths to investigate them.

[ Radio beeps ]

The million-dollar question

is whether this could be
the Electra.

As we scour the wreckage,
vital clues come into focus,

including a slot
on the bottom of the plane.

From 1940 to 1945,

the Mitsubishi A6M Zero
was the infamous symbol

of Japan's air power.

A legendary long-range fighter

responsible for the attack
on Pearl Harbor,

the Zero was light, fast,
and deadly.

If this is a Zero, we may be
able to find the Hinomaru,

the red, circular sun
that adorned the wings

of Japanese warplanes.

The second sonar hit is located
only a short distance

from the Japanese Zero,

and it's another shot
at finding Earhart's plane.

Rod and I scour the wreck

to look for more
identifying markers,

but this plane is badly mangled.

The cockpit on the Electra had
a wide field of view,

but short, narrow windows.

The cockpit area here looks like
a much more open design.

Based on the configuration,

Rod believes that this
is a Grumman TBF Avenger,

an Allied torpedo bomber
that proved indispensable

in defeating the Japanese.

Shockingly,
it appears the three-person crew

are still trapped
in the cockpit.

The plane and the soldiers
inside are likely

either from New Zealand
or the United States.

Even though this isn't
the Electra, it's a major find,

since Rod and his team can
now begin the important work

of identifying the servicemen
who died here,

and having these heroes
repatriated home.

Perhaps in time
this will bring closure

to someone searching
for these missing pilots.

It's time for me to bid farewell

to the exotic shores
of Papua New Guinea.

After exploring the jungles
of New Britain

and scanning the harbor
of Rabaul,

we've eliminated two
high-profile leads in the case.

With so many aircraft wrecks
yet to be identified here,

it's easy to see
why people believe

Earhart's could be among them.

But at the end of the day,

I don't believe
there's enough physical evidence

to support the theory.

Furthermore,

I remain personally doubtful

that she could have had
enough fuel

to limp all the way back here.

But my search for answers
has just begun.

There's another breaking lead
in the case --

one that's so compelling,

it has recently captured
worldwide attention.

There's stunning new evidence
to suggest

that once Earhart failed
to locate Howland Island,

she headed someplace
much closer than PNG,

just 400 miles south
of her target,

crash-landing on the uninhabited
island of Nikumaroro.

A renowned expert believes
she may have died

on this lonely island
as a castaway.

And the kicker --

he may actually have a piece
of her plane to prove it.

13-year-old boy, you find
human bones under your house?

It never, ever came back
into my life

until I read this thing
about Amelia Earhart.

Was the rest of that
crawl space under the house

thoroughly explored?

No, not at all.

Really?

Never.

I got a bone down here.

There's more down here.
There's more down here.

It might be time to call
the police department

to come over here
and take a look,

'cause a couple of them
could be human. I don't know.

GATES: I'm flying
at about 35,000 feet

and headed
to Wilmington, Delaware,

to interview an expert on the
disappearance of Amelia Earhart.

On one of the last legs
of her trans-world flight,

Earhart was supposed to travel
2,500 miles

from Lae, Papua New Guinea,

to tiny Howland Island in
the middle of the South Pacific.

But she never reached
her destination...

and vanished
without a trace...

or so we all thought.

Ric Gillespie is the
executive director of TIGHAR,

an organization dedicated
to finding Earhart's Electra.

He believes that Earhart
missed Howland Island

and crashed on the nearby atoll
of Nikumaroro.

When we started
this organization,

my attitude toward looking
for Amelia Earhart was,

"Look, she probably
just got lost

looking for a tiny island
in a big ocean,

ran out of gas,
crashed at the sea.

The technology doesn't exist
to find such a small target

in such a big ocean."

And it wasn't until
two of our members,

who were retired
military aerial navigators,

came to us and said,

"The things that Earhart is
known to have said on the radio

"make perfect sense
to a navigator.

"She was doing exactly
what she should have done,

"and that should have brought
her to one of two islands

that she had enough fuel
to get to."

And nobody
ever looked there.

Earhart's final transmissions
indicate that her and Noonan

believed they were in the right
spot but couldn't see Howland.

If, in fact,
Earhart followed that line,

it would have likely passed
near the Phoenix group,

leading straight
to Gardner Island,

known today as Nikumaroro.

Okay, if all those radio signals
people thought were genuine

were real, then the airplane
would have to be on land.

"But we've looked
on the land,

"and there's no airplane
on the land.

"Therefore, the radio signals
must be somehow bogus.

Let's go look in the ocean
for a floating airplane."

And that's what they did,
and they didn't find one.

They didn't find anything.

How many times have you
been out to Nikumaroro?

I've been to Nikumaroro
10 times.

10 times.

And not an easy island
to reach.

No, it's one of
the most remote places on Earth.

And what's your level
of confidence

that that's where
she set that plane down?

100%.

100%?

100%.

No doubt in your mind.

We just established last week

that a piece of aluminum

that we found on that island
in 1991

matches in every respect
a unique part

of Earhart's airplane.

When Earhart
was in Miami...

...she had a special
custom-made window

on the right side
of the airplane replaced

with a plain aluminum patch.

It has a unique rivet pattern,

unique proportions
dictated by the size

of the hole
it was covering

and the structure
of the airplane.

Right.

So a piece
of Amelia Earhart's airplane

ended up on that island.

Critics will say, "Yeah, well,
it could have floated up there,"

'cause we found it
washed up.

Mm-hmm.

And if that was the only thing
we'd ever found on Nikumaroro,

you could say,
"Yeah, well, maybe."

But it's not the only thing
we've ever found.

September 1940 -- there's
a man named Gerald Gallagher.

He went down there
and found a partial skeleton.

Total of 13 bones,

and it looked like this person
had been lying under a tree

and had died there.

And he looked at this,
and he said,

"This might be
Amelia Earhart."

Gallagher was a colonial soldier
who landed on Nikumaroro

as part of a British settlement.

He packed the skeleton
he discovered into a box

and took it back to Fiji
for analysis.

The bones were sent to
the School of Medicine

and given only
a cursory examination,

in which the doctor concluded
they were from a male.

Before anyone could test
to see if they belonged

to Earhart's navigator,

the bones disappeared somewhere
in the island's archives.

But we have the notes
the doctor took

of the measurements
of those bones,

and we've given
those measurements

to two independent
forensic anthropologists.

Plugs it into
the databases available now.

What comes out
of the computer

is "white female
of Northern European descent

who stood 5'7", 5'8"."

Well, there's nobody else
like that missing out there.

That's a description
of Amelia Earhart.

It's an amazing lead.

But the question remains --
what became of the bones?

Fiji's main newspaper
is now reporting a new lead

in the case.

If the bones can be found,

it may finally close

the greatest missing-persons
case in history.

Time for me to head
back to the skies,

get to Fiji,
and join the search.

Since the dawn of aviation,

every pilot and passenger
has seen this view --

the endless cloudscape
that swaddles planet Earth.

It was just over a century ago,

on a windy stretch of beach
in North Carolina,

that the Wright brothers

launched
the first powered aircraft --

the fragile-looking
Wright Flyer I.

The plane may have only
flown for 12 seconds,

but humanity's terrestrial
shackles were finally broken.

The world
would never be the same.

It's hard to know to what extent

early aviation pioneers
like Earhart

envisioned what would follow,

but she probably never imagined
Richard Branson, seat-back TVs,

or double-decker jumbo jets.

And yet,

despite this technological
golden age of aviation,

some things haven't changed.

We still lose planes.

In fact, more than 80 aircraft
have completely vanished

since the end of World War II.

Many aspects
of Earhart's disappearance

seem eerily relevant
with the recent loss

of Malaysia Flight 370.

It serves to remind us
that our dominion over the skies

is not absolute,

and that an awe-inspiring
90% of the world's oceans

remain unexplored.

Thanks to brave
aviation pioneers like Earhart,

my modern jumbo jet will make
the 5,000-mile trip

across the Pacific
in a matter of hours.

I touch down
in the Fijian capital of Suva,

a bustling and cosmopolitan town
with a laid-back island charm.

This is the last place
the missing remains

from Nikumaroro were taken.

Exploring a new culture

is always
an eye-opening experience,

and Suva is no exception --

like seeing these
authentic Fijian recliners.

I like your chairs.

Do you mind? May I?

Oh, this is very nice.

Oh, yeah.

You guys got it all
figured out here.

Are you guys working
right now?

Yeah.

Yeah? You are?

You're not allowed to drink beer
when you're working?

Yeah.

Are you allowed to sit
in a wheelbarrow?

[ Laughs ]

[ Laughs ]

I'm in town to meet with
Nemani Delaibatiki,

the editor in chief
of the Fiji Sun.

His paper recently published
a new report

on the missing bones that
came to Fiji from Nikumaroro,

where Earhart may have perished.

According to the article,
a Dr. Kenneth Gilchrist,

the former head
of the Fiji Medical School,

may have been in possession
of the bones.

The doctor has passed away,

but three Fijian employees
were named as beneficiaries

All three men have also died,

and investigators believe
that the box of bones

may have been inherited by
one of their family members.

There was three Fijians
who were close to the doctor

and apparently had knowledge
of the box.

The mystery is,
which one got the box?

Two of the men's families
have already been interviewed,

and neither have the bones.

The third man's son
has yet to be found.

If I can find him, and the box,

DNA testing could prove
whether the bones

are the remains of Earhart
or her navigator.

We heard that one of the three
people lives in Navala,

a remote village.

Navala.

Navala village,
on the western side of Fiji.

With no time to lose,

I'm heading to the village
to investigate.

Since I'll be showing up
uninvited,

it's important
that I don't go empty-handed,

so I'm heading to the market
to pick up a gift.

We got spices.
We got beans. We got...

whatever that is.

Since I'm not seeing
any Starbucks cards

or vanilla-scented candles,

I decide to go with
a Fijian classic.

Kava -- you have
lots of kava.

Yeah.

I need to buy some.

The roots of the kava plant
are mashed

and turned into
an intoxicating sedative

that's wildly popular
in this part of the world.

How much is it?

35 a kilo.

35 a kilo?

Yeah.

Sounds like a fair price.

Yeah.

I don't know how much
kava's supposed to cost,

so I trust you.

[ Speaking
native language ]

Okay, I'll take a kilo.

Do you drink kava?

Yeah.

Does he drink Kava?

No.

No? He doesn't like it?

No.

It's an acquired taste.

Look at that.
That looks amazing.

Could play Quidditch
with this thing.

Thank you.

Bye.

With my offering in hand,

I'm starting my journey
to the village.

I'm hopeful to find the man
who may be in possession

of the missing bones.

Here,
in Fiji's rugged backcountry,

may be the answers

to one of the world's greatest
unsolved mysteries.

This is where it happened?

Right there.

There's got to be a better way
to make a living.

When you found the box...

Yes.

...did they go through
the underside of this house

with a fine-tooth comb?

No.

This looks like bone.

It might be time
to call the police department

to come over here
and take a look.

We don't need any cameras.
Leave those cameras.

GATES: I'm on the island
of Viti Levu in Fiji,

searching for a man who may
be in possession of bones

that were brought here from
a remote Pacific island in 1945,

and which could be the remains
of Amelia Earhart.

After picking up a traditional
offering of kava plant,

I'm heading off the grid
to search a remote village

where the man was last known
to live.

Beyond the capital,
Fiji reveals her true colors.

These islands
are an undeveloped wonderland

brimming with stunning
natural beauty.

While the small village
of Navala

is just 55 miles northeast
of Suva,

the road system isn't exactly
state-of-the-art.

Fiji's rustic charm
may be pleasing to the eye,

but it does come with
some minor drawbacks.

No rush.

[ Goat bleats ]

Okay, that may be
the end of this road.

Hopefully the village
is not too far from here.

Here we go.

In this part of the world,

reaching a remote village
involves more than just

a bumpy ride down a dirt road.

In this case,

I'll have to channel
my inner Huck Finn

to reach my destination.

Bula!

MAN: Bula, bula!

Are you going
to the village?

To the village?

Yeah.

Can I have a ride?

Okay.

Think I'm about
to sink your boat.

All right,
we're floating.

A few generations ago,

an outsider like myself
arriving uninvited

at some Fijian villages
could have become

the main course
in a cannibalistic feast.

While I'm not afraid of winding
up on the menu these days,

I am worried that
it's going to take me a month

to paddle there on what
the locals call a bilibili raft.

This is the 2014 model
of the bilibili raft.

Comes with full bamboo.

Sunroof, obviously.

Natural air-conditioning.

Manual transmission.

Here? Village?
Yeah?

Okay.

I don't really know where
the emergency brake is

on this thing,

so I'm just gonna smash it
into the rocks here.

Okay, my friend.

Vinaka vakalevu.

Vinaka.

Bye.

It wasn't exactly
an express trip,

but the journey
comes with an instant reward.

The traditional village
is beautiful beyond words,

and the brilliant smiles
of its youngest residents

make the journey
well worth the effort.

Bula.

This village is reportedly home
to a man who may have inherited

the possible remains
of Amelia Earhart.

But an outsider
doesn't just waltz in

and start snooping around.

First, I'll need to get approval
from the village chief.

[ Women singing
in native language ]

I'm immediately led
to the chief's hut.

His word is law here.

With the future
of my investigation

riding on winning him over,

I'm hoping my kilo of kava
helps grease the wheels.

[ Men and women singing ]

Uh-huh.

BULIWA:
Now the sevusevu.

The men take away the root,

mash it,
and turn it into a drink.

Though it's consumed
by millions of people

throughout the Pacific,
to outsiders,

kava is an acquired taste.

Yes, it's bitter, gritty,
and resembles muddy water,

but it also comes with
a warm wave of euphoria,

thanks to its properties
as a natural sedative.

I pass to you? Or this way?

I have to finish it?

Yeah.

Kava is more than a drink.
It's ceremonial.

Not finishing every last drop
is considered an insult.

So bottoms up.

Vinaka.

And now it all comes down
to the chief.

His is the final approval.

GATES:
I'm in a small Fijian village,

looking for answers to the
disappearance of Amelia Earhart.

A recent news story reported
that a man in this village

may have a box
containing her bones.

If I can find these remains,

it may solve one of the greatest
puzzles in modern human history.

But first I need to win over
the chief,

who is the absolute authority
here.

Without his permission,

I won't be able to stay
in the village

and continue my investigation.

After downing a few cups
of ceremonial kava,

the chief is ready
to make his decision.

Hopefully, he thinks
I'm a good drinking buddy.

Oh, that's very nice to hear.
Thank you very much. Vinaka.

Thank you very much
for allowing me to come here

and for accepting the kava and
for sharing the drink with me.

I appreciate it. Thank you.
Vinaka.

Let's get some pizzas
up in here, huh?

Mnh.

If I give you one inch...

Yeah?

...don't take one mile.

[ Laughs ]
Okay. Sounds good.

[ Speaking
native language ]

Bula.

[ Laughs ]

Okay?

Yes.

The chief thinks
I need one for the road.

After obliging,

I head out into the village
to begin my hut-to-hut search

for the man who might have
the mysterious box

that experts believe
could contain the bones

of Amelia Earhart.

Bula.

How are you?

Good, thank you.
And you?

I'm good.

Bula.

Hello.

Hello.

Listen, I'm trying
to find these men.

Do you know these men?
Do you know these names?

Do any of them live here?

No.

No?

Strike one.

Okay. Next.

No.

No?

None of them live here?

No.

Vinaka.

Strike two.

Just as I'm about to give up,

I meet with one last man
in the village.

Bula.

Bula.

How are you?

I'm good, I'm good.

I'm looking for
these three men.

Do any of these names
look familiar to you?

Uh-huh. Kalaviti.

He was in the village,
but he passed away.

He passed away?

Passed away.

Does he have any family
here still?

Uh, no,

not what I know.

And we're looking for these men
because they may have been

in possession of a box
with human bones.

When this man died,

did he have any possessions
here in the village --

a box, maybe?

Kalaviti doesn't have any
belongings when he passed away.

Right.

There wasn't any box.

Okay.

I think there's another man
you should see.

He's staying in Suva.

In Suva?

In Suva.

Who is that?

His name is John Grey.

John Grey?
That's a familiar name to me.

John Grey is who?

He was the one who found
some bones in the box.

Yes, many years ago
he found bones, right?

Yeah.

The name John Grey has long been
linked to the Earhart mystery.

As a boy in 1968,

he was exploring a crawl space
underneath his home in Fiji

when he made
a startling discovery.

He found a box of bones
that included a human skull.

Furthermore, the house
had previously belonged

to an employee from
the Fiji School of Medicine.

Some believe that these bones
could be the very same ones

that went missing
from Nikumaroro.

But in a maddening twist,
these bones have also been lost.

My trip to the village
has confirmed

that the last man mentioned
in the article

didn't have the bones.

But a new lead
is drawing me back to Suva.

Could John Grey provide
any new insight

about the bones he found
nearly 50 years ago?

Perhaps he holds the key
to solving this epic mystery.

So, you were about how old
when this happened?

13.

And so 13-year-old boy, you find
human bones under your house?

How did you come to be
digging under your house?

Me and my cousins
decided that

we needed to go
and check the place out.

And I crawled under
this house and looked,

and lo and behold,
there was this box under there.

As we took off
part of the covering,

we saw this roundish,
whitish-brownish thing.

And then, having pulled it out
and seen what was the skull,

it freaked me out.

Yeah.

[ Laughs ]

And it's buried
under your house.

Absolutely!

I mean, this is, like --
this is like "Poltergeist."

This is like
a horror movie.

Yeah.

And then what became
of the box and the bones?

It was all given
to the Fiji Museum.

I just really didn't
want to have anything to do

with that skull again.

Right.

So, it never, ever
came back into my life

until I read this thing
about Amelia Earhart.

Something clicked in my mind,
to say,

"John, that skull that you
had is, perhaps, that."

Do you think there's a chance
that it's still in the museum?

Well, I hope so.

Was the rest of that
crawl space under the house

thoroughly explored?

No, not at all.

Really?

Never.

Even if I did want to,
I couldn't,

'cause someone else
owned it.

Now, though,
it is a possibility?

The current owner is amenable
to us going in there

and excavating
if we need to.

And you do think
it's possible there could be

other material remains
under the house?

Absolutely.

You do?

Absolutely.

She needs closure.

Hm.

Amelia needs closure.

John made arrangements for us to
search the crawl space tonight.

In the meantime,
I want to further investigate

his claim
that the bones he found

could still be in the archives
at the Fiji Museum.

The museum boasts
an impressive collection

that spans nearly 4,000 years.

There are authentic
Fijian rafts,

and even the rudder

from the infamously mutineered
HMS Bounty.

But much of the collection
is devoted

to Fiji's violent cannibal past.

These islands were once
a hotbed of human consumption.

One missionary was even eaten

right down to the soles
of his shoes --

the one part the natives
found too tough to eat.

In a museum brimming
with human remains,

I'm not feeling very optimistic

about finding a single box
of bones

handed over by a teenage boy
in the 1960s.

But I've come this far
and plan to leave no stone,

or bone, unturned.

I'm fortunate to be granted
access to the museum's archives.

However,
what little hope I have shrinks

as I realize that this place
is essentially that room

at the end
of "Raiders of the Lost Ark."

This might take a while.

I comb through row after row of
jumbled, disintegrating files.

Eventually, I do manage
to turn up

some intriguing reports
about Earhart...

...but no potential remains.

As I continue to comb through
the museum's collection,

I find countless weapons
and relics,

but they're not what
I'm looking for.

Ooh. Box.
Check this out.

That kind of fits
the description.

As he said,
it's got clasps on the front.

GATES: I'm at the Fiji museum,
looking for a lost box of bones

that some think can be traced
to Amelia Earhart.

Ooh, box.

After scouring the archives,

I've come upon a box
that matches the description.

Nothing.

Can't win 'em all.

My search
through the museum's archives

doesn't turn up the remains.

It costs me the day,
but I haven't lost all hope.

I'm traveling
to the childhood home

where John Grey found a box
of bones over 40 years ago.

The police never searched
the crawl space

after John made his discovery,

so there could still be more
evidence buried in the dirt.

GATES: This is it?

GREY: This is it.

This is your childhood home.

This is the home.

Does it look the same?

A little overgrown with shrubs
and things like that,

but the house
looks exactly the same.

All right.
Well, here we go.

So, this is
where it happened.

This is the entry.

Right there.

Okay, so,
13-year-old boy --

You decide you're gonna go
into that crawl space.

Yep. I got into that,
crawled under the house,

and there it was --
this box.

Do you think anybody
has been under here since 1968?

By the looks of things,
no.

The box of bones
that John found in 1968

was strikingly similar

to the one that went missing
decades before.

If there are any more remains
buried under this house,

they very well could be
Earhart's.

I'm not thrilled about poking
around under an old house,

looking for Earhart's bones
in the dark,

but I've come this far,

and there's no way
I'm turning back now.

Where under here
did you find the box?

Right in there,
where that timber stump is.

I see it, yeah --
about halfway back.

That's correct.

And it was just sitting there,
or it was buried?

It was sitting there,

so if you get there,
that's where the box was.

Well, that seems like that's our
spot to start digging around.

Here we go.

So, please, just --
caution as you go through.

Uh, okay.

Definitely some spiders.
God.

So, John, you're talking about
that post there?

Correct, right in the middle
of the house.

If I find any money under here,
I keep it, right?

[ Laughs ]

[ Exhales sharply ]

Doesn't look like
anyone's really been down here

in the past 40 years.

I found a button.

Looks like a button
off a piece of clothing.

This is the first thing
I've really found down here

that looks
from the human world.

Lots of broken bits
of pottery.

[ Clink ]

Some glass.

Looks like
a child's marble.

Yeah, we used to play with those
things in the younger days.

You've lost your marbles,
John.

[ Laughs ]

Okay, John,
I'm pushing over

toward the area
where you found the box.

[ Sighing ] Oh, boy.

There has got to be a better way
to make a living.

Is it this beam right here,
this small one?

Yep, you're there.

You're right there.

That's it?

That's it.

Okay.

So this was
where the box was.

[ Sighs ]

Lot of coral down here.

They must have, when they were
building the house,

used this as part
of the landfill.

John?

Yeah?

Just making sure
you didn't go home.

When you found the box...

Yes?

...did they go through
the underside of this house

with a fine-tooth comb?

No.

I just wanted
to get rid of the box.

But the police
didn't come down here.

No.

You would think after they found
this box filled with bones,

they would have
come down here

and done a more thorough search,
but...

I don't see anything
around there

other than a lot of dirt
and some of this coral.

Hold on.
Let me see what's down here.

This does not
look like coral to me.

This looks
a lot like bone.

Hold on.
Let me see what's down here.

GATES: I'm in Fiji,
searching underneath a home

for bones that some believe

may be the remains
of Amelia Earhart.

After a bit of digging,
I may have found something.

This does not
look like coral to me.

This looks
a lot like bone.

I got a bone down here,
for sure --

a big piece of bone.

I don't know if it's human
or not, but...

this is definitely bone.

Wow.

That is a bone. I mean, that
looks like a human bone to me.

Another one --
part of a vertebrae.

My goodness.

More.

In a million years,
I didn't think

I was gonna actually find bones
under this house,

but I'm looking
at a handful of them right here,

and I'm just barely
scratching the surface.

Amazing.

There's more down here.
There's more down here.

I mean [bleep]

There's a [bleep] skeleton
down here.

There's bits of bone
all over the place down here.

More bones.
I mean, what is that from?

It's everywhere I look.

I mean, I'm putting a skeleton
together down here.

It might be time
to call the police department

to come over here
and take a look,

'cause a couple of them
could be human. I don't know.

All right,
I'm coming out.

Oh, my goodness.

[ Sighs ]

Well, there's more
under the house, John.

Vertebrae.
This, obviously --

This could be a chicken bone,
something much smaller.

This could be a cow bone.

But this -- I mean,
things like this, I don't know.

That could be human.

We assumed that
what was in the box

was all that there was.

And for a 13-year-old kid,
you'd never want to go back in

to find out
if there's anything else.

[ Siren wailing ]

Yeah, okay. I got to --
I got to --

Please, we don't need
any cameras at the moment.

Oh, yeah?

Yeah. No cameras.

Okay.

GATES: The bones
that I found under the house

transformed
our television production

into a criminal investigation.

After lengthy questioning
at the police station,

the Fiji CSI unit has bagged
the evidence for review,

and I've got no choice

but to head back to my hotel
for a much-needed shower.

The next morning, I return
to the scene of the crime,

only to find more investigators
crawling under the house.

Hazmat suits.

Why didn't I think of that?

[ Police radio chatter ]

The police tape says it all.

The case is now out of my hands,

and I'm told that analysis and
DNA testing could take months.

However,
the lab has already confirmed

that at least one of the bones
is human --

a revelation that turns out
to be front-page news.

As I make my way
back to the airport

to bring my expedition
to a close,

I have a lot to reflect on.

The shocking discovery
of human remains

beneath John Grey's house

is a genuinely newsworthy lead

in the search
for the queen of the skies.

In addition,
the potential identification

of the aluminum panel
from the island of Nikumaroro

makes it tempting to conclude

that Earhart did indeed crash
on or around the remote island.

But much of the evidence,
though hugely compelling,

is still circumstantial.

Until her bones

or the full wreckage
of the Electra is identified,

no one can say for certain.

Back in Papua New Guinea, the
overgrown World War II wreckage

that we found in the jungle,

and the eerie wrecks
beneath the waves,

are, in a sense, every bit
as important as Earhart's plane.

After all, pilots went missing.
Lives were lost.

My hope is that the bones
from the sunken Allied plane

can be identified
and repatriated home

for the burial they deserve.

At the heart
of Earhart's world flight

was a commitment
to opening new frontiers,

and to unite
the many cultures of the world.

In that regard,
her mission has been a success.

She helped herald in
the modern age of aviation,

which now serves to connect
every nation on Earth.

In the end, I'm most drawn
to the unanswered question --

Why do we continue the search?

To me, the magnificent thing
about Amelia

is that in the eyes
of the world, she never died --

her fear never witnessed,
her failure never recorded.

Earhart's legacy of inspiration
is amplified

because her adventure is
perpetual, unbroken by gravity.

We simply think of her
as missing.