Tarawa bones file

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TIGHAR developed the Niku hypothesis from navigational considerations and had sent four expeditions to the island by 1997 (Niku I, II, IIIP, III). The serendipitous discovery that same year of a WPHC file in Tarawa by historical researcher and TIGHAR member Peter McQuarrie gave substantial backing to the Floyd Kilts story and the stories about bones told by the former residents of Nikumaroro.

“Discovery of Human Remains on Gardner Island,” the folder (List KNI 11/I, File 13/9/1) contains fifteen official telegrams and one letter which establish that, in 1940, bones and objects suspected at the time as being from the lost Earhart flight were found on Gardner Island.

After McQuarrie turned up the Tarawa bones file, TIGHAR found a more complete version in the WPHC Archives, which were in Hanslope Park at the time.