As I wrote back in July, a brand-new expedition led by researchers from Purdue University and the Archaeological Legacy Institute is headed toward an extremely small island in the middle of the Pacific called Nikumaroro Island to finally investigate the long-held hypothesis that pilot Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan were shooting for Howland Island back on their fateful voyage in 1937 and instead landed and were stranded on Nikumaroro.
The 17-person team finally reached the uninhabited island on October 12, 2026, hoping to investigate the “Taraia Object,” a weird thing researchers spotted on Apple Maps that might be Amelia Earhart’s downed Lockheed Electra 10E…or it could be a fallen tree. No one knows for sure, but they went there to find out.
It all sounds like the setup for a B science fiction movie, and we haven’t even gotten to the story’s horrifying monster, because there actually is one. Several, in fact: giant meat-eating crabs.
Amelia Earhart Search Team Flees Remote Island Nightly Due to Giant Flesh-Eating Crabs
Giant coconut crabs are enormous, land-dwelling crustaceans with three-foot leg spans and claws capable of crushing objects with 3300 newtons of force. Run-of-the-mill crabs eat random bits of ocean fodder like worms, snails, clams, and shrimp. Small stuff that any animal can tangle with.
Giant coconut crabs hunt live birds and rats. These monster crabs are also the stars of a popular, if slightly silly and intriguing, theory that suggests Earhart survived the crash landing but was killed and eaten by swarms of bloodthirsty giant crabs.
It sounds absurd, but it has a bit of scientific logic. Popular Mechanics notes that researchers tested the theory years back by tossing a pig carcass onto the island. Within days, the crabs tore the flesh to shreds and scattered the bones several feet away. Maybe Earhart and Noonan suffered a similar grisly fate?
We’ll see what the Purdue team uncovers as it sweeps the island with sonar and dredges the water during the day before retreating to safety at night.
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