Transcript

BEST OF 2025: Locusta, Poisoner of Rome + Amelia Earhart

From My Favorite Murder · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 1 h 10 min · 12,788 words · 124 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "BEST OF 2025: Locusta, Poisoner of Rome + Amelia Earhart", an episode of My Favorite Murder published December 31, 2025 (1 h 10 min, about 12,788 words). It mentions 12 people, works and ideas, including Amelia Earhart, George Putnam, Charles Lindbergh, Howland Island, Atchison.

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 30:00: Amelia Earhart, Atchison, Pike's Peak
  2. – 40:00: Amelia Earhart, Charles Lindbergh, George Putnam, Neta Snook
  3. – 50:00: George Putnam, Charles Lindbergh, Amelia Earhart, Cosmopolitan
  4. – 1:00:00: Amelia Earhart
  5. – 1:10:00: Amelia Earhart, Howland Island, George Putnam, Nikumaroro
  6. – 1:10:26: Amelia Earhart

Notable quotes from "BEST OF 2025: Locusta, Poisoner of Rome + Amelia Earhart"

  • So today, I'm going to tell you the story of pioneering aviator Amelia Earhart.
    about Amelia Earhart · at
  • She was born in the northeast corner of Kansas in a town called Atchison, okay.
    about Atchison · at
  • So a year later, Amelia meets with a young female pilot named Neta Snook.
    about Neta Snook · at
  • So then in 1928, a man named George Putnam reaches out and that changes everything in her life.
    about George Putnam · at
  • She's gotten paid endorsements from brands like Lucky Strike, and she's become the aviation editor of cosmopolitan magazine.
    about Lucky Strike · at
  • At this point, they've completed nearly three quarters of this journey, and the goal is to now get to a tiny sliver of land called Howland Island, roughly halfway between Australia and Hawaii, truly out in the middle of the Pacific.
    about Howland Island · at
  • On top of that, in 1940, bones are found on Nikumaroro.
    about Nikumaroro · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

Companies & orgs

  • Lucky Strike — Company · 1 mention · first at
  • Cosmopolitan — Company · 1 mention · first at
    She's gotten paid endorsements from brands like Lucky Strike, and she's become the aviation editor of cosmopolitan magazine.
  • The 99s — Company · 1 mention

Places & events

Full transcript with timestamps

Lives where you love me. You. And I'm going to tell you what I think might be the oldest story we've done. Maybe. No, you did a really old one once. Remember when I did the weather in 14 like 13? It was like when the weather was so bad for a year and a half that everyone just, like, died. And this is like an older. No, this is older. Are you about to tell me a Bible story? I'm going to tell you a biblical fucking story. Yeah. I'm not I'm going to, but we are going to go back to the early days of the Roman Empire so that the earliest, like, gladiator fucking.

It's pretty early. Yeah, it's pretty early. And it does sound like something straight out of game of Thrones. And actually, it was probably a likely source of inspiration for George R.R. Martin. This is the story of a woman that what. You're going to get. I don't know, I'm just. Yeah, I'm ready for it. This is the story of a woman some people describe as history's first documented serial killer. Oh. This is a story of low cost to the poisoner of Rome. Yes yes. You ready for. Her? Yes, please. Okay, let's do it. So there are very limited primary sources about Lucasta.

She's only briefly mentioned in surviving histories of Rome. Of course. It's just like everyone's moved on. Yeah, nobody got there. Over it. Yeah. There. Oh, right. So one of. Let's not talk about it. No one was talking about her when I went to Italy. Right. Well, the but the main sources for the story were an episode of a adorable podcast called history for weirdos, which is super lovely. It's this married couple. That. They're very smart and an article from obits interesting by Genevieve Carlton. So we don't know much about Lucas's early life.

We know she was born in Gaul. To you all. This is the region of the Roman Empire that overlaps with modern day France and Belgium. Like you, you know that. So I thought I. Honestly thought Germany. And I was like, you should say Germany and just sound really smart. And then I was like, no, the other voice that's finally grown in my head. That goes, don't do it. Don't even try that. Don't know these apt, don't even try. Cept you're. Kidding yourself. So, she's born sometime around 1480, so. And I, of course, you know this as well, either at the end of the reign of Augustus or the beginning of the reign of Tiberius.

Yes. What's it? Tiberius. Yeah. It's because I watched. What's it called? Gladiator two. Starring Paul Mescal. No. Fucking. Does anybody know that, My brain is done. I'm done. Yeah. It's the PBS. Series from the 70s. No one knows. So? So alone? Really? No. But you got it right. So congrats. So that's something stuck. I mean, it feels good. Yeah. You should be happy for yourself. Okay, so these two men were Rome's first and second emperor. The whole. The whole first syllable. No. I wouldn't I wouldn't have gotten Tiberius if I had heard Tara.

Is I, Claudius? Second. Thank you, thank you. I wondered where he was. I. Claudius, there you go. And before them, Rome had been a republic. We're not going to get into the weeds about Rome, can we not? Yes. We cannot for. Sure. Really? Rather not. But I will tell you just this one thing. Yeah. I was so blown. Away when I went to Rome. Yeah. To see these places that they used to meet. All these places. They're fucking huge. Yeah. So like you know, when you're thinking about it and you're just like, oh, friends, Romans, countrymen type of stuff.

And they're like, oh, they're. Probably like on a weird little rock. Or you're thinking of like some Monty Python movie or whatever. Like they were all standing in a circle in a marketplace. Yeah. No, no, no, these things were like. 15 story building. Wow. Like, and they're. Still standing. And they're still standing. And then there's, like. Metal statuary. On top. Of that. Like, it was mindblowing. What a time. I want to go. But stop it, because we're not getting into the weeds. I'm totally done. Essentially, though, the Empire emerged after a series of civil wars to stabilize the Republic.

Julius Caesar, your BFF, a senator, tried to seize power and install himself as a dictator, which is why he was famously assassinated. But Augustus, the first emperor, was his nephew, and he eventually overpowered the senators who had conspired against Caesar. So this is where we are now. Okay, so right around this time, this is where Lucasta ends up in the city of Rome. She's a young woman, and I looked at the like 1 or 2 drawings of her that I don't know what time period they're from. That could be modern. They could be old.

But I cast her as Jessica Chastain. Oh, just for fun and interesting. Yeah, that's. Just the vibe. Was my immediate thought. Got it. And it's likely that she had been enslaved or brought there as a captive of Julius Caesar's campaign in Gaul. So had the campaign where she's from, and she ends up there, so was probably brought over for, like, slavery. Yeah. Somehow during her upbringing, she learned a huge amount about herbs, plants and poison making. But there's no record of how, it's likely that this knowledge would have been passed down within her family as it was.

And this period. Lucasta is born into the end of the Republic, and the beginning of the Empire is the beginning of what's actually a pretty great fucking time to be a Roman citizen. It sounds pretty sweet. It's where they get the saying Bread and circuses, which I've never heard before, but Ali thankfully put in here. Yeah, and you're nodding like you've heard of it. Well, it's the thing that they talk about. We're like, that's how they distract us. And then that everybody's corrupt in the government and they give us our bread and circuses.

That's what it says here. The emperors keep the people happy, both providing free food and entertainment, including the gladiators. And then they fuck off and do their own thing. And then we all fight about, like the Kim Kardashian of gladiators, right? Well, over here, they. Got more food and circuses than I did. And how I. That person doesn't deserve as many circuses because they're lower than me and I'm. Yeah. And then we fight with each other and ignore the fucking oligarchs. And the billionaires don't. Pay tax, and.

The billionaires don't pay taxes, and corporations run the fucking country. Yeah. What? Where? What are we going? I'm an empire, you say? Okay, I guess. This is kind of the beginning of the opulent, technologically advanced city of Rome. The expanding empire around it. It's good to be fucking wealthy in Rome at this time. But of course, at this point in time, it's not good to be a person living in one of the areas Rome is conquering. But within the city of Rome, even an average Roman citizen lives pretty stable and conditions are comfortable.

You know, comparatively. It's no Victorian England. Well, this is the. Two times I know. Yeah, pretty much in the 70s. That's, this period of time is called the Pax Romana, and it will last about 200 years, and then the empire will decline and fall. And after that, it's the Dark Ages. Super fun. And then it's lights out for Europe until the Renaissance. Yeah. So that's where we're at right now in this, like, time of wine and roses. Hell yeah. There's a lot of parades, a lot of light, right? Yeah. A lot of flowers.

Being dropped down from high. Yes. It's like this is around when the movie Gladiator takes place, or little Gladiators a little later. But around this time, but while normal people are enjoying themselves, the ruling class is still constantly full of infighting, jockeying for power, and assassinating one another. It's kind of their thing. This presents an opportunity for a girl from Gaul with a deep knowledge of plants and poisons. You got to use what you know. I don't even know it anymore. That's like, is that. What's in the Vatican secret library.

Is whatever all this sorcery plant fucking recipes? Yeah. All this stuff that really used to help us, So in her early career in Rome, Acosta works with two other women to make poisons for wealthy clients. The three of them are often referred to as sorceresses. La Costa becomes independently wealthy for doing this. Fucking get it, girl. She would have used hashtag boss bitch. Yeah, if she had Instagram do it, you know, Look, Hestia makes a name for herself. She's just bitching. That writing it on the. Wall. Yeah, Roman numeral 80 somehow.

But I can't read. She makes a name for herself. She's hired by members of Rome's elite to help them carry out assassinations in their various power struggles. And by 54 A.D., when she's about 40 years old, she's been arrested and convicted on multiple occasions. However, her powerful clients get her off every time. Yeah, we don't know about all the poisons Leo Castor uses. Unfortunately, those are secrets now. But records show that she used belladonna or deadly nightshade, as well as arsenic and a litany of other poisons.

I think you'd have to, Imagine Sally from the night before Christmas. You know what I mean? Yeah, just a skinny, pale girl that's like. I like to combine things. Little of this. And it sounds like she also knows how to create new poisons from different combinations. So she's fucking smart. Also, I didn't realize that until now. It's like, oh. Yeah there. Was all kinds of poisonings happening, like palace intrigue. Type stuff. Yeah, those rich people aren't just. Going to have poison on, like they have to buy it from.

Somewhere. They don't make it themselves. I just realize that. Yeah. Poisoners. Yeah. So by this point, we're on Rome's fourth emperor, Claudius Augustus. The first emperor, had essentially consolidated power and set Rome on this path to growth and conquest. And then there were two other emperors, until Claudius marries his niece Agrippina, who had already been married, like, oh my God, drama. And his first husband had died, possibly by poisoning. Agrippina has a son from that point, from that previous marriage. His name. I want to try to guess.

Yeah. You don't have to know this. Just start with. No, no. Okay. Start it now you're. Going to know the name. And so you're going to think, I wish I'd known. Oh, Nero. Oh yeah. Okay, so Nero obviously doesn't really have a particularly strong claim to the Roman throne because he's the son of the second wife. You know what I mean? Yeah, but, Agrippina is like. But let's change that, right? I'm the new wife. Let me figure this out. Agrippina convinces Claudius to change his will, making her son Nero the heir to the throne.

This is in spite of Claudius having a biological son, and after Claudius changes his will, Agrippina wants to make sure that he doesn't have time in life to change it back. You know what I'm saying? So she turns to Lucasta, who by this time is well known among Roman elites. Agrippina and Lucasta wait for a day when Claudius is most loyal servant. Has the day off. I have days off back then. That's a nice interesting. They poisoned a dish of mushrooms, which is Claudius, his favorite food, and it's unclear if the mushrooms themselves are poisonous or if she applies poison to the mushrooms.

We don't know how she sauteed. And champagne. Other people say he was actually poisoned by belladonna into a tea. Regardless, the story goes that Claudius gets sick, his doctor comes to see him, and I don't know why every single doctor who went to see any patient ever was back then wasn't first. Like, you're being poisoned, right? Because everyone is fucking being poisoned, right? It was so common. Especially in the palace, right? Yeah. Like kind of should be number one. Number two is like gout or. Whatever, you know, and I don't know.

What do they get? The doctor gives Claudius a feather to stick down his throat to induce vomiting. That's doctors. Then. I mean, that's it also. But that's how they did it in the atrium. Right, right, right. But the feather has been coated in more poison, and we don't know if, Agrippina did this or if the doctor was involved. However they're. Locking it. Down and then Claudius dies. Okay. After Claudius dies, Agrippina, who hired Lucasta, has Lucasta jailed for the poisoning. Which seems like a bad idea, because you just talk, right?

And you're like, oh, I didn't do this on my. Own right? I don't get it. It's a weird move, clearly like a paranoia move. Yeah. Because also, it's. All going to be down to her. Obvious healing. Yeah. Like get rid of the evidence, but like, the evidence can talk, but this doesn't matter, because her son Nero quickly frees her because he also needs her help. Yeah. So Claudius, his biological son, is a man name. Give me the first letter B. Britannicus. Oh, yeah, I got that. No, I'm not going to. He's name this because the Romans had recently expanded the empire to Britain around his time of birth.

I don't know Britannicus. Sure. My name is Georgia like I am. What am. I going? Yeah. You can't. I can't, you can't, I really can't. Britannicus still has a powerful claim to the Roman throne. Sadly, he's only 13 years old. When his pops dies in 55 AD, Nero pardons Lucasta and quickly hires her to kill 13 year old Britannicus. She's like, just send him to a fucking island. They can't. It's always killing with. Us so much, killing so much killing. He wants her to make his death appear to be of natural causes at 13, but Custer attempts to poison him with arsenic.

But it doesn't work. And Nero has her flogged for this. I don't think that's the best little cost to flog. Yeah. Oh okay. But they try again. Nero throws a dinner party. Wine is served. The Romans would serve their wine diluted with water before Britannicus takes a sip of his wine. His taster who's specifically there to test for poison, takes a sip, says it's fine. And then Britannicus is like, oh, taught me off with that kind of that water. Turns out that water was the poison. Oh, so the tester didn't drink it again.

Britannicus drinks it. It's probably belladonna. And the thing is, Britannicus has epilepsy. And so the other people at the dinner party know this. So when he basically stops being able to speak, Nero is like, oh, he's just having a seizure, which is like, again, let's start with poisoning. Yeah. In the if you're like, well, there's the heir to the throne. Yeah, I'm sure there's no problem. No, we're all fine. Yeah. Britannicus is brought to another room to recover, but it's where he ultimately suffocates and dies at 13.

According to law, the poison Lucasta used was known by the Romans to turn a victim's skin red, and Britannicus is buried very quickly after his murder. This is so Game of Thrones. Yeah, right. With his face painted with a white chalk to hide his red skin. People just aren't really paying attention. I feel like back then. Or they're just not staring into that face. Maybe for very long. Or they're like, I'm not the one to say anything. Well, right. There's poisoners everywhere. Poisoners. That's the fucking king or whatever.

You're just like, that's not for me. I got to tell you, if anybody wants to watch it, I, Claudius, is a pretty amazing. It's like. Old British incredible. Actors. Kind of. It's like they're doing a play on a TV stage. Yeah. And all of this stuff is like. The stakes are insane. Okay. Yeah, I'm into it. Because then it's like, if you live in, you're the one that doesn't get poisoned. You get to have, like, all of Germany, right? Yeah. You get to. Do you like Scotland? You can have it. We have we have stuff. All the way up in Ireland.

But then someone's. Coming for you. Too. Yeah. You know, that's right. You can't poison everyone who will ever poison you. I know. But just because he has that shock on his face just before his burial, it starts to rain, showing the red skin under the white chalk. So it's immediately known throughout Rome that Britannicus has been poisoned. Wow. This is a probably like a no snitching on, you know, Nero policy going. Oh, yeah, he'll kill you immediately. Absolutely. Yeah. Moreover, rewards Lucasta for securing the throne, for securing the throne for him.

He pays her, he gives her land, and he ultimately tasks her with opening up a school to teach other people to be poisoners. It's like a. Happy. Ending. Yeah, that is really positive. Yeah. He also grants her immunity for all future crimes. Does that sound familiar? Not at all. No. Not in the. Anyway. Fast forward. Immunity. Some. Accounts say that. Look, Hester is giving enslaved people and prisoners to test her poisons on. That's just a rumor. And this is where the idea comes from. That she is the first known serial killer.

Which is so funny. Like, you don't think about, like you think of serial killer as a recent thing. Right? But it was probably happening a lot the. Second, the first human brain that got a weird. Little, screw fall out of it. Yeah, type of thing. Sorry. That's an oversimplification. Now, that sounds psychotic, but from what. I've read. Especially. Back then. Yeah, it was much. Before it was a sin. You know, it happened. All the time. Definitely. And some people say at this point she just starts poisoning people because she enjoys it.

Sounds like she's good at it, you know, not just as a hired assassin. We don't know much about what else happens to Locust at for about 15 years until she's in her mid 50s. During this time, Nero has made a lot of enemies. In fact, during this time period, Nero actually murders his own mother. Agrippa. Remember her? Yeah. Fucking put him in the throne. Yeah, like, thanks a lot. Just ungrateful. Yeah. Little bastard. Totally. In 68 A.D, Nero is unseated by a man named Galba and is forced to flee Rome. Sorry, but right there, if I was like it, Galba is now in charge.

I'd be like, yeah, no, this. Isn't going to last. Why? Because you never. Galba. Yeah. That's not dead, dudes. You don't know us at the Galba. It's fucking Galba. Oh, my God, it's over. Let's all get the fuck out. I got to get out of Rome. And Nero dies by suicide shortly after this. The new emperor, your best friend, Galba, turns locust has immunity. Because that can be done as well. Yes. We've heard, And this comes as part of a purge of all of Nero's closest advisers. So for 15 fucking years, Lucasta was living the good life.

Yeah. And, you know, nothing lasts. No it doesn't. Time is of construct. The pendulum swings and swings. Flat circle. Galba accuses Lucasta of killing more than 400 people and sentences her to death, so she is executed. Although it's not known exactly how there are two legends, the story always begins with her being marched through the streets of Rome in chains. Shame all of Game of Thrones. Yes? Yep. Some say she is then strangled or burnt or a combination of the two. Public executions are common in Rome and often take place during gladiator games.

Like there's that entertainment and circus that you wanted. Yeah. In addition to burning other methods of execution include crucifixion, which seems like it's reserved for special circumstances, as well as exposure to wild beasts. That's a hell no. I mean, they're all hell no. They're all pretty, but not fuck. Yeah. What? It just. You just get thrown in a. Pit with a bunch of coyotes. Oh God. Well anyway that's the end of Luke has the story as we know it, which there isn't a ton. Let's get Jessica Chastain on the line and fucking get them exactly right.

Pictures. Fucking movie out. Here. Also, if you have a history podcast where. You go into this, in depth, it. Is part of Roman history. In depth. I'll listen to it. History for weirdos. They clearly went to school. Like us. I should I go there first? Yeah, they know what they're talking. They're good explainers. They're good explainers, and they, like, have details off the top of their mind in a way. That I don't understand because they studied, because they. Studied and probably didn't drink themselves into oblivion in their 30s.

You know, I think. The thing about people who learned a lot and stayed in school. Yeah. Is that it's because they read books and got what was happening and then were like, oh my God, this is a great factoid, which I feel like you and I are both the kind of people, had we not been born with these brains, that would we would have been those people. But like. This, sitting in the. Seat and being told what to do, totally. The distractions and the. Time away from drinking. All of. That. The disinterest. Yeah. And I'm fine with that. We're not all going to be.

We're not all supposed to be the same. No, but. I feel like these days, you. Know, history for weirdos. There are people. Who who. Got really good at teaching because they understand what's interesting about history are like that. It's here's how you bring into. History to life with this. Podcast will kill you. Great example. Oh so smart. Learning about that kind of stuff where it's like, oh, often we put a mental. Block up. Yeah. It's like, oh, history. I that's boring. It's like it's so not. So not boring. It's a big fan of history, I really am.

And that is everything we know about the woman who was possibly the first serial killer locust, poisoner of Rome. Wow, that was great. Thank you. I want to dip into. Roman, the Roman Empire. Everyone swallow. Tell me about it. I'm here. For it. Okay. We we have to. There's a whole. There's a whole time period. Thousands and thousands of years of years ago. Okay. Well, good. I'm glad you like that. Yeah, that was great. Thanks. Wonderful. Women's History Month just ended this week. And yet, it feels to me like we should continue remembering women, shouldn't we?

In case we're wiped off the. Face of the planet here in America? You know, in. Case we're Handmaid's Tale. There's so much going on in the world. And, I think talking about, the women who. Whose. Shoulders we all stand on is a. Good idea. Love it no matter what the story is. And I like the idea that, you know, sometimes there's people who listen to our podcast and they do have, you know, their young daughters in the backseat. Here's a story you can let them listen to. We'll try not to say the F-word very much. I'm going to try.

Let's see if I can get through an entire story without cursing. Or just say without saying fuck. Okay. You said it. I'm going to tell you the story today of an American icon who, by boldly chasing her dreams, made an indelible imprint on our culture. But despite her extraordinary life, she's most famous for the mysterious circumstances surrounding her death. Oh. Arguably one of recent history's greatest unsolved mysteries. For nearly a century, searchers have tried to force a satisfying conclusion to her story, and they've always come up short.

But because all the focus has been on how she died, the way she lived, including her many accomplishments and her advocacy, is often forgotten. So today, I'm going to tell you the story of pioneering aviator Amelia Earhart. Yeah. Right. Oh my God. I've been, like, following the stories I just always click on the stories of. They think they found this. They think they found that. Right. Here's the next flight. Yeah. I cannot not click on those. Yeah. Because it's fascinating. It's like they have. To find something some some day that's conclusive.

It's a legit mystery. Okay. Tell me. Everything okay. So the sources for this story today, are writer Doris Eldridge's book, a biography, Amelia Earhart, which is a primary. There's also a PBS documentary series called That's American Experience. It's all about. Her love, American experience. America, one of the best shows. If you're. Just looking for something, if like if you've an empty day and you're trying to feel enriched. While still. Being completely entertained, American experience will do the job for you.

Yeah, I don't care if you don't give a shit about the fucking Dust Bowl. You'll be fascinated by the Dust Bowl while you do your nails. And I have to say, Jim, I was raised by my father forcing me to watch PBS. Yeah. Material. And so furious where he. You'd be like, right after Happy Days, would I? You turn it over. Let's see what's. Let's see what's with. Yes. And then we'd have to watch an opera. We'd have to watch Carl Sagan. And is it a. Coincidence that you're here owning your own fucking business today? Probably not.

Probably not. I think PBS enriched my life. Did my father ever give them a diamond donations? Not only. Not once. And I'm sure I told you this. He sued them for money. Oh, no. You want to be sued? PBS for damages? Oh my God, what? My mom would always, like. Walk through and he'd be watching something and really enjoying it. You know, like that documentary on the automat or whatever. I had to watch. That the last time I went home. Amazing. But my mom would always go, Jim, you have to give them money. And you would go, bullshit.

They're not getting. A dime out of me. And that was like his. Proud stance that he used to give the money. He was not getting a dime, not exactly. Oh my God. It was like the ultimate. Like, yeah, he's going to finally rip somebody. Else. Right? You're fighting the wrong fight, bro. Meanwhile, he has absolutely given the money and it was just a. Bit basically he's. Doing to piss my mom off. You. Right. Okay. He's not really a douchebag. Okay. Because truly, the kill family has gotten their absolute Phil from. How many tote bags do you guys have from them?

As that's how you know I know, that's right. There's also a two part National Geographic podcast called overheard. Did you know there was a National Geographic podcast? Oh, I love it. Oh I. Also sorry, this should go up into the top, but since we didn't do it, I'll just say it now. On TikTok this morning, I learned that the Southern Poverty Law Center has just launched their own podcast. Ooh just. At the beginning of this month and it just covers all the stories, all of the things that they're like, basically them fighting for Americans in every way.

The fact that they've been doing it for 100 years, all these things. You go listen to the Southern Poverty Law Center's podcast, get them some numbers. Share it with friends. Get that thing going because it sounded great. The little like clip in what I heard, I was like, so excited that they're starting that amazing. Now let's start your story. Good vibes. Now to the story. Okay. So here's my writing. When I go in and edit Marion's writing. The story of Amelia Earhart. Story begins in late. July 1897. Okay? In the.

She was born in the northeast corner of Kansas in a town called Atchison, okay. It's like. It's like it looks like it's, I would guess, two hours north of Kansas City. Okay. Way up there in the corner, but I went, there's the Amelia. Earhart.org website. That's all. And they have a museum there that I think is built in her house. Oh wow. They have the best tote bags that I'm absolutely. Going to. Get. It's weird that. Just. I've brought up tote bag. Yeah. That's right. Because I was just looking on the website and it's just a painting of the house, and that's the tote bag.

We all need those Martha Arenas. Let me on. Yeah, let's buy all the merch at the Amelia Earhart. That's how you can spot a murder right now in the wild on the farmer's market. As if she's a fucking. Oh, I said the f word is a random Amelia Earhart. I'm still on page one, I saw it. Stop it. I've had too much fucking rosé. Let's go. Okay. Let's really focus on what we're supposed to. Be doing, okay? So she's born in Atchison in July of 1897. Her father, Edwin, is a lawyer. From humble beginnings. Her mom, Amy, comes from a very prominent local family.

And a fun fact, actually. Like a badass fact. Amy Earhart was the first woman to hike to the top. Of Pike's Peak. Wow. In Colorado. Cool. So an adventuring she's from adventuring DNA makes sense, so things aren't always smooth sailing for the Earhart family. Edwin has good and bad years financially. He takes job opportunities wherever they come. We later learn that it's because he's an alcoholic and it's basically like that's. And that's the way my mom grew up, where it's like, he does good for a little while. He's a lawyer, and then he blows it and then has to and then goes off the wagon and then.

Has to dry. Out again. Yes. Well I'm talking I can't say that that's exactly what happened in this family, but I'm recognizing it from what my mom told me about. When you have like the long term alcoholic, that then gets better for a long time and then. Goes back, it's awful. So they move around a ton. And then when Amelia isn't moving around with her parents and they're just trying to go get him another job, she stays for long stretches at her grandparents home. So Amelia does have a younger sister named Muriel. They're, just about two years apart, so they're very, very close.

And they're not your typical turn of the century girls, because, like, of course, at the time, girls had to wear long skirts. But Amelia and Muriel spend their weekends in bloomers because it's easier to play in them. Love it. And these girls love playing. Amelia is the daring ringleader, and she can often be found with her little sister, climbing over fences, shooting rifles, collecting bugs. Doris Elrich, Amelia Earhart's biographer, writes about an incident when Amelia is seven years old and Muriel is four, and they are going sledding.

So Amelia is about to head down a big snowy hill. So she does something most little girls would be conditioned not to do. Instead of sitting up on the sled and holding like this string like that, she lays down on her stomach. She pushes first. You got to get face. Face first. Just do it. So she pushes off. She starts racing down the hill, just flying down. And then she sees, here comes a horse drawn carriage that's coming directly down her path. Across her path, I should say. She starts yelling out to the driver because she can't stop.

So she's yelling, but he can't hear her. He can't see her. So, up on the top of the hill mural is watching her sister as she is about to crash in. So Amelia, at the same time is like I'm about to die. So instead of panicking, what she does is she puts her head down as low as she can, and somehow the timing works out perfectly and she just goes right under the wagon. Like like Christmas vacation when they go under the fucking semi truck. Yes, exactly like that. Or like, when I was about six years old and I was riding my bike in front of my parents and their friends, and I went up in the O'Hara's big old gravel driveway, that was like a quarter of a mile long, and I was coming back down, racing back down, and my parents can hear a car that's going 80 miles an hour, and they watch as I just go directly in front of the car, like the car's going so fast, it didn't have time to be out on the brakes.

Yeah. So I just went like that. And as I came into our driveway, my dad just picked me up off my bike and slapped me on the ass. And I ran into the house. It never they never spanked us. And he like, basically they all thought they were going to. Watch me die. Yeah. Amelia Earhart. Pet cemetery. Yeah. Right on. For real. Okay, so basically she goes under, she comes out unscathed, and when she finally comes to a stop, Amelia jumps up and smiles and waves at her sister. And years later, she looks back on this moment and she'll say, quote, that condemned Tom boy method saved my life.

Had I been setting up either my head or the horse's ribs would have suffered in contact, probably the horse's ribs. So by Amelia's teenage years, she's attended so many different schools that she basically doesn't have any friends at all in one of her yearbooks. This makes me so sad. There's a photo of her and the caption reads, quote A.E. the girl in Brown who walks alone. Oh. Just like because you have. This fucked up dad, right? And you just have to. You're going to have to leave anyway, so you might as well not get to know people at home.

Amelia's fathers developed a serious drinking problem. I spoiled that one. But, he struggles to hold down any job. PBS reports quote, Amelia adored her father, but he let her down so often. She learned early on to be self-reliant. Yikes. So she starts keeping a scrapbook with cutouts of newspaper and magazine articles about women with successful careers that are, traditionally male only fields. It's like she's proving to herself that she can find success without relying on a man and manifesting that future for herself.

Essentially, when she graduates high school, it's the thick of World War One, so she drops out of finishing school. They sent her to finishing school. I finish what? Yeah. Finish walking around with a book on your head. Finish this. So she leaves to. Go tend to wounded soldiers in Canada, which is so badass. She's like, thanks for the thanks for the manners lessons. I've got to actually go do some. How about how. About go fuck. Yourself? Get back. Yourself. I'm gonna work with the Red cross right? During this time, she briefly considers a career in medicine.

And then one day she goes to a flying exhibition in Toronto and she watches a stunt pilot do their tricks in a colorful plane. And she's captivated. She'll later say, quote, I did not understand at the time, but I believe that little red airplane said something to me as it swished by. So by 1920, it's just such a cool. I never thought about this, and I'm sure that my sister has like, books that she's read aloud to her class. That's like Amelia Earhart, that I'm sure she knows all the details, but I've never, like, really thought about that fact of like, when women are born early and they go through life with, like, say, an adventurous spirit.

In a time where they're like, you better put that skirt on and go to finishing. School. Right? She just they it's almost luckier that she had to move around a bunch, like an irregular family, like. Her dad wasn't paying attention and enforcing. Rules so she. Can kind of get away with a lot more. And it was kind of like, yeah, fuck it. Because what am I going to do, go to finishing school, find a man, and then have this happen to me, right, like I'm going to go do my thing. Also, like, can we just props to the baby sister or the younger sister who's always like, she doesn't get enough credit.

Like the the older sister always gets credit. Like she showed her how to do it. But like if you didn't have someone to show how to do it. Yeah, I'm clearly giving us it. Props is about it. It's us. It's about it. But like, if you didn't have some to show off to, yeah, then what would you have done? You would have never had that adventurous spirit or nothing if you. Didn't have a baby crying and saying, I need to go to the bathroom all the time, you wouldn't have. There would be no nothing to fight against. So you're welcome. You're well.

Laura mora and Lee and Lee. Okay. So by 1920, Emily is 23 years old. She's living back with her parents again. They're now in Southern California, so they really have moved all over the place. One day, her dad takes her to an event at a Long Beach airfield. Once again, Amelia's transfixed by the stunt pilot. So this was like a big thing that was happening at the time. She sees they're offering plane rides for the low price of $5 each. That's a lot of money. Worth about today. What year? 2020 2020? Sorry 20 plane all 20 1920 1920 is what I said.

I said, yeah. And it's $5 in 19. Oh, that's a lot of money. I'm gonna go 6080. Very cool. But 80. But that's fuck. Ton of money. She's somehow okay. I did it again. I'm so bad. It's just it's a fudge. It's a fudge worth of money. So she somehow collects up and gets up money. A couple days later, she goes back to the airfield and she takes a ride for the first time in a plane. And she will later say, quote, as soon as we left the ground, I knew I had to fly. And then it a little quote within the quote says, I think I'd like to fly.

I told my family casually that evening, knowing full well I'd die if I didn't. Oh, she's like her dream. That's our passion. Yeah. That's beautiful. So a year later, Amelia meets with a young female pilot named Neta Snook. The best name of all time. Oh God. That is an aviation pioneer in her own right. And she agrees to teach Amelia how to fly. She's, charging a dollar a minute, which would be basically $16 a minute in today's money. So it would be like paying $960 for an hour's flying. Fuck. So it's very expensive.

Yeah. Snooki is after a. Snooki is like, hey. Then go find another woman to teach you how to fly a. Plane. Solutely. So to pay for her lessons, Amelia takes on a bunch of odd jobs, including hauling gravel for a local trucking company and working as a stenographer. Okay, she's. Like anything I can do. Yeah. Within six months, she manages to buy her own small, bright yellow biplane that she names Canary. That is so wild. She's in it. I mean, I bought a vest for when I was young because I was like, I gotta stop riding on the back of douchebags bus.

And get your own. I need my. Own, or I'm gonna keep dating assholes. So I got my own. Yeah. And then did you go see Quadrophenia at the midnight show? Yeah. Oh, yeah. I mean, I was obsessed. Yeah. When the Vesper kids would come in for Quadrophenia. Yeah, that was my very favorite. I'm like, I can't get these outfits together, but I, I, I pick you of all. The so hot. I'm not picking Rocky Horror and I'm not pick and heavy metal. I'm picking Quadrophenia. Hell yeah. You are those acid washed jeans? Yeah. So she. Gets her pilot's license in late 1921, and she begins flying in derbies and setting all kinds of records.

Wow. How old is she? So she's 23 and 20. So she's 24. Okay. I like the idea that. They just start air derbies where it's like, can you fly a plane then come and do a race? Yeah. Hilarious. It's so. Good. So she sets all kind of records, like becoming the first woman to fly at an altitude of 14,000ft. Okay, but actually, she wasn't trying to break that record. She just wanted to see how high the canary could go. Later. She'll write quite modestly. Quote. Although my figure of 14,000ft was not extraordinary, the performance of my engine was interesting.

I had gone up much farther than some of the higher powered planes, which should have been more efficient. So her and the Canary are like getting in there, and. They've got a vibe. Yeah. In 1924, Amelia's life changes again as her father continues to struggle with alcoholism. Her parents get divorced. Now she's 28. She and her mom moved from California to Massachusetts to move in with Muriel, who's studying to be a teacher there in Boston. So Amelia gets a job there as a social worker. She gets paid $60 a month, which is roughly how much in today's money.

24. $691,000. A month. Wow. Wow. Okay. So she's now supporting herself and her mother on this modest income. So basically, her expensive hobby of flying planes has. To be paused. But she does find a local flying community, and she's a vocal part of it. And local newspapers start writing about her fierce advocacy for women in aviation. Amazing. So even though she can't do it, she's still like, yeah, but we should. Get to do it. Yeah. The good news is she loves her job as a social worker. She works with immigrant families and children, mostly from China and Syria, and she really feels like she's found her calling, author Susan Butler tells National Geographic, quote, if anything, she was obsessed with being a social worker.

She took it as her role in life to act as an agent for social change for women. Wow. Yeah. That's amazing. So I kind of like that, you know? Yeah. She was. Pivoting, doing what she could when she could, and then also making a life doing other stuff that was also very important. Yeah. Like no matter what she did, she still had her her moral compass was there no matter what she was doing. Yeah. She was like, I'm going to do good and make change and fight for women. Yeah. Very cool. So then in 1928, a man named George Putnam reaches out and that changes everything in her life.

Once again, Putnam is a wildly successful publisher who is behind one of America's more notable fascist, Charles Lindbergh's smash hit autobiography, we. He named it we okay? Of course, Lindbergh was a huge aviator star, very prominent. We've got you covered. His baby's kidnaping. I was. Going to say you covered that, but it was you. In episode one. 19 fingers everywhere. Of course you remember that episode. So Putnam is now on the hunt for his next aviation superstar. He's been given a short list of female pilots, hoping one of them will have that elusive and lucrative IT factor.

So he sets up a meeting with now 31 year old Amelia. And when he does, he. She walks in and he can't believe it. She looks a lot like Charles Lindbergh, so he's immediately convinced that she's the one. So George pitches Amelia the opportunity of a lifetime. He wants her to take a transatlantic flight not as the pilot but as a passenger. And like it's all for publicity. Yeah. But still the trip would make her the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean. Can you imagine? I get so nervous when we fly to, like, on tour to Europe and stuff because you're just like.

Or to Hawaii when you're just like. So we're just going to be like, on open ocean for like 4 or 5 hours. Yeah, but imagine being the first woman who gets to do that. And you're going to know that and it's going to it's never going to be changed. Yeah. That's the. First woman to. Do it. Yeah. You know and she's kind of like, look, I survived that sled. I'll be fine. Yeah I'm sure that guy's a part. Of it, right? She's like, get me out there. I'll it'll be good. Oh, I do. It, Marin wrote. It sounds like a blast. But of course.

She also knows there's risks. Writer Anthony Brandt notes, quote, it was still a very dangerous thing to fly. The Atlantic Ocean in the year after Charles Lindbergh flew the Atlantic, which was 1927, 18 planes made the attempt. Only three. Succeeded. Holy shit. Airplanes were a mere quarter of a century old. The North Atlantic is famously stormy. Fog banks are common weather reports at the time were primitive, and navigation was often haphazard. The plane she flew in was made mostly of sheet metal. It rattled and roared like an old steam engine.

I bet it was so loud. Yeah, the cabin door had to be tied shut with a small rope. Oh my god. And the fucking the, farting. Oh. I was going to say meal service, but. Yeah, because they're just. It's a tri motor seaplane. It's a, it's a little. Guy with. Three people in it. Okay, so all that in mind, on June 17th, 1928, Amelia takes off in the sea plane piloted by a man named Wilmer Stultz and Co, piloted by a man named Louis Gordon. But after 20 hours and 40 minutes of flight time, when they finally land in Wales, it's Amelia who steps off the plane and into instant celebrity.

Hey girl. Thousands. Of people are there waiting to catch a glimpse of the daring aviatrix. Is what they call her. Amelia Earhart. Do you think she slept a moment of that 20 hours and 40 minutes. Probably. Well, no, probably not, because she was probably thrilled out of her mind. Scared shitless. Yeah. And it was super loud. Yeah. And cold. Yeah. And windy. And there's no Burckhardt. She just has a little flask that. She's sipping out of. A straw. So newspapers run countless glowing features and newsreels declaring her the, quote, Lady Lindbergh.

It's the exact type of publicity George has worked so hard for, because now he wants Amelia to write a memoir that he can then turn into the bestseller. So it's this is my experience doing it. Got it. George urges her to quit her job back in Boston and move into his New York home and crank out this book. That's exactly how Lindbergh did it. So he wants her to do it the same way. Amelia knows that if she does that, she can parlay all the attention into some real money, which then she can use to support her family and pay for her expensive flying lessons.

She's the original aviator influencer? Yes. Hashtag for. Sure. And also, you see these. Let me show you some of these early pictures. She's a gorgeous young woman. She has, you know, she has her freckles and she is, and her bob. Hair or whatever, but she's like, oh, she's the cutest. She truly has that face card. Yeah, that they're all looking for. And on top of all that, it's going to give her a platform to share the message she's carried within her since childhood, which is that women can do anything. Men can do.

Awesome as a in the 20s, when no one was trying to say. Shit, they were like, I'm gonna. Smoke a cigaret jazz. Cigaret jazz. So Amelia upends her entire life in Boston and starts writing a book that will eventually be titled, quote, 20 hours, 40 minutes. In it, there's a section titled Women in Aviation and in that Amelia writes, quote, while this chapter is called Women in Aviation, just as appropriate, a title might have been women Outside of aviation, there should be no line between men and women, so far as piloting is concerned.

Got it? Like a female pilot? No, just a pilot. Just a pilot. Yeah, yeah. Amelia's sister, Muriel will later say that Amelia was embarrassed that her claim to fame was being a passenger on that transatlantic flight, which seems backed up by Amelia's own words. She was quoted as saying the boys did all the flying. Yeah, that is embarrassing. Yeah. For her. Who is a pilot? Yeah. Get your own. Vespa. Get your, She also describes herself. On that flight as, quote, just baggage, like a sack of potatoes. Oh, God. That had a steering wheel.

I think it's. Who's the kind of person that's like, well, don't. If you're going to applaud for me this much, just wait until. You right fly. Right. This is nothing. Yeah. She also teases her dream of the future by saying, quote, maybe someday I'll try it alone. So now it's 1932. Amelia is in her mid 30s and America is in the throes of the Great Depression. But Amelia has done extremely well for herself over the past few years. She's gotten paid endorsements from brands like Lucky Strike, and she's become the aviation editor of cosmopolitan magazine.

That's made up. Yeah, it is what? I love it, but that's how much of a trend. Flying was at the time, which is great. You got to get those, sponsorships, man. That's right, I mean, podcasting, understand. You're. Truly right about her being the original plane influencer. So at that. Point, she'd made enough money to buy herself a brand new plane, which is the now iconic fire engine red Lockheed Vega. Amelia is also still devoted to empowering women. She is the founding member and the first president of a group called the 90 Nines, which is the first ever organization for women in aviation.

And the name refers to the number of the group's charter members. Amazing. So good. Yeah. What if it was like 23? The 20 threes doesn't sound the same. 99 is fucking almost hundred. On a more personal level, Amelia's father, Edwin, has passed away of cancer. And, George Putnam, her publisher, has divorced his wife. He professes his love for her and proposes. Oh, I wish I could have seen that, she says. No. He asks again, and he ends up proposing to her six different times. Wow. Oh, Love him. Love her, love it. Amelia has been skeptical of marriage all her life.

For very good. Reason. Yeah. But she genuinely cares for George, so she eventually accepts. But she has her conditions. She tells him she's going to keep her own name, which at that time was unheard of. I am, I'm just. That's incredible. Yeah. Someone who kept her own name. I want to thank her for fucking blazing the way she blazed it. And then on her wedding day. She won't. Wear a traditional bridal gown. She wears a brown suit. White, just like Fisk. She's like. Let me just go to work today. She's like, here's the thing.

Yeah, I'm not wearing your stupid fucking dress. And she also, the morning of their wedding writes him a letter, which I really love, that says, quote, I may have to keep someplace where I can go to be by myself now and then. I cannot guarantee to endure at all times the confinement of even an attractive cage. Oh my. God, like he loved that about her, that, you. Know, it was. Like why he loved her. Is she like, that's so incredible? I think so, yeah. This is my opinion. When you are raised feral, it's hard to even want to have anything traditional, even when the pressure to do it is so oppressive because it's like she's in.

It was literally she had the kind of household where it's like, go outside and play for 18 hours because everything is so fucked in here. Yeah. And so then it's like, yeah, I don't want to go. Back, tie. Myself back to this. That structure that I can't trust. If I couldn't trust my own father, how can I trust you. Completely identify with. And George Putnam's? Like, I get it. I'll just keep asking you. Yeah, yeah, that's just going to be persistent. I love them. Yeah, but also. A brown suit on your wedding day. Is just, like, badass.

To a degree where she's like, that isn't just like, I'm not going to be traditional. She's like, fuck yeah. Oh, finishing school professor. Yeah. Apologies to anyone who thought they were actually going to play this for their children in the backseat of the car. Like it's never going to happen. We were lying to you. But more importantly, we were lying directly to your. Children and you were lying to yourself. You fucking thought we screamed? Fuck you. Yeah. So around the same year, she gets married, which is 1932, she publishes her second book.

That one's called The Fun of It. Quote. I love that one. She also announces with that that she's going to fly across the Atlantic again, but this time as a pilot and this time by herself. You know, at. The time, no one, no man or woman, aside from Charles Lindbergh back in 1927, had ever completed a solo nonstop transatlantic flight. Although ten pilots had died trying. Now, yeah, don't like those odds. So she's like a. Ten male. Pilot? Yes, exactly. So immediately, Amelia's inner circle, including her husband, George Putnam, start wondering if she's experienced enough to pull off this stunt.

Her own mechanic gives her, quote a 1 in 100 chance of surviving. Cool, dude. Way to fucking be supportive. Reminds me of when the fucking Eagles were like, we don't want to tour with Linda Ronstadt. We're going to start our own band like, fuck you. Go ahead, see how it fucking go. Good luck. She's selling out fucking stadiums anyway. Thank God, that documentary. I loved it so much, but it it filled me with a fear that will never go away. That was the point. Yeah. She wasn't good enough. You need it. You need that theory.

Yeah. So the idea of making a transatlantic flight alone makes Amelia Earhart feel alive. Oh, that was going to be. Like, take a beta blocker. Notes. She's like, I can't. It's just this. This day to day bullshit. Isn't good enough. I need to get up and over. There and say, what did she do to hype herself up before? Because before I came in here to record, I put on yes, and by Ariana Grande, like just to record a podcast that I've done for fucking nine years. I still need that. Like a little doo doo. You did a little. Dodgy secrets being. Revealed. Yeah.

Okay go. Well, here's I can tell you. She writes a poem that says, quote, courage is the price that life extracts for granting peace. I think about it. I can't. You gotta. You must. So on a warm May morning, I added in warm I don't know why. On a may morning in 1932, Amelia takes off from Canada's east coast in her Lockheed Vega. From the start. It's an exhausting, difficult journey. Author Doris Elrich writes, quote. She was four hours out when she ran into a storm. She would go high and the plane would ice. Then she'd go down until she could see the waves to get the ice off.

So fucking terrifying. She had no radio contact with anyone. The manifold on her engine broke and the flames from the back fire from it were coming out. There was a gas gauge over her head that began to leak, and the gasoline was dripping down over her forehead and into one eye, and. It just crashed the whole thing into the sea. Yeah, that's what I would do. I mean, after 15 grueling hours of flight time, Amelia Earhart lands her plane safely in Northern Ireland. Amazing. And this solo flight launches her to all new levels of worldwide stardom.

She's mobbed by fans in London and Paris. And when she comes back to the United States, her success is felt as a much needed moment of national joy. Because it's still the Great Depression. Yeah, she. Even gets her own ticker tape parade in New York City. Influencer. Have you ever seen ticker tape parade footage? It looks so messy. It looks so awesome. Oh, yeah. Like if you're down there and everyone's just throwing shit. Out the window. And, like, it's just such a true moment of glory. Yeah. Everybody got to focus on that.

Then the guy has to clean it up. You know. Yeah. True. Why do I think that we're going? Some people like cleaning. It's okay. So a few months later, she then becomes the first woman to fly across North America and back. Amelia is now a global icon through and through. I also wonder how much of that is like I'm proving I'm not a passenger. Over and over again. I'm sure that's like the best way to, like, get yourself to do something for me. It's like, oh, you think I can't do that? Yeah, I think I'm a passenger. Or to myself of like, oh, you're really ashamed because you had that one comedy set that was terrible, that you're remembering from seven years ago that I.

Haven't got there. Right. Be the best. I think shame or. Shame is a great. Motivator. But being a career aviator, even when you're a famous one, takes a ton of money. So Amelia hits the lecture circuit. She goes on tour, making exhausting back to back town by town appearances. Tell me about. Ted. Talks Ojai. Ojai. Ted talks. She's got, like, the head. Mic, but it's not connected. To anything. There's no such thing. Like, what's that. Thing by your mouth? Sometimes she earned $2,400 in a single week. One, two days money, 1932.

How much would $2,400 a week be? 76,000. 55,000. I mean, it's still. In the area. $55,000 a week. Same. That's insane. She she started the first podcast. Yeah. She's also using her platform to campaign for women's empowerment, not only in aviation, but she's trying to get the Equal Rights Amendment passed. Like, don't rest, I love it. She's invited to the white House in 1933. She becomes tight with the Roosevelts. Brag brag brag. I'm fucking cool a. Not so fun fact about the Equal Rights Amendment, though. Advocates have been fighting to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment since the.

20s even. Though it's already met the required number of state ratifications. For some reason, it still has not been added to the US Constitution. Imagine being invited to the white House and wanting to go and being. Proud to go. Yeah. Can you like the Roosevelt's? Fuck yeah. I'd go. Imagine. It's just. Such the end of an. Era. Yeah. But the it's an end of an era and what I'm talking about is democracy. Fucking Jesus. Oh, right. God. Okay. 1933 is a big year for Amelia. Also because she breaks her own speed record on a second flight across North America. She's just. Getting it. Done.

By 1935, 38 year old Amelia has set records for solo flights from like Honolulu to Oakland, California, or L.A to Mexico City. That's just a couple of them. I've done those right. And solo. You mean you just weren't talking events yet? So she's. Also campaigning for FDR, and she launches her own fashion line called Amelia. Brown. Suits up. Called Brown Suits only. She explains if. You could find one of those in the vintage shop, if you're, like, doing vintage shopping and then suddenly see a fucking Amelia Earhart fashion. By Amelia, dude.

So the theory. Was that all flight clothing, of course, had been made for men up to that point. So when you had your nice jodhpurs or your weird white shirt or whatever. Leather jacket. Yeah. Like horse riding. Yeah. So, so. The idea was they were supposed to be. And of course, she always preferred pants. Anyway. So, I looked up on Amelia earhart.org and they had pictures from the, newspaper of the out of it, and it said sports clothes designed by Amelia Earhart. But then every single picture in that ad was models wearing dresses.

There was not one pair of pants, which I was like. She never got to saying that. She sold her name. That's true. As busy as she is, Amelia still gets the itch to make another big flight. So she writes to her friends saying, quote, I have the feeling there's just one more good flight left in my system and I hope this is it. It is my swan song. As far as record flying is concerned. My frosting on the cake. Rest on your beautiful laurels sometimes, guys. Sorry I can't joined adult children of alcoholics, so I'm going to go ahead and keep on flying across.

That nice little map on them laurels. Can't do it. So the next year, 1936, Amelia announces her plan to fly around the world. If successful, she'll be the first woman to ever do it. Obviously, she and George fundraised for a brand new plane that's built specifically for this journey. They pay for it too, but it's so expensive. It's $80,000, so they need to fundraise. $80,000 back then is about how much in today's money? 350,000. 1.8 million. Dude, I've learned nothing. Your scale. Just not like that a little bit. Know what's happening?

Amelia Hyde I know, right? Yeah. So she calls this plane her flying laboratory because it's outfitted with all the latest technology. But she never learns to use much of it. Doris Elrich writes, quote, Amelia did not like radio communication. There's absolutely no doubt about it. That's like me in emails. It's so. It's so bad for business. She not only didn't bother to learn it, she didn't really find it necessary. There's a hint here of the ego that all great explorers and adventurers have. They have a certain faith that they're going to make it.

And when you spend one point something on a fucking plane, you hope it, like, flies itself just a little bit. Yeah. You would hope there's an automated. Aspect to it. Something. Amelia wants to do the trip by herself, but it's eventually decided she will need a team. Being that she doesn't like radio communication. And also, she hires three men, a technical advisor named Paul Mantz, a marine navigator with radio Operation Experience named Harry Manning, and a former Pan Am navigator named Fred Noonan. So on March 17th, 1937, they take off from Oakland, California.

They land in Honolulu. Then on March 20th they take off for the second leg of this trip. But something goes wrong. The plane skids off course at the end of the runway and it crashes. It's a big enough accident that, the plane has to be sent in for extensive repairs. So this is a deeply stressful moment for Amelia. She's basically gambled everything on this extraordinarily expensive flight during a national financial crisis. Yeah yeah yeah. So Doris Ulrich writes, quote, after she cracked up the plane in Honolulu, she felt fear for the first time.

The immensity of this project suddenly hit her. She knew that if she lost that plane or failed in this, she and George were dead broke. Both of. Them. End quote. You can tell Doris Ulrich is writing from, like, it's probably 1945 or something. Yeah, that's the vibe I get, like, this is going to happen. They're dead broke, both of them. So the crash in Honolulu also rattles Amelia's loved ones, according to Babe's friends urge her to abandon this mission. They also expressed concern over her exhausted and anxious mental state.

Yeah, so it. Seems like she's pushing it any way, even though she's scared or she's worried. Oddly. This includes her husband, George, who writes her a letter promising that they'll figure things out should she abandon the flight. Yeah. There's time. Okay, but Amelia won't give in. Give in and regroup a little bit and then come back stronger than ever. I feel like this is that kind of thing. You know, there are people who are like, if you're a serious workaholic, you just can't consider taking a nap during the day.

That thing of like, rest is for the week. And it's like, actually, it's a beautiful thing to give to yourself and it's okay. It is okay. But sometimes you just can't. Because if you rest, that means that the like, your momentum will slow. Yeah. Even if it's if it's just your mental momentum. And clearly. She's she's still. On that sled. Still going under that. The. Horse drawn carriage. Yeah. But then it won't go away. You can still come back after it. And like you're going to be more clear headed and you're going to be older and smarter and like, give yourself a fucking break sometimes. No.

That shows why Karen CEO and I don't have a fucking office at exactly right media. It's not good. It's not it is not good enough. And she. Has two. Podcasts. Good. I mean, let's start a third and it's called it's fine to do this to yourself. It's fine. That actually would be funny. It's fine. A podcast called It's Fine. And you just have people come on and talk about shit that is so not. Right. That they put themselves. Through. It's fine. It was fine, I was fine. I know I liked it, it was fine. By the time the plane is repaired, Amelia's team has shrunk.

The technical advisor, Paul and Harry, the marine navigator, the only guy with radio experience both back out. There were like later. Days. They're like. Read the fates. Yeah I'm. Gonna go take a nap. Yeah. It's nap time. Mercury is in retrograde. So now it's Amelia and Fred Noonan and thanks to changing weather patterns, they're forced to come up with a whole new flight plan. So instead of leaving from Hawaii, they're now taking off from Miami, Florida. And on June 1st, 1937, they do just that, this time without a hitch.

And then they they start on this 40 day, 20,000 mile trip, making several stops to refuel along the way. They saw over Africa, through the Middle East, over Southeast Asia, on to New Guinea. They have another stop before a very long stretch over the Pacific Ocean. They're the first. People who have ever seen this from the fucking air. Like how. So believable. And look. At this. Well, they show that there's a map showing, gee whiz, that's how long. It's just the whole world. It's just they go over everything. They go over everything for. The first fucking time.

So on July 2nd, 1937, Amelia and Fred take off from New Guinea. At this point, they've completed nearly three quarters of this journey, and the goal is to now get to a tiny sliver of land called Howland Island, roughly halfway between Australia and Hawaii, truly out in the middle of the Pacific. Yeah, and it's only about a mile and a half long island and a half a mile wide. A that's a hard target. That's a little tiny one, man. Tragically, Amelia and Fred struggle to find Howland Island. We know they arrive in the general area because Amelia starts radioing the coast Guard, who have a ship called Itasca nearby, and they're receiving her messages.

Some of these transmissions are so crystal clear that the men on the Itasca. Rushed to the decks. Thinking that the plane will be overhead. Now. In one of her transmissions, Amelia says that she thinks she's close by, but she's lost and she only has about half an hour of fuel left. But because she doesn't know much about radio transmission, she's sending these messages while on an improper frequency on the radio. So the Coast Guard is only able to respond to her with Morse code, which neither she nor Fred understand.

That's an. Important. One. A lot of crucial elements. Let's not criticize or not. You know where the story goes from here. The messages stop coming in. 39 year old Amelia Earhart and 44 year old Fred Noonan, and the plane that they're flying in together disappear almost immediately. FDR dispatches a huge crew to go look for them. It's made up of ten ships and 65 planes, and that causes a lot of controversy. Because. It costs millions of dollars, right? It's still the depression. So after two weeks of combing a vast swath of the Pacific Ocean near Howland Island with no results, this search is called off.

But George Putnam has his own search going. I forget that, yeah, okay. He funds an independent search himself, and it goes until October of 1937. Oh my gosh. So he just kind of never stopped searching for her. Yeah. That also turns up nothing in January of 1939, two years after vanishing, Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan are legally declared dead. They turn up nothing, not a scrap. So they were like looking in the wrong area. Well okay. There are countless theories. I'll we'll talk about that one second. Okay. There are countless theories of what happened during those final moments of Amelia's last flight.

All have devoted supporters, as they usually do because the disappearance happened in the lead up to World War Two. Some people think that Amelia and Fred were captured by the Japanese military after crash landing on a Japanese controlled island, and they were either executed for being American spies or they were turned into spies for Japan and sent back to the US. With. New identities. You know. That one's a little. Wild. Yeah, but what is? Yeah. Now we write that movie. Okay. Another theory is that Amelia wound up on an island called Nick Morrow.

Rome. Sorry for that pronunciation. A 400 miles south of Howland. Howland Island. Is this where they found her compact? Oh. Hold on. Wait, wait, wait. They think they might have lived as castaways there before dying of thirst or starvation. I think it's one. I think it's a different island. Some people believe this theory. Then take it one step further, suggesting that massive coconut crabs could have consumed their remains and scattered their bones, making making their bodies harder to find. Okay, those fuckers are big.

I mean. It's such. A creepy idea. The island had been inhabited in the past, but it was uninhabited at the time of this flight. Despite this, intermittent radio signals were reported from that general area around the time they disappeared, just as if the plane's radio had remained intact and accessible, and they were calling for help. On top of that, in 1940, bones are found on Nikumaroro. They have since been lost, so the DNA has never been tested. On. Yeah. But again, that island had been inhabited, so they weren't necessarily theirs.

Searchers have found on that island. Yes, a single shoe. Okay, a piece of aluminum. Okay. And a jar of freckle cream. Freckle cream, which. Certainly points to. A. Person and maybe a woman having been there. And for what it's worth, Amelia Earhart had freckles that she was reportedly very self-conscious about. For. Personal. It breaks my heart that she is so self-conscious that she brings freckle cream on this like adventure. But then I'm like, I wonder if that was like their SPF at the time, where it's like you had to cover your freckles with this cream. And maybe it was even worse.

Yeah, it was maybe like, it was a two for one where she's like, I need moisture because there's winds. Around my. Sunscreen. It's an early sunscreen. Okay. Yeah. I mean, yeah, it's her, it's theirs. This is you mentioned you're just on this island. It's mostly coconut crabs, and then they're just like. Buns punched concrete. What if the cold cream was, like, the sponsor of the flight thinks that you had to bring in. A sponsor of this podcast. Freckle cream. Freckle cream. Heck of Clem. Amelia Earhart uses. It. And you can too.

No, because now they love freckles so much that they have little, little freckles stamps. And they have tattoos of freckles on your fucking face. The kids these days with their. Big butts and their freckles. And their attitudes, okay, those. Items are never confirmed as belonging to either Fred or Amelia, and modern day efforts to search the surrounding ocean near that island have turned up nothing. Of course, many people think Amelia's plane simply ran out of fuel and crashed into the open ocean. Because of the sheer size and depth of the Pacific, it hasn't been found.

Amelia's sister Muriel thinks this is what happened. Quote. I'm not happy with some of the dramas about Amelia, where they went into fiction. So essentially, of course, that's how it always is. What it's like actually simple. Theorizing, right? The hard truths, which presumably was much harder for Muriel, Amelia's mother Amy, and her husband, George, is that we simply do not know what happened to her. George Putnam died in 1950 at age 62 of kidney problems. Amy, Amelia's mother, died in 1962 at age 95, and her sister Muriel passed away in 1998 at the age of 98.

Wow. Yeah. Searchers continue to hunt for any signs of Amelia Earhart or her plane. As recently as 2023, a deep sea exploration group released an underwater sonar image of what they thought was the plane. But in 2024, they discovered it was just a bunch of rocks. Oh, no. Plane shaped rocks. All that in mind. Instead of focusing on the mysterious ending of Amelia story, we can always relish in what we do know about her life and her bold approach to living it. As writer Anthony Brandt has said, quote, it wasn't that Amelia was willful, rather that she was free.

She was calm, fearless, cheerful in the face of life, and she attracted everybody. She believed that women should live lives rich in experience and have careers. If they possibly could. Can you read? And she lived her belief. She was a remarkable human being, a historic figure, one of those people who, skirting the farther most edges of experience, open up. Possibilities for us all. And that is the story of. Pioneering aviatrix Amelia Earhart. Boom! High five for Amelia Earhart. Good job. You. Wow. I.

Questions about this episode

What is discussed in "BEST OF 2025: Locusta, Poisoner of Rome + Amelia Earhart"?

In order: 20:00 Amelia Earhart, Atchison, Pike's Peak; 30:00 Amelia Earhart, Charles Lindbergh, George Putnam, Neta Snook; 40:00 George Putnam, Charles Lindbergh, Amelia Earhart, Cosmopolitan; 50:00 Amelia Earhart; 1:00:00 Amelia Earhart, Howland Island, George Putnam, Nikumaroro; 1:10:00 Amelia Earhart.

What is mentioned in this My Favorite Murder episode?

12 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Amelia Earhart, George Putnam, Charles Lindbergh, Howland Island, Atchison, Muriel Earhart. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "BEST OF 2025: Locusta, Poisoner of Rome + Amelia Earhart"?

The episode runs 1 h 10 min; the transcript is about 12,788 words in 124 timestamped sections.

More from My Favorite Murder

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated January 24, 2026.