The Skeleton Cave Couple

This may be a theory you have heard of, or it might not. Perhaps if you have heard of it you've never really believed it, or dismissed it fairly easily. Or maybe not. Maybe you believe this totally, in which case I am preaching to the converted. But my purpose here is to briefly but compellingly argue that the identity of the skeletons in the cave – the two dubbed “Adam and Eve” – are the bodies of Amelia Earhart and Tom Noonan.



The only key fact about these two people you need to know is this: During an attempt to make a circumnavigational flight of the globe in 1937, Earhart and her co-pilot Noonan disappeared over the central Pacific Ocean and were never seen again. Their bodies were never recovered.



So the cynical (and I applaud the cynical) will be thinking, So what? What has the disappearance of these two people got to do with them possibly being the bodies in the cave in Lost? Well, allow me to supply the supporting evidence. It's not much, but the deliberation by which it exists is hard to ignore.

Firstly, the dates. Jack remarked that “Adam and Eve”, by the deterioration of their clothes, had been dead for at least 40-50 years. Earhart and Noonan disappeared in 1937. Jack was speaking in 2004. That's 67 years. Since it would appear Earhart and Noonan (if it is them) had to have lived and existed on the Island for some time before they were laid to rest then the dating stacks up nicely. They could have lived on the Island for 17 years and still been dead for 50 years by the time Jack found them.

But it's hardly a conclusive piece of evidence. So how about this.



Herarat Aviation was seen in the background of the episode One Of Us. It was present at the small airport that Juliet was taken to by Richard Alpert and Ethan Rom just before she was transported to the Island (after drinking the orange juice that knocked her out). Herarat, in case you hadn't realised, is an anagram of 'Earhart'.



When it comes to Alpert, and his 'Mittelos'/'Lost time' wordplay, we should never underestimate the power of anagrams in Lost. This Herarat business is either an enormous red herring, a reference to another lost person on a lost plane, or a strong indicator about Amelia being more a part of the Lost universe than we have yet seen.

And I deliberately choose the term ‘Lost universe’ because the references don't end here. In the online game Find815, that took place between Seasons 3 and 4, there was a moment where the main protagonist of the story was fiddling around with a radio and picked up a strange broadcast. . .

“. . . And in news just ahead, it has been reported that all communications with aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart have been lost. Miss Earhart was en route from New Guinea to Howland Island as part of a daring round-the-world flight. . . The last verified communication received by the United States Coast Guard was at 8:43AM today, and indicated that Miss Earhart's Lockheed Electra was low on fuel. A search is already underway by the Coast Guard. . .”



The strangeness of the historical radio transmission being picked up in 2004 is one thing, but the fact that Amelia Earhart was referenced once again, on the compelling detail of her disappearance over the Pacific. . . well, come on. If you’re not even in the least bit encouraged by the idea then probably I'll never convince you that Amelia and Fred are “Adam and Eve”!

Mind you, for those that don't like the idea of Amelia being dead, there is the neat indication that she is still alive and living on the Island. During the episode A Tale Of Two Cities, just before the crash of Oceanic 815, we see Juliet burning her muffins and then her doorbell rings and she answers the door to an elderly woman. This woman's name is, you guessed it, Amelia.




Uncanny, no?

I rather like that, in an easter egg sense, and it doesn't even need to be taken further. Just one of those little nuggets nestled amongst the treasure trove of secrets and subtleties interwoven into the Lost tapestry.