Talk:Irene Craigmile Bolam

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[edit] I wonder

It seems like a simple thing to me: Why didn't she just allow her finger prints to be taken in front of the judge? If she were not Earhart, she would have gotten huge money. Hmmmmm. ProfessorPaul 06:28, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

Some people have a thing about privacy. Gwen Gale 10:38, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

As far as it is possible to establish from the available documents and records (NOT rumors, hearsays and speculations), apparently this story about Bolam's "mysterious fingerprinting problem" is just one of the many "canonized myths" surrounding the Bolam story. There were many such a cases in the history of this theory, when some facts were presented "in mysterious way", for to look intriguing... while actually there was no any "mystery" or "specially suspicious/enigmatic circustances"

As far as it is known, nobody ever presented - neither to general public nor to the "community" of the Earhart researchers and historians - any factual evidence/document/record that would somehow confirm that there was really such a sum promised to Bolam for her fingerprints.

In process of continuing informational exchange and discussions between the Earhart researchers, the author and researcher Joe Klaas informed yet several years ago that he was just told of the "fingerprint incident" by one of his attorneys, and he could not even be sure when and where exactly it happened (a hearing? a deposition?) Neither Joe Klaas nor Joe Gervais (the actual "father" of the "Bolam as Earhart theory")were present.

There is a logical reason to be somewhat skeptical about the seriousness of all the story, and particularly the seriousness of intentions of the mentioned attorneys. The reason is following. If those attorneys were serious about taking Irene Bolam's fingerprints, they could have filed a motion for a court order requiring her to be fingerprinted. Since the fingerprints were a principal thing to their case that Bolam was actually Earhart, it seems certain that a court would have granted the motion (of course assuming that Earhart's fingerprints were available for comparison). And, that motion should be in the case file.

If the mentioned attorneys didn't file such a motion, it means that the incident (if it ever occurred) was pure grandstanding, and the attorneys were simply not serious about getting Bolam's fingerprints.

Thus, without any documented proofs ever presented, all the story about "big money proposed to Bolam and rejected by her" looks not much convincing but rather one of the "canonized legends", many of which surrounds quite a bizarre "tree" of the Earhart research.

In the summer of 2005, the group of Earhart historians/researchers prepared a special "Report" about the "Bolam as Earhart theory", analyzing its credibility in many aspects, and releasing some documents and evidence related to the story, some of which was never published before. The document was publicly released during the Seminar of Earhart historians, researchers and authors in Atchison, Kansas, that accompanied the annual Amelia Earhart Birthday Festival in July 24, 2005.

The conclusions of the authors about the theory was skeptical. The theory makes a strong contradictions both with well established documented historic facts about both Earhart and Bolam, and also with a formal logic. After a huge collective research work of several years, no bit of any real fact, document, or credible evidence was ever found that would somehow confirm the credibility of the theory and numerous "canonized myths", legends and embellished statememnts that "grew up around the theory" during last decades.

Simultaneously, many facts and historic records about Bolam and her life were established, that definitely confirms that she was not any kind of "mystery woman" at all; her life was not enigmatic, and well documented through the years, since her childhood. Right now i posted some of this information to the "Main page" of this article; hope, the owner/editor of this article may find a possibility to consider this info and include it, in some form, to the article, just for to make it more complete.

I am sincerely apologizing "in advance" before this person (the Owner/Editor) because of the "format" of my comment, that may be not very convenient... unfortunately, i must admit, i am not very good about the "Web-design" and its instruments.

Respectfully submitted - Alex V. Mandel, PhD., Earhart researcher and historian

Please sign your posts with four tildes and don't indent, it invokes other wiki-specific formatting code, with results you surely did not intend, thanks. Gwen Gale 10:38, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Material added to bottom of article moved here

The anon added the following text to the article, which I have moved here. While I do agree with the pith of it, the Bolam tale has been thoroughly debunked many times. If someone wants to verify, condense and include some of this stuff into the article, cool. I'm too bored. Gwen Gale 10:38, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

The following information about Irene Craigmille Bolam was summarized in the special "Report" about the "Bolam as Earhart theory", analyzing its credibility in many aspects, and releasing some documents and evidence related to the story.

The document was publicly released to the "Earhart researcher's community" and general public during the Seminar of Earhart historians, researchers and authors in Atchison, Kansas, that accompanied the annual Amelia Earhart Birthday Festival in July 24, 2005. It confirms that Irene Bolam was not any kind of "mystery woman"; actually, her life was not enigmatic, and well documented through the years since her childhood.

The following text is quoted from: "AMELIA EARHART’S SURVIVAL AND REPATRIATION: MYTH OR REALITY? - A Preliminary Report by Alex Mandel, Ph.D., in collaboration with Ronald Bright, Patrick Gaston, Bill Prymak , Edited by Mike Campbell, 2005" :

"...According to the short biography published by The News Tribune in October 1982, Irene Bolam was born Irene Madeline O’Crowley on Oct. 1, 1904 in Newark, New Jersey, on the first floor of 118 S. 11th St. This latter data was mentioned in a note her father sent to her on her 39th birthday, in 1943.

As a child, Irene attended St. Dominic’s Academy in Caldwell, N.J., for seventh grade in 1916 but was removed when her mother died. Later she graduated from Barringer High School, Newark. In 1923, Irene embarked on her first European cruise, during which she wrote a diary that was still intact in the 1980s.

In 1927 Irene married James C. Craigmile, chief engineer of the Wanaque Dam in Newark, and though the marriage was reportedly an idyllic one, it was short-lived. James Craigmile died suddenly in September 1931, due to gangrene developed as a result of a fatally underestimated appendicitis condition.

As were many educated young ladies of the period, Irene was fascinated by aviation. She took up flying in 1932 at Floyd Bennett Field, then Roosevelt Field, Long Island, and received a pilot’s license on May 27, 1933. Irene then married her flight instructor, Alvin Victor Heller. According to available evidence, in June 1933 she stopped flying – perhaps because she was pregnant, and in March 1934 she gave birth to a son, Clarence Heller, in Newark.

The marriage appeared to be unhappy, however, as Irene’s new husband was reportedly a “ladies man,” and the Hellers often suffered emotional and financial turmoil. Helen Salzano, a nurse who ministered to Irene during her final years, quoted Bolam as saying about her marriage to Heller: “My family was right. I made a mistake.” Around 1940, she annulled her marriage to Alvin Heller and took back her family name of Craigmile.

She worked as a section manager and packing supervisor at Macy’s, then as a store detective for Lord & Taylor, a job she quit because she disliked “the seamy side of life.” Later she worked for an unnamed personal finance company on Long Island, and in 1945 she moved to the People’s National Bank of Lynbrook, Long Island, where she started a consumer credit department.

In 1946 she joined the National Bank of Great Neck, later renamed the Central Bank of Great Neck. Finally, in 1955, Irene joined the Scwerin Stone Brokerage firm as a customer representative, where she worked until her marriage to Guy Bolam in 1958. In 1967 the Bolams moved to Jamesburg, N.J. Guy died in 1970, and Irene died of cancer on July 7, 1982.

Modern Earhart researchers investigated many details and found many archieval official records regarding Irene Bolam, including numerous photographs in different periods, and documents including driver’s and pilot’s licenses. Long Island telephone books in 1942 and 1943 list her as living at Wantagh, at another address in the same community from 1944 to 1950, and in Lynbrook and later Great Neck until she married Guy Bolam.

This material can justifiably prompt some definite conclusions: Irene Bolam was an honest, upright individual. She was not a mysterious woman, and she was not Amelia Earhart. She was a normal, real person, whose life contained no real “connections” to Amelia Earhart."

END OF QUOTATION.

Thus, the theory about "Bolam as Earhart" apparently must be considered just as one more "historic legend" - that may seem exciting, because of the exciting "aroma of the mystery" created around it for decades... but not having any factual proofs, and conclusively debunked as factually wrong by a collective efforts and investigation of many modern Earhart historians and researchers.

Respectfully submitted - Alex V. Mandel, PhD., Earhart researcher and historian

[edit] Condense and integrate

The info's helpful enough but needs to be condensed and integrated into a few pithy paragraphs about this person, whose only encyclopedic notability involves her victimization in a botched attempt to make money from gullible, casual mass market readers who might believe some loopy pop-culture fantasy she was Amelia Earhart. Gwen Gale 16:05, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Gwen, thanks for your kind reply; my own opinion about this theory coincides with yours for 100% :) . If about "condensing and integrating" the info on the Page, i will appreciate if you will try to do it "in your way"; i just really think that you, with your apparent experience of writing for this Encyclopedia, can do it better. I provided the info; and, if you will need any additional stuff, can provide more - please just contact me anytime if you will need anything... yesterday i wrote what else i have... Kind Regards! - very sincerely, Alex V Mandel 14:34, 4 January 2007 (UTC)
Thanks Alex! When I have time, I will do this. Cheers. Gwen Gale 14:48, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Bolam as a case of Pseudohistory

Wikipedia has an excellent category on Pseudohistory that seems appropriate to me for this article; Joe Klaas had claimed that Bolam was Amelia Earhart--this was not the case--so it should be considered "Pseudohistory" (a false or unproven claim about a historical person or event). Perhaps we should create a new Wiki-Category: "Victims of Pseudohistory." Bolam seems (in my POV) to be a victim of a pseudohistory researcher. Comments on this are welcome. ProfessorPaul 04:58, 4 February 2007 (UTC)

Seems ok by me. Don't know about a "victims of pseudohistory" cat, the term victim is widely abused, is loaded and PoV (although Ms Bolam was most definitely a victim here and the publisher paid her compensation for it). Gwen Gale 05:17, 4 February 2007 (UTC)
I either misunderstood what this editor was on about or simply didn't have my brain plugged in at the time. Meanwhile StormRider helpfully removed the category tag. Gwen Gale 21:53, 13 February 2007 (UTC)
Upon further reflection, the term Pseudohistory typically does not refer to a person, but to a work (like a book or an article) that is related to history, but simply false. I can now see that the Category "Pseudohistory" is not appropriate for her. I did insert a parenthetical mention of his book as pseudohistory. ProfessorPaul 05:08, 14 February 2007 (UTC)
Same thing happened to me at first, so to speak. Bolam is not pseudohistory, she was the subject of pseudohistory. Categorizing an article on Joe Klaas in pseudohistory would be ok. Gwen Gale 05:17, 14 February 2007 (UTC)
Agreed. The only recommendation is that that any claim for being false history be supported by a reputable expert's statement of it being false. Categories are too easily created and they often create more problems than clarity. I would certainly not support the above category of Victims of Pseudohistory. Cheers. --Storm Rider (talk) 05:39, 14 February 2007 (UTC)
As for Victims of Ph... yep, think of the abuse and muddle such a list would gather. Erm, come to think of it I'm not even sure I like the term pseudohistory with that definition. Seems to me we already have the words "fiction," "scam," and "fantasy." Gwen Gale 06:03, 14 February 2007 (UTC)
Allow me state that I very much enjoy Wikipedia for this reason: we can all have a very calm and rational discussion about issues we find important. I also wanted to state that I have no plans at all to create a new Wiki Category "Victims of Pseudohistory." Finally--I appreciate the two of you very much (Gwen and Storm Rider) for your contributions on this talk page and to the article. "Cheers!" ProfessorPaul 02:23, 5 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Latest changes/corrections

After reading the AP article (from "Atchison Globe online"), i found that it includes some factually incorrect statements, that provides potential misinforming effects - "crediting" the fantastic anti-factual theory with undue weight. The statement about Mr. Tod Swindell's photographic overlays with "pilot’s face and hands, matching perfectly with those of Bolam" is of unclear origin. In a very best case it quotes and represents the personal opinion of Mr. Swindell himself and a few overenthusiastic believers in his theory. The differences between Earhart and Bolam - both in bodial and facial aspects - are numerous and quite obvious, some of them striking; and it was always noted by numerous observers and researchers, both during the presentations of the theory and in all other cases when and where some discussion about this topic ever happened. The important and principal fact is that there was no any positive forensic confirmation for the theory ever provided to the public and scientific coomunity for any professional check and proper verification. Moreover, two "forensic pathologists" mentioned in the article - Dr. Walter Birkby (Arizona) and Dr. Todd Fenton (Michigan) - actually issued a negative verdict about the credibility of the theory, refusing to support it; and in May 2005 Mr.Swindell's collaborator Colonel Rollin Reineck - the author of the book supporting this theory published in 2002 - informed about this the "community" of Earhart researchers (although not without understandable regrets). Then, as the article mentions, in 2006 Criminal forensic expert Kevin Richland was hired by National Geographic to study photographs of Earhart and Bolam and cited many measurable facial differences between them. It seems for me that all the abovementioned leaves the referred article without the degree of seriousness, factual accuracy and credibility required for the "source" referred in encyclopedic article. Not intended to insist on anything.. but, because of presented reasons, for me it would seem more reasonable to remove this link... Kind Regards - Alex V Mandel 13:48, 2 July 2007 (UTC)

Alex, I agree with you on all points but one, the AP article was not being used as source material, but merely to provide the citation for a quote. You will note that it is listed as a footnote and only for the quote, and is not given as a reference (Wikipedia does not have a real section for notes and therefore citations are squeezed into the references section). However, your point is well taken and I will either provide a "note" to the note or if you can find a suitable quote, eliminate or replace the quote. IMHO Bzuk 14:05, 2 July 2007 (UTC).

Bzuk, thank you for your kind reply and "update" you made! ...IMHO, this article just includes too many incorrect/inaccurate statements so the possible confusion it may cause "overweights" any potential usefullness of it being cited in Encyclopedia for any purpose. So i still think it would be OK to remove it at all... but after all your added comment "proposes an alternate solution" of the problem so to speak... so i will not insist on my opinion. Kind Regards! - sincerely, Alex V Mandel 16:15, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

Thanks Alex, I used the wording that you suggested to make a strong statement about the many inaccuracies in a definitely "sensationalist" media report. (As an aside, I am a member of the so-called fourth estate and I know full well what I have done to stories to "spice" them up and what others have done when interviewing me.) I hope that the lengthy explanation does not take away from the one genuine quote that to me described the interesting life that Irene Bolam had lived especially in the 1940s and that was a matter of note in the family. Kind regards back at 'ya. Bzuk 16:26, 3 July 2007 (UTC).