structured Japanese rule they found themselves in a state of confusion, uncertainty and utter dependence on the American conquerors. There would surely have been strong motivation to tell the frightening newcomers what they seemed to want to hear, and show them what they seemed to want to see. We cannot know how all this would affect the creation and reconstruction of memories among Micronesian informants, but the opportunity would surely exist for false memories to develop. Micronesians may also have gained the impression that some benefit (cigarettes? candy? food? not being killed?) might result from satisfying the Americans’ curiosity, which could account for some stories of Micronesian people accosting Americans and offering to show them the woman pilot’s grave or tell them stories about her imprisonment. It is hard to understand why local people would be so intent on telling or showing Americans such particular things if there were not some perceived benefit in doing so. After the War, the reports of Micronesian people recounting Earhart stories thinned out until 1960, when Josephine Blanco Akiyama publicly told the story that initially informed researchers like Briand and Goerner. Now a new wave of Americans arrived in the Marianas asking about Earhart, none of them aware of the guidelines that would be developed fifteen to twenty years later based on the research of psychologists like Loftus. There is every reason to suspect that they too asked leading questions and inadvertently cultivated false memories. Consider, for example, this excerpt from the transcript of an interview with Matilde Fausto Arriolo carried out by Fr. Arnold Bendowske in November 19779: Fr. Arnold:
First of all, you recall that you told Fred Goerner about the story on Amelia Earhart?
Matilde:
I don’t know, Father, what the name of that man was.
Fr. Bendowske goes on to say that he is interviewing Ms. Arriolo at the request of Admiral Carroll, formerly on Guam but now in Washington, and that the tape will probably go to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). He goes on: I mentioned to the Admiral at that time your name because you saw Amelia Earhart yourself. Matilde:
I did not know her name when I first saw her. She did not mention her name nor who she was.
Fr. Arnold:
What year was this?
9 Fr. Bendowske’s interviews were relied upon by Goerner, Loomis, and Devine, and are alluded to by others. Marianas History Conference 2012 ・ 173