CLEVELAND, OH (AP).- A Cleveland museum has learned that what it thought was a lock of hair from Amelia Earhart is just thread.

A group looking for DNA evidence of the pioneer aviator on a Pacific island recently asked the International Women's Air and Space Museum for a sample of the "hair" for comparison. Museum executive director Toni Mullee says an analysis determined the specimen was thread that looked like hair.

Mullee says the museum acquired the artifact 20 years ago from the Smithsonian Institution, which had gotten it from a Pennsylvania man. The museum has had it on exhibit next to a book with an anecdote about a White House maid who saved some Earhart hair from a wastebasket.

Mullee says the thread will stay on display, with a full explanation.


Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.