Ever since Amelia Earhart’s plane mysteriously disappeared in the Pacific in 1937 during an attempt to fly around the world, most people assumed she died in a crash. But what if she was actually finished off by aggressive coconut crabs weeks or even months after an emergency landing on the isolated island of Nikumaroro?

That’s one theory that has emerged following the groundbreaking discovery of a shiny aluminum patch on Nikumaroro, the uninhabited Pacific atoll. Scientists believe the patch was the same one installed on her plane in Miami to replace a window.

Earhart’s disappearance has been the stuff of legend, with many theories on what her ultimate fate was. There’s the obvious possibility, such as running out of fuel and crashing into the ocean, and there are others ranging from the idea that she was captured and executed by natives to the conspiracy theory that she assumed a fake identity in New Jersey. But scientists now believe she may have made an emergency landing on the reef of Nikumaroro, where she may have survived for a long time — which is where the crabs come in.

Coconut crabs are a species of terrestial hermit crab, and they are the largest land-living arthropod, weighing up to a whopping nine pounds and measuring more than three feet across. They are found on islands across the Pacific and Indian oceans and are known to eat carrion as well as fruits. They’ve been known to feast on chickens and kittens, according to Smithsonian Magazine.

Some think that coconut crabs came across a dying Amelia Earhart and overwhelmed her. Scientists actually experimented with this possibility back in 2007, where they used a pig carcass to see what the crabs were capable of. The crabs tore the carcass apart and scattered its bones.

Was this the gruesome fate of Earhart? It will be a while before scientists can ascertain this — she could have died any number of ways, and may have not even survived the landing. But we may know more soon: the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) plans to send a research vessel to the location in June 2015 to investigate the site.