DNA tests clear up Titanic's 'last mystery'
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}This image provided by the New York Times shows its April 16, 1912 front page coverage of the Titanic disaster. (AP Photo/The New York Times)
A century later, the word "mystery" has been replaced by "hoax." The Telegraph reports on what it calls the Titanic's "last mystery": What was the fate of Loraine Allison? The 2-year-old passenger was believed to have gone down with the ship, which would make her the only child traveling in first- or second-class to die on the Titanic.
But no body was recovered, and 28 years later, in 1940, a woman stepped forward claiming she was Allison and knowing details only a family member would be privy to.
Helen Kramer claimed she was put into a lifeboat with a man who, before his death, told her of her true identity and revealed himself to be Titanic designer Thomas Andrews, who was also thought to have died in the sinking.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The wealthy Allison family largely brushed her off over the years, and the story could have ended a mystery with her 1992 death ... except it didn't.
Twenty years later, Kramer's granddaughter, Debrina Woods, started republicizing the claim, posting to online forums, saying she intended to write a book on the case, and selling mugs and mouse pads.
The Allison family was equally unimpressed, and even took out a restraining order to prevent Woods from scattering Kramer's ashes over the family plot. Science to the rescue: A Titanic researcher founded the Loraine Allison Identification Project, and tested mitochondrial DNA from a relative of both Allison and Kramer.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The word came last month: No match. Woods claims she still has proof the story is true; an Allison family member calls it a "colossal fraud that has haunted my family for years." (In other Titanic news, a theme park being built in China will house a life-size replica of the ship that will "hit" an iceberg.)
More From Newser