Mystery: The Lost Colony of Roanoke

In August fifteen ninety, a pirate ship, the Hopewell, landed off the coast of modern day Outer Banks in North Carolina. Traveling among the pirates once applied chess to his name was Englishman John White, who was a prolific artist, photographer, and voyager to the Americas. The last time White had laid eyes on this shore was three years prior. The ocean had not been welcoming to the crew because they were greeted by a hurricane and had to fight their way to the island they sought. Now, seas were calmer, and so was White. He couldn't help feeling optimistic. The crew had seen smoke rising from somewhere on the islet, which was a good sign. A couple of days later, White and the others treked inland. The heat and humidity had them sweating before long, but they persisted. White particular, he had a personal stake in this mission, you see, finding his wife and daughter, his son in law and granddaughter, the first English child to be born in the New World. If his family were still alive on the island, he would find them. Finally, the settlement came into view. White remembered when he first started this fort way back in fifteen eighty seven. The dilapidated wooden structures were a far cry from the creature comforts of home. But neither he nor the colonists he traveled with had been afraid of hard work. They had understood the risks and challenges that they would face in the new world, at least they thought they had. With the sight of the empty fort, just as forgotten and lonely as when White had first seen it, felt goosebumps creep up and down his forearms. In spite of the summer heat. He used to pray each night of the last long three years that a prosperous colony would be waiting for him. Instead, what lay before him was a ghost town. Not a trace of settlers was left behind. Well, that wasn't quite true. Carved into a palisade at the front of the wooden fort was a singular word Croatin. John ran his fingers along the crude curves of the letters, eating his tactile proof of the colonists existence. How long had the settlers been gone? And what caused their demise? One hundred and fifteen souls vanished, lost to the unforgiven lands of the new World. Roanoke is the oldest English colony in the United States, and it's also the site of one of the nation's oldest mysteries. There's more to this story than a word and an abandoned fort. However, in this episode, we will dive deep into this mystery, the facts, the theories, the major players, to get a better sense of what really happened at Roanoke, the Lost Colony. My name is Edwin, and here's a dark memory. The first historical record of John White is in fifteen seventy seven, and John sailed to the America. Is on a mission in search of precious metals and passage to Asia, neither of which were found. After that, John takes a back seat in this tale until fifteen eighty seven. In the meantime, Sir Walter Raleigh takes center stage. Raleigh had skyrocketed up the social ladder in Queen Elizabeth's court. His popularity with the Queen made him an enemy of her closest advisor, Sir Francis Walsingham. Additionally, Raleigh snagged the Queen's blessing to send an expedition to the New World to scout territory for a colony a blessing coveted by Washingham, crossing the Queen's adviser would come back to haunt the colonists of Roanoke. The island that Raleigh chose a steak is clean. The initial expedition to the island only lasted a few weeks, focusing on reconnaissance and relations with the local tribes. Two Native Americans, Manteo and Wanchees, accompanied the voyagers back to England and were used to endorse the land the British called Virginia. It's a good place for a permanent colony. In fifteen eighty five, six hundred military personnel sailed back to Roanoke, led by Raleigh's cousin, Sir Richard Grenville. Only two hundred arrived, however, and their food ship was destroyed en route. It's unclear whether routine danger or sabotage are to blame, as one of the ship's captains was a former pirate named Simont Fernandez, who had been rescued from the gallows by none other than Washingham, which indebted Fernandez to his service. He was known as Walsingham's Man, and he was a definite source of trouble for Roanoke's colonists. Later on, for back to fifteen eighty five, the English set up a fort the foundation of the first colony of Roanoke Island. Wanchees disassociated himself from the English on account of one of the officers on the voyage killing about twenty members of a local tribe, but Menteo stayed with the crew, serving as an interpreter when they interacted with other Native Americans on the island. The colonists were granted permission to stay on the island for the winter from a chief named Wingina, who was the leader of a village of the island and another on the mainland. Mon Gina's only condition was that the English not petitioned the Native Americans for help getting through the winter. Despite Mantel's friendliness toward the English, tensions between the colonists and the islanders ran high. When the soldiers first arrived in fifteen eighty five. They visited a few Native American villella with Manteo. On one trip, they discovered a missing silver chalice. Believing that the members of the Aquascacoke village stole it from them, they retaliated by burning down the village. The following June, Governor Ralph Lane led another unprovoked attack on Dossamon kuetpilk Win Jinga's village on the mainland. At this point, Manteo's village was the only one still on good terms with the English colonists, and that same June a supply ship arrived at Roanoke. Most of the supplies were lost in a hurricane. Instead, the ship collected the settlers and Manteo and transported them back to England. Unfortunately, three men were left on the island with no way home and no idea when a friendly ship would come by to rescue them. These three men are the first lost colonists of Roanoke. Coincidentally, a supply ship sent by Raleigh showed up on the island shortly after this one was captained by Richard Grenville, who had left Lane in charge of the previous year and returned to England. Grenville dropped off fifteen men to hold down the fort, so to speak, and these men would become known as Grenville fifteen. In fifteen eighty seven, the second Colony of Roanoke began to take shape. Raleigh appointed John White the governor of the new colony, which he dubbed the city of Raleigh. The new colonists were men, women, and children who were looking to become landowners in the New World. Although life was difficult in the America, the hardships were worth it for many European settlers who had little money or prospects back home. This new crop of settlers left for the New World on April twenty sixth, arriving at Roanoke Island on July twenty second. The last days that followed, John led a search, part to find the Grenville fifteen to find the fort built by the first colonists on the island. The latter search was fruitful, former less so one skeleton was found, being the settlers to assume that hostile Islanders killed the Englishmen. As for the fort, the two years as it had been occupied had taken a toll to John tasked to colonists with rebuilding existing structures as well as building new ones. The colonists spent a few days at the end of July and the beginning of August hanging out with Manteo's people. The villagers informed the colonists at their English brethren the Grenville fifteen had been attacked by native Americans from Vungjina's villages. Two died in the attack, and the rest escaped to a little island off of Roanoke's neighbor at Terra's Island. They hadn't been heard from since The colonists didn't anticipate running into a Gina's men, for they weren't meant to stay on Roanoke. Raleigh had actually instructed them to settle farther north on the Chesapeake Bay. Their stay on Roanoke Island was supposed to be a pit stoff to return Manteo to his village and to rescue the Grenville fifteen, but for most of the colonists, Roanoke Island would be their final destination. Remember Walsingham's man, Simon Fernandez. He'd captained one of the ships that transported the colonists to Roanoke in fifteen eighty seven. When the settlers had gotten on shore, Fernandez announced his intention of returning to England, stranding the settlers on Roanoke Island with supply ships on their way to the Chesapeake Bay and hostile Native Americans in the area. The English there would be sentencing them to a certain death. Fernanda's did allow Governor John White to accompany him back to England for supplies. But little did John know that he would never see those colonists ever again. The supply trip was slope going. Not only did John White arrived home weeks behind schedule, but his ship docked in Ireland first in October, and he didn't reach Ireland until early November, which is too late in the year to send a ship back across the Atlantic. Meanwhile, Fernanda's informed Raleigh that the expedition had indeed made it to Chesapeake, further condemning the colonists trapped on Roanoke Island, and to make matters worse, the conflict between England and Spain led Queen Elizabeth to confine all ships at home that October there was to be used as defense against the Spanish navy. It wasn't until March of the following year that she granted Richard Grenville permission to send a supply ship to Roanoke. However, Walsingham convinced the Queen to revoke that permission due to rumors that Spain was preparing to attack. Luckily for Wingham, a lunar eclipse coinciding with an alleged earthquake renouncertain doom to the superstitious Queen, strengthening his case to protect the home front at the expense of the trapped colonists. Two years of war induced gridlock later, Raleigh was finally given permission to send a single supply ship to Roanoke. The only ship he was able to hire was a Hope Well. The ship arrived at Roanoke in mid August, almost exactly three years after John White had said goodbye to his friends and family for the last time. Now there are several theories to account for what happened to the colonists that John left behind. Some believed they were kidnapped and or killed by Native Americans Back in fifteen eighty seven, while the colonists were staying at the fort, when Gina's men murdered one of the settlers, a man named George Howie, to avenge George John let a nighttime attack on the Native Americans instead of when Gina's men, however, they accidentally attacked Manteo's people, the Croatoins, when Gina's men must have anticipated that the English would retaliate, so they relocated further inland. The Croatoins had been at the abandoned village scavenging when White and the others attacked. It's a strong possibility that it's ranked perhaps accidental. Attacked marked the limit of the Croatoins' kindness towards English, perhaps even teamed up with when Gina's men to massacre the colonists. According to his diary entries, John was originally convinced that the colonists had carved the word Croatoin and the letters c R O themselves as an indication that they were joining Mantel's tribe. Their exploration of the abandoned forge revealed that five chests which the colonists had hidden were ransacked. John concluded that when Gina's men were to blame convince of the colonist's safety with the crow Attins. The crew of the Hopewell continued south to gather more supplies before circling back around to Bronoke. Before heading south, the crew planned to travel inland once more to drop off some fresh water for the colonists, but it ran into some complications, including the loss of one of their anchors and the fresh water supply they planned to give to the colonists. Yet again, crucial supplies were lost off the shores of Roanoke Island. Up next, we'll keep looking at some of the theories, including some of the stranger ones, of what could have happened to the Brono seven after the crucial supplies were lost. Curiously, White's diary has no mention of Roanoke. The remaining entries from August would count the Hopewell's travels in the West Indies, then its gips to October. The last entries from October twenty fourth, fifteen ninety when White returned to England. But why the time skip. The hope Will must not have returned to Roanoke, or White Shirley would have documented his reunion with the colonists. For reasons unknown, Governor John White abandoned his colony a second time. Another theory is that the Spanish invaded the Roanoke colony and killed the English settlers. As previously mentioned, the English and Spanish were fierce enemies at the time. Roanoke was England's first attempt at a permanent settlement in the Americas, but the Spanish were the dominant European power. They might have seen Roanoke as people trying to take some spots in their territory. Aside from the general hostility towards the English, they might have had a particular grudge against a Rono colonists. Since Richard Grenville captured a Spanish ship on his way back to England in fifteen eighty five, there is a record of Spanish naval captain Vicente Gonzalez stopping at Roanoke in fifteen eighty eight. Spaniards found a deserted fort, meaning that the colonists were already gone long before White return two years later. It's likely that if another Spanish crew had reached Roanoke before Gonzalez, there would be documentation. Maybe the goal was for the colonists to disappear quietly, who knows. A third theory is that the colonists attempted to sail back to Englandland but died at sea, which is highly unlikely. If the Crowtoans sold White and the other's colonists about the members of the Grenville fifteen who escaped the island, is true that it's not impossible that the colonist's White left that Roanoke would have followed the same path. However, the likelihood of this being what happened is extremely low. First, the colonists would have had to build a boat that would fit all one hundred and fifteen of them, and even before that, the colonists would have had to make the conscious decision to face the perils of the open ocean for a month's long journey on the limited food rations that they had with them before. Theory is that the colonists simply decided to migrate further inland, which would explain the empty fort. White made a pack that the colonists before he left, agreeing that if they were to move from the settlement, they should carve the relocation in an obvious spot, and the letter cro make this theory plausible. However, the simple fact that there is no record of White finding the colonist's new settlement the bunks this theory. For centuries, the answer to the disappearance of the colony of Roanoke was largely speculative, Yet in two thousand and seven, a team of researchers set out to use modern DNA science to solve the mystery. The Lost Colony DNA Project examines three types of DNA. Y DNA, which is traceable through a male line autosomal DNA, which utilizes all of a person's chromosomes to identify cousins and mitochondrial DNA, which has passed from mothers to their kids and is traceable through a female line using historical records of surnames present at Roanoke. Their goal is to identify living descendants of Roanoke's colonists in both the European American and Native American populations of North Carolina. This project, specifically the Lost Cause Why DNA project, is ongoing. Maybe with enough participants in the project, these researchers will be closer to finding an answer to the question of Roanoke. But what if there isn't a logical explanation for the colonists disappearance. Each theory we've examined as holes and reasons why they're not quite right. So what if a darker, more supernatural force had a hand in the mysterious vanishing. Given all the research on the colony of Roanoke, it's tempting to conclude that the island is cursed. Two failed colonies, four destroyed supply stores, and as many voyages one hundred and fifteen lost colonists more if you count the Grenville fifteen and the three Forgotten Men from the fifteen eighty six supply run. Can we chalk all of that up to bad luck? Or was there something else going on on Roanoke Island? There might be more to the word croatin. The word has been connected to other disappearances throughout history. For example, editor Allen Poe's death certificate and medical records disappeared to the circumstances of his death are unconfirmed, and it's been said that kroatin was one of the famous poets last words. Kroatoin is implicated in the disappearances of pilot Amelia Earhart in nineteenth century stagecoach Robert black Bart's two Earhart wrote the word in her journal, and Bart carved it inside his prison cell. A horror writer named Ambrose Beer slept in a bed with a crow a toin word carved into it, then disappeared shortly after. If all those examples are too coincidental for you, there's also the case of the Carol A Deering shipwreck. The vessel crash on the Hetera's Island. No crew was on board, but there was a logbook with croatoin written on the final page. Tribes native to modern day North Carolina have folklore that could also account for the colonists disappearance. These tales range from witches wielding dark magic to a host of violent spirits. For instance, the wendigo is a creature that takes over bodies of cannibals. Some theorized that the colonists would have chosen cannibalism before succumbing to starvation. Another evil spirit, Reptilian Devil of the Woods, possesses people and brings out the worst qualities of human nature. A third spirit can absorb humans into the ground beneath their feet, and if these tales are true, the colonists may have become prey to the supernatural forces of Laura. Of course, there's an ever popular scapegoat for mysteries aliens. One of the most chilling parts of the Roanoke Mystery is the fate of Little Virginia Dare. There's a legend surrounding the first English child born in the Americas, the legend of the White Doe. Now, the story begins with an attack by one Cheese, the other native American who traveled to England with Raley's first expedition. Monteo saved the Deare family, but Sadly, the parents died soon after. Monteo's village raised her and renamed her Winona. When she grew up, a witch doctor named Chico tried to win her affections, but she rejected him in favor of a man, Dame Okisko. Jealous and enraged, Chico transformed her into a white doe. To save Winona, Okisko visited a rival witch doctor who gave Akisko a magic arrow that would transform the dough back into a woman if the arrow pierced her heart. He managed to track down the dough and shoot her. However, Wanche's had managed to shoot a regular arrow in her heart at the same time. The dough was transformed back into a human, but she died instantly. Okuisko buried Winona at the old Roano Colony. The hunters and residents of Roanoak Island have claimed to see an apparition of a white deer, believing it's the restless spirit of Virginia Dare. The mystery of the Roano Colony is endlessly fascinating. The sense shivers up my spine thinking about the myriad of possible fates of the lost colonists. This mystery has reached legendary status for many Americans. The thing about legends, though, is that there never quite feel real. Today, Roanoke Island is home to about six thousand residents and caters to tourists taste for the unexplainable. It's home to the Lost Colony Stage Show, a performance about the Roanoke Colony that can be seen all summer long. Like most historical sites, you get to enjoy a good mystery for a few hours before moving on with your vacation. Maybe that's why you're listening to today's episode, But before you move on to the rest of your day, take a moment to put yourself in John White's shoes. He knew the Lost colonists, many of them he had personally recruited for Raley's experiment in the New World, an experiment that went horribly wrong. And while White couldn't control the ocean or the politics of the time, he had to have felt some responsibility as a colony's governor, and it's re presentative between late fifteen eighty seven and early fifteen ninety Imagine having to go about your daily routine when your family and friends are on the other side of the Atlantic, not knowing if they're dead or alive. White must have felt a mix of emotions in fifteen ninety, weariness of the Hope Will's crew since a pirate was largely responsible for the colonists predicament, anxiety at his impending fifth journey to the New World across a sea crawling with enemy Spaniards, but most of all, an overwhelming sense of relief at the chance to finally get closure on what had happened to his fellow colonists. Now, I imagine arriving at Roanoke Island and finding next to nothing, no colonists, no way to communicate with him, no closure. Sure White had his theories. Theories aren't answers. That's the creepiest thing about Roanoke. After all, they're not knowing. Even though we may never get those answers, We're lucky unlike John White. We don't have to live the rest of our lives haunted by the ghosts who might not even be dead, always asking the same question what happened. This episode of The Dark Memory was researched and written by Tess Redman and produced by me Edwin Komats. If you have a dark memory that you want us to talk about. Make sure to send me an email. I'll leave it in the description of this episode. Look next, be sure to check out True Scary Story, which is a show where people tell their true paranormal encounters. Just don't listen by yourself. Thank you very much for listening. Let's see you soon.