Episode 178 - The Disappearance of Roanoke

This week Abby and Alan discuss the real history of the Lost Colony on Roanoke Island, from the first English expeditions to the colony’s unexplained disappearance in 1590.

We talk through the major historical theories, including integration with Indigenous tribes, disease, violence, the supernatural and failed rescue attempts. Finally, we explore how this mystery shaped modern horror, including references in Storm of the Century by Stephen King and American Horror Story.

Get Lunatics Merch here. Join the discussion on Discord. Check out Abby's book Horror Stories. Available in eBook and paperback. Music by Michaela Papa, Alan Kudan & Jordan Moser. Poster Art by Pilar Keprta @pilar.kep.

Transcript

Acknowledgment And Framing

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Before we begin, we want to acknowledge that the history we'll be discussing in this episode comes from a period of violent colonization. We do not condone colonization or its impacts. European expeditions to the Americas led to the displacement, exploitation, and deaths of indigenous people whose land was never freely given. We recognize and honor the native nations who lived on and cared for this land long before these events, and whose descendants are still here today.

SPEAKER_01 0:52

Hello.

SPEAKER_00 0:53

The piece of history that we're talking about today was actually part of a lesson plan from my elementary school. And I remember when I first learned about it and I became pretty obsessed with it. And I think I know why, which was because it felt like the first time I was exposed to an unsolved mystery that really embedded itself in my brain. It's kind of like that true crime bug that you get where you just really want to figure out what happened.

SPEAKER_01 1:18

Are we gonna learn fractions?

SPEAKER_00 1:19

The interesting thing about this history is that it's actually inspired a lot more horror than you might think. Today we're talking about the lost colony of Roanoke.

SPEAKER_01 1:28

Is this really the first time we're bringing up Roanoke?

SPEAKER_00 1:31

Probably not the first time we're bringing it up, but there's a lot to discuss with Roanoke, and we've only ever casually mentioned it.

SPEAKER_01 1:38

Because it comes up every time we talk about Storm of the Century.

SPEAKER_00 1:41

I love Storm of the Century.

SPEAKER_01 1:43

Your favorite Stephen King work.

Sources And Setup

SPEAKER_00 1:44

It's so good. Let's talk about our sources. There's a history.com article, What Happened to the Lost Colony of Roanoke, a Wired article by Brandon Kime, DNA Insight into America's Oldest Mystery, and a history collection article by Jennifer Connolly, The Lost Colony of Roanoke, Eight Theories About the Mysterious Island and Its Inhabitants. So, Alan, what do you know about Roanoke?

SPEAKER_01 2:07

It was a colony.

SPEAKER_00 2:09

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 2:09

And we don't endorse colonization. That's right. Unless it's like the moon. Well, it's sorry, we don't you don't endorse colonization if there's already people there.

SPEAKER_00 2:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:18

Colonizing uncharted worlds is kind of fun.

SPEAKER_00 2:22

Well, only if there's no people there.

SPEAKER_01 2:24

Right, but if, you know, again, the moon. Sure, like a moon colony sounds dope as fuck.

SPEAKER_00 2:29

Don't you think it would sort of mess up there'd be other implications if people were on the moon?

SPEAKER_01 2:33

Like like what?

SPEAKER_00 2:34

Like what if it impacted the amount of moonlight that hits the earth and then the ecosystem of Earth goes off balance?

SPEAKER_01 2:41

So you're saying like the light doesn't bounce as much?

SPEAKER_00 2:45

If the moon was as populated as New York City.

SPEAKER_01 2:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:49

On all sides.

SPEAKER_01 2:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:50

The light coming off of it. How does how does light come off of the moon?

SPEAKER_01 2:56

Are you serious?

SPEAKER_00 2:57

Yeah. We could cut this, which is for my knowledge.

SPEAKER_01 3:01

Uh no, we'll keep this in. It's just the sun hitting the moon.

SPEAKER_00 3:05

Oh, it's like a bounce board.

SPEAKER_01 3:06

It's a bounce.

SPEAKER_00 3:07

Okay, so yeah, if it's covered by shit, it's not bouncing.

SPEAKER_01 3:10

Presumably, people would still have artificial light as well. Also, they're they're indoors.

SPEAKER_00 3:15

Yeah, I'm saying the buildings. I'm not saying people.

SPEAKER_01 3:18

Yeah, but regardless, we would put artificial light on the moon, probably. So this conversation is about the amount of light emitting from the moon if we colonize it. I think it would be a negligible difference.

SPEAKER_00 3:30

I don't know. Well, I'm gonna look into that.

SPEAKER_01 3:32

Now that the earth has been fully populated, do you feel like it's giving too much light pollution to the rest of the solar system?

SPEAKER_00 3:39

I don't know. I've never been off of Earth. That's fair. And I don't know that Earth is known for being a source of illumination.

SPEAKER_01 3:46

No.

SPEAKER_00 3:46

The way that the moon is for us.

SPEAKER_01 3:47

Yeah, I don't know. It's a dumb conversation. You didn't even let me finish about Roanoke.

SPEAKER_00 3:52

Tell me, tell me about Roanoke, Alan.

SPEAKER_01 3:53

It was a colony.

SPEAKER_00 3:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:55

And we don't endorse colonization. Right. And then one day it disappeared.

SPEAKER_00 3:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:59

And we don't know why.

SPEAKER_00 4:00

Well, the colony, the people disappeared.

SPEAKER_01 4:02

And the colony.

unknown 4:03

No.

SPEAKER_01 4:04

They lost, they don't even know where where it is.

Early Expeditions To Roanoke

SPEAKER_00 4:06

Let's talk about it. The famous, right? The lost colony, the ill-fated attempt to colonize Roanoke, was actually the third attempt to colonize this area by the same group of settlers from England. So we're going to talk really briefly about the first two expeditions, but mostly we're going to focus on the third one today.

SPEAKER_01 4:23

Okay. Well, why?

SPEAKER_00 4:24

Why what?

SPEAKER_01 4:24

Why do they want this area so bad?

SPEAKER_00 4:26

So I'm going to quote from the History Collection article to answer your question, Alan. In 1584, Queen Elizabeth I gave Sir Walter Raleigh a royal charter to colonize North America to establish a base from which England could raid Spanish treasure fleets coming to the South and Central American colonies. Raleigh sent the first expedition to explore the eastern coast of North America. It landed on Roanoke Island and established good relations with the Croatians, the Native Americans living on the island.

SPEAKER_01 4:55

Not to be confused with the people of Croatia?

John White And The 1587 Colony

SPEAKER_00 4:58

I think it's pronounced the same way. I did a lot of research to try to understand. It could also be Croatans, but I think it's Croatians. The expedition brought two Croatians back to England with them, and the natives explained how to live on the island, end quote. So that was the first expedition, right? It was kind of like a scout. The next year, in 1857, the second expedition was uh more of a disaster. Relations with the indigenous people were strained, and only 15 men decided to stay back to defend the fort between expeditions. But Sir Walter Raleigh tried for a third time. In 1857, so now we're about three years from the first expedition, Sir Walter Raleigh organized a third and final group to travel to Roanoke and appointed his friend John White as governor of the colony. Unlike earlier voyages, this expedition included women and children. So in August of 1587, a group of about 115 people arrived in America. They were English settlers who had sailed across the Atlantic and landed on Roanoke Island, an island off the coast of North Carolina. When White and the settlers arrived, they found that those 15 men who were left behind from the previous expedition were gone, and only their skeletons were found.

SPEAKER_01 6:11

I wouldn't say that they were gone with their skeletons remaining.

SPEAKER_00 6:15

Well, they were no longer living.

SPEAKER_01 6:16

Yeah, I mean.

SPEAKER_00 6:17

And they I mean they are assuming those skeletons belong to those men.

SPEAKER_01 6:20

Okay, because it sounds like they are elsewhere but left their skeletons behind.

SPEAKER_00 6:26

They were no longer alive, and the only thing that remained was their bones.

SPEAKER_01 6:30

So I I'd say they found them.

SPEAKER_00 6:32

They found their bones. We they they presume. So White re-established relations with the Croatian people, but other native groups who had experienced conflict with earlier English settlers refused to meet with him. The Croatian lived on Croatan Island, now Hatteras Island. They were one of several Algonquin speaking tribes in the area. Other tribes had strained relations with the English due to previous expeditions. But this group, again, in 1587, wanted to be the first permanent English outpost in America. That was the goal. For a handful of years, the colony survived, mostly from supplies that had been sent over from England. So again, John White, right, he's been appointed governor of the island, governor of the colony. Let's talk a little bit about him for a minute. White was born in 1539. He was also an artist and a cartographer. While living on Roanoke Island, White painted several watercolors of the area and the indigenous Algonquin peoples who were native to the area. These works were especially significant because they provide some of the most detailed visual records of an eastern seaboard Native American society. All surviving original watercolors are preserved in the British Museum's print room. White's granddaughter, Virginia Dare, was the first English child born in North America. So later that year, John White set sail for England because he needed to return and bring back more supplies to the colony. The colony was a bit fragile, it wasn't finished, the people living there were hungry and he needed to bring supplies back because they weren't able to sort of figure it out for themselves to kind of stand it up.

SPEAKER_01 8:01

How did he know? What do you mean? How did he know? There's is it was there mail?

SPEAKER_00 8:05

He was living there.

SPEAKER_01 8:06

Oh he's the okay, so he's in, he's there, he's talking to them. And he's like, We're hungry.

SPEAKER_00 8:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:14

So he jumped on the boat.

SPEAKER_00 8:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:16

He couldn't just send somebody.

SPEAKER_00 8:18

No, he needed to go. Because he needed to like petition the queen for money for for supplies.

SPEAKER_01 8:24

How long does that journey take?

SPEAKER_00 8:25

It took several weeks, usually between four and six weeks.

SPEAKER_01 8:29

Oh, it's actually not so bad.

unknown 8:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:31

But I mean, two ways, you know, so you're gone for I mean, yeah, it's a couple months.

SPEAKER_01 8:35

A couple months. Still, uh that's not as bad as I thought it was gonna be.

The Empty Settlement And “Croatan”

SPEAKER_00 8:38

Yeah, sure. His return to England was meant to be brief, but instead Europe caught fire. War erupted between England and Spain, and Queen Elizabeth I conscripted every seaworthy vessel to face the approaching Spanish Armada. When White finally returned on August 18th, 1590, which was actually his granddaughter's birthday. Remember, his granddaughter was the first English person to be born in North America.

SPEAKER_01 9:03

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 9:03

Three years had passed.

SPEAKER_01 9:05

So she was three years old.

SPEAKER_00 9:06

Well, we she wasn't there. What? The colony he had left behind simply vanished. His wife and daughter were gone. His infant granddaughter Virginia was gone. Homes stood empty, there was no bodies, no graves, and no signs of struggle. There was only two messages left behind. One, a single word carved into a wooden fence, Croatian, and the letters CRO carved into a tree. I'm gonna quote again from the History Collection article, quote, All of the buildings had been disassembled, so the people had not been forced to leave in a hurry. The colonists were instructed to carve a Maltese cross in a tree if they were compelled to leave against their will. There was no Maltese cross found at the site. White assumed, with all of these clues, that the colonists had moved to nearby Croatian Island, but bad weather prevented him and his men from going to look for them. His men wouldn't go with him to look for the missing colonists, and they left the next day, end quote. So the the men that John White had come back with with the supplies right when he finally returned three years later, they when they realized there was no colony, they waited less than a day and then they returned without him. They did not stay to help him look or anything. Whatever had happened to Roanoke, we may never know for sure. But so many books, television shows, and movies have speculated through the lens of horror. While we certainly aren't going to solve that mystery in this episode, let's talk about what we do know. The word Croatin, Croatian, refers to two things. One, and the most likely meaning of their message, Croatin is the name of an island south of Roanoke. The message could have meant that the group planned to leave Roanoke and relocate to Croaton.

SPEAKER_01 10:42

Or they're just like, you know what? We're tired of this New England weather, we're going to the Mediterranean.

SPEAKER_00 10:48

True. This also makes sense because there was no distress signal included in the message. Again, they had this kind of like pact, right? That they would use a malt Maltese cross if there was something horribly wrong.

SPEAKER_01 11:00

Speaking of the Maltese cross, I I looked it up because I didn't know what it looked like.

SPEAKER_00 11:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:04

It's the same symbol that the fire at that fire departments use.

SPEAKER_00 11:07

What can you describe it for us?

SPEAKER_01 11:09

So this is a Maltese cross. It's like four Vs. Yeah. But if you look at the firefighter symbol, it is based off a Maltese cross.

SPEAKER_00 11:18

Oh, cool. I never knew that.

Interpreting The Clues And Missed Search

SPEAKER_01 11:20

Yeah, but it's a symbol of protection specifically for people that are willing to lay down their lives to protect others.

SPEAKER_00 11:25

Oh, the bravest. Some theories suggest that the settlers were raided and killed by the Native Americans, and one colonist had survived long enough to leave a message on the tree to tell White what happened when he inevitably returned. But again, because there was no distress signal indicated on the carving of the tree, many think that this theory doesn't have legs. After the Roanoke colonists disappeared in 1590, several investigations were launched to determine what happened. In 1602, Sir Walter Raleigh organized an expedition at his own expense to search for them. The expedition did reach Virginia, but a severe storm forced them to return to England before reaching Roanoke Island. Upon his return, Raleigh was arrested for treason and was unable to organize another mission.

SPEAKER_01 12:08

Raleigh?

SPEAKER_00 12:09

Raleigh is the person that Queen Victoria had sort of first appointed on this mission to settle in the New World.

SPEAKER_01 12:16

Before Jack White.

SPEAKER_00 12:17

He's the one who brought on John White to be like his deputy.

SPEAKER_01 12:20

John White. Sorry, Jack White is from the White Stripes.

Integration Theories And Early Sightings

SPEAKER_00 12:23

Yeah, of course. The plot thickens. In 1603, a second mission to Roanoke, led by Bartholomew Gilbert, was also unsuccessful. A storm blew the expedition off course, and the group that went ashore was killed by Native Americans. The remaining crew returned to England without finding any information about the lost colonists. No definitive answer to the disappearance was discovered. Since the disappearance of the Roanoke colonists in 1590, multiple theories have been proposed. Some rely on historical records and scientific data, while others are more speculative. Such as Let's talk about them. The most widely cited theory is that the colonists joined the local Native American tribes, such as the Croatin, either voluntarily or by necessity. Historical accounts document sightings of Europeans among native groups after the colony disappeared. The Suniga map, drawn in 1607, notes four men from Roanoke living with the Iroquois. In 1696, French Huguenots reported meeting light-haired, light-eyed Native Americans near the Tar River. In 1709, John Lawson recorded Croatons on Croatin Island, claiming to have previously lived on Roanoke Island and to have white ancestors. William Stratchy also reported seeing native villages with two-story stone houses built using English techniques. Another variation of this theory suggests that settlers moved inland along the Alligator River. Archaeological evidence of settlements with Christian marked coffins have been found there, but no definitive connection to the Roanoke colonists have been established. Accounts also exist of colonists being enslaved. Strachy in 1612 reported Europeans living with the Eno tribe and forced to work with copper, though there is no evidence linking them directly to Roanoke. In 2007, the Lost Colony of Roanoke DNA Project was founded by Roberta Estes. The project used historical records, migration patterns, oral histories, and DNA testing to investigate potential descendants among Native American populations. Tests included Y chromosome, autosomal, and mitochondrial DNA. No confirmed descendants have been identified.

SPEAKER_01 14:34

All these seem like Hail Marys. We're never going to get an answer out of this unless there's like some giant historical breakthrough. I don't think any kind of like testing is gonna be able to figure out what definitively happened.

SPEAKER_00 14:47

Well, it was just to say if there's living descendants of these people in the US today, then it's likely that they integrated with tribes, but but it also doesn't mean much that there's not, because even if they did integrate with tribes, it doesn't mean that their bloodlines survived.

SPEAKER_01 15:02

For sure. And also like how do we have and I'm not sure how we even determine like having an appropriate biological sample to compare against.

SPEAKER_00 15:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:11

You can sort of be like, okay, if it you know like this type of European DNA would be evident about, but like there's so many outliers.

DNA Projects And Their Limits

SPEAKER_00 15:19

This also isn't like contained, right? There's so much intermingling over hundreds of years of people from different places than North America and you know, indigenous people in North America, like forcibly and otherwise. So yeah, I get what you're saying about it being a clean test.

SPEAKER_01 15:35

Yeah, so unless they unless some archaeologists like roll a boulder away and find a bunch of people with find like a masquerade jumpsuits to say Roanoke on them.

SPEAKER_00 15:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:45

Uh then I I don't think we're ever gonna know.

SPEAKER_00 15:48

So let's talk about the next theory. Again, the word Croatin was carved into a post at the abandoned colony. Its meaning in this context is uncertain. Journey with me, if you will, on a bit of a side quest conspiracy theory around this word and its connection to other mysteries. Now I want to be very, very clear. This is a conspiracy theory side quest. Shortly before his death, Edgar Allan Poe disappeared for a brief period. When he reappeared, he was delirious, and one of the last words he reportedly spoke was Croatin. Poe's official cause of death is unknown, and his medical records and death certificate are missing. We have an entire series on the life and death of Poe if you want to dive more in on this, which is episode 85. So that's one example. Another example.

SPEAKER_01 16:35

Why is that an example?

SPEAKER_00 16:37

What I'm about to do is read you a list of different notable disappearances that are linked to the word Croatin.

SPEAKER_01 16:43

I understand. Please continue.

Alternative Explanations And Conflicts

SPEAKER_00 16:44

The word Croatin has also been linked to other disappearances. In 1888, the stagecoach robber Black Bart carved Croatin into the wall of his cell before his release. He was never seen again. After Amelia Earhart disappeared in 1937, the word was found in her journal. Horror writer Ambrose Bierce had the word carved into the last bed he slept in before disappearing in Mexico in 1913. In 1921, Croatin appeared on the last page of a logbook of the ship Carol A. Deering, which ran aground near Croaton Island with its entire crew missing.

SPEAKER_01 17:18

This is a this is a spooky word.

SPEAKER_00 17:20

Spooky word. Just worth mentioning in this episode.

SPEAKER_01 17:24

My question is like, how popular was the myth of Roanoke, you know, during most of this time?

SPEAKER_00 17:31

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 17:32

Like was it is it one of those things that only became popular in like the 20th century, or was it uh a popular myth all throughout US history?

SPEAKER_00 17:41

I mean, I would say that it's it was known. Like the it wasn't something that like came back into vogue later. I think it was uh, you know, I don't think it was like top news for a long time, but I do think it was something that's included in history books and people knew about it.

SPEAKER_01 17:57

I mean, everyone loves a good ghost story. Uh and I don't know, maybe it just kind of got hammed up over the years. Or there's just a giant supernatural guy named Crowiton, uh, who's just like walking around and scooping them up.

Disease, Starvation, And Cannibalism Claims

SPEAKER_00 18:08

Scooping them up. More on that later. There's other theories, of course. There's really no evidence for this one, but there's a theory that perhaps they attempted to return to England by ship. There's also theories that they integrated into friendlier tribes further inland, or that they were hit by a natural disaster or starvation, like a hurricane or food shortages, but again, there's no other evidence to support any of those. Another more substantial theory is that they were murdered by native tribes. So Captain John Smith, who is not the hero we believed him to be as children, reported in 1607 that Chief Pohatan claimed to have killed the colonists in retaliation for conflicts with other tribes. Pohatten reportedly showed items taken from Roanoke to support his claim. William Strachy also recorded this account. Historians dispute the story due to the lack of bodies or archaeological evidence. There's also a theory that they were murdered by the Spanish. Some theorize that Spanish forces could have killed the settlers, as England and Spain were at war, and Spain opposed the English colonization of the Americas. However, again, no bodies were found, and evidence suggests that the colony was evacuated rather than attacked.

SPEAKER_01 19:16

I have absolutely no evidence whatsoever.

SPEAKER_00 19:18

As usual.

SPEAKER_01 19:19

I was reading an article about one of the uh no contact tribes in the Amazon.

SPEAKER_00 19:24

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:24

Uh you know, these it's it's so fascinating how they voluntarily, you know, just have complete isolation from the rest of the world. Yeah. Makes so much sense once you realize why. How they are some of the few uh r uh remaining tribes like on the planet because uh of their line in the sand about anybody that tries to break no contact from the outside world is killed. And that seems super harsh, you know, super unreasonable until you realize that all the other tribes were completely decimated by European disease.

SPEAKER_00 20:00

Of course, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:01

And so now it's just zero tolerance, they survive because they just kill because of disease. It makes perfect sense. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:07

I don't know. I I get upset because there's a lot of videos online of like social media influencers or hikers, like people trying to go in and like infiltrate or record, and it's like just let them be. Like, God bless, like they they've created the world and the life that they want for themselves, and they don't need to be brought into the hellscape of the rest of the planet. Like, let them live. They're they're doing great.

SPEAKER_01 20:28

Yeah, it's it's upsetting. This is this is why we can't have nice things.

SPEAKER_00 20:32

No, I actually think it's so cool and admirable, and I don't know, like if some as someone who's so interested in history, it feels like this preservation of something that's so pure and historic and untouched and unruined, and it should be like above like all else. If you are not part of that tribe, you need to figure out how to respect that.

Witchcraft Myths And Spiritual Lore

SPEAKER_01 20:52

As wonderful as cultural exchanges, there should always be some kind of preservation so that everything doesn't need to get completely overrun with influencers.

SPEAKER_00 21:02

And the respective boundaries.

SPEAKER_01 21:04

Boundaries.

SPEAKER_00 21:05

Like boundaries, consent, all the basics.

SPEAKER_01 21:07

Yep, and that's where that's where spears come in.

SPEAKER_00 21:09

There's another theory that the colonists could have been the victims of cannibalism or may have resorted to it themselves to survive. Again, no bodies were found at Roanoke, so there's no direct evidence for this theory. But I'm gonna quote again from the History Collection article. Quote In 1609, in the settlement of Jonestown, Virginia, the colony had to resort to cannibalism to stay alive. It is possible that the people of Roanoke had to as well. The settlers could have been hungry enough to see cannibalism as a viable option. During the investigations into the disappearance of the settlers, local tribes mentioned that there were internal conflicts in Roanoke before everyone disappeared. The people could have resorted to cannibalism because they were hungry and killed themselves off. An outlandish theory, but an interesting one nonetheless. End quote.

SPEAKER_01 21:56

Well, as soon as you said that there's just no bodies, that's what made We think about the no-contact tribes and if like some indigenous tribe was just trying to protect themselves from disease.

SPEAKER_00 22:05

Right.

SPEAKER_01 22:05

I don't know how much knowledge of like viral bacterial infection was available, but if you're trying to quell a disease, you burn the bodies.

The Dare Stones Controversy

SPEAKER_00 22:13

Well, I was gonna say, or that you throw the body you're on an island, you throw them into the ocean.

SPEAKER_01 22:17

Yeah, but um, yes, you do.

SPEAKER_00 22:19

Right? Like, why not? Like, why not just get them off the island if there's something going on?

SPEAKER_01 22:23

You put them on a boat, you push it out real far, and you just dump them with some concrete shoes.

SPEAKER_00 22:28

So this brings me perfectly to the next theory, which is disease.

SPEAKER_01 22:32

Concrete shoes?

SPEAKER_00 22:33

The colonists may have been affected by disease brought on by the new world, which could have caused deaths or forced survivors to leave.

SPEAKER_01 22:40

Or every single person gets wendigopsychosis and leaves.

SPEAKER_00 22:44

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 22:44

To go into the wilderness.

SPEAKER_00 22:45

I mean, again, there was a reports of this internal conflict, and that could have been likened back to people disagreeing about how to handle or contain the disease, right? You just sort of need one survivor that jumps into the water, and you know, I don't know. I think that could be uh could be possible. Yep. All right, get a little spooky with me for a second. Some theories incorporate Native American spiritual beliefs, including spirits that could absorb people into the land or cause them to turn violent. There are two theories related to witchcraft. One suggests the Croatin executed the colonists as witches. The other suggests that colonists were attacked by witches living in the North Carolina woods. The Croatin believed in witches, defining them as people who use black magic to cause harm. There is no evidence that the Croatin executed anyone for witchcraft or accused the Roanoke colonists for being witches. However, the Croatin were known to condemn outsiders they considered dangerous and could have blamed the colonists for spreading disease. Some Native American tribes have legends of witches in the North Carolina woods who harmed others. According to one theory, the Roanoke colonists could have become victims of these witches after leaving the island, which is why they were never heard from again. These theories are not supported by any scientific evidence, of course.

Lessons For Jamestown

SPEAKER_01 24:01

So interesting. Every time I think of witch, I think I I think of like European.

SPEAKER_00 24:06

Right.

SPEAKER_01 24:06

Not like an indigenous witch. Right. It's kind of cool.

SPEAKER_00 24:10

Yeah, it is cool. I mean it's just in which is probably just the word it's being translated to because we don't, you know, because that's the word we know, but it's again they're defining it as somebody who uses dark magic to harm to cause harm.

SPEAKER_01 24:23

Yeah, but I mean, but again, just like the the difference in opinion of witch to which doctor is right.

SPEAKER_00 24:31

It's so interesting, you're right, yeah. All right, I have one more theory that's really juicy.

SPEAKER_01 24:36

What is it?

SPEAKER_00 24:37

Between 1937 and 1940, a series of inscribed stones, now called Dare Stones, were found. They allegedly told the story of the colonists' fate. Some believe they are written by Eleanor Dare, John White's daughter. Most are considered hoaxes, but the first stone is sometimes treated as possibly authentic. It reports that Eleanor's husband and daughter died, seven colonists survived, and the rest were killed by Native Americans. The stone was found in 1937 by a tourist who brought it to Emory University for analysis. Here's what the stone says. Ananius Dare in Virginia went hence onto heaven, 1591. Ain Englishman Shu, John White, Governor VIA, and some of these words are abbreviated. The other side of the stone said that only seven of the Rona colonists were remaining alive, and Native Americans murdered everyone else. It was signed to EWE, believed to be Eleanor White Dare. Branaugh University in Gainesfield, Georgia, catalogs 48 Dare stones, although additional stones have also been reported. Most of the inscriptions in the Branaugh collection are presented as messages from Eleanor Dare, a member of the Rono colony, to her father, Governor John White. Again, because White had left for England, right, in 1758 and returned three years later, the idea was she knew he'd come back, and so she wrote what happened on these stones, hoping that he'd find them and know what happened. But these are not found until the mid-1900s.

SPEAKER_01 26:07

That's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 26:07

So they could be hope, you know, it's very hard to determine.

SPEAKER_01 26:10

Oh, they could not be I see. They could be uh forgeries.

SPEAKER_00 26:13

Yeah, they believe the first one is the most likely authentic, then there's like forty-eight others. So there's there's some you know conflicted beliefs among historians.

SPEAKER_01 26:23

So one for each of the continental United States.

SPEAKER_00 26:26

The inscriptions together tell a story of the missing colonists' fate between 1591 and 1603. Again, according to the stones, the colonists migrated from Roanoke to the Chattahoochee River Valley, near present-day Atlanta, Georgia, in September of 1587. Quoting from the History.com article, quote, other hypotheses hold that they tried to sail back to England on their own and got lost at sea, that they met a bloody end at the hands of Spaniards who had marched off from Florida, or that they had moved further England and were absorbed into a friendly tribe. In 2007, efforts began to collect and analyze DNA from local families to figure out if they're related to the Roanoke settlers, local Native American tribes, or both. Despite the lingering mystery, it seems there's one thing to be thankful for. The lessons learned at Roanoke may have helped the next group of English settlers, who would found their own colony 17 years later, just a short distance to the north at Jamestown. End quote. Beyond the innate intrigue of this historic mystery, there's another reason why we're talking about it today.

SPEAKER_01 27:30

What's that, Abby?

SPEAKER_00 27:31

It's been used time and time again in horror. Now some of these connections to Roanoke and pop culture come with vague spoilers, so you've been warned.

SPEAKER_01 27:39

Storm of the Century.

SPEAKER_00 27:41

Storm of the Century is a three-part made-for-TV miniseries that was released in February of 1999. The script itself was written by Stephen King. Not a source material. He wrote the script, people.

Stephen King’s Storm Of The Century

SPEAKER_01 27:57

You don't say.

SPEAKER_00 27:58

A massive winter storm traps the residents of Little Tall Island, a small, isolated island off the coast of Maine. As the storm hits, a mysterious stranger named Andre Lenoge walks into town and commits a brutal murder, then calmly allows himself to be arrested. From his jail cell, Lenoge begins to demonstrate that he knows everyone's darkest secrets. He claims to be something ancient and powerful, and he issues a chilling ultimatum to the town. Give me what I want, and I'll go away. The storm intensifies, cutting off all help, and the town is forced to decide whether survival is worth moral collapse. In Stephen King's 1999 horror miniseries Storm of the Century, the antagonist Andre Lenoge refers to Roanoke Island and the fate of the lost colony several times. Lenoge claims, centuries earlier, that he forced the inhabitants of Roanoke Island to march into the sea and drown when they refused him something he wanted. This illusion is presented as part of Lenoge's terror towards the islanders in the Storm of the Century. Essentially what he does in this 1999 version of the story he had done.

SPEAKER_01 29:08

He demanded an iPod touch, but they only had an iPod classic.

SPEAKER_00 29:13

Remember an iPod shuffle? How silly. I think my dad still might listen to music on an iPod shuffle. But why can't you choose the order of your music? Why does it why must it be shuffled?

SPEAKER_01 29:25

You couldn't, really?

SPEAKER_00 29:26

Wasn't that the whole point? It was just Well, there's no screen. Yeah. You just like had to go with the vibe.

SPEAKER_01 29:31

I thought, oh, I don't know. I thought you could either put have one giant playlist or shuffle. But I I never had one. I just thought it was neat. The only thing is the charging port was still the headphone jack, I think. Which is just weird. I I my favorite was the iPod Nano, though.

SPEAKER_00 29:47

Mine was the iPod mini. I had a green iPod mini that I loved to death.

SPEAKER_01 29:52

Well, the the Mini and the Classic had this spinning hard drive.

SPEAKER_00 29:56

Uh so you had a lot of the wheel was nice. That was tactily nice.

SPEAKER_01 30:01

Did the nano spin? I don't remember. I don't think uh it did spin, yeah. It was it had a nice wheel. I miss all these things.

SPEAKER_00 30:09

I know, I miss analog. Even that's like not analog technology, but it feels so much more analog than today.

SPEAKER_01 30:14

Well, it's just because it's a device that only does one thing that seems so archaic.

SPEAKER_00 30:19

If anybody has an iPod mini in a in a green color, DM me. Let's talk about it. So back to Storm of the Century. During a dream sequence experienced by townspeople, the island appears deserted and the word Croatin is carved into a tree, directly echoing the historical clue left at the Roanoke colony. The story then links the disappearance to what happened at Roanoke Island centuries before. While this is a fictional and supernatural connection, again rather than a historical explanation, King uses the real mystery of Roanoke, and real elements of it, right? The the carving of the word as part of the mythos of his story. Probably the most popular and most direct reimagining comes from season six of American Horror Story from 2016.

SPEAKER_01 31:03

Have you seen this?

AHS: Roanoke And Modern Retellings

SPEAKER_00 31:04

Only parts of it. I'm not a big American horror story person.

SPEAKER_01 31:07

I've tried to watch it a couple times. It's not it's I don't know why. It's not for me.

SPEAKER_00 31:11

It's not for me. It's not for me either.

SPEAKER_01 31:13

It's so popular though.

SPEAKER_00 31:14

It feels like it's just like horror and gore for the sake of it.

SPEAKER_01 31:17

There's a lot, there's a lot of shock value.

SPEAKER_00 31:19

Yeah, and it's and I'm like, oh, I can never just like connect in enough to like care about a character. I'm just on edge so much that it's not fun for me, I think.

SPEAKER_01 31:28

Which is weird because I feel like horror does so well in anthologies in like bite-sized bits. I don't know, it just never clicked for us.

SPEAKER_00 31:36

Yeah. American Horror Story Roanoke, the sixth season of the anthology series, aired in 2016. It's told in two halves. The first half, My Roanoke Nightmare, uses a documentary-style reenactment to follow Shelby and Matt Miller, a couple who moved to a remote North Carolina farmhouse. The second half, Return to Roanoke, Three Days in Hell, uses found footage to show the couple in a larger group returning to the house, facing escalating supernatural events. The season references the real lost colony of Roanoke. Again, this is an example of a horror story that uses the mystery directly. It uses reference to the word Croatin and other kind of like minor details from the real mystery. The original colonists were isolated, dependent on supplies from England and surrounded by unfamiliar territory and native peoples. Similarly, the Millers in the story and the returning group are cut off from help, creating tension and vulnerability. The series also references the speculation about what happened to the settlers, whether they were absorbed into native populations, attacked, or vanished under unknown circumstances. In the show, supernatural forces stand in for these unknowns, creating horror from history's unsolved mystery. Again, similar to King, by blending real historical disappearances with ghosts, witches, and unexplained events, the season highlights themes of isolation, fear, and the unknown. It shows how the lost colony continues to inspire horror and mystery centuries later. There are two other TV series that reference Roanoke in a much smaller way. One is a series called Sleepy Hollow, which ran from 2013 to 2017. The Roanoke disappearance and Croatin are referenced in various episodes connecting early American colonial mysteries with supernatural elements. Again, the way all of these do. And the show Supernatural, which ran from 2005 to 2020, which mentions Roanoke in some episodes involving cursed lands, disappearances, and haunted settlements.

SPEAKER_01 33:32

Supernatural went for 15 years. Wild. I've never seen an episode. I just know people love it.

SPEAKER_00 33:40

I've seen some. I remember like when it first came on.

SPEAKER_01 33:43

My understanding is it's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_00 33:45

It's wild that it went up to 2020, though, because when I think about it, I think about it as a show that's a very good thing. Early 2000s. Yeah, exactly. The top search on Google is is supernatural really coming back in 2025?

SPEAKER_01 33:56

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 33:56

And the answer is no.

SPEAKER_01 33:57

Oh.

Wider Pop Culture: Film, TV, Games

SPEAKER_00 33:58

There's also a silent film from 1921 that outlines the history leading up to the Lost Colony and the disappearances. It's called The Lost Colony. And you can watch it online at the Digital Archives of East Carolina University. It is, as you can imagine, not politically correct. Why? It's not great.

SPEAKER_01 34:18

Have you seen it?

SPEAKER_00 34:19

I watched clips of it, yes. What's so bad about it? I wouldn't recommend. Another historic retelling was released in 2007, a made-for-tv movie, also called The Lost Colony. Also in 2007, Wraiths of Roanoke. It has a 4.1 star rating out of 10 on IMDB.

SPEAKER_01 34:37

It's not great.

SPEAKER_00 34:38

It was written by Raphael Jordan and directed by Matt Codd.

SPEAKER_01 34:41

I haven't I've I don't know. I've never been a fan of Matt Cod.

SPEAKER_00 34:45

It tells the story of English colonists who arrive on Roanoke Island and find the fort built by earlier settlers abandoned. Soon after, members of the colony began dying under mysterious circumstances. Before returning to England for supplies, John White places his son-in-law and Anaeas Dare in charge. Dare discovers the island is haunted by Norse spirits, which seems unlikely.

SPEAKER_01 35:08

Why?

SPEAKER_00 35:08

And with the help of a friendly Native American, works to free the spirits before the colony is completely destroyed.

SPEAKER_01 35:14

Excuse me, but North America was discovered by the Vikings before the Europe before the uh rest of the Europeans.

SPEAKER_00 35:21

Yeah, but but they brought with them some spirits? How did they do that?

SPEAKER_01 35:26

Well, I'm sure I don't know. They just, yeah. They they always travel with the strength of their ancestors.

SPEAKER_00 35:31

Solomon's Hollow, also from 2007, is an independent film loosely inspired by Roanoke and colonial disappearances. The Colony from 2013 is a post-apocalyptic horror and science fiction movie referencing abandoned settlements, again, loosely inspired by Roanoke's mystery. Alan, I'm I'm only part of the way through. There's so much horror inspired by this. There are tons of short films between like 2000 and 2010 just called Roanoke, which are independent horror shorts that are again telling the same story.

SPEAKER_01 36:04

I'm gonna take your word for it.

SPEAKER_00 36:06

Video games, Assassin's Creed 3 from 2012. What? References the Roanoke settlers in side missions and historical context.

SPEAKER_01 36:14

Okay, this is you either pulled this one from Wikipedia.

SPEAKER_00 36:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:18

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 36:19

Uh yes. I'm sure it's a little Easter egg moment in Assassin's Creed. Sure. Also in two other video games, one called The Secret World, another Evil Dead the Game from 2022. Oh. It includes side lore and locations inspired by haunted settlements, including Roanoke. Sure. And finally, there is a slew of horror novels that use the colony for inspiration. The Lost Colony by Karen Essex from 2001, The Lazarus Project from 2008, The Forgotten Colony from 2007, Croatin from 2001, and several horror and supernatural comics like Witch Doctor from Dark Horse.

Personal Theories And Plausible Endings

SPEAKER_01 37:00

The list goes on and on. Clearly. I mean, yeah, it's such a little contained incident that seems rife for retelling because it's full of mystery.

SPEAKER_00 37:10

It's also fun because I think, okay, yes, there's like an inherent mystery, and you can just make your thing by solving that mystery, right? But I think it's also people generally are like not rooting for English colonizers. So it could be fun to kill them in different ways and play with that and you know make like people are like, okay, like cool, that's fine.

SPEAKER_01 37:35

Uh having colonizers be the the villain is definitely a a trope that's becoming more popular. I immediately think of the game Spirit Island as a board game.

SPEAKER_00 37:46

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 37:47

Uh, but you just play as an island spirit as colonizers come to the island, and as a giant guardian spirit, you have to just you know get rid of them.

SPEAKER_00 37:55

That's fun. Yeah. I like that. Okay, Alan, you have heard all of the theories of of the disappearance of the lost colony of Roanoke. What do you say happened?

SPEAKER_01 38:04

I think I like my own theory.

SPEAKER_00 38:07

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 38:07

That they were wiped out by indigenous tribes. And it's your own theory? It's my own but uh b uh due to uh disease, and they just got rid of the bodies.

SPEAKER_00 38:17

Oh, you think that the colony mostly died of disease, and then the Native Americans wanted to reclaim the land, so they got rid of the bodies to kind of purify the land of the disease?

SPEAKER_01 38:27

I think that they were either killed by the indigenous people and then the bodies were destroyed or thrown into the sea or something. For for me, that seems like the the most plausible uh of why there would be no remains whatsoever.

Why The Mystery Endures

SPEAKER_00 38:42

Here's my theory. They all decide, okay, we gotta go to this other island because we're shit out of luck here. They make some pretty shoddy rafts because again, they're English settlers, so they have no hard skills. They make some rafts, they're like, okay, we're going island topping, right? We're going from Roanoke to Croatan. Here we go. They set sail on their little rafts to try to to sail south to Croaton Island. Tidal wave comes, they all die. There's been no tidal wave theories. They clearly like left, like they they disassembled some of their houses, like they there was no graves, like they think they clearly left the island. They were like, okay, we're gonna go here, we'll come back slowly and pe take pieces of our houses or whatever it is. Let's go, let's all just go and like set up, you know, set up shop. And then something happened on the travel that took them out. Or, you know, maybe they were still on their boats and and the Native Americans saw them and they were like, fuck this, let's take them out before they even get here. Like clearly they're coming here to take our land.

SPEAKER_01 39:37

You just walk along the shore and every time they kind of come back, you just kick kick the boat back.

SPEAKER_00 39:42

Exactly. They have no skills. They're English colonists.

SPEAKER_01 39:45

I feel like they had some skills to get to g get over there. It's a hard life.

SPEAKER_00 39:50

Yeah, but like they didn't last very long consistently. They died over and over and over again consistently.

SPEAKER_01 39:58

You'd hopefully if only they had learned their lesson, just stayed over there.

SPEAKER_00 40:02

Just stayed over there. Alas.

SPEAKER_01 40:05

Then we'd all be European.

SPEAKER_00 40:06

Yeah. We'd have access and have healthcare. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. And so many and so many Native Americans would not have been killed. And Trump wouldn't be president.

SPEAKER_01 40:16

W wouldn't be a president.

SPEAKER_00 40:17

An alternate reality. So why is there such a need to paint a narrative on this historic, unsolved mystery through so many different horror interpretations? Partially, I think a lot of people grew up being taught this piece of history in elementary school. And if it stuck with me the way it stuck with others, then it makes sense that storytellers would try to solve for it. As always, thank you so much for being here, for listening. Stay spooky, stay safe, and we'll talk to you soon. Bye. Bye.