0:02 [SPEAKER_00]: In the late 16th century, a group of English settlers landed on Roanoke Island, ready to start a new life in the new world. 0:12 [SPEAKER_00]: But soon they all vanished without a trace. 0:16 [SPEAKER_00]: Poof gone. 0:18 [SPEAKER_00]: So where do they go? 0:26 [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome back, friend, to Home Town History. 0:29 [SPEAKER_00]: And in today's episode, we're going to try to solve a mystery. 0:33 [SPEAKER_00]: The mystery of the Lost Colony of Ronaoke. 0:42 [SPEAKER_00]: Let's rewind. 0:44 [SPEAKER_00]: The Ronaoke Colony was an attempt by Sir Walter Wally to establish the first ever permanent English settlement in America. 0:53 [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, Raleigh, as in Raleigh, North Carolina. 0:58 [SPEAKER_00]: The initial attempt to establish a colony in Virginia was successful, mainly because of a military centric plan led by Sir Walter Raleigh. 1:09 [SPEAKER_00]: Then in the year 1587, a second voyage was set in motion, where a group of 120 people started their journey from the shores of England. 1:19 [SPEAKER_00]: bound for Roenoke Island, situated along the coast that would eventually become North Carolina. 1:27 [SPEAKER_00]: And leading this ambitious group was the governor of the new 1857 Roenoke settlement, John White, a man's skill not only in exploration, but also in the arts. 1:42 [SPEAKER_00]: But this journey wasn't exactly smooth sailing. 1:45 [SPEAKER_00]: The boat arrived at the island around July, and in the initial weeks on Rowan Oak Island, the settlers found themselves encountering some problems, with the people native to the region. 1:58 [SPEAKER_00]: These encounters, though small, added a layer of difficulty to their new settlement. 2:05 [SPEAKER_00]: As days turned into weeks, the settlers found themselves facing a dangerous problem. 2:11 [SPEAKER_00]: The lack of vital supplies, 2:14 [SPEAKER_00]: They needed more food, tools, and people to support them, and so, faced with the desperate pleas of his fellow colonists, John White made his way back to England. 2:27 [SPEAKER_00]: He left the colonists, including his own daughter, in search of the provisions that could sustain their existence in this new world. 2:36 [SPEAKER_00]: But the colonists and white were expecting this journey to be a simple one. 2:40 [SPEAKER_00]: reach England, pick up supplies, and head right back. 2:45 [SPEAKER_00]: That was the plan anyway. 2:50 [SPEAKER_00]: As White said off, the colonists were filled with hope, that their leader would return with the things they needed for survival. 2:58 [SPEAKER_00]: Waiting and wandering, three years went by, just like that. 3:03 [SPEAKER_00]: It wasn't white's fault, though, because England had its fair share of chaos happening at the time. 3:10 [SPEAKER_00]: The country was in the grip of tensions, and the threat of the Spanish Armada was upon the nation. 3:17 [SPEAKER_00]: To top it all off, John White had some issues of his own. 3:21 [SPEAKER_00]: The ship that he was on struggled to lift his anchor, leading to significant injuries among the crew during the effort. 3:29 [SPEAKER_00]: Their return to England was further delayed by unpredictable and weak winds, followed by a northeast storm, resulting in starvation and scurvy deaths among the sailors. 3:42 [SPEAKER_00]: On October 16th, 1887, the crew finally reached Smurwick on the west coast of Ireland. 3:49 [SPEAKER_00]: So white could make his journey down to Southampton. 3:53 [SPEAKER_00]: Upon his return to England, he found that Queen Elizabeth the First had recently implemented a ban on all ship departures, because of the threat of the Spanish Armada, which despite its reputation for being unbeatable, was eventually defeated. 4:11 [SPEAKER_00]: Adding to the troubles, white also encounter delays and obtaining necessary supplies for the colonists. 4:19 [SPEAKER_00]: The bureaucratic process, in general uncertainty of the times, made white feel as if the universe was conspiring against him. 4:29 [SPEAKER_00]: In an attempt to help Rowanoke in early 1588, white finally managed to obtain two small sailing ships, called the Brave and the Row. 4:38 [SPEAKER_00]: Since neither of them was intended for combat, they were available to sail to the new colony in America. 4:45 [SPEAKER_00]: And because these weren't fit for combat, when the ships were attacked by French pirates, absolutely nothing could be done to defend the people, or the supplies. 4:58 [SPEAKER_00]: in this bombardment forced White and his crew to return to England, empty handed. 5:04 [SPEAKER_00]: At this point, White felt misfortune was his constant companion. 5:10 [SPEAKER_00]: It had been a little over a year now, and his colony was surely on the edge. 5:16 [SPEAKER_00]: Back in Rowanoke, the colonists had a daunting task ahead of them. 5:21 [SPEAKER_00]: To sustain themselves, using an already low supply of necessities for no one knows how 5:29 [SPEAKER_00]: months turned into years, and there was no word from John White or Sir Walter Raleigh. 5:36 [SPEAKER_00]: How much longer could they go on like this? 5:41 [SPEAKER_00]: It wasn't until March 1590, around three years after his departure, that white finally set out fully equipped for Ravanaugh. 5:51 [SPEAKER_00]: The threat of the Spanish invasion was gone, and Sir Walter Rawley managed to arrange a rescue mission for the abandoned Rowan Oak colony, sending the ships help well and moonlight on their voyage. 6:05 [SPEAKER_00]: The journey back to Rowan Oak was no picnic, because white voyage was filled with private hearing actions and naval engagements, which delayed his arrival even further. 6:17 [SPEAKER_00]: Once they reached the outer banks, adverse weather and treacherous currents made the landing extremely difficult, resulting in the loss of seven sailors. 6:29 [SPEAKER_00]: Now white was a realistic man, and he didn't exactly expect to be greeted with open arms. 6:35 [SPEAKER_00]: He knew the numbers on the island would be significantly lesser than how he left them. 6:41 [SPEAKER_00]: But what he saw, no one could have prepared him for. 6:46 [SPEAKER_00]: Governor White set foot on Rowan Oak Island on August 18, 1590 on the 3rd birthday of his darling granddaughter. 6:56 [SPEAKER_00]: When White left, there were 117 people on the island. 7:01 [SPEAKER_00]: And now, there wasn't even one. 7:06 [SPEAKER_00]: The island had been abandoned. 7:09 [SPEAKER_00]: no trace of the settlers, or of any struggle. 7:13 [SPEAKER_00]: Nothing. 7:15 [SPEAKER_00]: It would have been one thing to find that the people had succumbed to the harsh conditions that they were in, but they had just disappeared. 7:24 [SPEAKER_00]: Almost as if they were never even there. 7:27 [SPEAKER_00]: The only thing left behind was a message. 7:32 [SPEAKER_00]: As White explored the deserted area, trying to figure out what happened, a mysterious sign caught his attention. 7:40 [SPEAKER_00]: Carved into a fence post was the word, Krowatawan. 7:44 [SPEAKER_00]: In nearby, the same word was carved into a tree, as C-R-O. 7:51 [SPEAKER_00]: As simple and vague as these words were, they were the only remnants of the lost colony of Rona. 7:58 [SPEAKER_00]: These carvings might have meant the colony managed to relocate and fine-ref huge in a nearby Croteau in Ireland, which was named after a local native American tribe. 8:09 [SPEAKER_00]: More importantly, the absence of a Maltese cross symbol, which would have indicated a departure under Doras, gave white a glimmer of hope that maybe his family was still safe. 8:23 [SPEAKER_00]: White knew that his next destination would be Croateau and Island, which was just south of Rowanoke, and he had his ships. 8:33 [SPEAKER_00]: But it seems, once again, the universe wasn't on his side. 8:39 [SPEAKER_00]: White's attempts to sail to Croateau and Island were ruined by storms on two occasions. 8:46 [SPEAKER_00]: The ships had already lost three anchors and couldn't afford to lose another. 8:52 [SPEAKER_00]: So ultimately he had to return to England, October 24th, 1590. 8:58 [SPEAKER_00]: He died just three years later, in 1593. 9:03 [SPEAKER_00]: never learning what happened to his daughter, granddaughter, and the other colonists. 9:09 [SPEAKER_00]: In a final letter to the British writer, Richard Haclude, he wrote that he hands their fate to the merciful help of the Almighty. 9:18 [SPEAKER_00]: This failure was possibly the greatest regret of White's career, but the mystery remains. 9:24 [SPEAKER_00]: What happened? 9:28 [SPEAKER_00]: In the years following this, many other attempts were made to uncover the truth about what happened in those three years. 9:37 [SPEAKER_00]: Sir Walter Raleigh was obsessed with locating the missing colony and worked on the case between 1595 and 1602. 9:47 [SPEAKER_00]: But it's also possible that his motives were not out of concern, but drive to maintain his claim on Virginia. 9:55 [SPEAKER_00]: Rawley's Voyages included a 1595 Transatlantic Journey, where he claimed to be searching for the lost colonists. 10:03 [SPEAKER_00]: Later in 1602 he found an expedition to the outer banks to resume the search. 10:09 [SPEAKER_00]: But this mission was hindered by bad weather, putting an end to any attempts for the rest of the year. 10:16 [SPEAKER_00]: So, another attempt to uncover the truth happened in 1603. 10:21 [SPEAKER_00]: And Bartholomew Gilbert, by the next petition, to find the Romano colonists. 10:28 [SPEAKER_00]: Unfortunately, bad weather and a tragic encounter with Native Americans led to the failure of this mission. 10:41 [SPEAKER_00]: By 1609, Rumors reached England that the Rowano colonists have been massacred. 10:47 [SPEAKER_00]: William Strachy, arriving in Jamestown in 1610, provided an account suggesting that the colonists had peacefully co-existed with a tribe, beyond power-tantaratory for 20 years. 11:02 [SPEAKER_00]: Strachy's narrative introduced more elements of tragedy and survival, claiming that seven English individuals had escaped the attack, and lived under the protection of a chief 11:15 [SPEAKER_00]: After that, multiple investigations were held into this disappearance, but none of them were conclusive. 11:24 [SPEAKER_00]: No one really knew what happened, and no one had ever heard from those colonists. 11:30 [SPEAKER_00]: Of course, the internet loves a good conspiracy theory, and since this mysterious incident, a number of theories about the lost colony have been proposed 11:41 [SPEAKER_00]: Some are observations based on the basis of the facts available. 11:46 [SPEAKER_00]: Others are just conspiracy theories, which is common when something strange like this happens. 11:53 [SPEAKER_00]: One of the most prominent theories surrounding the fate of the lost colonists was that they tried to relocate to their original destination in Chesapeake Bay. 12:04 [SPEAKER_00]: This theory was proposed by David Bears' Quinn, and is rooted in the analysis of known facts surrounding the case. 12:12 [SPEAKER_00]: He speculated that the colonists simply could not wait any longer because supplies were low and would end soon enough, so they used smaller boats to move to the Chesapeake Bay. 12:26 [SPEAKER_00]: But some colonists would have stayed at Crowitone, intending to guide white whenever he returned 12:33 [SPEAKER_00]: But, since White was not able to locate anyone, Quinn suggested that maybe the majority integrated with the Chesapeyans, while those at Crowa-Towen blended into the Crowa-Towen tribe. 12:47 [SPEAKER_00]: This was making some sense, but there was one problem. 12:51 [SPEAKER_00]: Quinn's theories relied on accounts told by William Strachy, so all of this could have been speculation at best. 13:02 [SPEAKER_00]: During this time, another prevailing theory emerged. 13:07 [SPEAKER_00]: Basically, the colonists might have assimilated into nearby Native American tribes. 13:12 [SPEAKER_00]: They waited and eventually lost faith in white. 13:16 [SPEAKER_00]: So they gradually adopted the Algonquin lifestyle, discarding their European supplies and cultural elements, just to survive. 13:26 [SPEAKER_00]: It was a pretty bold theory, and many people did not seem to accept it, but there was some basis to it. 13:34 [SPEAKER_00]: Historical observations do indicate that individuals removed from European society by native Americans for too long, resist returning to their roots. 13:46 [SPEAKER_00]: The Croateau Intrib is widely accepted as a potential link to the colonists. 13:51 [SPEAKER_00]: particularly because it was the one word that was left behind on Romano Island. 13:58 [SPEAKER_00]: Another intriguing idea was that the colonists faced with uncertainty and challenges in the new world, attempted to sail back to England themselves. 14:09 [SPEAKER_00]: Not the wisest thing to do, given the unpredictability of the weather, but you can also see why they might have considered the idea. 14:18 [SPEAKER_00]: The theory centers on the small sailing boat, called Apenas, left behind by the 1587 expedition. 14:26 [SPEAKER_00]: This was a smaller vessel capable of transatlantic foiages. 14:31 [SPEAKER_00]: Now there are a number of different things that can have happened here. 14:36 [SPEAKER_00]: The colonists might have opted for a direct course to England to avoid the risks of the standard route across the Atlantic, which involved a stop in the Caribbean 14:47 [SPEAKER_00]: The Spanish attacks were still going strong, thanks to their opposition to English colonizations in the region, so the colonists couldn't risk stopping anywhere. 14:56 [SPEAKER_00]: It's also possible that the penist was not large enough to carry all 117 colonists, so it could only accommodate a select group. 15:08 [SPEAKER_00]: So even if they were successful in leaving the island, no one would know what happened to the ones left behind. 15:16 [SPEAKER_00]: Adding to that, the lack of concrete evidence of anyone leaving the island, plus details about the condition of the boat, and the colonists sailing capabilities, made it seem impossible that they'd venture out to see like that. 15:32 [SPEAKER_00]: The next interesting take on this mystery, ain't quite a while later. 15:36 [SPEAKER_00]: In 2006, writer Scott Dawson introduced a theory centered around an intriguing artifact, 15:45 [SPEAKER_00]: The tree with the word CRO carved into it. 15:49 [SPEAKER_00]: Similar to the Kroatawan inscription found at Rowanoke in the initial investigation. 15:55 [SPEAKER_00]: According to Dawson, CRO could signify a relocation from Kroatawan Island to join the quarry on the mainland, near Lake Metamiskeet. 16:08 [SPEAKER_00]: It was definitely a good hypothesis, but the theory did end up facing several challenges. 16:14 [SPEAKER_00]: The primary issue lay in the interpretation of the CRO inscription, as a deliberate message from the colonists. 16:23 [SPEAKER_00]: People argued that the faint marking could be a result of natural processes, like tree growth, weathering, or even unrelated human activities, possibly a random carving that had nothing to do with the missing settlement. 16:38 [SPEAKER_00]: So the lack of explicit evidence, connecting the inscription to the colonists, intentional communication, raised doubts, but that's not all. 16:49 [SPEAKER_00]: A study was conducted in 2009 regarding the tree's age, and the results were inconclusive, which added another layer of uncertainty. 17:02 [SPEAKER_00]: and then came the Dare Stones. 17:06 [SPEAKER_00]: During the years 1937 and 1941, a series of inscribed stones were discovered, apparently written by Eleanor Dare, the daughter of John White. 17:19 [SPEAKER_00]: These stones told of the travelings of the colonists and their ultimate deaths, but a majority of historians 17:29 [SPEAKER_00]: Only the first stone is sometimes regarded as genuine, and different from the rest, based on linguistic and chemical analysis. 17:39 [SPEAKER_00]: This makes it one of the two only pieces of evidence, directly linked to those of the colonists. 17:45 [SPEAKER_00]: The first being the carving of the word Croit-Thouan. 17:49 [SPEAKER_00]: But let me stop here and ask you. 17:51 [SPEAKER_00]: Did you notice what is missing from this list of speculations? 17:56 [SPEAKER_00]: The thing that pretty much defines a mystery is conspiracy theories, and we've learned quite a few already, but we haven't yet stepped into the truly bizarre theories yet, because any unexplainable, odd incident with widely disputable answers is eventually forced into one box. 18:17 [SPEAKER_00]: Aliens. 18:19 [SPEAKER_00]: That's right, some speculated that the colonists vanished due to mass abduction by extraterrestrial beings. 18:27 [SPEAKER_00]: The absence of any bodies fuel this theory, because of anyone on the island died of starvation. 18:34 [SPEAKER_00]: You would still find their remains there. 18:37 [SPEAKER_00]: Of course there was nothing to support this particular theory, but it didn't stop speculations from running wild. 18:45 [SPEAKER_00]: In another rather unconventional twist, some people also proposed that the colony succumbed to a zombie plague. 18:53 [SPEAKER_00]: That a sudden undead outbreak, it swiftly wipe out an unprepared community. 18:59 [SPEAKER_00]: The island's isolation would have confined the infections to its shores, while most dismissed this as fiction, this theory surprisingly gained some support from Harvard Archaeologist Lawrence Stagger. 19:13 [SPEAKER_00]: who claimed that there are instances of people turning to cannibalism in situations of drought or starvation. 19:21 [SPEAKER_00]: Whether it's a plausible idea or a conspiracy theory, they remain to be ideas, adding layers to the enduring mystery of Romanoke. 19:31 [SPEAKER_00]: But the absence of conclusive evidence has kept the truriancer of the Romanoke mystery to be elusive. 19:39 [SPEAKER_00]: Lost in the pages of history, 19:42 [SPEAKER_00]: Still, research into the mysterious disappearance has continued to move through different phases, with new interest and methodologies employed over the years, like using trees to understand the climate years ago. 19:58 [SPEAKER_00]: In 1998, climatologist David W. Stahl, an archeologist Dennis B. Blanton, conducted a significant study using bald cypress tree rings, 20:09 [SPEAKER_00]: The focus of the research was on tide water, where the Rowano colony was located during the crucial years between 1587 and 1589. 20:19 [SPEAKER_00]: The result of their analysis brought forward a new revelation, and extreme drought had gripped the tide water area during this period. 20:30 [SPEAKER_00]: the tree rings, like historical records, and bettered in nature, and accated that the years between 1587 and 1589 experienced the worst growing season, and 800 years. 20:45 [SPEAKER_00]: What makes this discovery particularly intriguing is its correlation with historical records. 20:52 [SPEAKER_00]: It aligns with a concerned express by the Croate Talon, the native American tribe associated with the Rhono colonists, 21:00 [SPEAKER_00]: The first colony foundation in 2011 discovered patches on Whites 1585 map, and later named a potential location, Site X. 21:12 [SPEAKER_00]: At Skavations in 2017, found tutor pottery and weapons, suggesting a small group of colonists. 21:21 [SPEAKER_00]: The challenge is distinguishing the origins of these artifacts, 21:25 [SPEAKER_00]: Later in 2019, plans for further research in the Sam and Creek State Natural area were announced, showing the continued interest in the matter. 21:37 [SPEAKER_00]: But things have not been easy for those who are trying to solve this mystery. 21:42 [SPEAKER_00]: Despite considerable technological advancements since the disappearance, the mystery is no closer to being solved than it was. 21:53 [SPEAKER_00]: So why is it so impossible to find the answer to this? 21:57 [SPEAKER_00]: The fact is that archeologists face a considerable challenge and distinguishing artifacts from the 1587 colony from those of the 1585 outpost or items traded with Native Americans to definitely link those items to the lost colony they need something way more concrete like buried remains of the colonists which of course are still missing 22:25 [SPEAKER_00]: Another obstacle here is shoreline erosion. 22:29 [SPEAKER_00]: The northern shore of Rono Island has lost 928 feet of land between 1851 and 1970. 22:37 [SPEAKER_00]: Extrapulating this trend to the 1580s suggests that parts of the settlement might now be well underwater. 22:47 [SPEAKER_00]: So any signs of life or artifacts are lost with it. 22:52 [SPEAKER_00]: but the research continues, and the interest grows. 22:58 [SPEAKER_00]: After this mysterious disappearance, artists have been inspired to make movies, novels, and other content inspired by it. 23:07 [SPEAKER_00]: In the 1605 comedy play, Eastward Ho, the lost colonists were humorously imagined to have intermarried with Native Americans, creating a whole country of English people. 23:21 [SPEAKER_00]: Then there was the mention of the 1587 colonists, in George Bancrofts, a history of the United States, it emphasized Raleigh's nobility and the tragic loss of the colony, and it captured the public's imagination. 23:37 [SPEAKER_00]: The term the lost colony, first appeared in Eliza Lane's Fort Cushing's 1837 historical romance, Virginia Dare, or the lost colony, 23:49 [SPEAKER_00]: Virginia was the name of John White's granddaughter, and she was the first child born in the settlement. 23:56 [SPEAKER_00]: The 19th and early 20th centuries saw a surge in popularity for the lost colony in Virginia there, aligning with debates on immigration and race. 24:07 [SPEAKER_00]: Today Virginia there is part of the American myth and folklore, representing things like innocence, purity, new promise, and hope. 24:17 [SPEAKER_00]: but she has also become somewhat of a symbol of white nationalism. 24:22 [SPEAKER_00]: Because for some residents in North Carolina, she symbolizes the desire to keep the region predominantly of European descent. 24:31 [SPEAKER_00]: In the 1920s, a group here opposed giving black women the right to vote, saying that North Carolina must remain white in the name of Virginia Dare. 24:45 [SPEAKER_00]: The whole tragedy of the lost colony seems to have become something completely different, but we still have internet sluice and historians working to find answers. 24:57 [SPEAKER_00]: Answers that might put some misunderstandings and speculations to rest. 25:04 [SPEAKER_00]: No one knows what happened to them in those three years. 25:07 [SPEAKER_00]: I can only imagine the fear and hopelessness. 25:11 [SPEAKER_00]: Those people felt. 25:13 [SPEAKER_00]: They came to live an exciting life in a brand new world, and maybe it went well, but maybe it didn't. 25:21 [SPEAKER_00]: The only legacy they left behind was questions, many unanswered questions. 25:28 [SPEAKER_00]: That is it for this episode, friend. 25:31 [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for listening to Home Town History, and be sure to follow along for more stories and mysteries from the past.
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