Terrifying & True | Lost Colony of Roanoke: What Happened to the 1587 Settlers?

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Colonial America was full of strange mysteries, of terrifying realizations, and incredible,

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unrelenting brutality. And most of that
is in the history books. But what

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about colonies in early America that simply
vanished. We're going to talk about the

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most famous one ever right here tonight, what you were about to be based

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on witness accounts, testimal piece and
public record, this is terrifying and true.

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The Lost Colony of Roanoke is a
story that has always captured my imagination

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and I'm excited deep dive in it
tonight. But before I do, I

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want to mention that this Wednesday,
two days from the time that this show

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is published, is our two hundredth
episode of Weekly Spooky, so make sure

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you don't miss it. It's an
extra special episode and it's more of an

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audio drama than a narrated story,
So please celebrate the two hundredth episode with

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me. We'd love to have you
there, and please go to your favorite

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podcasting app and make sure you're subscribed
so you know exactly what's going on right

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here at Weekly Spooky and terrifying and
true. But now, my friends,

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it's about time that we head to
a colony with so many people in it,

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yet no traces were left after these
quick words. People have been around

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for centuries and we've seen the most
absurd disappearances throughout, from plains disappearing into

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thin air to the mystery of the
Bermuda Triangle. Some stories simply don't add

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up. The story of Roanoke is
just another historical mystery, with thousands of

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researchers analyzing what happened to the lost
colony off the coast of North Carolina on

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Roanoke Island, there was once the
Roanoke Colony situated. At the time,

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Virginia was thought to be a part
of that land. Sir Walter Raleigh received

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the land of Virginia in North America
in fifteen eighty four from Queen Elizabeth the

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First. In order to grow their
empire, the British sought to establish a

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presence in the Americas. Captains Philip
A. Mata and Arthur Barlow were dispatched

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by Raleigh to survey the area.
They encountered the locals and learned about Roanoke

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Island. Raleigh came to the conclusion
that this would be an ideal location for

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a colony. Sir Richard Greenville was
in charge of the initial voyage to Roanoke

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in fifteen eighty five. The expedition
arrived one hundred and seven settlers, all

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men, were abandoned by Greenville in
Roanoke, where Ralph Lane was in charge.

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Greenville then made his way back to
England to collect more supplies for the

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camp. The colonists struggled to live
despite constructing a fort. The fact that

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they were at odds with the Native
American population in the area at the time

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didn't help things. The colonists accepted
Sir Francis Drake's offer to carry them back

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to England as he passed by the
settlement. Captain Greenville eventually returned with fresh

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supplies not long after the colonists had
left, only to find that the village

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had been abandoned. He left a
handful of men on the island and returned

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to England. While I'm not sure
about setting up colonies, Captain Greenville sure

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knew how to abandon men. Behind
him. Paclet, Harriet, and White

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convinced Raleigh to try again. Despite
lane colony's abandonment. However, after the

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fighting between Lane's men and the Sacotan
and the passing of Wingina Roanoke Island would

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no longer be secure for English colonization, in part because he thought the Pacific

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Coast lay just beyond the studied parts
of the Virginia domain. Paclet suggested Chesapeake

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Bay as the location for the new
colony. A corporate charter to establish the

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city of Raleigh, with White as
the governor and twelve assistants, was approved

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by Raleigh on January seventh, fifteen
eighty seven. A total of one hundred

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and fifteen people, including Elinor White
and her husband, A Nius Dare,

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who were expecting a child, consented
to join the colony. Most of the

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colonists were Londoners from the middle class
who may have aspired to join the landed

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aristocracy. Along with them were Manteo
and Toway, who had fled the Lane

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Colony with Drake's fleet. This time, there were women and children in the

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party, but no formal military force. The expedition's three ships were the flagship

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Lion, led by White with Fernandez
serving as master and pilot, a fly

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boat under Edward Spicer's leadership, and
a fully rigged penass under Edward Stafford's command.

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On May eighth, the fleet parted
the flagship and Panass anchored at Croatoan

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Island. On July twenty second,
White intended to take the Panass with forty

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men to Roanoke, where he would
speak with the fifteen men Greenville had stationed

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there, then proceed to Chesapeake Bay. The sailors were told to leave the

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colonists on Roanoke by a gentleman on
the flagship, who turned out to be

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Fernandes himself. After he had boarded
the pinnace, White's group discovered Lane's colony

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the following morning. The cottages were
empty and covered in melons, while the

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fort had been destroyed except for a
few human bones that White thought belonged to

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one of Greenville's men who had been
murdered by Native Americans. Beyond that,

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there was no indication that Greenville's men
had ever been there. On July twenty

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fifth, when the flyboat arrived,
all of the colonists got off. Later,

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while alone and Albemarle Sound looking for
crabs, colonist George Howe was murdered

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in cold blood by a Native.
With the aid of Manteo, White sent

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Stafford to mend fences with the Croatans. The Croatan provided details of the assault

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on Greenville's detachment by a confederation of
mainland tribes led by the Wanchesi through the

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Croatan, The colonists attempted to break
a cease fire but were unsuccessful. White

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launched a preemptive attack on Dasamonge Punky
on August ninth, but the enemy had

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fled the village fearing retaliation for Howe's
death, and the English unintentionally attacked Croatan

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looters. The colonists and the Crotons
ties were once more improved by Manteo.

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Manteo was baptized and given the title
Lord of Roanoke and Dacemane Punky for his

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contributions to the colony. Eleanor Dare
gave birth to a daughter on August eighteenth,

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fifteen eighty seven, who was given
the name Virginia in recognition of being

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the first Christian born in Virginia.
Records show that Marjorie Harvier gave birth soon

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after, but no other information is
available about the infant. The colonists had

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made the decision to go fifty miles
up ablemarl Sound. By the time the

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fleet was getting ready to head back
to England in order to convey the colony's

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dire circumstances and request assistance. The
colonists persuaded Governor White to travel back to

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England on August twenty seventh, fifteen
eighty seven. White grudgingly decided to go

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with the fleet. On November fifth, fifteen eighty seven, White arrived back

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in England after a challenging journey.
By this point, news of the Spanish

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armada preparing an assault had reached London, and Queen Elizabeth had forbidden any able

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ship from securing a passage out of
England in order to take part in the

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upcoming conflict. White was allowed to
follow Greenville on a resupply ship when he

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was given permission to lead a fleet
into the Caribbean to battle the Spanish.

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Over the winter, unfavorable winds held
the fleet in port until Greenville got new

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instructions to remain and defend England,
delaying the fleet's scheduled launch in March of

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fifteen eighty eight, The Brave in
the Row, two of Greenville's fleet.

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Smaller ships were deemed unfit for battle, and White was given permission to carry

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them to Roanoke. On April twenty
second, the ships sailed away, but

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in an effort to increase their profits, The captains of the ships made repeated

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capture attempts of Spanish vessels along the
way. They were attacked on May sixth

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by French seafarers or possibly pirates in
the vicinity of Morocco. The Roanoke bound

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goods were robbed, over two dozen
crew members perished, and the ships were

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forced to head back to England.
England kept the shipping restriction in place after

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the Spanish armada was routed in August
in order to concentrate its efforts on putting

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together a counter armada to attack Spain
in fifteen eighty nine. It would take

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White until fifteen ninety before he was
given the go ahead to attempt another resupply.

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Since at least sixteen oh five,
many have speculated that the vanished colonists

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might have blended in with the local
Native American tribes. If this integration was

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effective, the colonists would eventually run
out of European resources ammunition, clothing,

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and the like, and abandon European
culture, such as their language, manner

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of dress, and their style of
agriculture. As the Algonquin way of life

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became more practical, Europeans of the
colonial era noticed that many persons who were

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taken away from European civilization by Native
Americans for protracted periods of time, even

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if they were captured or made slaves, were unwilling to return, whereas the

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opposite was very rarely true, the
Algonquin way of life being in many ways

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preferable to colonial life for Europeans.
Therefore, it makes sense to assume that

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if the colonists were integrated, neither
they nor their offspring would desire to rejoin

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the following English settlers. Most historians
today think that this is the most likely

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explanation for what happened to the colonists
who survived. This raises the question of

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which tribe or tribes the colonists eventually
integrated into. Despite the fact that there

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is only circumstantial proof, it is
commonly acknowledged that the Croatan were the eighteenth

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century Hateras's relatives. The current Hateras
tribe claims to be descended from the Lost

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Colonists and the Croatans. As early
as sixteen o seven, there are accounts

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of pale skinned, blonde haired individuals
among several Native American tribes. Although the

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Lost Colonists are sometimes blamed for this. It may be simpler to explain by

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the considerably great incidents of albinism among
Native Americans compared to those of European heritage.

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According to Dawson from two and twenty, who put forth the idea the

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colonists and the Croatans most certainly merged
and any other explanation was fabricated, the

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puzzle was solved, but this finding
has come under some scrutiny. Archeologist Nick

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Luketti wrote, quote, I have
not seen any evidence at Croatan of artifacts

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that indicate the Englishmen were living there. Professor of archeology A laying Outlaw described

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Dawson's conclusion as quote storytelling, not
evidence based in nation. Furthermore, Dawson's

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two and twenty book The Lost Colony
in had Terrace Island explicitly acknowledged that there

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was no conclusive proof that the colonists
had blended in with the tribe. In

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addition, the book was not peer
reviewed, which left the issue unanswered,

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despite the sensationalist headlines that greeted its
publication. It is said in local lore

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in Dare County that the area that
is now the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge

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once housed a town called beach Land
that was abandoned. A link to the

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lost colony has been suggested by accounts
of miniature coffins in the vicinity, some

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of which contained Christian markings. Engineer
Philip McMullen and amateur anthropologist Fred Willard came

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to the conclusion that Walter Raleigh sent
the colonists to the Alligator River in fifteen

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eighty seven to gather sassafras. Based
on these traditions, all documents indicating that

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the colony was headed for Chesapeake Bay
and that England had lost communication with the

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colony were purportedly fabricated to hide the
operation from Spanish operatives and other prospective rivals.

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By fifteen ninety seven, quietly re
establishing communication with the colony, Raleigh,

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according to McMullan, was merely picking
up the colonist's harvests on his sassafras

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mission. According to this theory,
the colony wasn't actually abandoned until Raleigh died

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in sixteen eighteen and the location of
the colony became public knowledge. McMullan contended

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that at the moment the colonists at
Beachland would have started assimilating with the Croatans.

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This theory is mostly based on oral
tales, unverified beachland reports, and

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a map from sixteen fifty one that
shows a sassafras tree close to the Alligator

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River. The idea that Raleigh built
a sassafras plantation in fifteen eighty seven to

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take advantage of a sharp rise in
crop prices in order to swiftly make up

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for the high cost of the failed
fifteen eighty five colony is, to put

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it mildly seriously flawed. The suggested
financial justification ignores the fact that Richard Greenville's

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privateering paid for the expedition's expenses in
fifteen eighty five. Additionally, sassafras prices

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did not soar in value until the
late fifteen nineties, a long time after

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the colony's founding. In fifteen eighty
seven, p green discovered that Spanish archives

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from the time period contained numerous references
to Raleigh and his settlements while gathering information

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for a nineteen thirty seven stage play. Before White's colonists had even landed,

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Spanish armies had learned of English plans
to create a new base in Virginia in

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fifteen eighty seven and were hunting for
it. The majority of North America was

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included in the Spanish Empires Florida claim, and they did not acknowledge England's right

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to colonize Roanoke or Chesapeake Bay.
Given the Spanish is fifteen sixty five capture

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of Fort Caroline, the colonists probably
understood the danger they posed, but as

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late as sixteen hundred the Spanish were
still looking for the colony in Chesapeake Bay,

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indicating that they were likewise unclear of
what had happened to it. With

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a history of colonization attempts and battles
fought locally with other tribes, it is

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quite surprising how the vanished colony has
near no signs of existence. Today.

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Historians have been able to dig out
names and origins of the colonies and the

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colonists trying to gain control of the
land, but interestingly enough, the colony

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itself truly has vanished. With all
the theories of the lost people and the

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question mark of a colony, the
deeper you dig, the more questions one

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must contend with when it comes to
Roanoke. Kids who grew up in the

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United States probably remember the stories as
a kind of urban legend only taught to

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you in elementary school or maybe junior
high, but this is a story that

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has captured imaginations of many, many
people. One of my favorite examples of

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Roanoke referenced in popular culture is Stephen
King's miniseries Storm of the Century. In

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the miniseries, we're introduced to a
mysterious stranger who claims to be some kind

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of a supernatural being, and he
says that this town, which is an

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island community, very similar to Roanoke, although in modern times, owes him

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something and if they don't come through, they'll end up just like Roanoke.

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And to this day, when I
watch that miniseries, the references to Roanoke

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give me chills. So what do
you think out there? Do you believe

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that the people of Roanoke simply joined
up with the local natives as many Europeans

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did, or do you believe something
sinister happened to them? Whether it was

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from the natives or maybe even Spanish
soldiers or some other force. No one

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knows, and we may never know, but the speculation helps keep legends like

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Roanoke alive and well. So the
next time you're traveling on the wide open

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road, and you decide to stop
on a little enclave in the middle of

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nowhere. Just remember that sometimes even
hundreds of people vanish for no apparent reason.

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Terrifying and True is narrated by Enrique
Kuto. It's executive produced by Rob

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Fields, produced by Daniel Wilder,
with original theme music by Ray Madus.

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If you have a story you'd like
us to cover on the program, send

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us an email at Weekly Spooky at
gmail dot com, and if you want

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to port us in a very direct
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and click on Patreon. For as
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can support us and allow us to
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And I want to see a big
thank you to our Patreon podcast boosters,

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00:19:15.440 --> 00:19:18.079
folks who page us a little bit
more to hear their names on the

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show. And they are bobble Topia, Megan Hua, Julia Kirsch, Christopher

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Sullivan, Brent McCollough, Gino Lyons, Steve King, Karen weeme At,

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Jack Kerr and Craig Cohen. Thank
you all so very much and we'll see

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00:19:30.880 --> 00:19:42.440
you next Monday.