The “Lost Colony” of Roanoke. What happened to them? I bet it was aliens. Definitely aliens.

England and the New World. In 1584, Sir Walter Raleigh was granted a charter to set up a colony in the New World. Ralph Lane and Richard Grenville (Raleigh’s cousin) were in charge. The exhibition was made up entirely of men, most of whom had military backgrounds.

The Colony. The men landed on Roanoke Island (off the Outer Banks) and created a settlement. They had an uneasy relationship with the natives. They would trade for food, but also kidnap them and hold them for ransom.

Don’t take my stuff Things really got out of hand when Lane and Grenville burned down a native village. Why? They thought the native chief had stolen one of their cups. Yikes.

So, that happened. These guys were ill prepared to create a lasting colony. Grenville left to go back to England to get more supplies. In the meantime, Sir Francis Drake stopped by and all the people remaining, including Lane, peaced-out back to England with him.

Let’s try this again…. Raleigh sends another exhibition to the New World, this time under the leadership of John White, an artist. This time they brought women with them. They made more of an attempt to make nice with the Natives

John White leaves The colony was still running short on supplies, forcing John White to return to England. His plan was to make it back ASAP. He didn’t come back for three years. This was due to England’s war with the Spanish. When he did return, he found something very interesting……..

Where is everyone? You guessed it, no one was there. He had instructed them to carve a Maltese Cross on a tree if they had to leave under duress. No cross was to be found.

What he DID find… The houses had been dismantled. The word “Croatoan” was carved on a tree. The letters “CRO” were also carved on a tree.