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(clock tower ringing)(crows squawking) (thunder booming) (dramatic music) - this week on buzzfeed unsolved, we discuss what may be the oldest mystery in the united states, thelost colony of roanoke. do you know anything about this one, no? - colonial intrigue. - it's pretty much an entireisland of people vanishing.

- poof. - without a trace. - they poofed. - yeah, i guess you could say it that way. - yeah, we heard aboutthis in grade school. - you learned about this in grade school? - i went to a very grim grade school. - that explains a lot. let's get into it.

on may 8th, 1587,approximately 120 settlers left england and sailed to roanoke island, off the coast of whatis now north carolina, arriving some time in july 1587. the governor of the new1587 roanoke settlement was john white, an explorer and artist. there were a few small attacks(war sounds) from local native americanswithin the first month, and the colonists reportedlydesperately wanted

john white to returnto england and retrieve more supplies for them, suchas food, tools and more people. so on august 25th, 1587,just a month after arriving, white sailed back toengland to gather supplies, leaving behind 115 colonists. 87 men, 17 women and 11 children, including his own daughter,eleanor white dare, who had just given birth to a daughter, and white's granddaughter, virginia dare,

the first baby born in northamerica to english parents. - [shane] whoa. that's cool. - [ryan] yeah, and she's kind of like, at least the name dare is kind of etched into all of our history,like there's dare county. - yeah, i'm familiar with that. it's such a pain in the ass to have to go back to england all the time.

- i've done things where i forget something at home when i go to work. i forget my laptop at homesometimes, i gotta drive back. could you imagine if youwent out on a voyage, and you realized (snapsfingers) fuck, forgot. - food. - (laughing) well, looks likei'll hop back in the boat. see you in three years. - it took three fucking years?

- (laughing) yeah. unfortunately, white's timing was poor. england was on the vergeof going to war with spain, (cannons booming) which had a particularly strong armada, and he was unable to returnto roanoke for some time. it was not until august of1590, three years later, that white would finally makehis way back to the island. to his bewilderment, when white arrived,

he found that the entire colony had vanished without a trace. the only clue left behindwas the word croatoan carved into a fence post,and cro, carved into a tree. if they had the foresightto write that clue, why not leave more clues? - [shane] they didn't have like a fridge that they could put alittle magnet and a note on. - [ryan] (laughing) no, i mean--

- [shane] did they have quills? - [ryan] they obviouslyhad a tree and fence posts that they could carve into. why not carve a little map? - [shane] they could have justadded like a see you there. - [ryan] something likethat, help 'em out. - [shane] fyi went to croatoan. - [ryan] be back never. - [shane] ttyl.

- [ryan] (laughing) see you soon. - [shane] your fam. - [ryan] or not, 'cause we're dead. - if he's sailing back toengland to get supplies, and they get surroundedby natives who say, hey, you're coming with us. and they go, oh you think so? let me grab my knife. oh, we don't have the knives yet.

(ryan laughs) i guess, where do you want us to go? what do you want us, oh youwant us to jump in the ocean? you got it. i'm saying, i'm doingwhatever they tell me. - so you think they lined them up and walked themselves into the ocean. - i think they said, getin a single file line, walk into the ocean.

- [ryan] white thenreportedly made two attempts to sail south about 50 milesto the nearby croatoan island, now known as hatteras island,to search for the colonists. however, according to white, both trips were foiled by storms, and he was forced to turn back each time. because the boat white wasusing was privately owned, he was unable to trylooking for a third time. he returned to europeand moved to ireland,

where he passed away in 1593, never knowing what became of his family. - [shane] what if they hated him? - [ryan] what? - [shane] what if they just hated him? - [ryan] the entire colony hated him and decided we're just gonna bounce-- - [shane] yeah. - [ryan] and leave withoutall of the supplies we needed?

- [shane] i mean, they seemlike they were doing fine. - [ryan] no, because theysent him to go get supplies, that was the purpose of-- - [shane] right, i'm sayingthat's their, that's their like, yeah, you better leave for three years. - [ryan] oh, you're sayingthat they faked starvation? - [ryan] you think theyall were doing a bit? - i think they were doing a bit. good colonial razz.

just like, he's buying it! he's going to that other island! - oh my god. - we got him! he left. they all came back out,had a little pig roast. - the locals are in onit too and they're all snickering behind the bushes. (ryan snickers)

- we got him good. - look, he's sailing away! - what an idiot. (spooky music)- to this day, nobody knows for certain the fate of the lost colony of roanoke. even more chilling, despite115 people disappearing, no bodies or signs of a massgrave have ever been found. historians have theorizedon the lost colony

in the hundreds of years that have passed and plenty of people online have pointed to supernatural causes. none have been able toprovide conclusive evidence. that being said, let'sjump into the theories. the first theory is that the settlers were murdered by a localnative american tribe. in fact, a previous attempthad been made by the english to colonize roanoke island years before

between 1585 and 1586, butthey soon returned to england after attacks from someof the native americans they encountered, as wellas a shortage of food. the governor of the firstroanoke colony, ralph lane, was not known for his diplomacywith the native americans. lane would actually go on to kill the king of the local tribe, wingina, in an attempt to prevent the natives from rising up against the colonists.

- [shane] not the best diplomat. - [ryan] (laughing) no. - [shane] not great negotiation there. - [ryan] i think thisguy was just a little bit of a situation where it's sour grapes. he came, he thought hewas going to be welcomed because he's this english lord. - [ryan] and when someonedoesn't bend the knee, he gets a little pissed off.

- [shane] mm hm. if i'm a native, and i gotpeople trampling around. - [ryan] yeah. - and i'm saying, hey, youguys maybe get out of here? you know, i'm gettingkind of sick of this. you're bumming me out, also, you don't own this fucking land. maybe you could leave. and they're like hm, no!

we're waiting for our friend! he's gonna bring us blankets. i'd be like, alright. let's kill these dudes. i kill 'em. i wanted 'em out ofthere in the first place. so yeah, i'm gonna take alittle broom and a dustpan, mop up their bones,throw 'em in the ocean! (thunder)

- [ryan] this prompted sir francis drake to come rescue the colonistsand bring them back to england. as you know, a differentset of english colonists would return about a yearlater in 1587 and vanish. though, as mentionedbefore, no mass graves or any large scale number ofbodies have ever been found that might support the idea that over 100 people had been murdered. - so there was an attackthe month before he left.

- yes. - i mean, i think we're done here, right? - why do you think we'redone here, there's no-- (ryan stammers) - there's a lot of animosity there. - yeah, but there's no evidenceto that this ever went down. - where do you want the evidence to be? it could be anywhere. - i want--

- you got a big, wide-openwilderness there. you can stuff bones anywhere. - i mean, i'm sure they've excavated it. they've looked for it. - they've excavated the whole-- - it's an island, it's not like it's big. - they could have movedthem off the island. - sure, but there still was no signs that there was a mass attack.

- did they drag the ocean? (ryan laughs)for bones? - i guess not. - also, i mean, it's not like there's forensic teams back then. - yeah, i guess-- - they're not like,we've combed the island. - i guess no one's at their desk-- - the year is 1600.

- (laughing) we're outthere dusting for prints. - we combed it as bestas we could, we looked. i got on top of a large hill and did this. didn't see bones. they vanished. (spooky music) - [ryan] the second theory is that the english settlersjoined a nearby friendly native american tribe and assimilated.

one possible native american ambassador was a man named manteo, whotraveled to england in 1584, but also made a secondyear-long trip after that between the two roanoke expeditions. in fact, he sailed backto roanoke with john white and the new colonists in1587, spending months together on the journey across the atlantic. furthermore, after manteo was baptized upon his return to roanoke,john white declared manteo

to be the chief of theroanoke and croatoan tribes, whom the english called the croatan. this guy, on the way backto the island is just like-- - you will be chief! i say so. i'm a white man. - yeah, well if john saysso, then let's set it up! there's your crown, there's your chair! - what a piece of shit.

- [ryan] however, manteo wasonly from the croatan tribe, not the roanoke tribe. he could not controlthem, and so he ended up going back to croatoanisland with his people, possible returning atsome point to roanoke to take the colonists withhim to croatoan island. in 1888, 54 croatan native americans petitioned congress foraid, describing themselves as a remnant of white's lost colony.

a few months later, the directorsof the ethnological bureau responded writing, quote,it was thought that traces of white blood could bediscovered among the indians, some among they having gray eyes. it is probable that the greater number of the colonists werekilled, but it was quite in keeping with indian usagesthat a greater or less number, especially women andchildren, should have been made captive and subsequentlyincorporated into the tribe.

end quote. in 2015, archeologistsfound a series of objects of european origin on hatteras island, where the croatan tribe resided. this included broken bowls from england, the hilt of an iron rapier sword (sword unsheathing) and a writing tablet made of slate, that may have still hadthe letter m printed on it.

and aglets. the sword is of a type usedin england in the 16th century and the hilt of it would have belonged to an englishman of high standing. the writing tablet would have been used by educated, upper-class europeans. aglets are small copper tubes used before the 17th centuryto secure wool fibers. therefore, these findingswould seem to point

to the presence of colonists of roughly the same time period and classas the people of roanoke. however, most of the europeanfinds on hatteras island were among other objects thatdate back to the 17th century, about 100 years after the disappearance of the roanoke colony. last but not least, thistheory could explain the carving croatoan thatthe settlers left behind, perhaps as a clue to their whereabouts.

- so john white didn't lookfor them on this new island? this-- - he tried to but then the storm. - he failed. so they could havechilled there for a while and then eventually were like, well, hey i heard otherpeople are moving in a couple states over. - i guess.

- near philly. we're gonna go check that out. - possibly.- get some cheese steaks. - [ryan] which bringsus to our third theory, that the lost colonistsdidn't move to croatoan but instead, moved inland. if you'll recall, john white,the governor of roanoke, was also an artist. he was also part of the originalfailed roanoke expedition

and between 1585 and 1593, he created a detailed watercolor maptitled, quote, la virginea pars, end quote, that showsthe north carolina coast and includes both roanokeand croatoan island, which are colored red. the cartography of the map is thought to be extremely accurate,described by museum experts as, quote, the most careful, detailed piece of cartography for anypart of north america

to be made in the 16th century. and, when compared tomodern satellite imagery of the same area, the onlydifferences in the map are the naturally changingshapes of the coastline. yeah this guy wasn'tlooking at google earth. - [shane] no. - [ryan] he was like, i don'tknow how you even do that. i guess i'm not a--- how do you do it? - [ryan] i don't knowanything about cartography.

- you don't.- i'm not a cartographer. - you absolutely do not.- well neither do you. - [shane] well, yeah. - [ryan] i think if youtold me to make a map of hollywood right now, i wouldhave a hard time doing it. - sometimes, if i'm figuring out how i wanna rearrange furniture,i'll make a little map of my room and then, you're like, oh, i didn't even include the closet!

i forgot there's a closet here! i can't even map my apartment! - wait, you've-- - you've never done that? - you make maps of your room? - i think we had a map off, i would win. - i would be, i'd be devastated. at a glance, this seemedlike nothing more than a map but upon closer inspection,this map was revealed

to perhaps hide secrets that seem straight out of thefilm national treasure. - [shane] i was gonna say! - [ryan] i knew you wouldlike a nick cage reference. it's one of nick cage's best performances. - [shane] it stinks. - [ryan] the declaration of independence. in 2012, a nonprofit organization called the first colony foundation

requested that the british museum reexamine two small patches on the map. using patches to cover mistakes or damage was a common technique in16th century map making, because maps took so muchtime and work to create that starting over wasn't a viable option. using x-ray spectroscopy, infrared light, and other imaging techniques,the british museum was able to determinethat the smaller patch

was covering a four-pointedstar outlined in blue and filled in with red. according to the british museum's report, quote, while the detailedinterpretation of this symbol is beyond the scope of this study and is best left to experts in the field, it seems certain to representa fort or fortification. in other words, the starmay show the location of a fort inland from roanoke island,

on the western side of albemarle sound, where the colonists could have resettled. he covered it up and theyfound it by using light, and i'll, here i'll demonstrate this. i actually prepared this for you. this is the map, right? - yeah, i know how light works. - yeah. that's the map.

- yeah, you put a lightunderneath, you'd see-- - yeah, look how dope this is. just a little map thatyou could see the star! - i know what light looks like-- - it's so cool! - when you shine itthrough a piece of paper. - but like, i'm just saying,it's freakin' awesome. - you didn't prepare enoughto put a star on there? - there's a--

- oh. i actually couldn't see it. there you go. - now you could see the star. yeah, it's pretty good, right?- it's good. good work. - [ryan] further adding to the mystery, when examined closely, it was discovered that there are actually light markings

of this possible fort ontop of the patch as well. the british museum'sreport posits the markings faded over time, but italso proposes, quote, one other possible ifrather romantic explanation is that these lines could reflect the use of an invisible ink. an ink that would only berevealed when treated in some way, usually by applying heat, end quote, as demonstrated in thefilm national treasure.

these invisible markingscould be accomplished by using milk or lemon juice. - [shane] great. i'm on board. - [ryan] i will say this. - [shane] what? - [ryan] i tend to leanthat it's invisible ink, mainly because, why did theycover it up with a patch only to write on top of itagain the same exact thing?

- right. like, he was like, i'll put this here. oh, shit. maybe i don't want peopleto know about this. patch it up. maybe i want some peopleto know about this. (clicks tongue) - yeah.- squeeze a lemon. - then he gets to--- milk a cow.

doot doot doot doot. - and then he gets to nick cage it. - [ryan] if this fort wasindeed intended to be hidden, why the secrecy? some speculate white could have wanted to hide the colony's locationfrom the english court, which may have contained spies. whatever the marks indicate,they believe this evidence supports the idea that the settlers

could have left roanoke islandfor this inland location. interestingly, johnwhite himself reportedly made an oblique reference to a location 50 miles inland from roanokeisland in his account of what happened when he returned. excavations on this site have turned up evidence of europeans, including surrey-hampshire borderware, a type of ceramics that was discontinued soonafter jamestown in 1624,

and aglets, the aforementioned copper tube used before the early 17thcentury to secure wool fibers. this is the best indicationof tying the location to roanoke colonists,though these items cannot, without a doubt, be datedto the same exact timeframe. even if it's eventuallyconfirmed that the colonists moved inland or to croatoan island, many possible unanswerablequestions remain, such as why did they leave roanoke island?

and what happened to them afterward? since no definitive existence of any of the 115 lost colonists was documented after august 25th, 1587,these questions have led some to point to supernatural causes. no no no no no no. - [ryan] what's wrong? - i'm just, i'm bracingmyself for whatever stupid-- - [ryan] whatever truth comes out here?

- don't. no. - [ryan] is that what you're scared of? - that's not what i'm expecting. look, i mean, once you get through the stuff that makes sense,you tend to land on aliens. - [ryan] which bringsus to our fourth theory. that the colonists'disappearance was an instance of mass abduction by aliens.

some believe aliens would explain why the colonists' bodieswere never discovered. and if croatoan was in fact aclue to where they were going, then why did the colonists not offer any other substantial clues,such as a note, or a map? perhaps, because theyleft the island in haste and not on their own volition. and while i'm going off the deep end, let me end this theorywith one last point.

what if the hidden symbol on the map is not in fact a fort, but rather, a craft to signify a landing spot? obviously, if this weretrue, it would absolutely be something that would be hidden. - [shane] it's mass abduction! maybe they all lined up in a row and just got in thetractor beam one at a time. - [shane] that's likewhen you go to the bank

and they, it's one of those little chutes. just people lining up to get-- - oh yeah, just go into the--- in that pneumatic tube. - [ryan] just sucked up into the tube. - thoonk.- yeah. - [shane] thoonk. thoonk. - that's a knowledge bomb right there. - no, that's not a knowledge bomb.

- i just did a airstrike. i did a flyover. you're down there going, yeah,they walked into the ocean! and i dropped the bomb right on top of your big, stupid head. - i don't think that's-- - and now, you're startled by the truth. you're dazed. - i think you have altitude sickness.

- there's stars awayfrom, rounding your eyes. - there's no stars here. i think you're insane. - no. don't you think that's pretty cool? that that could in fact bea sign, like a crop circle? - yeah, but again, ifyou're already stressed out that these people wrote on a tree something without any context,

why is he not gonna write on the map, hey, we saw something weird here, instead of just puttinga strange little symbol. - because maybe they assimilatedwith the alien culture and it's much better there. - they're on the prairies andfields of alien landscape, eatin' little alien berries. eatin' alien popcorn with halfalien kids and half human. - you're hearing yourselfsaying these things, right now.

you're committing to this. this is what you want to be known as. - [ryan] shockingly, aliens is not the most outlandish theory. - what did, wait. wait, hang on.(ryan laughing) it didn't even occur, i didn't even, i didn't even hear thewords that you were saying when you said, bringsus to our next theory

because i thought that wasas dumb as it was gonna get. - i told you, you have noidea where this is going. and with that, we have our fifth theory, that the lost colony of roanoke disappeared due to a zombie plague. (ryan laughing) hear me out. i got some, i got some,i got some stuff here. - read it.

- [ryan] a researcher named andre freeman, from the zombie research society, believes zombies would explainthe swift disappearance. quote, a sudden undeadplague sweeping through the unprepared colony would quickly become a horrific, violent feast, leaving not a single man, woman or child alive. roanoke was after all an island, so it would conceivablycontain the infection

to the confines of the shoreline. before you tune out, harvardarcheologist lawrence stager claims he actually discovered evidence that would suggest masscannibalism on roanoke. granted, roanoke was experiencingthe most extreme drought in the area in 800 years, sosome would say this evidence points to the fact thatcolonists turned to plain old cannibalism ratherthan the walking dead. - [shane] you thinkthat's maybe more likely?

- [ryan] maybe. what if this is the onlycase of zombies ever and because it was on anisland, it was contained, so therefore it would never happen again? - what if, it's not? there's nothin'. - there is that bath salts thing where someone thoughtthat guy was a zombie. - he was alive!

he had a beating heart. - yeah, they were poppin' him with bullets and he was just taking them. - yeah, 'cause he was on drugs, ryan. - he was getting peppered. he was like, feed me more bullets! yeah! in the end, the mystery ofroanoke continues to baffle. did they simply relocate, perhaps joining

a neighboring tribe? were they killed due totensions with the locals? or, does the answer liebeyond our comprehension? the true fate of the legendarylost colony of roanoke remains unsolved. (creepy music) - hey ryan, i like your shirt. - thanks, i like yours too. - thanks.

- [both] buy it here.

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