
Sometime between the colony’s founding in 1587 and the return of its leader, John White, in 1590, the settlement on Roanoke Island disappeared without a trace. That’s right, 115 people just vanished into thin air.
Intriguingly, however, this disappearing act wasn’t done entirely without a trace. All that remained was a cryptic word carved into a wooden post – “Croatoan.” This single enigmatic inscription would go on to fuel centuries of speculation, investigation, and mystery surrounding the fate of the Roanoke Colony, which became famously known as the “Lost Colony.”