The mystery of Americas ‘lost colony’ is one that has invaded pop culture and the minds of conspiracy theorists for ages. The amount of ridiculous speculation that has been cast on the subject is up to par with the likes of the Bermuda Triangle. The story goes something like this: In 1587, a group of British colonists attempted to settle on Hatteras island, which is directly off the coast off of North Carolina. When their supplies started to get low, a group of the settlers retreated and left the island for more. When they arrived back nearly three full years later, the colony was gone, but no bodies were found. There was no sign of foul play, despite the common theories that float around today. The only aspect about their camp that had changed, besides the fact that it was abandoned, was the mysterious word “CROATAN” was carved into a tree.
Originally, the returning group assumed that their fellow settlers had just completely ran out of the essentials, forcing them to go off and join a group of indigenous people for aid. This was a common occurrence during these days. Often times, explorers would find themselves in an unknown territory in hopes for better supplies, but when they failed to find them, they’d join the closest group of indigenous peoples in the area. Obviously, this conclusion is not as intriguing or movie-like as some might want to believe, but new evidence in this long and never-ending story suggests that it was more than likely the case.
The Croatan Archaelogical Society began a project over a decade now to start excavating the island in order to find better clues to finally put the wacky stories to rest. First of all, the other tribe that lived on the island happened to be the Croatans, which immediately explains the word being carved into the tree. In 2015, about midway through their process, the team managed to find all sorts of English artifacts, such as bowls, a sword hilt and a chunk of what they believe to be a writing tablet. These were all scattered among the long decomposed bodies of the Croatan Indians. This is by far the best piece of evidence to explain what happened to the colony.
While the conspiracy theorists will always enjoy trying to blur the lines of real and fake, facts will always beat speculation. According to the team’s finds and the historically-known pattern of colonizers joining indigenous people, the explanation behind what occurred to the lost settlers is quite logical. There was most likely no crazy murderers or satanic uprising, but only hungry people who wandered on over to another group because they wanted to live. I suppose the true, concrete story about the island will never be completely known to anybody. Everybody likes a good story, despite if it’s true or not. The mystery of what happened over on Hatteras Island during the year of 1587 will be up for debate for many more centuries to come, regardless of whether or not we now know the truth.
Disclaimer: This article is the sole opinion of Billy Pruett.
Billy Pruett can be contacted:
bpruett@kscequinox.com
