Most Americans know the story of the “Lost Colony”.  It dates back to the time the Europeans began to settle on this free land, that is now known as Virginia.  The village of Roanoke was the one of the first English colonies to be established on the soil.  However this village did not turn out to be a successful one.  The small population of Roanoke complained about their lack of food and tools.  They also contained frightening suspicions that the Natives would launch a surprise attack on them.  These complaints resulted in John White (the colony's governor) returning in England to get the proper supplies.  It took him three years to return.  But what he returned to was not that of a colony but of a ghost town.  The area which was once a village was stripped of its people.  Houses and other shelters were nowhere in site.  What was left behind were some small cannons, an opened chest, a tall fence built around the perimeter of the former village site, and a single word inscription carved on a fence post, “Croatoan”. 

Five Popular Theories:

1. The people of Roanoke simply left the settlement.  This is one of the more probable theories.  It is said that they supposedly left Roanoke Island and started settling in the Chesapeake Bay on rafts or boats of some sort made from materials torn apart from their houses.  Close to twenty years had passed before John Smith and his group started the well-known settlement of Jamestown (where the popular story of Pocahontas takes place).  This settlement was near the Chesapeake Bay .  The evidence in this tale is that the ruler of the natives did indeed admit to killing the colonists.  They said that they had been in their land ( Chesapeake Bay area) and were then annihilated to prevent more English settlers form stealing their land. 

2.The whole population of Roanoke Island was killed by a disease.
This is an absurd theory.  It is true that the English had brought over some diseases.  However, there were no bodies found and the houses had disappeared.  

3.  The village was destroyed by a severe storm such as a hurricane.
Another one of the incredulous theories.  A hurricane could have washed away the colonists and destroyed the houses.  But the problem with this theory is the fence was still standing.  The fence could not have been withstood the force of such a hurricane.

4.  The people of Roanoke decided to leave Roanoke Island to live with the Natives. This theory is definitely probable.  Crotoan, which was carved on the post, was the name of an island in the area.  It was also the name of the group of the kind natives that inhabited it.  It is possible that the colonists decided to live with the natives of Croatoan.

5.  The colonists were killed by the Native Americans This is the most probable of all five theories.  One important fact supports this theory.  As one may not know, the English tried to start the colony of Roanoke before.  A little over a year had passed since they first started the colony, before explorers decided to check up on their hopeful progress.  What these explorers found was one dead body.  It was verified that it was the work of the Natives.  From this past event we know that the Natives were capable of such atrocities and also capable of hiding the bodies.  What’s interesting is that the Natives pulled all of that off in less than two years. While the “lost colony” had been deprived of its leader for three years.  The “Indians” had a sufficient amount of time to tear down the buildings too.  However there has still not been enough evidence to verify this theory.
 

It is an incredible fact that historians still do not know what happened.     Will mankind perpetually crawl in the dark when it comes to this topic? Or, will light be discovered?

http://theshadowlands.net/roanoke.htm