The mystical word Croatoan and the mystery of the vanished colony

In history, there are many cases of mysterious disappearance of people, but as numerous and strange as it happened with the colony on the island of Roanoke (The Roanoke Colony, also known as the "Lost Colony" ), is no longer found. More than four hundred years ago there was absolutely no trace of a hundred people missing at once. Many people tried to explain this secret, but so far they have not been successful.

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More than 400 years in the history of America there is an unsolved mystery - the mystery of the Vanished Colony. A large number of people disappeared from the island, leaving things, food, jewelry. Where they have gone is not known to this day.

This story began with Sir Walter Raouli, a noble English nobleman. At the request of Queen Elizabeth I, he attempted to found a colony in North America. It was a new English region, named Virginia in honor of the queen-virgin Elizabeth I.

The Queen wanted to extend to these lands the power and power of England, and in 1584, Sir Rouhly equipped there an expedition, to the island of Roanoke, to study the place of the future colony. The expedition consisted of two Indians - Manteio and Vanches.

Roanoke Island was located near the mainland and was washed by the bay. The report on the new earth was positive, and on April 9, 1585, 108 people, including the artist John White, went to America.
The colonists who settled on the island had to endure a difficult time in a new, unfamiliar world for them: the winter turned out to be harsh, the food supplies were depleted.

In addition, the settlers were surrounded by aggressive Indians, constantly repulsing their attacks. People lived on the island in the winter and spring and decided to return to England. In June 1586, the colonists left Roanoke on the ship of Captain Sir Francis Drake, who passed by the island, returning from the West Indies. So at that time, the area was called the Caribbean Sea.

A few weeks after the departure of the colonists, a new group of brave men from the fifteen men landed on Roanoke Island, who wholeheartedly supported the idea of the spread of English power in the New World.

In 1587, Sir Rowley made another attempt to colonize the New World, sending the second group of settlers to America. The head of the group was John White, who had already visited the island of Roanoke. He was instructed to move the settlement from the island of Roanoke to the shore of the Cesapik Bay. But the sailors refused to take people further than the Roanoke island, and on June 22, 1587, 150 colonists, including 11 children, landed on the island. Roanoke met them in silence. 15 people left on the island a year ago, disappeared.

Having settled in a new place, the settlers discovered an obvious lack of tools, food and other vital things. John White agreed to return to England for the necessary equipment for the colonists a week later left the island. He managed to return to Roanoke only after 4 years.

The island was deserted. White found only the word "Croatoan" carved on the tree - the name of the neighboring island. 150 people and his granddaughter disappeared without a trace.

Three years ago, before leaving the island, John White agreed with the colonists that if they had to leave Roanoke, they would leave in a prominent place a sign that said where they had gone.
If they are threatened by danger or will have to leave the island in order to be saved, then additionally on a tree under the name of a new place of the colony, they will cut out the cross.
There was no cross under the carved inscription.

This could only mean one thing: the settlers left the island of their own free will.
But what did the word "Croatoan" mean?
Croathan is an island located 80 kilometers to the south and inhabited by Indians.
Perhaps the settlers were there?

White wanted to immediately swim there, but the weather deteriorated. The ship "Hopewell" fell off the anchor, and it began to demolish the open sea. Because of this, White never crossed a short distance to Croathon. He headed for England and on October 24 returned to Plymouth.
But this does not mean that the settlers were left to the mercy of fate.

Later British ships repeatedly visited the island of Roanoke and explored the surrounding islands, as well as land on the mainland, trying to find traces of the colonists. But they could not find anything.

Mystical Version

The fact that the word "Croatoan" meant not only the island is curious. In fact, the island itself was named after a local deity, who was worshiped by all the tribes living in these neighborhoods. According to their belief, "Croatoan", or "Reaper of Souls" - a disembodied creature that inhabits people and even settles in some of them.

Dancing Indians Secotan. Watercolor brush by John White, 1585.
Indians told me that God was worn on the sacrificial altar: priests sat in a circle and watched as the food slowly disappeared into the air. Kroaton was sent once a year to an "assistant" - a strong warrior: he was placed in a locked hut with an altar, but by morning the warrior disappeared.

According to the belief, as a result of conflicts and clashes of settlers with local Indians, as well as possible opposition to the conduct of religious rites, the tribal shaman imposed a curse on the settlers, urging the God of Croathon to severely deal with them.

It is assumed that it is this deity that is directly related to the disappearance of the first groups of colonizers. After all, if the reason for the disappearance was a natural or physical phenomenon, then it would have surely been repeated over the years. However, in the city of Montaix erected on the island of Roanoke, nothing like this happened. Annually a huge number of tourists come to the island, which could easily become victims of the same unknown force, but there were no more mass disappearances.