Funny that nobody mentions the tree with "numbah" carved in it.

I have to agree with irsihgit.Not very mysterious,and quite depressing to see.

There is no great mystery here, except in the minds of those who look for one at every turn. Take a look at the timeline.

1585 - First settlers arrive, losing a good deal of initial provisions when a ship founders on shoals. They establish relations with nearby aboriginals by blaming them for theft of a cup and retaliate by sacking a village and executing its chief by burning.

1586 - After waiting for over a year for relief and more supplies, the remaining settlers accept the offer of Francis Drake (who was returning from the Caribbean) of transport back to England. Shortly after they depart, the relief ships arrive, find the settlers gone, and leave a small force to maintain claim to the region.

1587 - A second group of 117 colonists arrives and find nothing but a few bones of the small force left the previous year. They attempt to amend relations with neighboring tribes but are rebuffed, and one of their member is killed by Indians. Fearing for their safety they send a ship back to England to appeal for help. Relief plans are delayed first by weather and then by the crisis of the Spanish Armada and war with Spain. As a result, no further attempts were made for three years.

1590 - The relief vessels arrive, find the settlement abandoned and little else in the way of clues. Due to weather and fear for their own safety the vessels left after a single day.

It is noteworthy that climatological evidence shows that the years 1587-1589 were the worst drought years in the region in an 800 year cycle.

So what we have here is a small, barely viable colony, trying to survive in extremely poor growing years, surrounded by far more numerous aboriginals who had every reason to be hostile. Its not hard to figure out what likely happened, given any understanding of history and reality. Bear in mind that most of the so called mysterious evidence or lack thereof was discovered, or not, in a day.

So to return to my opening comment, there isn't much of a mystery here, despite longstanding legends to the contrary. The colonists died, perhaps some of their survivors assimilating as captives or otherwise into the local tribal peoples.

I don`t see any great interest in watching a non-viable settlement starve to death.

I would love to also find out what the 'croatatoan' meant. It was carved into a fence post, and the only clue as to the wherabouts of the colony.

I'm still convinced they were absorbed into the Native tribes, some of them anyways. But I would like to satisfy my curiosity and know for sure.

This has always got my curiosity going. You would think somewhere there would be some kind of hint to what happened to those people.

I'd love to find out what exactly happened to Roanoke. I'm a sucker for mysteries, and the truth is bound to be interesting.

No kidding. That is some mystery. Hearing the story of Roanoke is chilling.

Definitely one of the mysteries of early American history. Roanoke was the first established English colony in North America, which was located near the Outer Banks of North Carolina. It was initially built in 1586 and new settlers arrived in 1587. 3 years later the governor of the colony left for England to get more supplies and upon his return he found the entire colony abandoned. There was no sign of any struggle and it seemed as if people had left while doing their jobs. Whatever happened to them was sudden. Chances are they were probably sold into slavery by the Natives; they wouldn't have departed intentionally while waiting for supplies. But it's all a mystery.

This one goes under the category that most of the other items on this list are on: I want to know the truth, but I don't know if I'd necessarily want to SEE it. While what happen was probably not bad, there's a chance it could have been violent, and seeing it would be too much. Knowing is one thing; seeing is another.

It's all speculation, but I suspect that their conditions were so miserable, and in their interactions with the natives they saw people so much LESS miserable, that they made a group decision to join them. What happened then might not have been pleasant, and it certainly left no traces. Interesting one though.