This episode unpacks the first Roanoke colony and reveals that the real mystery isn’t what happened to those left behind, but why the English thought it was a good idea to try at all. What starts as an ambitious venture quickly devolves into lost supplies, cultural arrogance, spreading disease, and a series of violently bad decisions. While observers like John White, Thomas Harriot, and Joachim Gans worked to understand and document the Secotan and Croatoan, reckless leadership burned bridges—literally and figuratively. By the time the colony is abandoned in 1586, it’s clear Roanoke wasn’t undone by the New World, but by impatience, prejudice, and the English talent for making a bad situation worse.

The two major sources for this series of episodes are:

• The Secret Token: Myth, Obsession, and the Search for the Lost Colony of Roanoke, by Andrew Lawler, published in 2018 by Anchor Books
• The Lost Colony and Hatteras Island, by Scott Dawson, published in 2020 by The History Press

To get updates and other content, follow me on Instagram and Threads @thecuriousalexjones.

To get updates and other content, follow @thecuriousalexjones on Instagram and Threads.