The Real History Of Roanoke You Need To Know For American Horror Story

The first mystery from the new season of American Horror Story has been solved — we finally know that the theme for season 6 is "My Roanoke Nightmare." We recapped the first episode here. You may recall that Sarah Paulson's character, the medium Billie Dean Howard, mentions a story about the mysterious colonial settlement that vanished into thin air, and the spirits that were left behind. Before the season develops further and we're introduced to more mind-boggling mysteries, what exactly is the history of the Roanoke colony? Well, it all started in 1587, when a small town was created in what is now North Carolina. A group of about 117 settlers sailed over from England to establish a colony, which they called Roanoke. After a few months, the governor of the colony, John White, sailed back to England to get fresh supplies for his small community. However, when White attempted to return to America, a naval war had broken out and he was forced to remain in England. He finally arrived back at the colony in 1590 and found nothing. Roanoke had disappeared. To this day, there is no explanation for what happened to the colony. The disappearance of Roanoke is especially baffling because of the one clue that White found. The word "Croatoan" was carved into a tree. Croatoan was the name of a nearby Native American tribe, leading historians to hypothesize that the colony either joined the tribe or was overtaken by them. Another common theory is that, lacking proper supplies, the hundred inhabitants boarded a ship and attempted to sail back home to England, but were lost at sea. Others consider that maybe Spanish inquisitors traveled north from Florida and slaughtered the town. We're intrigued to see how Ryan Murphy and his cast of haunted characters blend fact and fiction for the rest of the season.