Moon-Crane wrote:
In terms of 'modern' English history, the identity of Jack The Ripper' is still one of the biggest mysteries and subject to much speculation. I doubt we'll ever know for certain, but there are some interesting theories and seemingly compelling, if circumstantial, evidence for certain suspects.
Uncaught serial killers are always a good one. I've done some reading on the Jack the Ripper case. Real cold one though. Another one that I've done quite a lot of reading on is the Zodiac Killer (San Fransisco in the late 60's/early 70's).
JT wrote:One of my hobbies is to read about and 'research' (just already published sources. I'm too cheap to do any real original research) historical mysteries. For example, one that I have recently returned to is the 'Lost Colony' of Roanoke. That was a failed English settlement in the Americas (modern day outer banks of North Carolina USA) in the 1580's. The mystery is the fate of that small colony. They went missing. Any one else have any historical mysteries that are of interest?
Moon-Crane wrote:Didn't know of that one. What's your favourite/most likely explanation for their fates?
The colony was planted in 1585. The leader of the colony sailed back to England for more supplies. He was delayed three years in returning however. When he arrived the fort was abandoned (no sign of violence), with the only clue to their fate being the word "Croatoan" carved into a post of the fort and "Cro" carved into a nearby tree. Before he had left the colony, John White had instructed them that if anything happened to them, they should carve a Maltese cross on a tree nearby, indicating that their disappearance had been forced. As there was no cross, White took this to mean they had moved to "Croatoan Island" (now known as Hatteras Island), but he was unable to conduct a search. A massive storm was forming and his men refused to go any farther. The Croatoans were an indian tribe that inhabited an island a bit south of Roanoke island where the fort was. The colonists had earlier established friendly relations with them. I have read elsewhere that the colonists were also instructed to carve the destination into the tree also if they moved. I don't know if that is actually true or not. If so, then I think the answer is easy. If not, I think it is still a likely explanation, that being they simply moved down to live amongst the Croatoan indians. The indians were of course better at living off the land and if friendly to them it would be an obvious decision for the colonists, who were waiting a long time for resupply. There were even reports through the centuries of blue or grey eyed indians in the area (Eastern North Carolina). And Indians had an oral tradition describing some white ancestry. Check it out:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roanoke_Colony