Fort Raleigh National Historic Site

Site of the mysterious Lost Colony of 1587, where 117 English colonists vanished without a trace. Governor John White returned from England in 1590 to find only the word "CROATOAN" carved into a palisade. The fate of Virginia Dare - the first English child born in America - and the other colonists remains America's oldest unsolved mystery.

Fort Raleigh National Historic Site on Roanoke Island preserves the location of one of America's greatest mysteries—the Lost Colony. In 1587, a group of 115 English men, women, and children arrived to establish a permanent settlement in the New World. On August 18th, Virginia Dare was born to Eleanor and Ananias Dare, becoming the first English child born in the Americas. Her grandfather, colony leader John White, sailed back to England for supplies. The Anglo-Spanish War delayed his return for three years. When he finally arrived in 1590, he found the colony abandoned. Dismantled houses and careful cleanup suggested the departure had been planned, but not a single settler—living or dead—was ever found.

The ghost of Virginia Dare is said to haunt Fort Raleigh to this day. But the legend goes deeper than a simple haunting. Local lore holds that Virginia survived the colony's disappearance, captured by one Native tribe and rescued by another led by a man named Manteo—for whom the nearby town is named. Manteo raised young Virginia in the ways of the woods and renamed her Winona. She grew into a beautiful woman with many suitors, eventually choosing a young man named Oksiko. But a bitter old witch doctor named Chico, rejected and jealous, cursed her. He transformed Virginia Dare into a beautiful white doe, trapping her spirit in animal form forever.

To this day, people visit Roanoke Island hoping to glimpse the famous White Doe wandering the grounds. Hunters, travelers, and locals have reported seeing her for generations. At the Elizabethan Gardens adjacent to the fort, a statue of Virginia Dare stands under a canopy of live oaks, a memorial to the child who became a legend.

But Virginia Dare is not the only spirit associated with Roanoke Island. The phantom ship of Sir Walter Raleigh and his lost crew is still sighted along the waterfront. The ghost ship appears and vanishes, its spectral passengers forever searching for the colony they were meant to supply. The Astral Plane Investigations team leads ghost tours through Fort Raleigh Park and the Waterside Theatre, visiting locations where paranormal activity regularly occurs.

What happened to the Lost Colony remains unknown. Did they perish? Were they absorbed into local tribes? Did they attempt to relocate and meet disaster along the way? The only clue left behind was the word "CROATOAN" carved into a wooden post. The mystery has never been solved.

Virginia Dare lived only a few weeks in recorded history. But her legend has endured for over four centuries, and her spirit—whether as a white doe or a wandering ghost—is said to remain on the island where she was born and where her people vanished without a trace.