No, archeologists didn’t recently discover the mystery behind a legendary lost British colony from the 16th century. It would’ve been the biggest history story of the year. But it’s not. Because it’s a lie.
World News Daily Report is a garbage site with unfunny “satire” articles meant to deceive people. One of their recent articles is starting to go viral because it would alter our understanding of American history.
The story reports on the supposed unraveling of the mystery surrounding Virginia Dare, the first person of European descent born in North America. According to the “report,” archeologists have found the lost colony where she was born: Roanoke, a real colony of about 100 British that vanished in 1590 and remains a mystery to this day. Strangely, when other settlers arrived to the colony they found the word “Croatoan” carved into a fencepost and “Cro” carved into a tree. Nobody knows what happen to the people, but the most common theory is that they were wiped out by disease.
According to the very fake story published on World News Daily Report, scientists conducted DNA testing to verify that they had found Dare and the Roanoke Colony that has driven so much speculation over the years. Again, just to be explicit, archeologists did not uncover the mystery behind it.
The really unfortunate thing about all this is that actual historians and political activists who should know better are sharing this story on social media.
https://twitter.com/embed/status/549172035255955457
https://twitter.com/embed/status/549185991056318464
https://twitter.com/embed/status/548989856953929728
https://twitter.com/embed/status/549677755177005058
Biggest 2014 history story? @JohnsHopkins researchers ID Virginia Dare and lost Roanoke colonists: http://t.co/8ZEDaDEHHo via @DrSamForman
— Norfolk History (@NorfolkHistory) December 28, 2014
Remember to check your sources before sharing something that sounds too amazing to be true. Because it usually is. And if it’s from World News Daily Report, it always is.
