In 1587, settlers arrived at North Carolina's Roanoke Island, establishing England's first foothold in the New World. But when the colony's leader, John White, returned to Roanoke from a resupply mission, these 115 men, women, and children were nowhere to be found. What happened? Setting out to unravel the enigma, the author of Why Did the Chicken Cross the World? encounters a host of characters obsessed with the colonists and their fate, and he ponders why the Lost Colony continues to haunt our national consciousness.