The Croatoans and the Missing Roanoke Colony ( I )

Roanoke Island Chosen for Colonization

In 1584, Sir Walter Raleigh dispatched an expedition piloted by Simon Fernandez, a Portuguese pilot familiar with America’s eastern coast, in an attempt to find a suitable location to establish an English settlement. Roanoke Island of North Carolina was ultimately chosen. Roanoke Island, lying between the treacherous Outer Banks and the mainland, is characterized by abundant wildlife, marshlands and oaks.

First Roanoke Colony Effort

In the spring of 1585, Raleigh dispatched a host of mostly veteran soldiers to begin colonization of Roanoke. Ralph Lane and Richard Greenville led the expedition. While exploring the surrounding coast they accused natives in the village of Aquascogoc of stealing a silver cup. In retaliation, they sacked and burned the village, executing the tribal chief by fire.

The expedition landed on Roanoke Island on August 17, and shortly thereafter Greenville left Lane with about 75 men to establish the colony, promising to return by April 1586 with reinforcements and supplies. In June the settlers were inadvertently rescued by Sir Francis Drake and they left Roanoke Island to return to England. Greenville's ship arrived about two weeks later. Finding the Roanoke colony abandoned, he left behind fifteen men to protect Raleigh’s patent requiring continuous occupancy of the island.

Second Roanoke Colony Effort

In 1587, Raleigh dispatched a group of 117 colonists led by John White who’d served on the previous Roanoke Island expedition. Raleigh had since decided the Chesapeake Bay area would make a better location, and to recruit settlers he promised each 500 acres of land and involvement in the colony’s government. White brought 91 men, 17 women, and 9 children.

On July 22, the colonists disembarked at Roanoke Island expecting to find the fifteen men Greenville left behind the previous year. Instead they found the bones of only one man apparently killed by Indians. Lane’s fort was charred but the houses were intact. White noticed the Indians were more hostile than before. But Fernandez (the pilot of previous expeditions) had reportedly grown impatient and refused to guide them further. For whatever reason, they stayed on Roanoke Island. White successfully re-established relations with the neighboring Croatoans and tried unsuccessfully re-establishing relations with the tribes Lane had attacked.

Then a Roanoke colonist named George Howe was killed by natives. The Croatoans accused a neighboring tribe, saying they’d killed Greenville’s soldiers as well. On Aug 8, an attack was launched at the accused Indian settlement but the English attackers found only Croatoans who’d come to forage after the accused Indians fled.

On August 18, White’s daughter Eleanor gave birth to Virginia Dare, the first English child born in the Americas. Ananias Dare was a bricklayer in London before the expedition. Little else is known of him.

Fearing retaliation for Ralph Lane’s treatment of the natives, the Roanoke colonists persuaded White to return to England for help. They’d discussed moving the colony inland so a code was established; if they moved, they’d carve their new location in a conspicuous place. If under attack by either Spaniards or Indians they were to carve a Maltese cross.  

Bermuda Triangle (Natural explanations)

Methane Hydrates
An explanation for some of the disappearances focuses on the presence of vast fields of methane hydrates on the continental shelves.
Periodic methane eruptions are capable of producing ship-sized bubbles, or regions of water with so much dissolved gas, that the fluid density is no longer capable of providing adequate buoyancy for ships to float. If this were the case, such an area forming around a ship could cause it to sink almost directly and without warning. Experiments have proven that a methane bubble can indeed sink a ship by decreasing the density of the water.
Methane gas can also crash planes. The less dense air causes planes to lose lift. Also, the altimeter of planes (the instrument that measures the altitude) functions on the density of air. Because methane is less dense, the altimeter assumes the plane is climbing. Planes at night or in the clouds, where they can't see the ground, assume that they are climbing and dive, causing them to crash. Also, methane in the engine throws off the mix of fuel and air. Aircraft engines burn hydrocarbons (gasoline or jet fuel) with oxygen provided by the air. When the ambient oxygen levels drop, combustion can stop, and the engine stalls. All of these effects of methane gas have been shown experimentally.
A white paper was published in 1981 by the United States Geological Survey about the appearance of hydrates in the Blake Ridge area, off the southeastern United States coast. However, according to a USGS web page, no large releases of gas hydrates are believed to have occurred in the Bermuda Triangle for the past 15,000 years.

Hurricanes
Hurricanes are extremely powerful storms which are spawned in the Atlantic near the equator, and have historically been responsible for thousands of lives lost and billions of dollars in damage. The sinking of Francisco de Bobadilla's Spanish fleet in 1502 was the first recorded instance of a destructive hurricane. In 1988, Hurricane Gilbert, one of the most powerful hurricanes in history, set back Jamaica's economy by three years. These storms have in the past caused a number of incidents related to the Triangle.


Gulf Stream
The Gulf Stream is an ocean current that originates in the Gulf of Mexico, and then through the Straits of Florida, into the North Atlantic. In essence, it is a river within an ocean, and like a river, it can and does carry floating objects. A small plane making a water landing or a boat having engine trouble will be carried away from its reported position by the current, as happened to the cabin cruiser Witchcraft on December 22, 1967, when it reported engine trouble near the Miami buoy marker one mile (1.6 km) from shore, but was not there when a Coast Guard cutter arrived.


Freak Waves
Extremely large waves can appear seemingly at random, even in calm seas. One such rogue wave caused the Ocean Ranger, then the world's largest offshore platform, to capsize in 1982. There is, however, no particular reason to believe rogue waves are more common in the Bermuda region, and this explanation cannot account for the loss of airplanes.

Research has shown that freak waves up to 30 m (100 feet) tall, capable of sinking the largest ships within moments, can and do happen. Although these are very rare, in some areas ocean currents mean they happen more often than the norm. Such waves have now been hypothesized as a cause for many unexplained shipping losses over the years.

Electronic Fog

Many people have reported seeing portals opening in cloudy skies - strange swirling lights sometimes accompanied by sounds - temporal distortions - electromagnetic distortions called 'electronic fog' that can cause a time storm, and the disappearance of planes and ships. There is something about this fog that is important and gives one the sense of all things paranormal. Something unexplained is definitely happening in that region of the Atlantic. This goes back to ancient explorers such as Christopher Columbus and his crew who experienced the phenomenon.

Bermuda Triangle (History and Kusche's Explanation)

According to the Triangle authors, Christopher Columbus was the first person to document something strange in the Triangle, reporting that he and his crew observed "strange dancing lights on the horizon", flames in the sky, and at another point he wrote in his log about bizarre compass bearings in the area. From his log book, dated October 11, 1492 he wrote:

The land was first seen by a sailor (Rodrigo de Triana), although the Admiral at ten o'clock that evening standing on the quarter-deck saw a light, but so small a body that he could not affirm it to be land; calling to Pero Gutierrez, groom of the King's wardrobe, he told him he saw a light, and bid him look that way, which he did and saw it; he did the same to Rodrigo Sanchez of Segovia, whom the King and Queen had sent with the squadron as comptroller, but he was unable to see it from his situation. The Admiral again perceived it once or twice, appearing like the light of a wax candle moving up and down, which some thought an indication of land. But the Admiral held it for certain that land was near...

Modern scholars checking the original log books have surmised that the lights he saw were the cooking fires of Taino natives in their canoes or on the beach; the compass problems were the result of a false reading based on the movement of a star.
The first article of any kind in which the legend of the Triangle began appeared in newspapers by E.V.W. Jones on September 16, 1950, through the Associated Press.
Two years later, Fate magazine published "Sea Mystery At Our Back Door", a short article by George X. Sand in the October 1952 issue covering the loss of several planes and ships, including the loss of Flight 19, a group of five U.S. Navy TBM Avenger bombers on a training mission. Sand's article was the first to lay out the now-familiar triangular area where the losses took place. Flight 19 alone would be covered in the April 1962 issue of American Legion Magazine.
The article was titled "The Lost Patrol", by Allen W. Eckert, and in his story it was claimed that the flight leader had been heard saying "We are entering white water, nothing seems right. We don't know where we are, the water is green, no white." It was also claimed that officials at the Navy board of inquiry stated that the planes "flew off to Mars." "The Lost Patrol" was the first to connect the supernatural to Flight 19, but it would take another author, Vincent Gaddis, writing in the February 1964 Argosy Magazine to take Flight 19 together with other mysterious disappearances and place it under the umbrella of a new catchy name: "The Deadly Bermuda Triangle"; he would build on that article with a more detailed book, Invisible Horizons, the next year. Others would follow with their own works: John Wallace Spencer (Limbo of the Lost,1969); Charles Berlitz (The Bermuda Triangle, 1974); Richard Winer (The Devil's Triangle, 1974), and many others, all keeping to some of the same supernatural elements outlined by Eckert.

Kusche's Explanation

Lawrence David Kusche, a research librarian from Arizona State University and author of The Bermuda Triangle Mystery: Solved (1975) has challenged this trend. Kusche's research revealed a number of inaccuracies and inconsistencies between Berlitz's accounts and statements from eyewitnesses, participants, and others involved in the initial incidents. He noted cases where pertinent information went unreported, such as the disappearance of round-the-world yachtsman Donald Crowhurst, which Berlitz had presented as a mystery, despite clear evidence to the contrary.
Another example was the ore-carrier Berlitz recounted as lost without trace three days out of an Atlantic port when it had been lost three days out of a port with the same name in the Pacific Ocean. Kusche also argued that a large percentage of the incidents which have sparked the Triangle's mysterious influence actually occurred well outside it. Often his research was surprisingly simple: he would go over period newspapers and see items like weather reports that were never mentioned in the stories.
Kusche came to several conclusions:

The number of ships and aircraft reported missing in the area was not significantly greater, proportionally speaking, than in any other part of the ocean.In an area frequented by tropical storms, the number of disappearances that did occur were, for the most part, neither disproportionate, unlikely, nor mysterious; furthermore, Berlitz and other writers would often fail to mention such storms. The numbers themselves had been exaggerated by sloppy research. A boat listed as missing would be reported, but its eventual (if belated) return to port may not be reported. Some disappearances had in fact, never happened. One plane crash was said to have taken place in 1937 off Daytona Beach, Florida, in front of hundreds of witnesses; a check of the local papers revealed nothing.

Kusche concluded that:

The Legend of the Bermuda Triangle is a manufactured mystery ... perpetuated by writers who either purposely or unknowingly made use of misconceptions, faulty reasoning, and sensationalism.

Bermuda Triangle (Introduction)

The Bermuda Triangle, also known as The Devil Triangle, is a region of the northwestern Atlantic Ocean in which a number of aircraft and surface vessels have disappeared. Some people have claimed that these disappearances fall beyond the boundaries  of human error or acts of nature. Some of these disappearances have been attributed to the paranormal, a suspension of the law of physics, or activity by extraterrestrial beings by popular culture. Though a substantial documentation exists showing numerous incidents to have been inaccurately reported or embellished by later authors, and numerous official agencies have gone on record as stating the number and nature of the disappearances to be similar to any other area of ocean, many have remained unexplained despite considerable investigation.


The Triangle Area
The boundaries of the Triangle vary with the author, some stating its shape is akin to a trapezoid covering the straits of Florida, the Bahamas and the entire Caribbean Island area east to the Azores; other add to it the Gulf of Mexico. The more familiar, triangular boundary in most written works has as its points somewhere on the Atlantic coast of Florida, San Juan, Puerto Rico, and the mid-Atlantic island of Bermuda, with most of the accidents concentrated along the southern boundary around the Bahamas and the Florida Straits.
The area is one of the most heavily-sailed shipping lanes in the world, with ships crossing through it daily for ports in the Americas, Europe and the Caribbean Island. Cruise ships are also plentiful, and pleasure craft regularly go back and forth between Florida and the islands. It is also a heavily flown route for commercial and private aircraft heading towards Florida, the Caribbean and South America from points north.
The Gulf Stream ocean current flows through the Triangle after leaving the Gulf of Mexico; its current of five to six knots may have played a part in number of the disappearances. Sudden storms can and do appear, and in the summer to late fall hurricanes strike the area. The combination of the heavy maritime traffic and tempestuos weather makes it inevitable that vessels could founder in storms and be lost without a trace - especially before improved telecommunications, radar and satellite technology arrived late in the 20th century.

Tips on managing your child's media consumption (Part II)

Because of the popularity of the video games, completely eliminating them from your child's life might be difficult. But you can decrease the negative impact that they have on your child. Here a few tips:
- know the rating of the video game your child plays:
- do not install video game equipment in your child's bedroom;
- set limits on how often or how long your child is aloud to play video games;
- monitor all of your child's media consumption - video games, movies, television, Internet;
- supervise your child's Internet use - there are now many video games available for playing online;
- take the time to discuss with your children the games they are playing or other media they are watching. Ask your children what they feel about they observe in these video games, television programs or movies. This is an opportunity to share your feelings and grow closer with your child;
- share with other parents information about certain games or ideas helping each other in parenting.

The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB)


The ESRB is a self-regulatory body established in 1994 by Interactive Digital Software Association (IDSA). The major video games manufacturers created this board after concerned groups applied pressure over the content of video games. Similar to the movie industry's rating system, all major games companies now submit their new products for rating to specially trained raters at the ESRB. The ESRB rates over 1.000 games per year
The ESRB look at a number of factors when rating games. In particular it considers tha amount of violence, sex, controversial language and substance abuse found in a game. Based on its developed guidelines, the ESRB then gives an age recommendation and content descriptor to each game submitted. The following are the rating symbols currently in use, according to the ESRB site:
-Early Childhood(EC): content should be suitable for children 3 years and older and contain no objectionable material;
-Everyone(E): content suitable for persons ages 6 or older. The game may contain minimal violence  and some "comic mischief";
-Teen(T): content suitable for persons ages 13 and older. Content is more violent than (E) rating and contains mild or strong language, and/or suggestive themes.
-Mature(M): content suitable for persons ages 17 and older. Content definitely has more mature sexual themes, violence and stronger language;
-Adults Only(AO): content suitable only for adults and may contain graphic sex and/or violence. Adult Only products are not intended for persons under the age of 18;
-Rating Pending(RP): game has been submitted to the ESRB and is awaiting a final rating.
The ESRB web site has more details about this rating system, as well as the "content descriptors" that are used in conjunction with the ratings on the game packaging. The site also useful for parents who want to search for the rating of a particular game.