This article provides real-life context for Season 6 of American Horror Story. If you're concerned about potential spoilers, read on at your own risk.
"In 1590, on the coast of what we now know as North Carolina, the entire colony of Roanoke -- all 117 men, women, and children -- died inexplicably." - Billie Dean Howard, American Horror Story: Season 1.
The cryptic teasers for the sixth season of American Horror Story led to all sorts of speculation as to what the story would ultimately be about. Dolls? Bugs? Something Children of the Corn-ish? The prevailing assumption though was that the tale would involve the lost colony of Roanoke - one of America's earliest and most confounding mysteries.
The show-within-a-show aspect of Season 6 involves a reenactment ghost series called "My Roanoke Nightmare." Well, if the location of Roanoke itself didn't key you in on the theme, and if you're unfamiliar with the famous old spooky disappearance of almost 200 people, let's dig into it a bit.
The bare basics of this mystery involve a 16th Century English settlement on Roanoke Island, off the shores of what's now North Carolina. A colony was founded there and then, for the most part, accidentally abandoned by Great Britain, who took years to return with supplies. When the ships did come back, everyone was gone. The skeletal remains of a man was discovered along with the word "Croatoan" carved on a post (and the letters "CRO" etched on a tree) - which may or may not have been the name of a neighboring tribe.
So what the heck happened? Well, given the nature of the time and place, we'll never ever know for sure. We can hazard a few educated guesses, as many have done over the years. Some wondered if they'd been slaughtered by Native Americans or, in fact, gone and joined with a Native American tribe (the Croatoans?) once their food became scarce. Some wondered if the Spanish (who England was at war with) captured them. Then there are the numerous supernatural theories regarding the mass vanishing.
There's even a theory that the whole "skeleton and mystery word" thing was a lie told to cover up the discovery of an entire village dead of starvation - which would have stood as shameful proof that England's first settlement had failed due to neglect.
How does this tie into American Horror Story, then? Well, these Roanoke settlers are the ghosts who currently carrying torches and pitchforks and terrorizing Matt and Shelby Miller. No, none of this explains the local pig-creature or the teeth falling from the sky, but it's clear that this area -- this land -- is no good and all the cursed elements that it contains probably had something to do with the awful fate of Roanoke.
Sarah Paulson as Billie Dean Howard back in Season 1.
Obviously, the show is about to give us its own horror-filled explanation as to what happened all those centuries ago. And what's more, everything here ties back to a Season 1 scene where Sarah Paulson's medium, Billie Dean, spoke about the word "Croatoan" as a means to get rid of unwanted spirits and how it was used to cleanse the colony grounds of all the lingering dead souls. Her speech about Roanoke, in fact, was so notable that some fans thought American Horror Story's second season would be about the colony.
There was also a question regarding Billie Dean's authenticity since, if you'll recall, Taissa Farmiga's Violet tried to use the Croatoan spell on Zachary Quinto's Chad and it failed big time. So even Billie Dean, with all her abilities, apparently got the story wrong. Obviously too, if the spell was a part of a giant exorcism it didn't really work because these spirits are still out there and plenty pissed.
Tribal elders banishing the Roanoke spirits back in Season 1.
After a few archeological investigations, the most believable and palatable theory about what happened to the settlers definitely involves them leaving the camp and assimilating with the surrounding tribes. Whether they all moved as one group or wound up splitting up is another mystery. Either way, American Horror Story has a lot to play around with if it intends to possibly address all the guesses about the ultimate, dire fate of the colonists.
Something else to think about: the very heart of this story may be a much bigger plot - one that's pretty much remained in the background of every season of the show. It's the idea of the "evil force," a notion mentioned by Billie Dean back in "Birth" when describing the Murder House. Traumatic events unleash energy and that force is absorbed into physical places -- "like prisons or asylums," she explained. The dark energy in the Murder House had a need to "break through" and move in the real world - and the trapped spirits were being used as conduits. In a sense then, most everything we've seen so far on the show might trace back to this Roanoke mystery.
Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association (TCA). Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at http://ift.tt/2aJ67FB.
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