Welcome to Unexplained Extra, with me, Richard McLean-Smith, where for the weeks in

between episodes, we look at stories and ideas that one reason or other didn't make it

into the previous show.

In our last episode, Lost in Stormy Visions, we cast our eye over the epic tale of the

Lost Colony of Roanoke.

Having only had a loose understanding of the story before researching it, I was staggered

by its sheer scale and how wide and deep the connections were with many major events

of the age.

It is unfortunate too that so little was known about the lives of the undeniably brave individuals

regardless of how we might measure the consequences of their actions, who made the journey in the

first place.

It's worth noting too that, though this is often referred to as America's first mystery,

from the perspective of the people and communities already existing there, it was anything

but.

I find the notion of entire vanishing communities, or mass events such as this, endlessly

compelling.

One such story that's always fascinated me is the mystery of Scarab Ray in Orkney, Scotland.

It was during the winter of 1850 that a severe storm ripped into the bay of Skile on the

west coast of the island's mainland, tearing it to large and unusual grassy knoll, known

locally as Scarab Ray, which overlooked the coast.

When the storm finally cleared one morning, the local villages woke up to discover the

knoll had been completely removed, and in its place, the outline of an ancient village

...