Walter Raleigh

Sir Walter Raleign (pronounced rawley in America and rally in England) was a British explorer and colonist of the 15th century A.D. He founded the colony of Roanoke Island in Virginia, which he was going to use as a base for privateering missions against the Spanish and Portuguese.[1] But before he could sail back to England, the whole colony disappeared, thus proving prophetic its name "The Lost Colony". Stephen King has theorized that the Roanoke disappearance was due to demonic possession.[2]

Sir Walter Raleigh was quite a polyglot; he was not only an explorer, but also brought tobacco to the New World, wrote a number of poems including the Waverley novels, and was beheaded on October 29, 1618.

In 1940, Errol Flynn played a character based on Raleigh in the movie The Sea Hawk.