Dare Stones
In the 1930s and 1940s, Dr. Haywood Pearce, Jr. from a college in Georgia reported having stones brought to him that bore Eleanor Dare's initials.  Stones were reportedly found along the Chowan River and as far south as Georgia.  The stones were said to have told the fate of the Dare family and the rest of the colonists.

Scientific testing was conducted on the stones to determine age and credibility.  Everything seemed to check out.  In the 1940s, a journalists picked apart the research and uncovered some facts that had been left out of Pearce's report. 

The Dare Stones proved to be a fake.