How The Devil Came To America | An Immigrant Story

For this week’s story we have the tale of a particularly unwelcome immigrant called “How The Devil Came to America.”

Written by Eleanor, it’s a piece of arcane folk horror that explores the failure of the infamous Roanoke colony, positing a new theory as to why things went wrong for the residents of ‘The City of Raleigh’ in a tale which travels from the private offices of Queen Elizabeth I’s chief spymaster Sir Francis Walsingham across the sea to America’s eastern seaboard.

For hardcore Three Ravens fans, you may notice connections to some of our other stories within this one, including to our 30-part audio adventure from last summer, Dog Days: A Kit Marlowe Mystery.

And if you have not listened to Dog Days then don’t worry – this story stands alone on its own two hooves. Though do please check out Dog Days when you have the chance, as it’s a pretty wild ride and was the very first thing we wrote well and truly together.

Details in the story were inspired by Solving The Mystery of the Lost Colony by Lee Miller and The American Heritage History of the Thirteen Colonies edited in chief by Michael Blow.

About Three Ravens 🔮

Three Ravens is a completely independent English myth and folklore podcast where we share stories, celebrate folk culture, and fall backwards through the hedgerows of history.

Hosted by real-life couple Eleanor Conlon and Martin Vaux, and mostly recorded at our home in rural Sussex in southern England, Three Ravens is rated 4.8/5 from over 500 reviews and has grown by word of mouth care of our lovely listener community ‘The Conspiracy of Ravens.’

We release three episodes a week, on Mondays, Thursday and Saturdays, through which we explore folktales, folkways, fairy stories, folk songs, mythology, local heritage, seasonal customs and traditional beliefs.

Our research inspires our retellings of stories from across history and culture, with episodes standing alone but connected together across over 500 chatty, mostly light-hearted, swear-free installments driven by passion, kindness and curiosity.

Now ranked as an all-time Top 5 podcast across several categories by Goodpods, charting in the Spotify, Apple and Rephonic UK Fiction Top 10 across 2024, 2025 and 2026, if you’re interested in ghosts, monsters, regional beliefs, and the things that unite us all, then join us round the campfire and listen in…

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