Michael Natale
News Editor
Michale Natale is a News Editor for the Hearst Enthusiast Group. As a writer and researcher, he has produced written and audio-visual content for more than fifteen years, spanning historical periods from the dawn of early man to the Golden Age of Hollywood. His stories for the Enthusiast Group have involved coordinating with organizations like the National Parks Service and the Secret Service, and travelling to notable historical sites and archaeological digs, from excavations of America’ earliest colonies to the former homes of Edgar Allan Poe.
43 Years Ago, Scientists Dropped Gophers Onto a Volcano. Today, They’re Tiny Heroes.
It started as a go-for-broke experiment, but it wound up saving an ecosystem.
A Man Walked Into a Bar and Told Everyone He Was D.B. Cooper. What If He Wasn’t Lying?
Seven men confessed to being the notorious skyjacker. Some wanted fame. Others wanted money. And the FBI investigated every one.
They Handed the Soviets the Blueprint for the Atomic Bomb—and Remained At Large for 10 More Years
Morris and Lona Cohen began spying for the USSR at the beginning of World War II and went virtually undetected across two decades of espionage.
A Plane Ran Out of Fuel over the Atlantic. Then Its Pilots Pulled off a Miracle and Saved 306 Lives.
Nobody knew it yet, but Flight 236 was losing 13 tons of fuel an hour hundreds of miles from any runway.
America Banned Biological Weapons—But the CIA Hid a ‘Heart-Attack Gun’ Made From Shellfish Toxin
The frozen dart melted on impact, mimicking a fatal cardiac event. Is the deadly tech still in use?
The USSR Built an Automated Doomsday Device During the Cold War. It Could Still Kill Us All.
‘Perimeter’ could set loose Russia’s entire nuclear arsenal—even with every leader in Moscow dead.
Archaeologists Found a Tooth and Bones That Challenge Assumptions About Christianity
Tangled in the roots of an ancient tree, the remains almost stayed lost forever—until now.
The CIA Found a Soviet Ghost Station Full of Cold War Secrets. To Steal Them, the U.S. Had to Do the Impossible.
In 1962, two operatives were yanked off Arctic ice by a passing plane that never touched down.
Axe Murders Inspired a Strange Military Plan to Chainsaw a Tree—and Nearly Started WWIII
Declassified memos show how Korea’s DMZ became the site of a heavily armed act of arboriculture.
A Shadowy Group Plotted to Overthrow the President. One Man Stood in Their Way.
A Marine general's refusal to lead a fascist coup may have saved U.S. democracy in 1933.
There Are Thousands of Inventions the Government Doesn’t Want You to See. A Shady Law Is Hiding Them.
A Cold War-era law lets federal agencies suppress any patent they want—and no one can tell you why.
When the Navy Recovered This Sunken Submarine, the Crew Was Dead. Why Were They Just Sitting There?
The H.S. Hunley crew corpses stumped scientists for 17 years. Researchers just cracked the case.
A Candymaker Tried to Save Money on Sugar. His Candy Killed 20 People and Changed History.
In 1858, arsenic mistaken for sugar filler turned a popular candy into a fatal mistake. It lead to major changes in food and drug safety.
A Master Forger Sold ‘Historic’ Mormon Documents for Years. When Exposure Loomed, He Built Bombs.
A rare-documents dealer waged a secret war on a religion—until it all blew up.
Rumors Swirled for Years About a Spy Agency’s Scandalous History. It Wasn’t Evil—Just Incompetent.
New research suggests Italy’s Cold War intelligence service simply couldn’t keep up.
6 Years Ago, Journalists Exposed the Biggest Spy Operation You’ve Never Heard Of. It Was Buried Again the Same Day.
More than 100 nations trusted one company to keep their secrets. It was owned by U.S. intelligence.
A Chilling Batch of Evidence Could Revive the Unsolved Black Dahlia Murder Mystery
Nearly 80 years after Elizabeth Short’s 1947 murder, a claimed hidden room, disputed case files, and new suspect theories are keeping Hollywood’s darkest cold case alive.
The Perfect Crime Was Undone by a Vomiting Shark. Then It Got Weird.
In 1935, a captive tiger shark vomited a human arm in front of a crowd of spectators. What followed was one of the strangest criminal investigations in history.
The Vice President’s Daughter Boarded a Ship Bound for New York. Then It Disappeared Without a Trace.
Theodosia Burr Alston was brilliant, celebrated, and doomed. Her disappearance spawned two centuries of pirate legends, false sightings, and mystery portraits—all to avoid one unbearable explanation.
A Restored Radio From 1937 Might Have Finally Located Amelia Earhart’s Lost Plane
The most famous disappearance in history may be one step closer to resolution.
Newly Found Sermons Reveal a Major Christian Saint Wrestling With a Biblical Witch
A 12th-century manuscript in a Polish monastery contained a surprise: previously unknown writings in which Christianity's most influential theologian tackled a biblical story about necromancy—and left the answer open.
80 Years Ago, Parachuting Beavers Helped Save America’s Wilderness. Today, They’re Furry Legends.
Elmo W. Heter had a problem: beavers were dying during overland relocations. His solution? Custom crates, surplus parachutes, and a very patient test beaver.
Alan Turing Was World War II’s Greatest Codebreaker. His Private Papers Reveal A Secret Project.
Newly revealed documents show that, while breaking Nazi codes, Turing was also building a device that almost changed military communication forever.
A Spacecraft Landed on Earth After a Successful Mission. Inside, the Entire Crew Was Dead.
In 1971, the Soyuz 11 mission ended in a tragedy that brought both sides of the Cold War together in mourning.
Ben Franklin Invented a Musical Instrument. People Said It Drove Them to Madness.
The glass harmonica’s bad reputation was entirely undeserved, though.
After 55 Years, the FBI Has Released New D.B. Cooper Files—Including One Clue That Could Change the Mystery
More documents, stranger leads, and still no answer in America’s only unsolved airline hijacking.
The Perfectly Intact Secret Subway Under New York City That Time Forgot
A rogue millionaire built the subway in 1870 to fight the government.
One Man’s Bones Kept Washing Up on the Beach. Investigators Finally ID’d Him—Then Came the Stunning Twist.
Suddenly, the timeline didn’t make sense.
A Ship at the Heart of a Deadly Naval Disaster Has Been Lost for 108 Years. Divers Just Found It.
The U.S. Coast Guard ship was sunk by a German submarine off the coast of Britain in 1918.
A Stolen Roman Statue Sat in an American Museum for 58 Years. Until One Bizarre Clue Gave It Away.
After decades of dead ends, the case finally turned on a low-tech test that no one expected to work.
The Nazis Stole and Hid the ‘Eighth Wonder of the World.’ 80 Years Later, Treasure Hunters Still Can’t Find It
The mystery of the where the Amber Room went has persisted for decades.
Archaeologists Found a 2,000-Year-Old Garden Beneath a Church. It May Be the Site of Jesus’s Tomb.
The early results from a long-awaited excavation of the quarry beneath the Church of the Holy Sepulchre are nothing short of extraordinary.