The archives are open. In its history of over a hundred years, the FBI has classified many documents - until now. Now, these government secrets are open for anyone to see.
Here are fifty of the most insane declassified secrets of the FBI - including details on one of America’s most mysterious residents. #50. Alive or Dead?
In the aftermath of World War II, the entire world celebrated the death of the Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. But despite the confirmation that his life had ended in a Berlin bunker as the Allied troops marched in, rumors started to spread. Did Hitler actually escape like so many of his Nazi allies, maybe to South America?
Did he shave his mustache and go undercover as an everyday suburban man, as one ill-advised sitcom imagined? The rumors persisted enough that in the months after the war, the FBI investigated evidence of his survival. And the declassified documents showed…nope, he’s dead.
It wasn’t the only FBI investigation related to the war. #49. The Wife J.
Robert Oppenheimer, the brilliant physicist heavily responsible for the United States winning the race to the atom bomb, was largely trusted by the US government despite some past leftist ties. But he was also married - and the FBI had some doubts about her. A trained biologist, she worked for the government at Los Alamos to help determine the body’s vulnerability to radiation.
The FBI was more concerned with her early life, when she had been involved with communist activist Joseph Dallet Jr. and joined the Communist Party. This led to her being investigated by agents about current ties, and to her husband’s clearance being reduced.
But many FBI investigations during the era were much more wide-reaching. #48. Detention!
Even before President Roosevelt’s infamous executive order that led to the imprisonment of the United States’ Japanese-American population, the government was hard at work arresting people. During the war, anyone deemed a security threat could be rounded up and detained by the government during the national state of emergency - and it centered on three groups. Japanese-Americans, German-Americans, and Italian-Americans were all arrested with little room for appeal, and the FBI kept an exhaustive list of the numbers.
But being investigated by the FBI isn’t always a negative. #47. The Money Man It’s rare for someone to play a key role in the home front in two world wars, but Bernard Baruch wasn’t an ordinary man.
The stock market magnate was chairman of the War Industries Board under Woodrow Wilson, and advised President Roosevelt on industry and production decades later. When anyone is that close to the President, the FBI will want to take a look at him. Did they find any red flags on the man?
Given that he was later appointed to the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission by Harry Truman, that’s likely a no. And in some cases, it’s about confirming what’s already known. #46.
Operation Paperclip When the US government decided to recruit former Nazis to help with the nuclear and space programs after the war, they knew they would need thorough background checks. After all, they were okay with some Nazis, but not the worst of the worst. The FBI was tasked with digging into the wartime activities of these scientists and deciding if they were valuable and relatively clean enough to become Americans.
Now on the FBI’s websites, Americans can dig into the original reports of figures like Arthur Randolph and Wernher Von Braun. But sometimes, the FBI was looking to prevent war before it happened. #45.
Flying SOLO While the US never went to war with the Soviet Union, paranoia was high about the communist nation infiltrating and sabotaging the Americans. That’s why the FBI created SOLO, an intelligence effort that spanned two decades. It placed agents within the Communist Party of the United States to discover if they were passing information to communist nations like the Soviet Union or China.
The operation was largely headed by two agents - now declassified as Russian Jewish immigrants Morris and Jack Childs, whose background gave them the skills needed to infiltrate Russian communist enclaves. But not every espionage investigation is above board. #44.
In the Bag How do you get a search warrant when the subject of the investigation is classified? Simple - you don’t. During the 1940s and beyond, the FBI frequently pulled off what was called Black Bag Operations.
This was when the organization would simply break into residences or businesses under the cover of darkness and search for evidence, without ever informing the subject of the search that they were being watched. Many of these never escalated to criminal prosecutions, so they weren’t disclosed until the files were declassified. The tactic continued until 1966 when the bureau ordered it stopped, and it was declared unconstitutional in 1972.
But not all targets of FBI investigation are as obvious. #43. The Lady of Peace Jane Addams was one of the most prominent early feminist reformers, a tireless advocate in the progressive era for women’s suffrage and public housing.
She even became the first American woman to be awarded with the Nobel Peace Prize for her role in the anti-war and anti-imperialist movement. So why is there an FBI file on this woman? How about a treason investigation?
When World War I began, Addams held fast to her anti-war beliefs and she founded a women’s party devoted to peace. In the 1920s, when she opposed the persecution of communist activists, the FBI started monitoring her - but came up empty on criminal charges. But one peace movement led to more investigations than any other.
#42. Yippie? The Vietnam War was deeply controversial, and many anti-war activists wound up being investigated by the government.
Chief among them was Abbie Hoffman, whose brushes with the law would lead to what became known as “The Trial of the Chicago Eight”. His group, the Youth International Party, better known as the Yippies, was frequently investigated by the FBI over a period of five years. Those digging through the FBI archives will find a whopping fifty-part series on the colorful figure - who wound up being portrayed by Sacha Baron Cohen in the movie The Trial of the Chicago 7.
One bloody day would come to define the Vietnam protest movement and lead to years of FBI investigation. #41. Blood on American Soil It started out as any other peace rally in 1970, with students at Kent State University in Ohio protesting the National Guard presence on campus as the war expanded to Cambodia.
But what wasn’t typical was the National Guard opening fire on the unarmed crowd, killing four students and wounding nine others. Two of the dead were bystanders, not protestors, and massive rallies around the country protested the killings. Ultimately, none of the Guardsmen who fired were criminally prosecuted, but the FBI spent years investigating the shooting - and all those documents can now be read in a twenty-two part series.
But some FBI cases are a lot less serious. #40. There’s No Place Like Home?
Few pieces of movie memorabilia are more iconic- Dorothy’s iconic ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz. That’s why it was such big news when they were stolen from the Judy Garland Museum in 2005. This theft was reported to the police, but the interstate smuggling operation was soon taken over by the FBI.
It took the government organization more than ten years to track down the thief, and even then it took multiple agents on a sting operation before the rare shoes were returned back home where they belonged. But some cases may be a little silly. #39.
Sing That Song “Louie Louie, oh no. Me gotta go”. The song’s probably stuck in your head now, right?
But what does it actually mean? No one really knows - and neither did the FBI. When the popular song by The Kingsmen debuted in 1963, it became a sensation, and many people wondered if the song was hiding a dirty little secret.
Were the words secretly pornographic? Were they hiding a coded political message? The FBI spent a full year investigating the song and its creators - and came up empty, as the lyrics remain as unintelligible as they were back in 1963.
It wasn’t the only time the FBI got involved in music. #38. Not Fab Everyone loved the Beatles - if their army of screaming fans was any indication.
But the government wasn’t as fond of the shaggy-haired British band, and the Nixon administration had a particular grudge against left-wing songwriter John Lennon. Nixon was convinced that Lennon was plotting to influence the 1972 election with his popularity, and the FBI launched an investigation that led to the Immigration and Naturalization Service starting the process of deporting Lennon. While Lennon was never banned from the country, he did back off plans for an American tour - a victory for Nixon that was later exposed by journalist Jon Weiner.
But you might be shocked by just how many celebrities have FBI files. #37. Before the White House Ronald Reagan having an FBI file shouldn’t be a surprise - after all, they probably like to know about the President.
But he was on the agency’s radar long before 1980. In 1947, when he was President of the Screen Actors Guild, he had a file - but why would they want to know about the staunch conservative, surely the last suspect anyone would have as a communist agent? Because Reagan was such a strong anti-communist that he and his then-wife Jane Wyman worked with federal agents to turn over the name of actors they thought might be communists.
The future President was an informant. But one more beloved figure had FBI ties as well. #36.
The Mouse’s Secret Walt Disney was notorious for being a traditionalist, and the man behind Mickey Mouse and the Disney parks didn’t like anything that shattered the illusion of all-American happiness in his properties. That included people with unpopular political views which led to his deep ties with the government. He had worked with them on World War II propaganda films, and long after the war he was still cooperating with them - giving them information on un-American activities in Hollywood.
He continued working with them through his death in 1966, and was even named a full Special Agent in Charge Contact. But many celebrities have files for less official reasons. #35.
The Lady Sings Why would Whitney Houston have an FBI file? The late singer lived a controversial life, and it got her on the government’s radar. While her troubles with drugs and money and her often chaotic relationships landed her in the tabloids, the FBI was more interested in her associates.
Many people from her life tried to take advantage of her, including a stalker who tried to blackmail her for a quarter of a million dollars. But why would one of the least-controversial singers of all time be on the list? #34.
Take Me Home? John Denver seemed like the guy next door, with his easy-listening country music songs being the type your parents sing along to on a long car ride. But the FBI saw things differently.
Up until his death in a plane crash, Denver had amassed a thirty-three-page FBI file. It was mostly concerned with his anti-war activism as a young man and his occasional drug use, but it also followed stalkers and death threats he picked up as a celebrity. The FBI even got involved in some notorious tabloid stories.
#33. The Bombshell Anna Nicole Smith was famous for marrying a much older man - who died not long after. She inherited most of his fortune, much to the anger of the oil tycoon’s son E.
Pierce Marshall. The two were involved in a vicious court battle over the massive bank account - vicious enough for Marshall to believe Smith tried to kill him. This led to an FBI investigation that ultimately decided there wasn’t enough to charge Smith.
Ultimately, it was all for nothing - Marshall and Smith died within a year of each other in 2006 and 2007. But even the original bombshell was on the FBI’s radar. #32.
Government Prefers Blondes? Marilyn Monroe has been the subject of countless government conspiracies due to her mysterious death. But the FBI wasn’t interested in that - they were more concerned with her love life.
One of Monroe’s many loves was acclaimed playwright Arthur Miller, who was believed to have Communist leanings. Due to Monroe’s influence, the FBI kept an eye on her - which led many to believe the government might have been involved in her death. She wasn’t the only icon to wind up in the FBI’s files.
#31. Loooooooocy! Everyone loved Lucille Ball, who along with husband Desi Arnaz created one of the most iconic sitcoms of all time.
But Ball was an eccentric woman, who once claimed she picked up spy chatter with her tooth fillings. The FBI was more concerned with her political leanings, as the comedy star had been affiliated with the communist party in the 1930s. Ball was repeatedly interviewed and denied having any ongoing communist affiliations.
While she was never placed on the notorious blacklists of the 1950s, her file grew to 156 pages. But some stars had a rougher road with the FBI. #30.
Hardly Silent Charlie Chaplin was best known for physical comedy and for famously opposing Hitler with his silent film The Great Dictator. But he was anything but silent off the screen - he was a political activist who was believed to be a communist sympathizer. Chaplin was a British citizen who worked a lot in the United States, and J.
Edgar Hoover wanted to make that more difficult. He even famously blocked Chaplin’s return to the United States in 1952, which led Chaplin and his wife to depart for Switzerland permanently. This next target wasn’t afraid to fight back.
#29. Turnabout is Fair Play Truman Capote likely expected to be investigated by the FBI. After all, the author behind Breakfast at Tiffany’s was a well-known left-wing activist who supported Fidel Castro in Cuba and exposed the injustices of the US justice system.
But why did the colorful author have a two-hundred-page FBI file? That might be because he made a personal enemy of J. Edgar Hoover by spreading rumors that the FBI chief was in a homosexual relationship.
Sometimes, it’s not anything someone does - it’s what the FBI thinks they can get. #28. Hard Rock Rock Hudson was one of the first true matinee idols, a handsome movie star who became a sensation in the 1960s.
But he had a secret - and the FBI was ready to take advantage. Hudson, a closeted gay man, was interviewed by the FBI and the thirty-four page FBI file can be accessed online - but not all of it. The file is still heavily redacted, which has led many to wonder what the FBI wanted with Hudson, who famously became one of Hollywood’s first AIDS casualties.
Sports brought a surprising number of figures to the FBI’s attention. #27. The Breakthrough Few figures in American history have become more universally loved than Jackie Robinson, the man who broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier.
But after his accomplishment, Robinson refused to be quiet and play ball. He became involved in the civil rights movement and supported Presidential candidates from both parties. But what got him on the FBI’s radar was his support of a Harlem facility for the International Workers Order, which supposedly had communist ties.
But one sports icon was on the FBI’s radar for far less savory reasons. #26. Shame of the Yankees George Steinbrenner was many things, including the owner of the Yankees during one of their most successful periods.
But he was also a notorious crook. He made illegal donations to Nixon’s re-election campaign, wound up paying a $15,000 fine, and then campaigned to be pardoned of the charges. While he eventually got his wish, his shady financial dealings led him to have an extensive FBI file from 1986 to his death in 2010.
Sometimes, people get investigated before a big promotion. #25. The Man for the Jobs?
Steve Jobs is a big name to anyone who loves their apple computer or iPad, but he was on the government’s radar as early as 1991. George H. W.
Bush was considering appointing him to the Export Council, and the FBI conducted routine background checks. What they found wasn’t routine, and it likely torpedoed his appointment. Not only did they find out that he experimented with LSD as a teenager and spoke positively of the drug, but many people stated that they believed Jobs was a serial liar and manipulator.
But why would the FBI investigate…Helen Keller? #24. Silent No More Most people know Helen Keller as the young deaf-blind child who was taught to communicate by vision-impaired schoolteacher Anne Sullivan.
But as soon as Keller learned to communicate, she was determined to never be silenced again. She became involved in feminist causes, opposed President Wilson’s policies, and even co-founded the American Civil Liberties Union. A proud socialist, she quickly wound up on the government’s radar, where she has a forty-five-page FBI file.
Something she would no doubt be proud of. But many of the FBI’s files were about the infamous, not the famous. #23.
The Big Man Few names appear in the FBI’s archives more than Al Capone, the legendary Prohibition-era gangster. While Al Capone’s most storied opponent was Agent Eliot Ness, Ness never worked for the FBI - but the bureau was keeping tabs on him anyway. Capone was ultimately tripped up not by his smuggling and mob activities, but because he underpaid the government and was nabbed for tax evasion - something the FBI’s 36 files on him no doubt caught.
Even Supreme Court Justices could be on the bureau’s radar. #22. The Good Judge Thurgood Marshall had a complex life, rising from being a civil rights activist and lawyer to becoming the first Black judge on the Supreme Court.
But his FBI file doesn’t look the same as most activists. As an early member of the NAACP, Marshall knew that he would be spied on. That’s why the savvy scholar reached out to J.
Edgar Hoover in the 1950s and met with FBI leadership. By providing information to them, he helped to protect the organization from accusations of being a communist front. But not all judges had such a stellar reputation.
#21. The Bad Judge? When Abe Fortas was appointed to the Supreme Court by Lyndon Johnson in 1965, he was already a close ally of the President - maybe too close.
He was plagued by rumors of obstruction of justice, and when he was going to be elevated to Chief Justice after only three years, the investigation picked up heat. The FBI files even showed that he had been the target of serious threats. Ultimately, his nomination for Chief Justice failed and Fortas resigned from the court.
And some cases are more by public demand. #20. Where Did She Go?
When Amelia Earhart disappeared during her attempt to be the first woman to fly across the Atlantic ocean, it was highly unlikely to be a criminal case. Everyone believed that she had encountered some mechanical or weather trouble and likely crashed, never to be seen again. But that didn’t stop the iconic airwoman’s 1937 disappearance from being looked into.
Countless Americans wrote in to the FBI asking for assistance in finding her - and while there was never an investigation, her file mostly consists of those letters. It wasn’t the only disaster to get an FBI investigation. #19.
Up in Smoke The Hindenburg zeppelin disaster became one of the most famous air disasters of all time when the massive airship caught fire, killing thirty-five people. While it’s now considered a tragic accident, the FBI initially investigated it for sabotage. Their case focused on one Joseph Spah, a comic acrobat who was one of the first passengers to see signs of trouble and jumped before the ship crashed, suffering only minor injuries.
While Spah was seen as an anti-Nazi activist and accused of being a saboteur, the FBI didn’t find any evidence of an organized plot. Another, even more famous disaster wound up on the FBI’s radar. #18.
The Challenge When the Space Shuttle Challenger went up in flames, taking all its astronauts with it, the cold war was still at its peak and paranoia was running high. Could the Soviet Union have struck a devastating blow against the US space program? The FBI investigated, with over a hundred pages of reports now declassified - and much like the Hindenburg, didn’t come up with any evidence of sabotage or terrorism.
Sometimes, the FBI gets closer to Hollywood than you might expect #17. Reel Life Why would the FBI have files on a noir film from 1951? Because the title was “I Was a Communist for the FBI” and it followed the story of a real spy who worked for the FBI in the 1940s.
The film was a patriotic thriller that portrayed the Second Red Scare as a justified response to the threat of Communism - but the FBI still had to investigate to make sure they were being portrayed well and no classified documents were being leaked. But not every FBI file is serious business. #16.
Thumbs Up Why would Gene Siskel, the late film critic best known for sparring with Roger Ebert on which film deserved a thumbs-up, be in the FBI’s files? Was someone there a really big fan of The Silence of the Lambs, which he memorably panned? Siskel’s FBI file is one of the shortest, only one page - a letter from FBI Director William Sessions congratulating him on winning the Golden Plate Award.
Receiving that letter from the FBI was probably terrifying before it was opened. It wasn’t the only time the FBI got involved in things that might be considered silly. #15.
Hollyweird While Lucille Ball was investigated on her own, it isn’t the only time her sitcom showed up in the FBI files. In 1977, the FBI was pulled into an elaborate copyright infringement scheme when they were tipped off by studios that someone was attempting to illegally distribute copies of famous movies and TV shows. In addition to Lucy, these included classics like The Partridge Family and The Twilight Zone.
Not exactly high crimes - but the studios thought differently. But not every file the FBI has declassified is a case file. #14.
So YOU Want to Be an FBI Agent If you want to wear the badge, you’d better start studying. The FBI doesn’t take just anyone - and the best information you might get comes from the agency themselves. The legal handbook for special agents was released as part of the FBI archives, containing a hundred and thirty-seven pages of the procedures they use to track the bad guys.
Just don’t count on it teaching you everything - the version released is almost twenty years old, at the very dawn of the digital era. And you might be surprised by who you find in the FBI’s archives. #13.
My Privacy! Digging through the archives, you’ll find both famous names and non-famous ones who got on the FBI’s radar. They can spy on just about anyone if they have cause, and most of their targets don’t get charged and never find out they were investigated.
That means they could have files on everyone - even you. If you’re feeling paranoid all of a sudden, the good news is, you can find out. A Freedom of Information Act request can unseal those files on you if they exist and aren’t classified - if you’re ready to see their thoughts on your browsing history.
But some FBI cases are just bizarre. Look to the skies… #12. The First Memo Guy Hottel was a special agent working at the Washington Field Office who seemed to be a competent man, which made it all the more surprising when he sent a bizarre memo in March 1950.
He claimed to be relaying information from an Air Force investigator about the recovery of three flying saucers in New Mexico. Not only did he describe them in detail, but the memo claimed that three bodies of extraterrestrials were recovered. Needless to say, no evidence of this was ever confirmed.
But it wouldn’t be the only investigation into UFOs by the FBI. #11. The Con Man Silas M.
Newton was already a powerful man in the oil industry when he contacted the FBI. He claimed to have a device that could find minerals and oil in the ground, and was generally regarded as a charlatan. That didn’t stop him from claiming he had seen a flying saucer crash-land on his territory in 1950.
No evidence of it was ever found, and he later changed his story. The FBI’s six-part file on him covers almost twenty years of con artist tactics, but it hasn’t stopped UFO fans from using him as a source. But was the FBI really concealing the truth?
#10. Not So Majestic It was one of the biggest bombshells in the search for UFOs - a document titled “Operation Majestic 12”. Sent to two different FBI offices, it revealed a conspiracy dating back to the Eisenhower administration to recover and investigate alien spacecraft and conceal it from the public.
The twenty-two-page memo would have been the biggest scandal in government history - if it was real. An investigation revealed it to be a forgery, and it was uploaded with one additional word - BOGUS. But some famous UFOs were investigated.
#9. What Happened at Roswell? For over seventy years, the events in Roswell, New Mexico have fascinated the public.
And while it’s been exaggerated in many ways, there was a real event - and a one-page FBI memo describes it. People reported a mysterious flying disc, shaped like a hexagon and suspended from a balloon. Not exactly the massive alien spacecraft, with many people thinking it resembled an odd weather balloon more than an invasion.
One particularly terrifying phenomenon wound up on their radar. #8. Those Poor Cows In the 1970s, western and prairie states found themselves dealing with a rash of animal mutilations, mainly cattle.
The animals often had odd sigils carved into them and seemed like they had been mauled by some sort of machine - at least that’s what the descriptions said. While many possible causes that weren’t alien were proposed, including satanic cults, no answer to the disturbing phenomenon was ever found. It was enough to get the organization to actually start a new division.
#7. Look to the Skies There were enough reports of strange sights in the sky that a new organization was founded, the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena. Starting in the 1950s, it worked with the FBI to share reports of unexplained flying objects and determine possible causes.
While the correspondence didn’t actually result in any UFOs being discovered, the bureau continued working with them as well as cooperating with the Air Force on a project titled Project Blue Book. But did the FBI ever crack the code of the country’s most notorious location? #6.
Let’s Break In! Sure, a bunch of guys on the internet thought they could break into Area 51 and free ET, but we’re no closer to figuring out exactly what’s in there. Does the FBI archive help with that?
Not really - Area 51 isn’t under their jurisdiction, and most people working there might not even know. To get some clues, you’d have to look at their rival agency the CIA, which did actually mention Area 51 in some documents - with no details, and no hints about what might be inside. But the FBI did investigate some seriously bizarre thing.
#5. Mind-Readers Is ESP a real phenomenon? Are there actually people who can read minds or predict things before they happen?
The FBI vault states that ESP is considered a perception of information about events beyond what can be learned from the senses or past knowledge. It’s a vague phenomenon, and the investigation didn’t make it any clearer - they spent three years and likely a lot of money to determine there was no scientific support for ESP. And sometimes, the FBI might be its own worst enemy.
#4. The Rivalry The FBI handles domestic affairs and the CIA handles international affairs. You’d think that would make them natural allies - but it doesn’t always work out that way.
The two agencies can be bitter rivals and hesitant to share information. That often leads to missed opportunities for cooperation, especially in cases where international threats are plotting against the United States homeland - like what happened on 9/11. And what does the FBI say about that fateful day?
#3. The 9/11 Files Few files were more anticipated for declassification than the first documents on the September 11th, 2001 attacks. Particularly, many people were wondering if it would shed light on possible involvement by the Saudi Royal Family in the attacks - and other conspiracy theorists wondered if it would reveal that the US government was involved.
The documents shed some light on intelligence failures, but didn’t implicate anyone new. Sometimes, Hollywood doesn’t live up to the hype. #2.
Declassified? When CBS announced a new documentary series titled “The FBI Declassified” in 2020, many people wondered how they could get away with this. Were they sharing government secrets?
Would the FBI break the door down mid-broadcast? It turned out the answer was…no on all counts. The six-episode documentary shared profiles on some well-known cases, but didn’t declassify anything - which probably accounted for the low ratings.
But one case might be more mysterious than any other. #1. Getting Hairy There is no American legend that fascinates people more than Bigfoot.
Is there really a giant, hairy humanoid lurking in the woods? The rumors were enough that the FBI actually investigated the legend in the 1970s, combing the woods for evidence of hairs, footprints, and waste material. In 1976, they actually did find long hairs that couldn’t be matched to any species.
The declassified investigation was declared inconclusive - which was more than enough for true believers to say the truth is out there. For more on the government’s secrets, check out “10 Craziest CIA Covert Operations”, or watch this video instead.
