Instead of scary ghost stories and tales of the glories of Christmases long, long ago, we propose some counterprogramming. The VF Archive brings you a modern royal romance, a long-standing Hollywood mystery, and the unlikely pairing of a rich American heiress and her amour. Natalie Wood’s Fatal Voyage The 1981 drowning of Natalie Wood, while Splendour, the yacht belonging to her and her husband, Robert Wagner, was anchored off Catalina Island, remains one of Hollywood’s darkest mysteries. The star of Splendor in the Grass and Rebel Without a Cause, whose tempestuous search for love had led her finally to remarry Wagner, was terrified of deep water. How had she ended up in the Pacific in the middle of the night? Drawing on the police report—which includes interviews with Wagner, Christopher Walken (Wood’s then costar), and others—as well as details from the yacht’s captain, Sam Kashner reveals the jealousy and rage of that deadly evening. R E A D  M O R E » Man of Her Dreams When award-winning NBC News producer Benita Alexander fell in love with the famous transplant surgeon Paolo Macchiarini, she thought her biggest problem was a breach of journalistic ethics. But as she and the dashing Italian doctor planned their dream wedding, to be officiated by none other than the pope, Alexander found herself in a nightmare. R E A D  M O R E » Wills and the Real Girl The path of royal love rarely runs smooth, and Prince William and Kate Middleton certainly have stumbled along their way, not least over all the other gorgeous young women in the prince’s orbit. Katie Nicholl takes the couple from their 2001 meeting at the University of St. Andrews through the “Aha” moment that turned friendship into romance, and onward to the breakups, the makeups, and Middleton’s Palace crash course. R E A D  M O R E » Forever Slim Her lean, clean looks and whiplash wit earned Nancy Gross from Pacific Grove the nickname Slim and a place in Truman Capote’s Answered Prayers as the mordant Lady Coolbirth. Of all the men who fell for her—from Clark Gable to Ernest Hemingway—Slim married three: director Howard Hawks, who created Lauren Bacall in To Have and Have Not in her image; producer-agent Leland Hayward, the love of her life, whom she lost to Pamela Churchill; and Sir Kenneth Keith, the financier with the stiffest upper lip. R E A D  M O R E » The Heiress and the Hairdresser Heiress to the vast Johnson & Johnson fortune, Libet Johnson was one of the wealthiest women in America—and one of the least known, considering her multimillion-dollar New York real estate maneuverings and a romantic history that included five husbands, a slew of sexy, younger boyfriends, and high-society hairdresser Frédéric Fekkai. From Johnson’s tragic, dysfunctional family background to the latest buzz, Suzanna Andrews cracked the wall of silence surrounding Johnson. R E A D  M O R E »