The Ordinary, Extraordinary Cemetery
The Ordinary, Extraordinary Cemetery is a podcast for cemetery lovers, preservationists, and even those who've never walked among the graves. Join hosts Jennie and Dianne as they explore old cemeteries and learn the stories of those buried within their walls. After all, every death had a life, and every life had a story.
Episodes
284 episodes
Episode 286 - Death and Dying 101 with Ryan Seidemann Round 10
This week on the Ordinary Extraordinary Cemetery podcast, inquiring minds want to know if sea burials of the past were just as solemn and religious as those on land, why post-mortem photos taken in the past were considered more respectable than...
Episode 285 - Ordinary Extraordinary America: A 4th of July Special
250 years ago, America was an idea. Today, it’s millions of stories! This week, we go back to a few of them we've covered on the Ordinary Extraordinary Cemetery podcast, beginning with Kurt Deion, who spent his childhood visiting president...
Episode 284: Nebraska City's Desk of Stone
You’re walking through a 170-year-old cemetery and find a tombstone that’s… a desk? Welcome to Wyuka Cemetery in Nebraska City. The city itself was founded in 1855 after the U.S. Army abandoned Fort Kearny just eight years earlier. Thanks to it...
Episode 283 - The Seamstresses of Liberty
Happy belated Flag Day! On this week’s Ordinary Extraordinary Cemetery podcast, Dianne and Jennie are honoring the women behind the American flag. You know Betsy Ross, but do you know Mary Pickersgill and Grace Wisher? Did Betsy Ross really mak...
Episode 282 - The Boy in the Boat: Drowned by Legend, Not by Water
In the previous episode of the Ordinary Extraordinary Cemetery podcast (#281), Dianne and Jennie explored Forest Hills Cemetery in Boston, Massachusetts and some of its most visited monuments including one often called, "The Boy in the Boat" wh...
Episode 281 - A Storybook Resting Place: Forest Hills Cemetery in Boston
Looking for things to do in Boston in addition to walking the Freedom Trail? Might we suggest visiting Forest Hills Cemetery in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood? This 275-acre historic cemetery, founded in 1848 and added to the National Register ...
Episode 280: Death and Dying 101 with Ryan Seidemann: Episode 9
This past Monday, men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice were remembered in Memorial Day tributes across the United States, and on this episode of the Ordinary Extraordinary Cemetery podcast Dianne and Jennie chat with Ryan Seidemann who...
Episode 279 - In the Wake of Golgotha: Judas & Pilate Reborn with Daniel Grace
This week, Jennie sits down with author Daniel Grace to discuss his new novel In the Wake of Golgotha. The conversation weaves together ancient betrayal and modern violence through the intertwined lives of Judas and Pontius Pilate, reb...
Episode 278 - The Patron Saint of Moms: Erma Bombeck's Ordinary Extraordinary Life
Thirty years after her death, Erma Bombeck is still the patron saint of moms everywhere so it felt only fitting to celebrate her life and legacy with Mother's Day just around the corner. She wrote the messy, hilarious, heartwarming truth about ...
Episode 277 - Until You Know What You’re Looking For with Joy Giguere
Sometimes a chat with your local butcher can lead you down a very curious rabbit hole and that is exactly what happened to this week's returning guest, historian Joy Giguere, on this latest episode of the Ordinary Extraordinary Cemetery podcast...
Episode 276 - Pickett’s Charge Mystery: Where Is Richard B. Garnett Buried?
This week on the Ordinary Extraordinary Cemetery, Jennie and Dianne are joined by one of their favorite living historians MJ Henion, to unravel a Civil War mystery that still haunts historians today.Meet Brigadier General Richard B. Garnett...
Episode 275 - Rooted in Love: The Community of Holly Hill Memorial Park
When the 2008 recession upended Eric Anderson’s career, he never imagined the detour would lead to cemetery service. But that’s where he found work that truly mattered. After walking through personal loss herself, his wife Megan joined...
Episode 274 - Rewriting Bianca Capello: A Conversation With Author Gigi Berardi
On this episode of the Ordinary Extraordinary Cemetery podcast, Jennie and Dianne are joined by author Gigi Berardi to talk about "Bianca’s Cure", her fact-driven historical novel about Bianca Capello, who in real life was famed for her beauty,...
Episode 273 - A Few "Grave" Situations
This week, Jennie and Dianne are "digging" into some truly Ordinary Extraordinary recent news stories from cemeteries across the US. First up, Lafayette, Colorado, where a local cemetery has run out of burial space, leaving families in a lurch ...
Episode 272 - Forgotten Female Felons with Sherry Skye Stuart
Just as Women's History Month wraps up, Jennie and Dianne chat with author Sherry Sky Stuart about her fascinating new book, Forgotten Female Felons. Skye resurrects the stories of women locked up in the Colorado Territorial Prison, kicking off...
Episode 270 - Anonymous Was a Woman: Why Women's History Matters
"For most of history, Anonymous was a woman." — Virginia Woolf In this episode of the Ordinary Extraordinary Cemetery, Dianne and Jennie follow a single name etched on a simple marble stone in the Pioneer secti...
Episode 268 - Grave Delights & Ghostly Bites: A Cemetery Dessert Special
What dessert would you eat in a cemetery? This week, we're sharing some of your wild and wonderful social media responses to that very question, inspired by the authors of "To Die For A Cookbook of Gravestone Recipes" and "Haunted Virginia Ceme...
Episode 267 - The Brigadier, The Bluebird, and a Lifetime of Love
In this episode of the Ordinary Extraordinary Cemetery, we're diving into a tale of wartime romance, enduring love, and a connection forged across continents. Dalhousie University, 1914. She was a music student, he was an athlete. They were jus...
Episode 266 - Tracks of Change: The Pullman Porters' Legacy
All aboard! Join Jennie and Dianne this week as they "ride the rails" with the Pullman Porters, unsung heroes of American history! These men overcame unimaginable prejudice and racism; from being called "George" by passengers, regardless of the...
Episode 265 - The Price of Freedom: Exploring Bleeding Kansas
Tune in this week to The Ordinary Extraordinary Cemetery podcast as Jennie and Dianne dive into the turbulent history of Kansas from 1854-1856, sparked by the New England Emigrant Aid Company's efforts to make Kansas a free state. What they unc...
Episode 264 - Death and Dying 101 with Ryan Seidemann: Episode 7
This week on the Ordinary Extraordinary Cemetery podcast Dianne and Jennie sit down with Ryan Seidemann for our first Death and Dying 101 episode of 2026. We discuss the Victorian morals of using ground up mummies for miracle cures, the burial ...
Episode 263 - Family Tales the Game
New year, new memories! Tune in to this week's Ordinary Extraordinary Cemetery podcast as Jennie and Dianne share heartwarming family stories from listeners who played our game "Family Tales" with us online as we closed out 2025 and ushered in ...
Episode 262 - The Doctors' Riot of 1788: A Conversation with Writer Andy McPhee
What happens when medical progress clashes with public outrage? Body snatching, bloodletting, and a riot that shook America's founding fathers: join Jennie and Dianne on this latest episode of The Ordinary Extraordinary Cemetery as they chat wi...