Grim Mourning and welcome to The Grim. I'm your host, Kristin. On today's episode, we won't be opening any gates, but instead going over the Grim's 2024 episodes and kind of a review. So grab your favorite mug, cozy up, and let's take you to the Grim's 2024. It's obviously that 2024 was a very large year from the Grim with just three episodes so far. We're still relatively young as a podcast. Many don't make it past this point. However, with an impressive 58,000 downloads to date, the growth has been nothing short of extraordinary, exceeding both my own expectations and perhaps those of others. I'm personally a graveyard tourist and I wanted to share my love for these extraordinary places and with the encouragement of my husband, I started the Grim. This was originally supposed to be only a blog, but my husband was like, Why don't you start a podcast? And I never really considered it, but decided to give it a try. So here we are, which I'm not familiar with the ins and outs of podcasting. And obviously, if you know, if you've been with us from the beginning, the episodes have gotten longer. There's more detail. The writing hopefully is better. And of course, the equipment and upgrades have all happened within the last 33 episodes. So it's exciting to see what's to come for us in this next year. But for the format I generally use on the Grimm, it's a very cut and dry manner, which obviously from some of the reviews, some people find it extremely boring. But that's for those people. We're not everybody's cup of tea. We're not supposed to be there. Grimm is about history, hauntings and the legends within graveyards. And some people might find it macabre. But these are outdoor museums. They're packed with the history from the area where they're located, and sometimes it's war on a world scale, and sometimes it's more local. But every single person within a graveyard that we open the gate on the ground has a story to tell. Many of them are overlooked, which is why I think it's so fascinating to go over their history and to retell it. You've no idea. Sometimes even the grounds where you're standing and the history that took place there. Take, for instance, Greenwood, whose gate we recently opened. It's a revolutionary battlefield that when you look at the gothic, romantic buildings and lush gardens, you would have zero idea what took place there. Of course, when you're within the grounds, it's noted. And even tour guides are going to tell you. But the people who go about their daily lives in Brooklyn, going past this place every day might have no idea what took place there. I'd like to think that here on this podcast, recognizing places and their historical significance is not just as burial grounds, but as other places in history for people to visit to see what partook there. Maybe appreciating a little bit more of their local or even world history. That being said, let's get into the nitty gritty of The Grim. One question I often get is which cemetery episode is your favorite? And I'm going to say it's Highgate. Highgate is one of the cemeteries that I absolutely love. It was covered in the lure of the garden of the death, but it's a lush garden cemetery for the Victorian elite. And when you look at it, has everything you could want in a cemetery. One of the most recent things I do as cemeteries is look at reviews, whether it's on TripAdvisor or Google reviews. Cemeteries do have reviews and some of it is absolutely hilarious. I recently read one that said one of the cemeteries that I was looking up. They said, This is the stupidest place I've ever been to, which is not for tourist and has you pausing and going there. They're not. Cemeteries are not for tourists. They're for families, for people who are grieving and an expression for loved ones lost. And also the remembrance of those who've gone before us. But for Highgate, it was one of the places that had me backtracking into reading reviews, especially for people who weren't tapa files and who didn't really want to be there or were kind of like on the fence that visiting that particular place. But then going there, they changed and turned into cemetery people or TAPPER files. They fully appreciated the experience and I think that's one of the aspects of Highgate. It's one of those experiences that fully turn your viewpoint as a way to visit a cemetery. And I think it's one of the reasons why it's my favourite. You're not always going to have that kind of experience, which in my opinion, really underscores the unique charms of Highgate. It's people who take care of it and every aspects of the grounds and some people are going to be disappointed when going to other cemeteries, but it makes you appreciate it so much more. It makes you go, Wow, this is just gobsmacking wild, beautiful. And I think this place is just one of those turning points for a lot of different people who need to see it as a tough offer. I went in knowing about Highgate and I still came out impressed. And I think that speaks volumes when visiting somewhere. You have expectations of what it should be. And I think Hike not only hit those expectations, it goes further, which is why it's so impressionable and why doing more research, reading about it and going through even other people's blog posts, seeing reviews and how other people fully appreciate the cemetery, you might simply think, yes, this is absolutely gorgeous and worth it. And that's exactly what I wanted to convey. I know it can be challenging at times because the episodes often take a straightforward, fact based approach, focusing heavily on history. That's the core of what we aim to highlight, though. We want listeners to truly grasp the significance of historical events and the stories behind them. Sometimes the beauty and the emotions of such a place can be hard to express through history alone. But within Highgate, when you step within its walls, the expression is there. The history is there. It has the full package of what you want in a cemetery. And I really think that's what I wanted to convey, and hopefully I did. Sometimes, though, it's very, very hard to and maybe I didn't. But I think that if anything has gotten out of that episode is how amazing that cemetery truly is. Of course, now we go to what is your least favorite episode on the Grim, which it's hard because every single episode I've done here, I've loved each graveyard for a different reason. I didn't find a lot of negatives. But that being said, I did find one that stuck out to me, which is the caption Catacombs. As beautiful as Italy is to go see these wonderful places, food landscape and the people within the Capuchin catacombs. It's just very sad. But we're faced with death on a different level of anything you've ever experience. It's in your face on a different level, and you're going into this place where people are still decaying, and it's hard to get past that initial expression of a dead person hung on a hook that lived a full life. And they're not buried, but on full display. Their clothes, their skin is still there, and something just really sits with you. The entire visit. That does not necessarily creepy, but it's hard to get past the morality of it. I found myself dreading reading about it more. And despite the historical context, the culture of Sicily and the journey that led to them bombing people in those catacombs. I just couldn't move past it. My brain seemed to shut down at the thought of dead people on a hook. Beyond that, there wasn't much else that felt meaningful, memorable, or even impactful. That impression stayed with me, and I think that's why it was my least favorite. The other subject that we wanted to go over in 2024, of course, is the ghost of the Grim. And I know I personally love a good ghost story, and obviously each episode has their own hauntings, claims and situations of what people have experienced, which is sometimes really hard for some others to get past. In the historical context, it's usually cut and dry and people have found things and say, This is concrete evidence that this happened here and why. And you have artifacts and materials and all kinds of research with the paranormal. It's a very touchy subject. I think hauntings, though, are extremely important to cover with. In graveyards, they can create vandalism, tourist traffic and different aspects into the graveyard that people have never thought of before. You have teenagers looking for thrills who were going in at midnight illegally and trespassing and then they cause problems. And sometimes it's very sad. It can lead to dilapidated grounds, but also cause damages in the thousands, which is what I think people don't think of, say, for instance, in Bachelor's Grove. I think it's very important to include the teenagers were on the grounds desecrating graves and making it look almost as if it was barren from this vandalism. The cemetery, if their behavior continues, won't exist as we know it, or even look as it did prior to the tales of hauntings. People don't realize that Graves cost thousands of dollars, especially Gothic tombs that were millions of dollars worth of money that weren't well spent in the time frame that they were. And the craftsmanship can never be recreated in the same way that it was because of the money, the funding and different aspects. And sometimes family members are no longer around. So these types of histories and hauntings do intertwine in such ways that need to be told. Especially a renowned paranormal enthusiast like Ed and Lorraine Warren. They're extremely high profile. So then going to a cemetery in Ghost hunting is going to be something that draws visitors in, such as Union Cemetery that we covered. These places wouldn't have the same foot traffic or people looking for ghosts and making visits, especially in places like Burial Hill in Marblehead, Massachusetts, which is often confused for Salem because it wasn't hocus pocus. I know I personally went to that cemetery because it wasn't hocus pocus, and it's one of my favorite movies I watch on every Halloween. But at the same time, I had no idea there were hauntings. Revolutionary War heroes, and also a monument to fishermen who lost their lives within. I think there are aspects that are lost in cemeteries. When you visit it on your own and you don't know the historical context. Certain historical significance gets lost. And I think there's something so thrilling to learn, especially when it comes to ghosts. One of my favorite ghost stories on the Grimm in 2024 was from Bonaventure Cemetery, one of the most beautiful stateside cemeteries in the United States. The grounds history from Plantation times intertwines with the haunts. The plantation experienced two fires during 1771 and then again in 1800. During one of the fires, a party reportedly was taking place. Those determined not to have the party affected let his guest outside. He continued to entertain by the light of the fire with continuous toasts by guests. The host then would dramatically smash his glass against an oak tree and his guests would follow suit. At night, visitors claimed to hear the smashing of crystal and laughter. If your quiet enough when exploring the grounds. I really loved this tale because each of the parts of it intertwines ghost stories with history. And then the even greater part is the Bonaventure Historical Society confirmed that that fire, as it did in fact, take place. So the fact that the story has historical accuracies involved in it is even better for me. And I think this is where people really should appreciate history and hauntings. You can have individuals who claim to experience a ghost tale, but when you also have historical details involved, they can be accurately depicted. It becomes more than just a silly bedtime story. The other fun tale that doesn't include ghosts from Bonaventure is people stealing jars of dirt from the cemetery grounds. That is, of course, due to the midnight and the Garden of Good and Evil's popularity. One of the characters named Minerva is a voodoo priestess that said to use graveyard dirt. Her casting spells and hexes in the book. But readers missed a particularly important detail that the cemetery Minerva collected her dirt from is actually in Buford, South Carolina, not Bonaventure. This, of course, has the cemetery experiencing that, which I think is absolutely hilarious to even say or cover. But this is a very detail that I thought be the whole episode a little bit more charming and something fun to include in one of the grimmer tales of the Grimm. The Vampires grasp an episode five. We cover Chestnut Hill Cemetery in Exeter, Rhode Island. We dug into the rich history of America's infamous vampire haunt, which was the interesting, haunting tale of mercy Luna, whose restless spirit is said to haunt Chestnut Hill Cemetery. The fear of consumption at the time, it led to some residents digging up their own debt while looking for vampires and lurking, bloodsucking spirits. They believe the illness was an effect of vampires, not the actual bacteria of consumption, which was currently still unknown at the time. In his tale, she was just a sick girl who perished from illness. A New England folklorist and scholar Michael Bell had discovered almost 100 cases of graves in the region that were related to vampires. Suspicion coffins would be in good condition, but cadavers would be beheaded, chest torn open, and various bones of the lower body crossed over the chest, which I think is so interesting that the desecration of graves was completely acceptable during this illness. What was interesting was most rural families that fell ill with cancer, some shed did in fact see their standard physician, which I think revealed more of the desperation and attempts to cure this illness for their loved ones. What made mercy lenses tale more interesting than the rest was that she perished in January. Now, in Rhode Island, they have very harsh winters. So the ground freezes, which made them unable to bury her in January. So they put her in receive crypt in the cemetery, which of course was very cold because it was very cold. This preserved mercy on his body. So when they decided she was, in fact, perhaps a vampire and decided to open the crypt and check her condition, she was completely frozen in perfect condition. Reading about her tale was like reading a book of fiction, which, of course is funny because her story inspired Dracula, struck her, had newspaper clippings of her story found in his possessions after his passing. Mercy Lenses Tale has possibly inspired one of the greatest horror novels of all time, which is absolutely iconic, considering it just a small rural graveyard in Rhode Island. That experience a pandemic of an unknown illness at the time, made this happen. I personally think it takes the phrase the truth is stranger than fiction to a different level, making it intriguing for a graveyard tale that goes beyond. This also shows how the importance of local history can inspire even tales. Today, with everyone recently watching the movie Nosferatu, that's truly a Dracula inspired horror film, first adapted in the early 1900s from a silent film, is now a multimillion dollar film, hopefully giving listeners a new meaning to in the vampire's grasp. Of course, in 2024, we also saw such celebrations being featured on Apple's New and Noteworthy that also being featured in Apple's Death in the Basement segment during Halloween, bringing many new listeners to join in on the Grim's Graveyard Tales, History and Hauntings. This was an absolutely pivotal moment for me. The podcast also brought in reviews which I find to be highly subjective. Sharing a podcast with the world means opening the door to listener feedback, something I truly value. Whether positive or negative, I'm grateful to everyone who takes the time to share their thoughts. We understand we might not be everyone's script of choice, and some may find the content boring or even taking issue with my pronunciation. That being said, I genuinely appreciate the feedback because it helps me grow. Looking ahead to 2025, I see so much potential for the gram to evolve, and as a podcaster I'm excited about what's to come. The grave ground for 2024 was an iced double mocha latte from French memories in Duxbury, Massachusetts. As one of my favorite finds that I've gone back to when in the area. We hope you enjoyed the Grim's 2024 review and are looking forward to 2025. If you did subscribe today to join us next time when we open the gate on Rhe Grim.