2025 | A Grim Review

Descend into reflection as The Grim closes the gates on 2025, a year that saw this niche podcast defy brutal industry statistics—where 47% of shows never reach episode three and only 8.5% make it to 50 episodes. Host Kristin marks episode 73 with gratitude, looking back at the cemeteries that fascinated her most and the stories that asked to be told, while acknowledging the listeners who made survival possible in a landscape littered with abandoned feeds and forgotten voices.

Featured Cemeteries & Stories:

Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument – Custer's Last Stand opened the year with uncomfortable questions about whose stories get told and how celebrated narratives look different through Indigenous eyes. A place that sits heavier now, asking visitors to slow down and think about who was allowed to tell the story.

Ross Bay Cemetery, Canada – A Victorian masterpiece that felt familiar yet foreign, beautiful and weathered and very haunted. The first journey north of the border, sparked by listener requests that will continue into 2026.

Presbítero Matías Maestro Cemetery, Peru – A cemetery that embraces its haunted side while telling its story, offering night tours that honor both the dead and the curious.

Montmartre Cemetery, Paris – Overshadowed by Père Lachaise but equally rich with history, including a mass grave from the French Revolution that textbooks rarely mention. A hidden gem where you stumble across stories waiting to be discovered.

Portuguese & Italian Bone Chapels – An exploration of heritage through the host's husband's first-generation Portuguese background, uncovering stunning sites whose history often gets forgotten. The fascination continued with two Italian chapels later in the fall.

Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin – Meet Me at the Gravediggers—a favorite episode featuring Irish history's brutal survival tales. The story of a historian who spent his life educating visitors and planned to rest on the very grounds he loved stayed with Kristin long after research ended.

Bennington Centre Cemetery, Vermont – Picture-perfect New England with beautifully carved Puritan headstones. Home to the Redcoat Skeleton, a British soldier whose bones were preserved for medical study, stowed in an attic for years, then finally returned to burial ground.

Asylum Cemeteries – Two episodes exploring patients who were ignored, silenced, buried without names. Many weren't even mentally ill—just inconvenient, different, or unwanted by families who could afford to make them disappear.

Friedhof Ohlsdorf, Germany – Complicated history tied to both World Wars and the Nazis. History doesn't give us the luxury of omission—even the villains shaped the world we live in today, and cemeteries reflect that truth.

St. Paul's Cathedral Crypt, London – Where the cathedral's WWII protection story casts quiet glow over the crypt below, and you can enjoy a latte next to some of Britain's most legendary figures.

Also Featured: Père Lachaise, Recoleta, Granary Burying Ground, Tophet of Carthage, true crime episodes where violence touched cemetery grounds, and the reminder that death keeps no calendar—The Grim will always return.

Looking Ahead: 2026 promises more graveyards, continued exploration of historic burial grounds worldwide, and stories driven by listener engagement.

Support the show

Support The Grim by buying a cup of our next Grave Grind!
https://buymeacoffee.com/kristinlopes

Find All of The Grim's Social Links At:
https://www.the-grim.com/socialmedia

Episode Transcript

Kristin (00:13):
Grim morning and welcome to the Grim.
I'm your host, Kristin.
On today's episode, we'll beopening the gate and entering
2025, a Grim Review, located atthe Grim.
The aroma of coffee mingles inthe air.
The gates stand open.
Step carefully.
It's time to descend into thehauntings of history.

(00:34):
Here we are at the end of 2025.
Looking back at the year behindus and peeking forward into
2026, many make New Year'sresolutions, commit to dry
January, and look ahead to apromising year.
It's also that time of yearwhen you have no idea what day
it is, and absolutely nojudgment if you haven't left
your couch in days.

(00:55):
But what does a new year looklike for the Grim?
Hopefully more episodes, betterwriting, and continued
enjoyment on your end.
But I have to be honest, Iwasn't always sure the Grim
would make it this far.
In today's world, podcasts feelendless.
The numbers are staggering, butthe survival rate is absolutely
brutal.
Nearly 47% of podcasts don'tmake it past episode 3, and a

(01:18):
staggering 94% never reachepisode 100.
Out of roughly 2.5 millionpodcasts, only about 17% are
active.
And within a year, that numberdrops to just 10%.
Even more striking, only around8.5% of podcasts ever reach
episode 50, where not all JoeRogan's here.
So publishing episode 73 feelslike something worth

(01:40):
acknowledging.
Between being told I sound likeAI, receiving the occasional
one-star review, and choosing tolive in a very niche corner of
the podcast world, I'm either alittle bit stubborn, or the grim
is truly the little podcastthat could, and that's because
of you.
So thank you for truly making2025 possible.
Thank you for listening, forreturning, and for spending time

(02:03):
with these stories.
Whether you've been here fromthe very beginning or found the
grim along the way, I'm gratefulyou're here.
So here's too another yearahead, and another year of the
grim.
But before we look ahead into2026, let's take a moment to
look back.
Most of the time when I writethe grim, I focus on historical
accuracy, layered with tales ofhauntings and strange

(02:24):
happenings.
My personal feelings about eachgraveyard usually stay in the
background.
That's not typically whatyou're here for.
This episode though gives me alittle more room to step outside
that boundary.
Talk about which places trulyfascinated me while researching
them, and what it felt like toretell their histories.
I began 2025 with Custer's LastStand, an interesting choice,

(02:47):
and one that's at the tone forthe year.
Cussard is a deeplycontroversial figure in American
history, and honestly not ahero.
His end given his actions oftenfeels less tragic and more
inevitable, but history is avery fickle thing.
In recent years, especiallythrough social media, more
Americans have begun learningabout indigenous communities and

(03:09):
seeing how long celebratednarratives and even holidays can
look very different throughindigenous eyes.
That shift changes how weunderstand our past, and it
changes how places tied to thathistory feel when we stand on
that ground today.
Because of that, places likeLittle Bighorn Battlefield
National Monument don't feel thesame anymore.
They sit heavier now.

(03:30):
They ask us not just toremember what happened there,
but to slow down and think abouthow the story has been told and
who was allowed to tell it.
I've always though been drawnto parts of history that felt
unfinished, the darker edges,the chapters we skipped in
school, those thick textbooks welugged around where somehow
we'd start at chapter 7 insteadof chapter 1.

(03:52):
I remember wondering even then,why, what happened before this,
who decided it wasn't importantenough to include chapter 1?
If you're someone who asksthose types of questions, you're
not alone, and you're exactlywhere you're meant to be.
I then decided to tell thestory of Ross Bay Cemetery, a
place that surprised me with itspast and beauty.
A very good friend of minelives in Canada, and sometimes

(04:15):
it feels like a whole differentworld.
But walking through Ross Bay,it felt familiar.
Like our Victorian cemeterieshere, beautiful, weathered, full
of stories, and yes, veryhaunted.
One of my favorite parts aboutresearching a cemetery, aside
from the graves themselves, islearning what the land was
before it became a burialground, what stood there first,

(04:36):
who walked long beforeheadstones arrived, whether it
began out of necessity orbecause someone looked at a
stretch of farmland and imagineda Victorian masterpiece.
All of it is part of the fullpicture.
And I think that curiosity, howwe relate to these places,
still shows up today, just invery modern ways.
You can actually read cemeteryreviews on Google, and honestly,

(05:00):
there's something else.
How do you give someone's finalresting place one star?
Did it go spill on your coffeeor something?
I don't know, but it neverstops fascinating me.
Over on the groom's YouTube,I've seen quite a few requests
for another Canadian graveyard,and that is coming in 2026.
I'm really excited about it.
Rospay definitely wasn't aone-time visit north of the

(05:23):
border.
And I want you to know how Ilove seeing your messages, your
requests, your stories, and yourcomments.
When I research, I do my verybest to honor these places.
But if someone has a personalconnection, a relative buried
there, or a story that deservesto be told, I want to hear it.
You can DM me, you can emailme.
Those stories are very welcomehere, always.

(05:46):
We also opened the gate in Peruthis year, a place I wasn't
familiar with before and onethat completely pulled me in.
Peru first caught my attentionyears ago while watching A Long
Way Up with Ewan McGregor andCharlie Borman.
If you love travel, I can'trecommend their series enough.
Seeing South America throughtheir eyes didn't just make me
want to go, it made me want tounderstand it.

(06:08):
And eventually that curiosityled me straight to its
graveyards.
I fell in love with thePresbytero Matthias Maestro
Cemetery, not just for itshistory, for how it embraces its
haunted side while also tellingvisitors its story.
It even offers night tours,which I think is absolutely
worth anyone's time if you're inthe area.
Another lesser-known cemetery Iwanted to highlight is

(06:31):
Montmartre in Paris.
It's often overshadowed byPierre Lache, but wandering its
past reveals some of the mostfascinating spots you won't find
on standard tours.
Its history is rich and thepeople resting here are equally
compelling.
Places like Montmartre are thekind you stumble across and
suddenly realize what a hiddengem you've found, which is why I

(06:53):
wanted to include it in thisyear.
Most people expected PierreLache, but Montmartre is just as
historic and just as alive withstories waiting to be
discovered.
One that particularlyfascinated me was the mass grave
from the French Revolution.
My knowledge of French historyisn't bad, but details like this
aren't often retold in ourtextbooks.

(07:14):
What became of these sites overtime, how cities reshaped
around them, how the dead werequietly folded into the
landscape of the living.
Which brings me to CampoSantos, a cemetery where graves
are literally paved over to makeway for a growing city.
It's a harsh reality.
The dead can outnumber theliving, and urban growth forces

(07:35):
impossible choices.
Exhume, move, or build overburial grounds.
Most people forget thesedetails over time, but
relearning them gives them afresh perspective on the
surrounding areas and on thecemetery itself.
It challenges morals, ethics,and the way people hope to be
remembered, things we oftendon't think about until later in

(07:57):
life.
I also wanted to explore in thebone chapels of Europe, and
Portugal felt like the perfectplace to start.
My husband is first-generationPortuguese, so it was a bit
different but a fun way toexplore his heritage.
Many times you see pictures orhear about these chapels while
traveling, but they're easier toforget in the moment.
Researching them firsthand andasking him questions along the

(08:21):
way made it both educational andpersonal.
I didn't realize how many ofthese chapels existed worldwide,
which makes me even moreexcited for future episodes.
Later this fall, I featured twoItalian bone chapels, which
were equally fascinating.
Learning the history and thewhy behind these stunning sights
brought these stories to life.

(08:42):
One of my favorite episodesthis year was Meet Me at the
Gravediggers and GlassnevinCemetery in Dublin.
Its history is full of brutalsurvival tales, yet its people
remain incredibly charming.
Glasnevin honors every bit ofthat history in a modern,
beautiful way.
One story that stayed with mewas about a historian there who
recently passed away.

(09:03):
He had spent his life educatingvisitors, and knowing he would
one day rest on those groundshimself, planned accordingly.
That kind of dedication topreserving history made
researching the cemetery feeleven more meaningful.
My second favorite wasBennington Center Cemetery in
Vermont.
It's a picture-perfect NewEngland cemetery with

(09:23):
beautifully carved Puritanheadstones.
If A were to conjure an imageof a fall graveyard, Bennington
would be in.
What made it even moreintriguing was the grave of a
British soldier.
His bones had been preservedfor medical study, stowed away
in an attic for years, and onlylater returned to the burial
ground.
That story, part of theAmerican Revolution, is both

(09:45):
surreal and fascinating, and Ihave to admit, the name Redcoat
Skeleton was one of myfavorites.
Two episodes this past yearfeatured killers.
One committed a crime withincemetery grounds, the other was
a cold case that led back to agrave.
People always expect graveyardsto be creepy, haunted, and
unsettling.
But the truth, sometimes I'mwriting about gates I've

(10:08):
wandered through in 90-degreeheat.
And if I were a ghost, Iwouldn't be bothering anyone in
those temps.
There's nothing spooky aboutsweltering through a cemetery
tour in July.
Still, true crime andcemeteries go hand in hand.
The quiet, the history.
The story is literally buriedwithin.
When violence touches theseplaces or when they hold the

(10:29):
answers to mysteries, theybecome something else entirely.
We'll explore more of thesetales in 2026.
I also featured asylumcemeteries in two episodes this
year.
Places most people don't thinkabout when they picture
graveyards.
We remember the patients whilethey lived, but their stories
often vanish the moment theydie.

(10:49):
Many were ignored, silenced,buried without names, and not
all of them were even mentallyill.
Some were just inconvenient,different, aren't wanted by
families who could afford tomake them disappear.
Society is slowly waking up toa better understanding of mental
health, but the horror-filledpast of these institutions still
lingers in their burialgrounds.

(11:10):
These stories deserve to betold, and they're worthy of the
grim.
Then there was FriedrichAufstorff, a cemetery I chose
because of its complicatedhistory.
I say complicated because bothof its ties to world wars and
the Nazis.
The story was worth retelling,even as I wrestled with some of
the individuals buried there.
One of them, a chancellor whoserved during World War II and

(11:34):
grew up in the Hitler youth,made me question whether to
include him as a significantburial.
In the end, I decided it wasnecessary.
History doesn't give us theluxury of a mission.
Even the villains played avital role in shaping the world
we live in today.
And that cemetery reflects thathistory.
People often forget that theNazis held power for 12 years,

(11:56):
not just the six years of thewar.
They left a lasting impressionon history, on the people, and
on our modern world.
A truth that must beremembered, lest it be repeated.
Then before taking amuch-needed break, the Grimm
opened the gates to St.
Paul's Cathedral's crypt, alongwith the history of the
cathedral itself.
Back when I lived in London,St.

(12:16):
Paul still towered above muchof the city, a breathtaking
sight I always loved.
The story of how the cathedralwas protected during World War
II is remarkable, and it cast akind of quiet glow over the
crypt below.
And then there's the cafe inthe crypt, an absolute delight
for any tafophile.
I mean, who wouldn't want toenjoy a latte while sitting next

(12:37):
to some of Britain's mostlegendary figures?
The breakthrough gave me timeto open the gaze to larger and
grander grounds, like PierreLachey, Recoletta, and Greenery
Burying Ground.
Their history scale on theresidence felt a bit daunting
during my first year of theGrimm, and I wanted to gain more
experience before diving infully.
That being said, I know anotherepisode will feature even more

(13:00):
residents, especially fromPierre Lachey, given the sheer
number of notable figures buriedthere, along with some
hauntings I've saved for thefuture.
While I also covered TrinityChurch, including Alexander
Hamilton, I felt it wasimportant to diversify the
grounds we explored.
That led me to the Tobit ofCarthage, an intriguing site

(13:21):
full of controversy and historythat even today we as a society
don't fully understand.
It's the kind of place thatchallenges how we see the past
and makes you wonder what otherstories are still waiting to be
uncovered.
While the Grim one day willtouch all the historic
graveyards of the world, I knowthere's still incredible stories
ahead in 2026.

(13:42):
2025 was a remarkable year forthis little niche podcast, but
2026 is already shaping up to beeven better.
You'll find us attheshgrim.com, where the stories
continue between episodes, andin a world that often feels
unkind, your support reminds mejust how much the grim means,
not just for me, but to allthose who walk these paths

(14:04):
together.
For now the stories of 2025slip back into stone, and the
dead return to their uneasyrest.
Yet they're never silent forlong.
Thank you for walking with usthrough the veil into 2025, a
grim review, descending oncemore into the hauntings of
history.
The gate is sealed, the veildrawn, yet death keeps no

(14:25):
calendar, and so we shall returnin 2026, as we always do, on
the grim.