The Grim Curriculum
Welcome to The Grim Curriculum, a Canada based podcast, with hosts Charlotte and Dina. Join us as we chat about True Crime, Cryptids, Historic Events, and a whole lot more. If it’s macabre and nightmarish, we want to discuss it. Join us every Saturday for a new episode. Be sure to listen with the lights off.
Episodes
EXTRA CREDIT: Episode 60: Updates, Arrests, and Strange Deaths Pee Wee Gaskins, Canadian Cult Chaos, and Surgical Malpractice
This week on Extra Credit, we’re diving into a shocking update connected to Pee Wee Gaskins. You remember Pee Wee, right? We covered him waaaay back in episodes six and seven. From there, we explore a case of medical malpractice involving a…
Episode 170: The Smurl Family Haunting
This week on The Grim Curriculum, we’re diving into one of the most chilling hauntings ever reported — the case of the Smurl family. Beginning in the 1970s, Jack and Janet Smurl claimed their Pennsylvania duplex was plagued by violent and t…
Episode 169: The Poisonous Legacy of Daisy de Melker
This week on The Grim Curriculum, we’re exploring the chilling "old timey" true crime case of Daisy de Melker, South Africa’s infamous “Black Widow.” Born in 1886, Daisy’s life seemed ordinary at first but behind her string of marriages and…
Extra Credit EP59: Bears, Brothers (Menendez), Brian (Kohberger) and a Cheese Factory Tragedy
It's Extra Credit time again, and we’re diving into another round of bizarre and fascinating stories. From a bear breaking into a California ice cream shop, to the ongoing parole hearings of the Menendez brothers, and Brian Kohberger's bad …
Episode 168: Mary Toft - The Great Rabbit Hoax
This week on The Grim Curriculum, we’re diving into one of the strangest medical hoaxes in history — the case of Mary Toft. In 1726, this woman from Surrey, England, shocked the medical world with her claim that she had given birth to rabbi…
EXTRA CREDIT EP58: Extremely Concerning, Particularly Peculiar Medical Case & Atomic Wedgie Gone (FAR) Too Far
First up, a Florida woman makes headlines after a violent confrontation — and then brags about it on Instagram Live. We’ll also tell you about another Florida woman who pulled off a case of identity theft with potentially deadly consequence…
Episode 167: The Infamous Cecil Hotel
This week on The Grim Curriculum, we’re (BRIEFLY) checking in to one of the most infamous addresses in Los Angeles; The Cecil Hotel. From its glamorous and bougie beginnings in the 1920s to its long, lonnnng, dark history of crime, tragedy,…
Episode 166: Peter Sutcliffe - The Yorkshire Ripper - Part 3
In the final part of our Yorkshire Ripper series, we talk about the strange hoax tape that completely threw the investigation off track and gave Peter Sutcliffe more time to keep killing. We share how, in the end, it wasn’t a major task for…
EXTRA CREDIT EP57: From Kohberger to Chainsaws - Grim Justice & Unusual Deaths
The Grim Curriculum: Extra Credit is where we set aside the syllabus and dig into true crime oddities, bizarre history, and the kinds of strange stories you can’t stop thinking about.This week, we’re covering Bryan Kohberger’s sentencing an…
Episode 165: Peter Sutcliffe - The Yorkshire Ripper - Part 2
In part 2, we are picking back up where we left off in our deep dive into the Yorkshire Ripper case. As Sutcliffe’s attacks became more frequent and brutal, the public response stayed disturbingly quiet, that is, until the murder of 16-year…
Episode 164: Peter Sutcliffe - The Yorkshire Ripper - Part 1
It's the first instalment of our deep dive into the case of serial killer, Peter Sutcliffe, better known as the Yorkshire Ripper. We explore his childhood and early life, which to no one's surprise was abusive and strange. We also examine t…
Episode 163: Extra Credit 56 - The Crossover Episode
We’re bringing you a mix of the bizarre, the brave, and the bleeding edge. We cover the strange and tragic case of a British woman who contracted rabies from a dog scratch abroad, spotlight the unforgettable life of LGBTQ icon, fashion trai…
Episode 162: The Murder of Fanny Adams
Today we’re exploring one of the most heartbreaking and historically significant cases in British true crime and an Old Timey Crimey to boot. The 1867 murder of 8-year-old Fanny Adams. What began as an ordinary summer day in the quiet town …
Episode 161: MORE Lesser Known Cryptids
We’re back with even more cryptids you may not have heard of, but probably won’t forget. In this unofficial part two of our lesser known cryptid series (see Episode 149 for Part 1), we dive into the murky waters and wild folklore surroundin…
Episode 160: The Hammersmith Ghost Murder Case
In 1804, fear of a ghost roaming Hammersmith’s streets led to a fatal mistake. A man was shot dead, and the case raised legal questions that still matter today.This is the true story of the Hammersmith Ghost murder. 👻⚖️Come hang out with u…
Episode 159: Fred and Rose West: A Marriage of Monsters -Part 3
In the final part of our series on Fred and Rose West, we cover the final crimes at 25 Cromwell Street and how it all began to unravel. Thanks in large part to the determined work of DC Hazel Savage, the truth finally came to light. We walk…
EXTRA CREDIT EP55: She Plotted, He Escaped, and Someone Else Just Needed a Dentist
In this Extra Credit episode, we’re covering a range of stories that caught our attention this week. We have an update about the sentencing of Victoria Goodwin, who tried to hire a hitman to kill her husband, Aaron Goodwin, of Ghost Adventu…
Episode 158: Fred and Rose West: A Marriage of Monsters - Part 2
In Part 2 of our series on Fred and Rose West, we delve deeper into their twisted partnership and the horrors that took place inside 25 Cromwell Street, the so-called "boarding house of horrors." We explore how the couple lured their victim…
Episode 157: Fred and Rose West: A Marriage of Monsters - Part 1
This is the first episode of our series on Fred and Rose West and we're diving right in. This is one of the most disturbing and haunting cases in British true crime history. Fred and Rose weren’t just serial killers, they were a couple who …
EXTRA CREDIT EP54: A Scandal in the Harvard Morgue & Can You Snowboard Down Mount Everest?
We are exploring some more true stories that are stranger than fiction, real-life horror plots, the ethics behind the Harvard morgue scandal, and the risks of snowboarding Everest. We also dig into a game-changing dinosaur discovery, the tw…
Episode 156: Richard Chase - The Vampire of Sacramento - Part 2
In part two of our series on Richard Chase, we examine the tragic outcome of his untreated mental illness and escalating behavior. Over the course of just one month in early 1978, Chase took the lives of six random people in a series of dee…
Episode 155: Richard Chase - The Vampire of Sacramento - Part 1
Before he became known as the “Vampire of Sacramento,” Richard Chase was a young man showing clear signs of severe mental illness and violent tendencies. We are starting this series tracing his early life; from a dysfunctional home and trou…
Extra Credit EP53: Stealing a Cannon to Pay for Your Debts & Legal Raccoon, Not So Legal...Substances
In this episode, Dina takes us through three unusual cases where methamphetamines and animals intersect in ways you truly wouldn't expect. One involves a cannon, another a raccoon, and the third features a cheeky corgi. You can guess for yo…
Episode 154: The Abduction of Travis Walton
We thought it was time for a UFO story and we are taking a wild ride into one of the most famous alien abduction stories out there: The Case of Travis Walton. Back in 1975, Travis vanished from an Arizona forest while working with a logging…
Episode 153: Andrea Yates
In this episode, we dive into the heartbreaking and deeply disturbing case of Andrea Yates, the Texas mother who drowned her five children in a bathtub in 2001. We explore the events leading up to that tragic day, including her struggles wi…
Extra Credit EP 52: Scott Peterson & The Innocence Project, Historical Case: Bertha Beronda & Las Vegas Vet Found Deceased in Lake Mead
This week, the title says it all... more or less. We’re not sure how we feel about Scott Peterson getting help from The Innocence Project, but we are definitely curious to see how it all plays out. Then, we throw it back to 1907 with the ca…
Episode 152: Ed Kemper The Co-Ed Killer Part 3
After years of targeting young women, we watched Edmund Kemper’s story take a shocking turn when he murdered his own mother, Clarnell, and her friend, Sara Hallett. Ed staged it to look like a burglary gone wrong and fled to Colorado.Feelin…
Episode 151: Ed Kemper The Co-Ed Killer Part 2
Before the murder of his mother, Clarnell, Edmund Kemper targeted female college students in the Santa Cruz area. Between 1972 and early 1973, he murdered six young women, most of whom he picked up while they were hitchhiking.Kemper used hi…
Extra Credit EP51: True Crime, Dire Wolves & How One Woman’s Art Cracked Over 1,200 Cases
From the latest Titanic documentaries to the science behind bringing extinct animals back to life (yep, we’re talking about the dire wolf!). We also get into some more intense true crime stories, including a heartbreaking murder committed b…
Episode 150: Ed Kemper The Co-Ed Killer Part 1
We told you we had BIG plans for episode 150. To kick off, we’re diving into the early life of Edmund Emil Kemper III. Long before the headlines and the horrifying crimes, there was a kid growing up in a deeply dysfunctional home. From a ro…
Episode 149: Lesser Known Cryptids
This week, we’re taking a break from our usual gruesome true crime tales to explore the weirder side of the unexplained! We've talked about many well known cryptids before but what about some of the lesser-known (and seriously bizarre) crea…
Extra Credit Episode 50: Yolanda Saldívar Denied Parole, Hitmen Don't Solve Marital Issues & Yet Another Submarine Tragedy
It’s our 50th episode of Extra Credit and it's also our THIRD birthday! Not to mention we are just a couple of episodes away from 150 of The Grim Curriculum regular show. To celebrate, we’re diving into a mix of the strange, the shocking, a…
Episode 148: Ed Gein The Plain Field Butcher - Part 3
In this final part of our Ed Gein series, we dive into the disturbing discoveries made inside his "home of horrors" and follow the investigation that ultimately led to his arrest. We break down the details of his trial and explore the eerie…
Episode 147: Ed Gein The Plainfield Butcher - Part 2
Things are unraveling fast for Ed Gein. With his entire family gone, most notably his domineering mother, Augusta, there’s no one left to rein in his descent into madness. And descend he does. In this episode, we explore the dark path Ed ta…
Extra Credit Episode 49: Haunted Houses & Fun Facts
This week Dina dives into the recent story of a man’s harrowing escape from allegedly horrific conditions at the hands of his stepmother. Plus, South Carolina has carried out its first firing squad execution in 15 years, reigniting debate a…
Episode 146: Ed Gein: The Plainfield Butcher - Part 1
This episode kicks off our series on American murderer and grave robber Ed Gein. We delve into his troubled childhood and disturbing family life, discussing how his strict, overbearing mother, a deeply religious woman obsessed with sin and …
Episode 145: Haunted Towns
We love ghosts around here and we especially love a haunted house but what about an entire haunted town? Well as it turns out the globe is riddled with haunted towns, cities and even islands. So today we ask you to join with us (mentally) o…
Extra Credit EP 48: The “Estate Sale” That’s Gonna Haunt Dina for Decades, Menendez Bros Update, & a Jack the Ripper Breakthrough(?)
Dina kicks things off this episode with her account of a truly eerie experience at a sketchy "estate sale" that felt ripped straight from a horror movie. We also break down the latest updates in the Menendez brothers’ case and how a newly a…
Episode 144: The Twisted Obsession of Carl Tanzler
We are delving into one of history’s most bizarre and chilling true crime cases—the story of Carl Tanzler, a man whose creepy fixation led to a shocking crime. When 22 year old Maria Elena Milagro de Hoyos succumbed to tuberculosis in 1931,…
Episode 143: Hybristophilia A.K.A. Bonnie & Clyde Syndrome
In this episode, we dive into the complex phenomenon of Hybristophilia—the attraction to criminals, particularly those who have committed heinous acts. Through case studies of infamous figures like Ted Bundy and Richard Ramirez, we explore …