The Grim Curriculum

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 times in prison, there's plenty to unpack. We’ll also look at a dangerously misguided “catch a predator” vigilante scheme in Alberta, the curious ca...

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 rabbits. Was she a cunning manipulator, a victim of her circumstances, or something in between? Join us as we unravel the bizarre twists of this story that baffled d...

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 consequences, a man who injected himself with a rather unconventional substance (DEFINITELY DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME) to ease chronic back pain, and the story of a millionai...

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, and mystery, this building has seen it all. We’ll explore some of the most notorious events linked to the Cecil, the strange stories that have made it a true u...

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 force that caught him but one officer following a gut feeling that finally led to Sutcliffe’s arrest. We also get into what happened after the trial: how he was tr...

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 and the powerful victim impact statements from court, exploring the grim end of Canadian serial killer Robert "Willie" Pickton and the tough ethical qu...

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-old Jayne MacDonald. Because she didn’t fit the victim profile police had been focusing on, her death finally pushed the media and wider public to start paying...

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 the social atmosphere in Yorkshire during his reign of terror, and the early attacks that set off a years-long investigation. This series also takes a ha...

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 trailblazer, and WWII war hero Bunny Roger, and dive into some mind-blowing advances in prosthetics and robotic skin that are equal parts cool and concerning. We us...

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 of Alton quickly became a national nightmare, and the name “Fanny Adams” would go on to take on a haunting legacy. We walk through the events of that day, the s...

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 surrounding Mokele Mbembe, the NASA Gargoyle, the Mapinguari, and the absolutely baffling Trunko. From dinosaur sightings in the Congo to mysterious monsters crashing spa...

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 us on Youtube at out 12pm Premiere! https://www.youtube.com/@TheGrimCurriculum/videos Watch the video episode on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/c/TheGrimCurri...

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 through their arrest, Fred’s death in custody, Rose’s trial, and what became of her in the years that followed. Come hang out with us on Youtube at out 12pm Pr...

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 Adventures Fame. We also look at the case of Grant Harden, a former police chief convicted of murder and other just as heinous crimes, who escaped prison with help fro...

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 victims, often trolling local bus-stops, the escalating violence, and how one of their living victims came incredibly close to burning it all down herself....

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 committed their crimes together, turning their family home into a house of horrors. In part one, we are going back to the start; looking at Fred’s troubled...

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 twisted tale of the Casanova Killer and his recent execution, and the ultra-rare old timey case of death by meteorite. PUT OUR MERCH ON YOUR BODY AND IN YOUR HOME...

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 deeply troubling acts. Thankfully, community members and law enforcement were able to come together to find the monster responsible for these heinous acts. In our...

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 troubling teenage behavior, including animal cruelty and substance abuse, to his eventual diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia. As his delusions worsened, believing...

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 yourselves (or just listen to the episode, silly) which cases involve the meth. These stories highlight the bizarre consequences of drug use and questionable...

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 crew, only to reappear five days later with a bizarre tale of being taken aboard a UFO. We break down what happened, the crew's polygraphs, public reaction...

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 with severe postpartum mental illness, and examine how the legal system handled one of the most shocking maternal filicide cases in American history. **Editor not...

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 case of Bertha Beronda, the "old-timey Lorena Bobbitt," who made headlines after attacking her husband with a razor. We also cover the troubling discove...

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. Feeling the pressure, Kemper tried to turn himself in by calling the police multiple times, but at first, they did not believe him. Only after he insisted to an offi...

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 his size, calm demeanor, and articulate speech to appear non-threatening. Once the victims were in his car, he killed them—often through strangulation or shootin...