Grave Dispatches: The Founding Season

Three stories. Three months. Delivered from the cemetery to your mailbox.

There are thousands of stories hiding in cemeteries.

Some belong to remarkable people whose names have faded from memory. Others begin with an unusual gravestone, a curious inscription, or a detail that raises more questions than it answers. Grave Dispatches follows those clues.

This fall, A Grave Affair is opening the mailbox for the very first Founding Season of Grave Dispatches, a three-part correspondence series created for cemetery wanderers, history lovers, curious minds, and anyone who has ever stopped at a gravestone and wondered: Who were you?

What Is Grave Dispatches?

Grave Dispatches is part history, part cemetery exploration, and part old-fashioned correspondence.

Once a month for three months, you'll receive a new physical dispatch in the mail featuring a true story uncovered through cemeteries and historical research.

Each begins at the grave, but where the story goes from there is anyone's guess.

Along with the featured story, your envelope will contain a collection of materials inspired by that month's investigation, designed to make each dispatch something to explore, keep, and collect. And because half the fun is not knowing exactly what's waiting inside, some things are best left as a surprise.

The Founding Season

Your Founding Season subscription includes three physical Grave Dispatches, mailed separately throughout Fall 2026:

Dispatch No. 001 • September 2026

The Tattooed Couple

Our first dispatch begins with an unassuming grave and leads into the colorful world of tattooed performers, sideshows, spectacle, and one remarkable couple whose lives were quite literally covered in stories.

Dispatch No. 001 will be mailed in celebration of National Tattoo Story Day on September 16.

Dispatch No. 002 • October 2026

A new story arrives just in time for cemetery season.

For now, this one is staying buried.

Dispatch No. 003 • November 2026

One final story will close out our Founding Season.

You'll have to check the mailbox to find out where we're headed.

September Dispatch Deadline: To help ensure Dispatch No. 001 arrives by or around National Tattoo Story Day on September 16, please subscribe to The Founding Season by September 4, 2026. Late subscriptions may still be accepted while quantities remain, but delivery of the September Dispatch by National Tattoo Story Day cannot be guaranteed.

What Will I Receive?

Your purchase includes all three Grave Dispatches in the Founding Season.

Each month's envelope will include:

• An original, researched cemetery story from A Grave Affair
• A collectible Memorial Card featuring the decedent’s memorial, cemetery information, and graveside location so you can visit the place where the story began
• Historical details, imagery, or ephemera that take you deeper into the dispatch
• A few surprises chosen especially for that month’s story

Each dispatch is created to be read, explored, displayed, tucked into a journal, or saved as part of your collection. This is a physical product delivered by mail, not a digital subscription.

Who Is Grave Dispatches For?

Grave Dispatches was made for people who find themselves wandering through cemeteries reading names, admiring gravestones, noticing strange details, and inevitably falling down historical rabbit holes.

It's for cemetery lovers, taphophiles, genealogists, public historians, dark-history devotees, gravestone enthusiasts, curious travelers, and anyone who simply loves receiving something unusual in the mail.

It's also a wonderfully strange little gift for the person in your life who would be delighted to discover cemetery mail waiting for them.

Become a Founding Subscriber

Fall 2026 is an experiment. This is the very first season of Grave Dispatches, and only a limited number of Founding Season subscriptions will be created.

Your one-time purchase reserves all three Fall 2026 dispatches. There is no recurring subscription and you will not be automatically charged for future seasons. Founding Subscribers will also receive a special designation tucked inside their first dispatch commemorating the inaugural season.

What happens after November? We'll see where the graves lead us.

Shipping

Grave Dispatches: The Founding Season is currently available for United States shipping only. Shipping for all three dispatches is included in the purchase price.

Each dispatch will be mailed separately during September, October, and November 2026. Please make sure your mailing address is complete and accurate when placing your order.

A Note from Ashlynn

Grave Dispatches began with a story I found while working in cemeteries.

I came across a remarkably unassuming gravestone belonging to two people whose lives were anything but. Following their story introduced me to Frank and Annie Packard, a tattooed couple whose lives took them through the colorful world of nineteenth-century entertainment. Their grave didn't tell me any of that. And that's exactly what I love about cemeteries. There is so much more beneath the names and dates we encounter on a stone. Grave Dispatches is my excuse to follow those stories wherever they lead and, for the first time, send some of my favorites directly to you.

I hope you'll join me for the Founding Season!

Ashlynn Rickord Werner

Founder, A Grave Affair

The Fine Print

Your purchase is a one-time payment for the complete three-part Fall 2026 Founding Season. It is not an automatically renewing subscription. Price includes all three physical dispatches and U.S. shipping. There are no returns/refunds available once order is complete. If you need to change your shipping address, please reach out via email to update.

Quantities are limited. Once the Founding Season allocation has been claimed, additional subscriptions may not be available.

Grave Dispatches explores real people, places, and events through cemetery history. Because these are true stories, individual dispatches may occasionally touch on sensitive historical subjects, including death, violence, illness, or other difficult circumstances. Historical documents, photographs, ephemera, and other materials included in a dispatch may be reproductions when original materials are unavailable or impractical to include. Some materials may also be resized, reformatted, excerpted, or otherwise adapted for presentation while remaining faithful to the historical source.