# Find a Grave

> **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou.
>
> Cite as: "Find a Grave," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/find-a-grave/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*The cemetery database John Kiriakou calls literally his favourite website on the internet, which he opens during the ten-minute countdown before broadcasts and uses to decide who goes into his cemetery books, and which supplied him the story of Greta Zimmer Friedman.*

- **What Kiriakou calls it:** "Literally my favorite website on the internet"
- **When he reads it:** During the ten-minute countdown before a broadcast
- **Working use:** Deciding whom to include in his cemetery books
- **Discovery cited:** Greta Zimmer Friedman, listed only as "pop culture icon"

**Find a Grave** is the online cemetery database that [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) names as his favourite website, and which functions as a research tool for his books.

## The habit

Describing what he does while waiting for the ten-minute countdown before a broadcast, Kiriakou said: *"I go on what is literally my favorite website on the internet, and that is find agrave.com."*[1]

## The working use

It is not idle browsing. *"I use find a grave a lot uh to to help guide the research in my book, right, to decide who to put in the book. And I know most of the people who are important enough to be on Find a Grave as a famous person."*[1]

The claim to know most of them is what makes an exception worth reporting on air. On 8 September 2025 he found one listed as having died on that date whom he did not recognise, described in the entry only as a *"pop culture icon"*, see [Greta Zimmer Friedman](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/greta-zimmer-friedman).[2]

## Why the books exist

Kiriakou closed the segment with the rationale for the whole enterprise: *"this is why I write these cemetery books. I mean, the stories that people have are just fascinating to me. I love it."*[3]

He returned to the show's actual agenda afterwards with a warning that nothing else that day would clear the bar.[3]

## See also

- [Greta Zimmer Friedman](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/greta-zimmer-friedman)
- [Agnes von Kurowsky grave story](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/agnes-von-kurowsky-grave-story)
- [Greek death rituals](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/greek-death-rituals)

## Sources

1. DeProgram with Ted Rall and John Kiriakou: “France In Crisis” (2025-09-08), at 10:02. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDOspNoh9IA&t=602s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-09-08-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-with-ted-rall-and-john-kiriakou-fra/
2. DeProgram with Ted Rall and John Kiriakou: “France In Crisis” (2025-09-08), at 10:32. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDOspNoh9IA&t=632s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-09-08-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-with-ted-rall-and-john-kiriakou-fra/
3. DeProgram with Ted Rall and John Kiriakou: “France In Crisis” (2025-09-08), at 13:40. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDOspNoh9IA&t=820s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-09-08-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-with-ted-rall-and-john-kiriakou-fra/

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From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/find-a-grave/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt