Grim Chapel is the eight district investigated in Criminal Case: Mysteries of the Past.
A rustic, forest-surrounded district with a creepy and unnatural ambiance, Grim Chapel is a barely developed portion of Concordia characterized for its occultism and supernatural-based folklore, decaying buildings, and its local mental asylum, Gryphon Sanctuary, which is rumored to be hiding a dark secret behind its walls.
While the Flying Squad first arrives to Grim Chapel to take care of "The Devil", a consultant living in the district and helping the Rochester family get away with murders by disguising them as supernatural occurrences, the plot undergoes a Halfway Plot Switch after said consultant's arrest to instead focusing on investigating Gryphon Sanctuary, a mysterious mental asylum where sane and healthy people are rumored to be Wrongfully Committed by an anonymous employee for a price.
- The Witching Hour: A local healer is tied up and drowned in a pond after being accused of witchery.
- Graveyard Shift: A poet has his blood sucked out like a vampire attack at a cemetery.
- Doctor, Interrupted: A doctor is electrocuted to death with his own electroshock machine at the local asylum.
- Turn for the Worse: A knife thrower is stabbed with her own knives at the travelling circus.
- Doom Service: An admiral is frightened to death in his own hotel room.
- Unsafe Haven: An mental hospital patient is shot in the head inside of the asylum's basement.
Tropes:
- Arc Villain: A Big Bad Duumvirate between William Oland and Sylvia May, an Outlaw Couple aiding rich people (such as the Rochesters) dispose of their enemies though their own different means: while William poses as "The Devil" and helps them commit murders by disguising them as supernatural occurrences, Sylvia uses her position as a nurse at Gryphon Sanctuary to wrongfully commit sane people that are seen as a threat by the family, taking them out of the picture through non-violent means.
- Bedlam House: The second half of Grim Chapel focuses on investigating Gryphon Sanctuary the local mental asylum that is revealed to be a corrupt place where sane and healthy people are forcefully committed by bribing the staff.
- Bleak Level: Grim Chapel is shown to be a decrepit, sad, and overall the worst place to live in Concordia (and that's taking Sinner's End into the account), with its regressive community still believing in Witch Hunts, most of its buildings having a decayed appearance or being outright abandoned, and not one, but two criminals terrorizing the district though their own despicable ways involving murder and wrongful hospitalization.
- Darker and Edgier: Grim Chapel has by far one of the darkest plots in the franchise, being only rivaled by the likes of Grimsborough's Airport and East Asia, as it involves the Flying Squad investigating a Bleak Level where the Rochesters dispose of their enemies in wicked ways involving unsolved murders and forced hospitalizations at a mental asylum.
- Halfway Plot Switch: Although The Flying Squad arrives to Grim Chapel to investigate the Rochester's alleged Deal with the Devil, said Devil gets exposed and arrested right in the middle of the district, which then focuses on investigating Gryphon Sanctuary and the illicit activities going on behinds its walls.
- Recurring Character: The main recurring characters for Grim Chapel are William Oland, Sylvia May, Gregory Stravinsky, George Okamoto, Hope Woodford, and to a lesser extent Horatio and Patricia Rochester.
- "Scooby-Doo" Hoax: The first half of Grim Chapel focuses on unmasking The Devil, a Professional Killer who works in the shadows and helps people commit murder by disguising deaths as supernatural occurrences or freaky accidents, such as using a pumping machine to drain someone's blood and make it look like a vampire attack.
