The Grand Grimoire Vault has two foundational people at its heart: the woman building it and the son whose questions, humor and curiosity helped shape what it would become.
Karen Leigh McConnell
Creator, Chief Archivist and Mistress of Lore
Karen Leigh McConnell is the creator of The Grand Grimoire of Fantasy Television and the builder of its public home, the Grand Grimoire Vault. She is a self-taught archivist and researcher whose experience comes from decades of building databases, organizing connected information, teaching technology and following questions until the evidence gives an honest answer.
In 1997, Karen designed a relational Microsoft Access database and job-ticket system for a printing company. Long before the Grand Grimoire had permanent IDs, controlled vocabularies or connected archive records, she was already thinking in relationships: one piece of information linked to another, with each part doing a specific job inside a larger system.
Her later work in marketing, branding, real estate and technology education strengthened another part of the project: making complicated information understandable to the person who actually needs to use it. Karen brings that same approach to the Vault. The research can be deep without making the reader fight through a wall of technical language to reach it.
Karen became a mother at fifteen. Her only biological child, Matthew, grew up alongside her in many ways. Their lively conversations about fantasy television—especially Supernatural—became part of the foundation beneath the Grimoire.
Karen’s role in the Grand Grimoire
- Defines the project’s vision, scope and governing standards
- Designs the connected archive and relational research structure
- Directs research, evidence review and publication priorities
- Protects permanent identities, corrections and project history
- Translates complex research into pages readers can actually use
- Serves as the public voice of the Vault for panels, podcasts and guest discussions
Matthew Alan DeBoard
Keeper of the Current—Foundational and Memorial Role
November 13, 1992–January 4, 2026
Matthew was Karen’s only biological child, Ashley’s husband and the father of Lucas, River, Elliana and Lexi. He was a union electrician and tradesman who worked with his hands, loved his family and could keep a conversation moving with humor, questions and a willingness to challenge the details.
Matthew had a special connection to Supernatural. He and Karen could turn an episode into a much longer discussion about characters, rules, choices, contradictions and everything the story left hanging in the air. He once described his mother as having a “freaky Supernatural encyclopedia brain.” The description stuck because it was true.
His title carries more than one meaning. Matthew worked with electrical current, and he kept questions and ideas flowing. As Keeper of the Current, he represents the energy behind the conversations that came before the database, the website and the formal research system.
Matthew’s place in the Grand Grimoire
Keeper of the Current is a permanent, protected, foundational and memorial role. Matthew’s conversations, questions and curiosity helped form the spirit of the Grand Grimoire. The title honors that contribution without claiming that he performed the later database, research or website work.
Karen still plays their conversations in her mind as she researches—what Matthew might question, which detail he would challenge and where the discussion would wander next. His presence continues in the curiosity that keeps the work moving.
As the Vault grows
Researchers, editors, contributors and collaborators may be added to this page after their roles are formally established. The Vault will identify those relationships clearly. An occasional suggestion, source or helping hand will not be turned into a staff title, and no one’s work will be quietly absorbed without credit.
Join the conversation
Visitors will be able to use the Vault’s Contact form to:
- Submit a correction or recommend a source
- Ask about contributing to the project
- Invite Karen to a convention, podcast, panel or guest discussion
Karen’s speaking topics include Supernatural lore, connected-canon research, building the Grand Grimoire, following one episode through its larger web of records, fandom and grief, and turning a “freaky Supernatural encyclopedia brain” into a structured public archive.