Spooky guides to Seattle?
September 8, 2013 1:51 PM Subscribe
I'm looking for recommendations for unusual guidebooks to Seattle and the surrounding area, with a particular emphasis on ghost stories, the supernatural, the strange in general and the just plain odd. Being well tied in to historical context would be an advantage, as would be meatier text rather than just bullet points and captioned photos.
and there seem to be a lot of other relevant results in the 'customers also bought...' list for that item too.
posted by jacalata at 2:46 PM on September 8, 2013
posted by jacalata at 2:46 PM on September 8, 2013
The Northwest Museum of Legends and Lore (formerly the Seattle Museum of the Mysteries) has some interesting resources. The recommended books list in the sidebar includes Weird Washington: Your Travel Guide to Washington's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets by Jefferson Davis and Al Eufrasio.
posted by mbrubeck at 5:14 PM on September 8, 2013
posted by mbrubeck at 5:14 PM on September 8, 2013
Have you heard about underground Seattle? It's been a while since I've toured it but I seem to recall ghost rumors. It certainly seems like the sort of place that ought to be haunted.
To solve a persistent flooding problem, the city long ago raised the level of the streets by a full story over an area of several blocks near Pioneer Square. Shops and their storefronts literally went under. You can still tour the buried areas, wandering through the abandoned bottom floors of buildings and along what used to be the shopfronts outside them. It's like wandering around in a time capsule.
It's a small enough underground region that I don't think you need a full guidebook. Here's the history. If the concept is interesting, try the tour, which is the only way I know of to gain access to the space. The tour is somewhat hokey but the space itself is about as weird as you could hope for.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 6:15 PM on September 8, 2013 [1 favorite]
To solve a persistent flooding problem, the city long ago raised the level of the streets by a full story over an area of several blocks near Pioneer Square. Shops and their storefronts literally went under. You can still tour the buried areas, wandering through the abandoned bottom floors of buildings and along what used to be the shopfronts outside them. It's like wandering around in a time capsule.
It's a small enough underground region that I don't think you need a full guidebook. Here's the history. If the concept is interesting, try the tour, which is the only way I know of to gain access to the space. The tour is somewhat hokey but the space itself is about as weird as you could hope for.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 6:15 PM on September 8, 2013 [1 favorite]
Not a "ghost" guidebook, but the original tour guide for the Seattle Underground tour mentioned by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow published a book called Sons of the Profits. Meaty text, plenty of "strange and odd." The writing style is folksy and conversational, which gets a little jarring at points, but there are some fascinating pieces of history in there.
posted by duffell at 12:29 PM on September 10, 2013
posted by duffell at 12:29 PM on September 10, 2013
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posted by jacalata at 2:45 PM on September 8, 2013