Last year I had a very interesting man on the ghost tour. He had been a part of trying to find the families of children who had died with very little record during the flu pandemic in Seattle. He told me that when the original Butterworth Mortuary sold in 1999, they discovered the cremains of over a thousand children that had died from illness in Seattle's early history, specifically during the flu pandemics of 1918 and 1919. The cremains were kept in urns in the basement of 1921 1st Avenue. This story has created great intrigue for me and we talk about it on the tour. He went on to tell me that the cremains were on Queen Anne in a mausoleum of sorts. Every time I went searching for this mausoleum, I could never seem to find it, I was expecting a large structure. Tonight I spent some time at Mt. Pleasant cemetery and walked through the graves in search of something that might resemble a marker to the unnamed children of Seattle. I asked, in my mind, as I walked, for guidance in finding the marker. This is what I was led to. A large grave, with this incredible brass statue on top. I will have to stop by the office of the cemetery for confirmation, but the excitement of this discovery has led me to post these incredible pictures.

Pike Place Market Seattle, May 2008---Beginning in May 2008, The Market Theater, home to Unexpected Productions, is proud to host the Market Ghost Tour followed by a live improvisational theater show, The Gum Wall Rally an evening for local and tourist alike; sharing eccentric Seattle history in a setting that allows the audience to participate. Learn about the market, the city, and the humor of Seattle.

The Market Theater is home of the longest running show in Seattle's history, Theatersports, and is the first improv theater in the city. Market Ghost Tours are the very popular tours through the Pike Place Market started over 20 years ago.

The talented cast of The Gum Wall Rally use audience suggestions and interaction to create hilarious scenes on the spot! The Gum Wall Rally includes short improv games as well as scenes performed in specific movie and theatrical styles.

"This group displayed a highly accessible form of improv that allowed the audience to remain engaged and entertained. Their subtle humor and true storytelling ability make this group a must see if you are out in Seattle." Jonathan Bender, Improvreview.com

"Watching this improvisational group is like watching a great rock band each show is raucous, inspired, and completely unpredictable. The immensely talented, very funny company performs at the Market Theater." Seattle Magazine

"If anything, the vivacious actors gave this audience a dose of theatre history, along with an endless supply of laughs." Seattle Times

Mercedes Yaeger, of Market Ghost Tour, has been a tour guide in Seattle for the past ten years and has crafted the tours to be entertaining and educational.

"We looked up and saw -- really saw -- the windows above the market. And unlocked by stories of listless ghosts, hotel murderers and bodies floating down the Sound, we pictured figures in those windows. We wondered who they were." Monica Guzman, Seattle PI

"Mercedes captured our attention from the beginning with her sparkling personality and her magical storytelling abilities. Emphasizing every stories' vivid details, our imaginations conjured up visions of what the Market and the people of the past would have looked like and experienced. Mercedes guided us effortlessly from one area to the next, leaving us wondering if there is any other spot in Seattle as haunted as the Market....Oh, and my children swear they saw a ghost on the last stop of the tour -- they talk about it even now, nearly a year later" Seattle resident, Sunshine Everskull

The Package ticket includes the tour and show at a cost of $25. The combination, begins with the tour of Pike Place Market followed by a live improv show. It is offered every Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 6pm. Meet at the Market Theater right next to the Gum Wall. Tickets can be purchased in advance atwww.brownpapertickets.com or by calling 206-322-1218. Group Prices are available.

LEARN MORE:
www.unexpectedproductions.org

I think it's time to start planning another Pub Crawl in the Market, don't you? This time we will do it in July, for Bastille Day, July 19th and it will be not only ghost stories, but stories about theaters and brothels in early Seattle as well. Sound good? Let me know what you think. Read about the last Pub Crawl here: Seattle PI

The term "graveyard shift" supposedly comes from the exhumation of bodies when a graveyard is moved. According to accounts, when a graveyard was moved, it wasn't a 9-5 job, it was a round-the-clock digging of graves. It happened in major cities like Boston, New York and Seattle. When you look at Seattle's history of moving bodies it is incredible to think how many plots have been moved in the Downtown area.

"As early as 1855, graves were dug on the east side of Maynard's Point,  near the present-day intersection of Occidental Avenue South and Yesler Way. Later, burials took place at The White Church, Seattle's first church at the corner of Second Avenue and Columbia Street. In 1863, David T. Denny and his wife Louisa Boren Denny, donated land for the use of a cemetery on the north edge of the Denny Regrade. Known as the old Seattle Cemetery, it was in use until 1884, when it was converted into Denny Park." - From Pioneers of Lake View by Robert L. Ferguson

"In 1884, Seattle dedicated 40 acres on Capitol Hill as a municipal cemetery. The city had bought this land in 1876 to serve as a site for the state capital, but Seattle was not chosen for the capital, and the land went unused. The city required a new cemetery because the existing city cemetery (the Seattle Cemetery), was being converted to a park (Denny Park), its original intended use.

The Seattle Cemetery Commission, established to oversee the removal of bodies from the old Seattle cemetery, also came to be responsible for naming the new cemetery. Names suggested for the new cemetery by the Commission included Wildwood, Evergreen, Interlake, Forest Hill, Cedar Grove, Fir Hill, and Ridgewood. In the end, none of these typical names was chosen."

"The municipal cemetery on Capitol Hill did not last long. At the end of 1887, Ordinance No. 877, "An ordinance converting Washelli Cemetery in the City of Seattle into a public park, and providing for the removal of the bodies of persons buried therein and for the purchase by the city of the burial lots therein owned by private persons" did just that. Just as the Seattle Cemetery was converted into a park, so was the Washelli Cemetery.

Dead But Still Not Buried

For some of the bodies removed from the cemetery, this would be the fourth interment: from one of the first Seattle cemeteries, to the Seattle Cemetery, to Washelli, and finally to one of the other cemeteries in the city. " - From Historylink.org 

I was a part of this fun video last year. Hope you enjoy. Troy Lund stars as "Bog", Kurt Feldhun directs.