Mercedes Journal

Beginning of Summer 2008

2008-06-16T04:51:06Z

What a strange June we have had here in Seattle, but nothing compared to the rest of the country. What an odd and tragic beginning of Summer for parts of our country. My heart goes out to the many to have lost their homes and businesses in the midwest floods.

Ghost tours have started early this year. I have peppered the city with information about the ghost tours and people are responding. It has been a fantastic start. Thank you. The Market, as well, has been filled with people and stories. I have been working a lot with the way that our beliefs play into the idea of ghosts and the paranormal. For me, as a ghost tour guide, once I opened the door to believing the stories I heard, a whole world opened up. Now I keep a very open mind when people tell me things that sound fantastical. I listen, I hear and I am amazed by the experiences people have. As a guide, I have always struggled with the many stories I hear. How do you know what is "real", what isn't? What I have been working with these days is not what is real, but rather the conviction people have for their beliefs. Trusting what others say - It does not have to challenge or conflict with your own beliefs, truly hearing their experiences open doors into worlds of possibilities. It opens my own imagination, it enriches my beliefs and adds to what I am learning every day in telling ghost stories. I am learning that the audience to these ghost stories have a wealth of information for me, and I am thankful for the exchange.

Saying Goodbye to Jim

2008-06-10T13:22:37Z

Jim Hinde, a well loved part of the Market family, has passed away. In this video, he performs one of my favorites, Sam the Alligator, at the farmer's market in Port Townsend. He and his wife, Janet, also lived in Boston briefly years ago and he played around Harvard Square. In 2001, Jim Hinde, received an Emmy for his work with PBS on Pike Place Market: Soul of a City. He kept, in his pocket, a picture of what he looked like back in his suit wearing days, before he gave up corporate life and became a full time folk singer and busker. His wife Janet owns a business in the Market and the two of them could be found almost every day near the Joe Desimone bridge. He will be truly missed in the Market. He is loved by many and a dear friend. His website is www.jimhinde.com

The children of the flu pandemic

2008-04-04T05:19:30Z

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.

Remains found under a Market building; Medical Examiner says they are not Human.

2008-02-27T22:07:42Z

On Monday, February 26, 2008, remains were found under 1925 First Avenue, where the Virginia Inn is located. According to the Seattle Police report, they were old decaying bones with dust around them, with no clothing, and there were several seashells amongst the bones.

What is interesting about the remains is that the preliminary description seemed to match the burial traditions of the Duwamish First Nation (the Duwamish Tribe of Indians). This could mean, as local folklore has always suggested, that the north end of the Pike Place Market, along the slope where Chief Seattle’s daughter Princess Angeline's tree once stood, contains the remains of members of the Duwamish Tribe, below present-day buildings. There is some evidence to confirm this, as 1889 information indicates below.

Chief Seattle, paramount leader of the “Duwamish, Suquamish, Allied & Subordinate Tribes”, is credited as stating, "These shores will swarm with the invisible Dead of my Tribe" and "The White Man will never be alone; let him be kind and just to my People, for the Dead are not powerless. Dead, did I say? There is no death, only a Change of Worlds."

Chief Seattle and other leaders of the Duwamish Nation, the First Nation of the City of Seattle and western King County, signed the 1855 “Point Elliott” Treaty at Mukilteo. The Duwamish Tribe was the first tribe named in the Treaty’s title: “Treaty between the United States and the D’Wamish, Suquamish, and other Allied & Subordinate Tribes of Indians in Washington Territory”.

On January 22, 1855, as the paramount leader of a 6-Nation confederation including the Duwamish and Suquamish, Chief Seattle was the first signatory to the Point Elliott Treaty. Three other Duwamish First Nation Chiefs signed the Treaty on that day. After four years of delays, the United States Senate ratified the Point Elliott Treaty on April 11, 1859.

The prominence of Chief Seattle and the Duwamish Tribe in the 1855 Treaty is graphic proof of the recognition by the United States Government’s representative of the importance of the Duwamish First Nation and their paramount leader, Chief Seattle, throughout the Puget Sound region.

And while our city bears their Chief Seattle's name, the United States Government - in open violation of the Treaty authored by the U.S. representative – denied Federal Recognition, the promised Reservation within their Ancestral Homeland, and all of the written Treaty guarantees, to the Duwamish First Nation, the First People of western King County.

If more remains are found and determined to be human, things could get very interesting. There have been articles in the Seattle P-I and Seattle Times suggesting that there could be many human remains under the Alaskan Way Viaduct. (See my links section for that information.)

For the Duwamish Tribe, human remains could very possibly be their ancestors, and an acknowledgement of their direct link to Chief Seattle’s city and the remainder of their Ancestral Homeland throughout western King County. For the City of Seattle, it could mean a legal navigation of the 1990 NAGPRA Federal Act of 1990 that allows access by Native Americans whenever human remains are found.

Such a discovery could help finalize the push to have the Duwamish Tribe's Federal Recognition restored. Also, this discovery could mean that because their Federal Recognition is not yet restored, the Duwamish Tribe will not be allowed to see the area or, more importantly, the human remains discovered. I do not know the laws. However, I do know that there is a great possibility here for a First Nation that deserves restoration of Federal Recognition, their Treaty Rights, and fundamental Human Rights afforded to other First Nation Peoples.

It also could validate what many in the area have long believed, that we are amongst the souls and remains of an incredible community of people all around the Pike Place Market. This city and its history go further into antiquity than the “Denny Party’s” 1851 arrival at Duwamish Head, in present-day West Seattle.

HistoryLink.Org, the On-Line Encyclopedia of Washington State History, provides an article entitled “Seattle's Denny Hotel Cemetery” (Essay 2044) focusing on the land close to 1529 1st Avenue:

"In 1898, workers at the Denny Hotel uncovered two Indian graves, recognizable as such by the burial goods with the bodies. This discovery created a rush of treasure hunters to plunder whatever remained in the graves. In response to an inquiry from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer in 1898, the Seattle pioneer Arthur Denny (1822-1899) recalled that "Seattle's first burying ground for the Whites was located on the Denny Hotel grounds, about where Stewart Street crosses Second Avenue. We buried there for several years, and also during the Indian War. Burials there were commenced as early as 1853 and continued as late as 1860."

Arthur Denny added that the graves of the White Settlers were removed when the graveyard was abandoned, but many of the graves had been neglected and some were not found at the time of the removals. He expected that those would still be there. Mr. Denny indicated that he had no knowledge of Indian graves at the site.

At the beginning of the Twenty-First Century, a number of businesses occupy the site of the Denny Hotel, including the historic Moore Theater and the Josephinium Residence, formerly the Josephinium Hotel.”

History Link

Today, Wednesday, February 27, 2008, the Medical Examiner’s office is saying that the remains discovered are animal bones, not human. They are not releasing any photographs to validate this statement.

I am thankful for the help of Thomas Speer, Duwamish Tribal Service Board Member, in editing this.

Renovation of the Pike Place Market

2008-01-18T20:38:23Z

The Pike Place Market was declared a Federal Historic District in 1971. It went through massive renovation and restoration in the years following. Today, it is both a working Market and the number one tourist destination in Washington State. Many people do not realize that within the Market there are over 400 residents, the majority of them Senior Citizens. Low-Income housing and services also exist within the Market including; a Senior Center, Medical Clinic, Pre-School, and Food Bank. It is a city within a city, with its own political oversight and management, established as a non-profit Public Development Authority (P.D.A.)

It is an incredible National treasure and a unique community with its own set of problems. For instance, how do you support a farmer base and promote farmers and also support customers who are there to take pictures and not necessarily buy from the farmers? How do you maintain service businesses that meet the needs of the residential base and also capitalize on some of the best real estate in Seattle? It has been a challenge to solve these issues, and currently, it is the opinion of many people within the Market, that the P.D.A. is not finding solutions for these problems, that rather the management and Council are no longer adhering to their own governing documents.

I must say that it must be incredibly difficult to figure out how to have a vibrant and economically healthy Market, to maintain the old buildings, to meet the changing needs of the customers, and to adhere to the rules of a Historic District, but all of these issues must be addressed without changing the very nature of the community.

The P.D.A. is preparing a Levy, asking for millions of dollars to maintain and renovate the Market. Indeed, they have already started some of the remodels. They have taken out a tree that was very important to our community and have altered a courtyard that provided seating and shelter for visitors. They recently accepted large donations personally (members of the management received free airline tickets) from Jet Blue airlines to use our Market as a backdrop for a promotional event. They have changed the operating hours at their sole discretion for promotional events for other corporate entities, forcing farmers and craftspeople to close early.

They now want to renovate the building in which my parents’ shop is located. My father (the Mayor of Pike Place Market - not an elected title) is fighting these proposed renovations on the grounds that they will significantly alter the historic nature of the Economy Market, which was once a set of Stables. There are ramps from the old Stables that are still in use today and my family's shop is in the Stable Master's office. He has found records and photographs of the Stables to support his claim. So here is where it gets really muddy, and where I want your opinion. As a Historic District, how much of it do you feel should be, or can be, altered? Should something like ramps from the old Stables be preserved? For me, the answer is yes, but I am curious what you think?

I am working on getting the Federal documents from 1971 and anything that would support his mission. I would like to see the Levy only address structural repair and not renovation or alteration of the interior of buildings. I also would like to see the return of service businesses that address the needs of the residential community. (The P.D.A. did not renew the lease of a hardware store that was a necessary shop for both the commercial and residential base at the Market in favor of moving a high-end optical shop into their location.) I would like to see the services supported as well. For instance, the clinic that was once a Walk-In clinic is no longer accepting Walk-In patients. It is sad for me to see someone I know is a resident at the Market at a large grocery store miles away because they can no longer get reasonably-priced food at the Pike Place Market. I am sad, too, when I see the current P.D.A. management abandon programs like the Farmer CSA that supported small farmers and gave them guaranteed sales while providing a vital service to the ever-growing residential base of downtown. The number of farmers in the Market has decreased, and the number of 5-dollar items for the tourist trade has increased. For me, the Market is changing, and not in a direction which this City should be supporting. You tell me. What do you think?

And if you have any historic photos that show the Stables in the Economy Market, please send them to me and I will pass them on to my Dad. I rarely get political on this site, as it is my blog for the Tours, but this fits with my overall mission and I feel it's very important to share with you. Thanks!

Edited by Thomas Speer - thank you!

Picture that Monica took

2007-11-26T17:17:20Z

My friend Hideki

2007-11-17T01:14:12Z

It was about this time last year that two people came on the ghost tour on a very cold November night. A man named Hideki and a woman he works with. They were from Texas and not prepared for the bitter rainy cold of a Saturday night in Seattle. (Although to me, the Northwesterner, it felt rather mild) As we were walking through the Market, Hideki was visibly shivering so I offered him handwarmers, my scarf and an occasional arm around his shoulder. Both of them travel often together and get away for weekends to see other cities and both were enjoying the tour very much so they stuck through to the end. We went for dinner afterwards at the Starlite Lounge which was open at the time. I was thankful for the conversation and the food, which they offered as a tip. Hideki refered to me as a lifesaver for offering my scarf. About a week later I received a box in the mail from Hideki. In it was a bag of lifesavers! I thought that was the sweetest present (no pun intended) and put the bag on my kitchen. Not being one to eat sweets, it sat there for a while. I thanked him over email but when he wrote back he seemed dissapointed I hadn't opened the bag. I thought he was dissapointed that I didn't like lifesavers and I still didn't open the bag. I brought it to my family's house for Christmas knowing that they both like candies. Well, then I opened the bag I discovered a a brand new red nano IPod inside. I was shocked and embarassed. What a gift! When I emailed him again and truly admitted my mistake and how thankful I was to receive such a gift he must have laughed. I listen to that little red nano almost every day and I still have the bag of lifesavers, only about half are eaten.

Harvest is in - stay warm

2007-10-19T15:52:30Z

I hope everyone has power again after the windstorm last night. What a beautiful late Fall night it was, from where I was sitting. I was amongst friends celebrating my birthday, which was yesterday. October is my favorite month for so many reasons. The change of seasons brings so much, traditionally the last of the harvest would be brought in and we would all be preparing for winter; securing our food supplies, making our blankets and coats for the winter. The Pike Place Market has squash, pumpkins, root vegetables, kale and so many more seasonal veg and fruit. Pomegranates are on the tables. It's a wonderful time to go down to the Market. If you are joining us for a ghost tour, please come prepared for the weather. Last year I gave up my scarf on many occasions to an ill prepared visitor. So bring scarves, hats, umbrellas and whatever else you need to keep you warm through the rest of this month because the harvest is in and the season is changing.

Houdini Seance at the end of the Pub Crawl

2007-10-04T23:47:50Z

Halloween night at The Can-Can, located underneath the Corner Market, I will be performing a Houdini Seance. Since 1927, all over the world, people have held seances on Halloween night hoping to reach the spirit of Harry Houdini. Houdini, himself, spent his life discrediting mediums and psychics by showing the public how they falsified their communications with spirits. He would explain any escape act he performed when asked to do so. He also instructed soldiers on how to escape out of handcuffs. Before he died he told his wife that if it was possible for people to communicate after death, he would be able to do so. He considered it a challenge. He told her a coded message that he would communicate to the medium trying to conjure him. That message was known only to his wife. She started holding the seances every year. They still continue today. There is controversy and speculation that some mediums have contacted him while others try to disprove their claims.

For this event I will be joined on stage by Faye the Tattoed Psychic. In respect to the event, I will not be posting what we will be doing on stage. To join us, you need to come on the Paranormal Pub Crawl and you must be over 21 with proof of ID on you. I will post more information with links soon...

In honor of Leonard

2007-10-03T15:07:42Z

The Pike Place Market is a community, a city within a city. Over 400 residents live in the Market, and it is active 24 hours a day. The Market has maintenance workers, it's own carpentry shop, a Master Gardener on staff and a much loved Security force. It is with great sadness that I write that we lost one of our community members last month, Leonard. It's been hard to put a post up because just days before his death I was down in the Market talking with him and thinking how devoted to the Markey he was. Leonard looked as though he always smiling. His mouth always in a slight smile, I could imagine that in his chest was a warm fire, that any moment he could start laughing. He did often, he chuckled. He was so giving. He worked on our security force.

When I first started giving these tours at night I was a little scared. At that time I didn't have my scooter to quickly zip away after a tour. In the past 4 years the Market is noticeably safer, cleaner, and pleasant to walk through at night. That is due in part to the increased business at night, but more importantly, it is due to the devoted employees that work through the night. The maintenance staff that cleans every Arcade every night and the security force that guards our city's treasure.

The November 1st 8pm tour will be in honor of Leonard. His ghost has been seen now by at least three people. He has been seen by the stairs that lead to the craft lockers in the Soames Dunn building. It is there that I will spend additional time in remembrance of him and his commitment to the Market. All staff in the Market, and any member of the Market community, resident and worker, is invited to come on this tour for free. Contact me to reserve your spot. Email me to the right.