Tat’s Bizarre Travels

Seattle, WA - If you head down to Pioneer Square, one of the only parts of Seattle that reminds me of an East Coast city, you’ll find Bill Speidel’s Underground Tour. I typically don’t like the ideas of tours, unless, like the Seattle Underground, it’s the only way I’m going to see a place that is otherwise off limits. I guess I could break in, but I’m much too old for prison. Besides this tour is a humorous look at the history of Seattle and the of the subterranean areas that are left to explore. Like any good subterranean adventure you are only permitted to explore the bits that are on the tour, but I suspect that there’s more to see for someone with the right set of keys to see.

The tour boasts “irreverent humor” which is directed mostly at the founders of Seattle. It mostly talks about the founders follies, including the inability to correctly build a working sewage system. Learning the history of Seattle’s early waste management system includes some of the best jokes on the tour. Everyone loves poo humor.

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Weston, WV - My trip to the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum (TALA) was a bit of a lengthy one. Not just the tour, but the drive was longer than expected, and since I had to be home at a reasonable hour this week, I felt crunched for time. I could have opted for the much more cost effective and shorter tour of the 1^st floor, but since I got a bit lost on my way to my first intended site (I don’t want to talk about it) I felt I needed to make the most of my visit to TALA so I bought the overpriced tour and spent a good three hours hearing the history of one of the last standing asylums in the united states.

The TALA is a privately owned abandoned mental hospital, originally called the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Museum. By the time it closed it’s doors in the 90’s it had changed it’s name to Weston State Hospital, my assumption is when it was bought from the state the new owners knew what a marketing gem the original title was and so they’re now using it to it’s fullest extent. In fact if you visit they’re super-slick website you’ll notice that they’re playing up the whole insane asylum image, complete with hauntings. Don’t use the site as a barometer to experience their overall marketing, though. I’m pretty sure they blew the budget on it and have nothing left over for souvenirs or brochures, although you can purchase a t-shirt if you’d like.

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