Seattle's Coziest Embalming Room

10/31/2009

Today, Kells Pub in Seattle's Post Alley is where you'd go for a pint of Guinness or to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. But a hundred years ago, it's where people brought dead bodies for embalming. The bar is in the basement of the building that used to house Butterworth Mortuary. It was the city's first place for comprehensive death–related services from corpse retrieval to coffin sales. Mercedes Yaeger runs Market Ghost Tours in Pike Place Market. She also wrote a book about the haunted history of the Market. And she sees a connection between the bodies that came through Butterworth Mortuary in the past, and the stories of hauntings in the building now. KUOW's Jeannie Yandel went to Kells to find out more.