My ghostly tour of Seattle, Washington continues… with a trip to a haunted morgue, and a Goth artist’s collective!

Let’s start with the Mourning Market. Every few months, the darkest artisans of the Pacific Northwest come together to display and sell their handmade works.

Since October 2009, Ginger and Alicia have been organizing Mourning Market. They write:

“We’ve been lucky to channel an incredible group of artists, and bring them all together. There was nothing of this genre in Seattle or anywhere in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. So we took matter into our own hands and created an event like no other: one that would showcase and honor artists with a dark edge. We have had the pleasure of working with some outstanding people. This October will be our four year anniversary and we are so excited about it!”

Their success was obvious: a long line draped around the venue, El Corazon, and the two large rooms were packed. There were also spaces to eat, drink and socialize with people in the subcultures scnee.

At some arts & crafts fairs, items are of amateur quality. Not so at the Mourning Market. I was impressed by the high level of design and craftsmanship, and the originality of offerings (one of the first booths we visited let us try on dark, glittery lipsticks).

Among the highlights: glammed-up Ouija board accessories, handmade from resin. Elegant leather masks. Unnerving photos and paintings.

A cobweb of spider jewelry, and drop dead dolls.

Steampunk accessories: love the octopus and clockwork parts.

Laser guns and fetuses in jars? Hell yes! (For details about the brands I’m wearing, including the Gothic Lolita dress and faux fur scarf, see this outfit post.)

Met so many kind people at the Market. Thanks to everyone who gave me tips for Goth haunts to visit in Seattle! I hope to come back soon for a longer stay.

And huge hugs to the vendors who chipped in and presented me with a generous goody bag! Basil Farrow says you’re very talented (and slightly disturbed, but we like that).

For info about the next Mourning Market and other dark events, check out their site and Facebook page.

I made more spooky new friends at Georgetown Morgue, an infamous haunted house that has been generating screams for over 10 years.

The Morgue (5000 E Marginal Way, Seattle) is a 10 minute drive south from downtown Seattle; look for the winged beast on the roof. Presented with Kube 93 radio station, the haunting takes place in a bona fide morgue from the 1920s.

This haunted house is consistently ranked one of the best in the USA, and deservedly so. Every year, the owners construct elaborate sets designed to frightened the most jaded Goth. The actors go through an intense audition…

… and wear movie-quality special effects makeup. Let me tell you, I screamed when the clown popped out with a roaring chainsaw.

We went through the Morgue before it opened, and the experience was next-level scary — both technically and creatively. I’ve been to a number of haunted houses in my day, but I’ve never seen one with falling floors, a lake of boiling bloody water, and head-to-toe smothering. Every sense is attacked, including smell (was that a whiff of charred flesh?)

My friends must have gotten bitten along the way, since they transformed into zombies. The blood is a special concoction by the makeup artist.

Trick or treat: we got to be actors in the haunted house. The doors opened to the public, and the scaring began. My friends did a bloody birth scene, while I was creepy doll popping out when you least expect it.

We loved getting to know the crew — many have worked here for years, and the greenroom felt like a big, happy Addams family. Nothing makes me happier than seeing offbeat outsiders banding together, and creating something imaginative (in this case, a haunted house).

I hope you’ll experience the brilliance of the Georgetown Morgue before it closes on November 2nd. The team also does costume rentals and special events year-round, which you can keep track of on Facebook.

What are your plans for this Halloween? Remember, I’ll be in Portland with my Pirate film team — do keep the PDX travel tips coming. As they say in the Morgue, “Scare you later!”