Underground Seattle

Downtown Seattle of the nineteenth century was built on tidelands, which wreaked havoc with its primitive sewer system. Toilet geysers of raw sewage were a frequent occurrence. When the city was devastated by fire in 1889, officials decided to rebuild at a higher grade to insure what was flushed down would stay down. Trouble was, the process of regrading would take much longer than the local business owners felt like waiting. What eventually happened is the businesses were rebuilt at the original level, then the streets were later raised, making the second floors the new first floors and the original first floors the cellars. For a time shoppers had to climb ladders in order to cross the streets until I-beams were installed across the gaps and sidewalks laid down at the new street level. The original first floors were used for storage and nefarious activity until vermin infestation grew out of hand in the 1900s and the subterranean spaces were closed off. Half a century later these dingy catacombs reopened as a tourist attraction. Unfortunately it turns out underground Seattle is not in fact plagued with sulfurous demons as depicted in the classic Scooby Doo episode, "A Frightened Hound Meets Demons Underground."