Seattle Oddities & Curiosities Expo 2023 @ Seattle Convention Center

The world’s largest freakshow 😱

📸: Seattle Oddities & Curiosities Expo

📆 Saturday, October 14th – Sunday, October 15th
⏰ Doors open at 10 am on Saturday
📍 Seattle Convention Center: 705 Pike St, Seattle
🎟 $10 advance | $15 days-of

Wanna see something freaky? No, this isn’t me inviting you on a terrifying adventure into a dark forest from whence you may never return. Instead, it’s downtown at the Seattle Convention Center, where strange people from all walks of life come into Hall 4AB to hawk their bizarre wares. Behold the Seattle Oddities & Curiosities Expo.

The expo is the brainchild of Boulevard Trash, a Tulsa punk store that has admirably expanded its reach with this nationally touring convention meant for everybody who’s always felt a little… different. Naturally, I’ve been before. Though we didn’t end up buying anything gross in a jar (…we were tempted…), we still came home with:

· Paintings of Boris Karloff and the Creature from the Black Lagoon
· A colorful glass skull that my cats Vincent Price and Béla Lugosi love to lord over
· A T-shirt from Atlanta-based oddities store Rainy Day Revival
· A VHS copy of Chained for Life, the 1952 exploitation movie starring conjoined twins Daisy and Violet Hilton
· A fake plant made of eyeballs

The biggest attraction is the oh-so-casually titled The Cryptic Collection of a Mad Clown. Enter the separately ticketed event and behold taxidermied specimens, mutated beings, and histories of horror. It’s the world’s largest freakshow, and completely worth it for the low price of admission. It’s not for the squeamish, though I’d say it’s still okay for braver (and weirder) kids. For people looking to get a little more hands-on, the most in-demand ticket is a taxidermy class if you want that kind of knowledge in your noggin.

Author

Marcus Gorman

Marcus Gorman is a Seattle-based playwright and film programmer. He once raised money for a synagogue by marathoning 15 Adam Sandler movies in one weekend. You can find him on Instagram and Twitter @marcus_gorman.