Tourists love this “disgusting” wall covered in chewing gum in Seattle

PEOPLE have described it as “disgusting” but that hasn’t stopped them from naming it a “must-see” landmark.

THE world is a weird and wonderful place. And this unlikely tourist attraction is definitely filed under the ‘weird’ category.

It is a wall in Seattle covered in chewing gum. It is located down a laneway at Pike Place Market in downtown Seattle and attracts hordes of visitors who not only want to see what a wall of used chewing gum looks like but also want to contribute to it.

The “Gum Wall” has even had great reviews on TripAdvisor, despite a TripAdvisor poll naming it as one of the top five ‘germiest’ attractions in the world.

“It might be gross for many, but it is still something to see. If you look close, you can see creative uses for the gum on the wall,” wrote one reviewer who gave it a five-star rating.

Another described it as “disgusting but oddly captivating”. Many reviewers labelled it a “must-see” landmark in Seattle. One person even bought a fridge magnet of the wall.

The local council isn’t so impressed, though. In 2015, the Pike Place Market Preservation & Development Authority tried to rid the wall of all its gum for the first time in 20 years. The wall is said to have been started in 1990 as a last-ditch effort by theatregoers of Seattle’s Market Theatre to get rid of their gum while waiting in line.

It took workers an estimated 130 hours of vigorous steam cleaning to fill 94 buckets with 1070kg of chewed gum.

However, it didn’t last long with visitors back the following day to start the collection all over again.