Closing hatch blows fuse

I know I am probably going to go to a shop for this, but here goes.

I noticed that my center tail light stayed on after turning off my lights and shutting the car down. I raised the hatch and the light went off. I closed the hatch and it turned back on. Well, I couldn't leave that light on all night, so I took out the bulb.

That was about 3 days ago. I left the bulb out and the next day my tail lights went out along with the dash lights. It was at night, so I had to drive all teh way home with my flashers on.

Today I went and got a new fuse. It worked all day, although I still didn't put the bulb back in the center light. The fuse blew at the end of the day.

Tonight I put the bulb back in, put in a new fuse, and turned on the lights. The fuse burned out immediately. This time I left the hatch open. I changed the fuse and turned the lights on again. The tail lights went on, but the center bulb did not. Hmm... I closed the hatch and the fuse popped again.

I can see nothing obvious. Where could this be shorting out? What should I disassemble? Or should I just throw myself on the mercy of the mechanic?

Thanks,
Don