Haunting

Throughout the World there have been many beautiful ships built by skilled craftsmen and engineers. Imagine all those hours painstakingly analysing every single detail and mechanism…literally giving that ship your blood sweat and tears until at last it’s finished.

Not only did the minds ( John Brown & Company ) behind creating the Queen Mary want it to be a magnificent beautiful work of art, but also watertight for its passengers with all the necessary safety measures in place.

The Queen Mary ship (now a retired British Ocean liner permanently docked in Downtown Long Beach USA.)Was built 1st December 1930 in Clydebank Scotland, its main purpose was an express service between Southampton UK to New York in 1936 to 1967.

“In late August 1939, Queen Mary was on a return run from New York to Southampton. The international situation led to her being escorted by the battlecruiser HMS Hood. She arrived safely and set out again for New York on 1 September. By the time she arrived, war had been declared and she was ordered to remain in port. “From 25–30 July 1943, Queen Mary carried 15,740 soldiers and 943 crew (total 16,683), a standing record for the most passengers ever transported on one vessel.” This ship was as valuable as a troop transport vessel that Adolf Hitler put a quarter of a million dollar bounty on it, payable to any submarine that could destroy it.

During World War 2 the Forward Rope Locker room (the maintenance room) was used to hold prisoners of war, unfortunately many of them died due to heat exhaustion, so they would be buried at sea without honours. Many EVPS have been caught within this room by ghost hunters.

The ship also had an operational hospital on board, so if another ship had an ill passenger the Queen Mary would pull up alongside the ship and treat the person.

There was also an isolation ward for contagious people (separated into two sections, female and male bunks.) the nurses would sleep right next door to their patients (a small room at the side) but those rooms were mostly used for isolating stowaways.

“Over 200 stowaways were found within the 31 years of sailing. The stowaways were sometimes charged a full fair and then are let off, or they would pay off their debt by working on the ship, surprisingly some people liked working there and went on to become a crew member. However two of those stowaways committed suicide.” according to a tour guide who takes people round the ship on a daily basis.

Over the years passengers and staff died on the ship (collapsed and fell overboard, with heart failure. Premature infants died during the two week journey from England to USA. Some people even fell to their death on the stairs due to the turbulent waves at sea. )

Whilst doing research I watched countless paranormal investigations of the Queen Mary from different groups from all over the World. I did this because I needed to know for sure that different people were experiencing the same phenomena therefor giving more credibility to the alleged hauntings of the ship.

Numerous apparitions reside within the magnificent complex. It is said that a deck had to be completely closed off to the public due to how much paranormal activity was taking place. Even some of the staff who works there investigate after their shift ends! The alleged haunted hot spots are the first class swimming pool (a little girl called Jackie haunts there, even though there is no record of anyone drowning or being killed in that area. Originally there were two swimming pools one 1st class and lower class. The lower class pool has been turned into a theatre now.)

An apparition of an elderly woman is seen in the ballroom. One day a cleaner went in there and saw the woman sitting on the sofa with her head down not acknowledging her surroundings at all , even though the staff member asked her to please leave the area as she was about to clean the woman still paid no notice . When radioing for assistance from her colleagues the cleaner turned her back for just a second …..Suddenly the woman vanished into thin air.

According to many guests the laughter of children can be heard within the early hours of the morning, as well as jumping and running about from the next room (even though the next room is vacant due to renovations)

Staff have reported being touched and whispered to whilst getting fresh linen from the cupboards in the hallways, as well as a constant feeling of being scrutinised by unknown beings. It is not uncommon for there to be unusual sounds particularly from the engine room of the ship where it is said a ghost of 18 year old man ( John Pedder )was killed on July 13th 1966 due to being squashed by an automatic watertight door ( number 13 out of 32 doors . These doors would close if the ship encountered bad weather as a safety precaution. You would only have six seconds to get out of the door.

According to paranormal investigators the man had dropped his tool and that’s why he was squashed under the door, EVP’S (Electronic voice phenomenon) done in that area have caught a voice saying “Where’s my wrench!?” One night a staff member was checking the engine room when an overpowering feeling of being watched started to consume her. Turning around to confront whoever it was she saw a man following her through the narrow corridors. Carrying on with her duties she tried to ignore the presence. When she looked back again the man had vanished into thin air.

The engine room also holds an important artefact from the “golden years” of the ship. Considering that The Queen Mary Ship was built in 1930 the Propeller is a brilliant example of skilled craftsmanship. Nowadays people use this area as a “Wishing well” tossing pennies down to the Propeller below. There are so many coins down there it has created a shimmery effect on the object. Some people have reported an uneasy feeling whilst in that room.

I asked within one of the paranormal groups I’m apart of if anyone had been to The Queen Mary and these are the some of the responses I received.

“Not long after the hotel opened, my sister and I went on a tour. It was still being renovated and some areas were pretty rough still. Many of the interesting areas were deemed too dangerous for tours. Chairs and tables stacked in rooms, bare walls in others. Also, the idea of it bring haunted was pretty hush-hush and not talked about much. Their Ghost Tour was several years in the future.

On the tour, we may be counted about a dozen, more or less. My story was as we came to a long hallway about in the middle of the ship. We were divided from the hotel by a velvet rope. Facing across the hallway, left was the hotel; right was the continuation of the tour.

We were stopped at this point, and the guides explained about the history and luxury of the rooms. As I looked down the hall, into the hotel side, I saw a bellhop. He was dressed in very period accurate attire, black slacks with a white stripe, Eton

Jacket with braid on the cuffs and stand up collar, pill box cap on his head. He was heading away from us down the hallway, so no face to be seen. I remarked to the Tour Guides how nice it was that the bellhops wore period uniforms.

The two Guides looked at each other stricken, and then hurriedly rushed us off down the hall the opposite way. I just thought it was weird. A few months later, a news reporter did a report on the full opening and showed photos of staff as part of it. The bellhops wore modern clothing, and did at the time I was there. So, I’m left with the belief that I saw a ghostly bellhop.”

I grew up around there and we went many times. As a kid I never had any bad experiences, loved going there. As an adult I realized there was more to the Queen Mary than I knew. We started going during the Halloween season when they opened night time tours and yes, regardless if you believe or not, you see and hear strange things. Mostly hear but you will see some different sights.

There is a VERY elegant lady in the hall of the state rooms to me I think she was going to dinner I didn’t realize she was a ghost at first, I thought she was part of the staff but when we were being seated for dinner I looked around and she was nowhere to be found.

And then later that night, in the engine room, the voices of all the men working were just amazing! Sometimes you could catch a glimpse but if your mind is open you can definitely hear and make out what was being said. If you get a chance to stay in one of the state rooms and take the night tour less people, and enjoy. “

“We went about twenty five years ago. All five of us had an uneasy feeling while touring the engine areas .and none of these other want to go anywhere else after that. And the funny thing was that we had three children and two adults in our group .and we all complain of a headache before we left the ship.”

“Similar to other modernized rooms aboard the Queen, stateroom B340 has updated fixtures, carpeting, television and access to Wi-Fi, but there are a few differences.

B340 is equipped with items to help guests open a connection with the spirits, including an Ouija board, tarot cards and a crystal ball. On the bathroom wall, there’s an inscription detailing how to summon Bloody Mary, a ghost that is said to present herself to anyone that chants “Bloody Mary” three times while facing a mirror.

“It was closed for so long because of all of the negative experiences that have happened in there,” he said. “Some of the paranormal feelings even caused people to leave the ship at times in the ’70s and ’80s, when the ship was new to Long Beach.”

Paranormal experiences in the room have ranged from minor encounters — including knocking on the walls or door in the middle of the night, the sink faucet turning on and off on its own, or the bathroom door creaking from side to side — to more personal encounters including seeing a figure looming over the bed, or hearing ghostly voices trying to engage in a conversation with the guests.

“There are times when certain feelings will overcome your body while you’re on the ship,” he said. “This room happens to be one of those.”

The ship’s commodore, Everette Hoard, agrees with Sowards. He said that when he enters stateroom B340, he feels his body in vertigo, and often has to leave the room before he feels sick to his stomach.

But for interested guests, the cost for a haunt isn’t cheap. According to The Queen Mary’s website, stateroom B340 is available starting at $499 per night.

The room also can be combined with haunted tours, including the Queen’s “Attractions at Night” and “Haunted Encounters” tour, which is led by the ship’s resident paranormal investigator. “

The Queen Mary is certainly a place to visit if you’re brave enough! There are so many paranormal accounts to back up the claims that the ship is haunted. Although I don’t agree with the spirit board in room B40 because it’s just inviting countless spirits onto the ship, it’s a very intriguing place to visit.