Friday, April 13, 2018

Take a Peek Inside The Queen Mary's MOST HAUNTED Rooms


Happy Friday the 13th! I have a spooky treat for you today to celebrate!

The Queen Mary recognized as one of the most haunted locations in the world, and with its history it's not hard to see why. From a luxury cruise liner to being utilized as a troop transport ship during World War II, where she was known as "The Grey Ghost", the grand vessel has seen her share of both glamour and tragedy. Today, remnants of this past can be felt along the passages of the ship, whether in grand salons, staterooms, or in the massive boiler rooms in the belly of the vessel.

I have always been intrigued with The Queen Mary and the reported hauntings that seem so commonplace aboard the ship. I have visited the ship several times and have attended events there, but I have not specifically gone there for their ghost tours, though I have always wanted to. Well, last night in honor of Friday the 13th I had my chance as I was invited to attend a media sneak peek at The Queen Mary for the unveiling of their most haunted stateroom, B340, to the public. This stateroom had to be closed 30 years ago after excessive paranormal activity upset numerous guests. The stateroom has been closed for 30 years, but it is now open for guests to book...if they dare!

Along with being invited to step inside stateroom B340, I also got a taste of The Queen Mary's Haunted Encounters and Paranormal Investigation tours. The Haunted Encounters Tour takes you to hot spots on the ship where activity has been experienced and tells you the stories behind the ghosts. In the Paranormal Investigations tour, you actually got to go down into the bowels of the ship to conduct a paranormal investigation of your own! I'll walk you through everything I got to eerily explore below: 

 The Queen Mary has been docked in Long Beach since 1967 and now offers
accommodations and tours, as well as hosting numerous events.

 The Queen Mary is a massive ship, bigger than the Titanic, and I always get 
disoriented in the long, narrow hallways. The fact that it is usually really silent
also adds to the eeriness.

 Our first tour was Haunted Encounters with our host with the most, Daniel.
The way he told the ghost stories sent a shiver up my spine! This reportedly
haunted location was towards the front of the ship. In 1942, the HMS Curacoa was
 accidentally sliced in half by The Queen Mary during escort duty, which resulted
 in the deaths of 337 men. People still report hearing disembodied screams
 and heavy breathing behind them in this part of the ship.

 The Lady in White is said to have appeared to a guest inside one of these 
elevators, and she can also be reportedly seen in the first-class salons
wearing an elegant white dress before vanishing.

 Cigar smoke has been smelled and a shadowy man figure have been glimpsed 
near the Churchill Suite - this was Winston Churchill's preferred room aboard 
the ship.

 Children's voices and laughter can sometimes be heard by this nursery, which
normally wouldn't be unusual. However, this room has not been used for a 
children's playroom in quite some time...

 The ghost of a little girl named Jackie likes to play around the swimming pool
(which has been drained of water for many years), and likes to peek around
columns at guests. She is reportedly the ghost of a little girl who drowned.

 Nothing spooky here, I just liked the carpet 

 This is the steepest staircase for guests to use on the ship, and as a result there
have been several deaths due to the ship pitching over Atlantic swells, causing 
guests to tumble down the stairs to the R Deck below. A well-dressed, 
dapper man in older-style clothing has been seen near these stairs.

This is an example of The Queen Mary's watertight doors, which are used to
isolate areas of the ship to prevent it sinking should it start to take on water. It
was one of these doors that crushed and killed a crew member in 1966 during
a routine door drill. This young man is said to haunt that area of the ship
dressed in blue overalls.

Our tour guide Daniel shared many more ghost stories with us at various locations on The Queen Mary. If you have never done the Haunted Encounters tour aboard the ship, I highly recommend it (and ask for Daniel as your tour guide, he was seriously amazing and added so much to the spooky fun!). You can find more information on the Haunted Attractions Tour on The Queen Mary website HERE!

View of downtown Long Beach across the harbor

Next, we were treated to a Paranormal Investigation Tour with ParaXplorer Project founder Matthew Schulz. He lead us deep into the depths of The Queen Mary, into areas that have had extensive paranormal activity and are not available to the general public. We got to explore the cavernous boiler room, which is several stories below the water level. It was extremely spooky down there and I loved every second! He lead us into the safe room where he showed us evidence from several investigations and we conducted an investigation of our own! 

The cavernous and dark boiler room

 The Safe Room in the boiler room

 Inside the safe room, with paranormal expert Matthew Schulz playing us some
pretty compelling EVP and disembodied voice phenomena. In the recordings, 
we heard knocking, footsteps, a voice saying "get out," a voice responding "no,"
and some eerie singing. We did our own EVP session, but nothing turned up...
this time.

 The boiler room catwalks - I would have loved to wander around more
down there

 Heading out of the boiler room - everything under the red paint at the top of
the photo is actually under the water level!

 Yay!

I didn't experience any paranormal occurrences during that tour, but it sure was neat to hear the recordings and check out the boiler room, which is off-limits to the general public. I'd like to go back and do one of the nighttime paranormal investigations aboard, I think it would be really interesting. You can find more info on this tour on The Queen Mary's website HERE!

Taking a break in-between tours for selfies!

Next, we met up with Commodore Everette Hoard who led us to the main attraction, the infamously haunted stateroom B340! This room has been closed for 30 years due to the high volume of paranormal activity, including lights and water faucets being turning on and off, shaking beds, disembodied voices, and strange sounds. Complaints from this room were so numerous that it was closed and guests were not allowed to stay there...that is, until now. The stateroom has been remodeled and bookings for the room has been re-opened to guests brave enough to stay in this room. 

I have to say, I did feel a little nauseous in this room and my belly was doing flip flops while I was standing in there. Other people from the group complained of nausea, feelings of sadness and anger, sharp pains in their chest, and headaches. Commodore Everette himself said the room gives him vertigo and it was really hard for him to be in there. 

 Commodore Everette and a paranormal goodie box that contains a crystal ball, 
tarot cards, and a Ouija board should guests of the room want to try to 
communicate with the spirits aboard The Queen Mary.

 Stateroom B340 is adorned with testimonials from guests and crew telling
of their haunted encounters. 

Could this have been the ghost of little Jackie, who supposedly drowned 
on the ship? 

 And then they turned out the lights on us...

 This was an especially cute touch next to the bathroom mirror!

 Would you stay in Stateroom B340?

 Whew, it was good to be home after an eventful night!

While I didn't experience any paranormal activity first-hand on The Queen Mary, I think the stories and eye-witness testimonies are very compelling and I would love to go back and take another ghost tour. I don't think I would be brave enough to sleep in Stateroom B340, though! 

If you are in the area or planning a vacation to the area, I can't recommend The Queen Mary enough. It is full of rich history and is a must-see if you want the chance at a paranormal encounter or just like hearing ghost stories. They have multiple tour options daily, so I suggest checking out their website for more information!

Stay spooky and have a haunting Friday the 13th!

1 comment:

  1. Hello to the Spooky Vegan: I LOVED this article and all your beautiful photos. I've been a fan and a writer of the Queen Mary for a number of years now. (In fact, I even know the Commodore you've included in your post) You did a wonderful service to her by posting this fun article, and I'dd like to share this link, if I may? Also, I want to send you two novels which have been set aboard the modern day ship. I think you'll like them, but there's no obligation for you to feature them--I just would like to send you a present because you wrote this post. Let me know if I may share it on my Facebook page, and if you'd like the novels mailed to you, please email me your address at: patricia@patriciaVavis.com Thank you and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

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