Paranormal RMS Queen Mary - 23 OCT 2017

Each year, Rob and I try to have a new Halloween related experience. In years past, I haven't been able to photograph any of the haunted houses, but this year I was allowed to bring a camera to a real haunted hotel, the RMS Queen Mary.

Launched in 1934, the QM sailed the North Atlantic from 1936 to 1967, when she was retired and purchased by Long Beach to become its' tourist attraction.

Considered the 6th most haunted place in the United States, there are many documented sightings of apparitions. Not surprising since there have been close to 60 on board deaths.

Our tour guide was Kelly, enthusiastic young woman, self-described as a "Scaredy-Cat" who once locked her boyfriend out of their shared apartment for pulling a spooking prank. She has worked on the Queen Mary for nearly two years and was very knowledgeable about all things QM related, including its ghosts. 

We started our tour on Deck M (level 4) in the Mauretania Room, where the 'Woman-in-White' has been seen many times by different people. This room is rented out for small parties/receptions. Three staff members were setting up the room in 1989, when they noticed a woman in a white evening gown sitting on the other side of the room, with her hands in her lap and her head down. They started cleaning and when they reached the unknown woman, one of them said to her, "Madam, we need you to move so we can mop the dance floor." The women just sat there, didn't look up or acknowledge the workers. One of the staffers went to call security and when she returned, the woman was gone. She asked her co-workers, "Where did she go?" "We don't know. After you left the room, she looked up, looked to her right, looked to her left and then just disappeared." All three workers reported seeing this apparition and said it lasted for about 10 minutes, making it the longest recorded ghost sighting. There have also been several complaints from customers using this room, which claim an uninvited women dressed in white appears in their party pictures.

We walked pass the Third Class Nursery, now a storage room for the gift shops. Over the years, several guests have complained about the sound of a child crying, coming from that room. One guest was so insistent that they had to have a janitor open the room to prove it only contained boxes.

These doors were once the entrance to a Barbershop and a Beauty Parlor and a woman has been seen walking through the locked doors.

The First Class Swimming Pool (dry since it docked here) has the most paranormal activity with a supposed vortex for spirits in the locker room.

Unfortunately it was closed for repairs, so I could only shoot the above image through the window of the door.

To get to the bow we had to walk through part of this years' "Dark Harbor" new Halloween maze inspired by the real QM murder of a chef who was locked in his own walk-in oven by disgruntled sailors. No photos were permitted of the maze.

The forward room storage in the bow is used to store the rope used to tie up the ship when in port. This is the part of the ship that was damaged in 1942 when the QM, acting as a WWII troop carrier, dissected the HMS Curacao, killing 338 men.

Also in this area is a grate that looks down several levels to where WWII prisoners of war were crammed into a very hot, dark storage area with buckets for toilets. Hence this area has had several documented paranormal activities.

Our last stop was the broiler room.

The narrow cat walks and ladders have been replaced with sturdy walk ways and stairs suitable for tourist.

A massive, eerie room with several ghost sightings. 

During a routine drill in 1966, automatic watertight doors were closed and a young engineer was crushed to death by this No 13 door.

Considering its long history, many deaths, it is not surprising the Queen Mary is a hotbed for all types of paranormal activities. Many of which have been captured on several TV and Internet shows.