Haunted Queen Mary Room

[Heike Fallago]

Afterit was retired as an ocean liner, Disney purchased The Queen Mary, and B340 became a prototype Haunted Mansion-at-sea. The room was wired for spooky happenings, like creaking floorboards and faucets turning on by themselves, and eventually closed when the experiment was unprofitable. But smoke and mirrors aside, the room's history is rife with suspicious or unexplained deaths, and there are rumors of many other sinister disasters on the ship: a girl drowning in one of the (now closed) pools; a man being crushed to death in the boiler rooms; a criminal held by authorities dying alone under eerie, grotesque circumstances. (I'll spare you the details, but think "entrails.")

At least one tragedy is confirmed: During The Queen Mary's stint transporting soldiers in WWII, there was a catastrophic collision with the HMS Curacoa, tearing the smaller boat in half. Over 300 people drowned.

The ship leans into its haunted history, offering ghost tours and recreating Victorian seances aboard, which means it draws in a lot of para-curious people. During my stay, I was traveling with Strange Escapes, a supernatural tourism company run by Amy Bruni, a paranormal investigator who got her start on Ghost Hunters and now stars on Kindred Spirits. Bruni had gathered a group of 200 to explore the haunted ship, with the assistance of other famous paranormal investigators, including two other Ghost Hunters: Grant Wilson and Adam Berry, who's now Bruni's co-star on Kindred Spirits.

In B340, in the bedroom and the small, attached sitting room, I found a group of novice investigators huddled in the dark with Greg and Dana Newkirk and John E.L. Tenney, paranormal experts leading the investigation. The Newkirks had brought along some truly grisly items from their Traveling Museum of the Paranormal & Occult, including a spirit board made from floor planks salvaged from the site of an axe murder.

During the investigations that night, the experts used three different methods to channel the spirits: Greg Newkirk and John Tenney held EVP (electronic voice phenomena) sessions, using recorders to ask questions in an effort to capture responses the human ear can't perceive. Dana Newkirk pulled tarot on two different decks. Both Newkirks used the Estes Method, in which one person asks questions and the other, while in a sort-of sensory deprivation environment, repeats what he or she hears through the spirit box.

I heard many responses that night, while I sat in the dark through two different investigation sessions, and none of them were good. There were many frustrated spirits in that room, and a huge amount of confused, angry energy. At one point, after Greg pressed the issue of why a spirit wasn't telling us its name, it hissed "HASSLE" before going silent for the night.

The ship makes no attempt to hide B340's history. Now that's it's reopened to the public, the room rents out at a premium, and there are accounts of ghost sightings inscribed on the walls. People come looking for the unmarked room every night. (Visitors persistently pilfer the room number as a souvenir). But I didn't know any of that at the time. So when I heard whispers outside my door, I nearly jumped out of my skin. And when I got up to answer the door, I didn't even have time to tell them to go away, because whoever was out there ran screaming down the hall before I fully turned the knob.

Several people on that trip, including Bruni herself, reported strange happenings in their rooms overnight. The following evening, when I investigated the boiler rooms four stories below sea level, I'm certain I saw something move when no one was there.

Among the ghosts reportedly still hanging around is an engineer who died in the ship's engine room, a "lady in white," and various children located throughout the ship including the 1st Class Pool (the tour stops at the entrance doors to the swimming pool, but does not go inside the pool area due to ongoing restoration projects).

Haunted Encounters is offered only during the day...but when the sun goes down, the spirits aboard the Queen Mary come out to play. Explore the legendary ship with a series of twilight tours and sances that explore the haunted past and paranormal activity that the Queen Mary is known for...click here for more information on our Tours at Night - including Dining With the Spirits, Paranormal Investigation and Paranormal Ship Walk.

Please note: All tours are based on a first come, first served basis. Tour locations may vary daily based on availability. Hours of operation & availability are subject to change without notice. Due to the historic nature of The Queen Mary, some areas of the ship may not be accessible to guests with mobility restrictions. Tours may require extensive use of stairs &/or standing for long periods of time. All paranormal tours take place in the dark, enclosed area and may not be suitable for all guests.

An Art Deco floating masterpiece, the Queen Mary sailed the world until her final voyage across the seas to Long Beach in 1967. Polished wood that gleamed throughout the ship for over three decades was beginning to show wear and tear. Carpets needed to be replaced. Air travel was quickly replacing the need for transatlantic crossings.

Tied up in Long Beach, the conversion from cruise ship to ship hotel would eventually happen after several starts and abrupt stops. Stateroom portholes would once again open. Original woodwork in long corridors, 347 staterooms and the enclosed promenade, restored to its original glory would once again gleam.

As new life was breathed into Queen Mary, stories of past human lives continued to be revealed. Rumors swirled like dancing flames around a campfire; this ship was surely one of the most haunted places in America.

Would you walk through here alone after midnight?

With our group of 12, we set out at 2PM to explore the far corners of the ship, hear about the haunted staterooms, public areas and off-limits places where only crew were allowed to enter. There are some fairly famous spirits lurking throughout the ship.

Over the decades, overnight guests have complained to hear knocking on their door in the middle of the night. Faucets in the bathroom turn on and off as do the lights. Bathroom doors slam shut and people have said their bedcovers have been yanked off during the night.

The pool has been closed for many years due to California safety codes and is now undergoing refurbishment. Its gorgeous Art Deco style, from the quartz and mother of pearl ceiling to now-dulled brass rails will soon see new life.

Several ghost stories surround this electrically-controlled watertight hatch in an area 45-feet below the waterline. The scary story told to us by our guide recalled a crew member by the name of John Pedder, or J.P. as his descendants prefer him to be named.

Located about 45-feet below water, the Boiler Room was one of the most dangerous places on the Queen Mary. Ghost tales abound in this creepy area that include a little girl and her doll wandering around, EVPs (electronic voice phenomenon) and shadow figures appear and disappear near the catwalks.

One of several elaborate elevator banks. The restored artistic details reveal something you never see anymore.People say they needed to open their stateroom porthole to rid the room from the sudden smell of cigarettes, cigars, aftershave or perfume.

Laughter and crying of small children are often heard emanating from the Third Class Nursery where an infant is said to have died.

There is no doubt that the ship Queen Mary is haunted. There are resident spirits, including Jackie, the little girl who haunts the first class pool, John Pedder, who was crushed by a watertight door, Senior Second Officer William Eric Stark, who accidentally drank dry cleaning fluid instead of gin, and The Cook, who was baked alive by his own kitchen staff during World War II. But arguably the most notorious location on the ship for paranormal activity is stateroom B340. Its paranormal occurrences stem from a horrid event, or so it is said.

The next day, when the ship arrived in New York, the crew summoned NYPD detectives and they went to apprehend the murderer. When they opened the door to the stateroom, they found the man had been ripped apart and his entrails and limbs spread all over the room. There was no way he could have done this himself.

Upon the next sailing, the paranormal reports started coming in from that stateroom. When it was docked in Long Beach in 1967, the three third class staterooms were combined into the larger guest room B340, and the reports continued. By the 1980s, B340 was closed to booking because guests would leave in the middle of the night.

In the first week since the room was open to reservations, there have been 40 bookings. The stateroom has been entirely redone and opened to guests as of Friday the 13th of April. And, aside from its being haunted, it is just a beautifully redone room.

The room is available for booking now, but reservations are way in advance due to so much interest in the stateroom. Rates start from $499 per night and it promises to be a night you will never forget. For more information, visit QueenMary.com and, for B340 bookings, call (877) 342-0742.

Currently one of the most popular tourist attractions in America, she has become a hotel and museum permanently docked in Long Beach, California. Throughout the years, however, the staff and visitors began to report unusual happenings with ghosts and alarming sounds appearing throughout the ship.

Screams and violent noises were reported in the boiler room where an 18-year-old sailor was severed in half by a heavy door where he was trapped. A young girl also haunts the ship as she plays a nightly game of hide and seek with the guests in the empty swimming pool.

The infamous B Deck once contained the third class cabins and is now used for guests of the Queen Mary Hotel. Long hallways of shiny wood paneling and burgundy carpets eerily add to the paranormal feeling throughout the deck. With 314 staterooms and 13 suites, the most famous of them all is suite B-340 which used to be three third class staterooms and were converted into one large suite.

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