Ghostbusting Aboard The Queen Mary

The Queen Mary was once the jewel of Cunard's cruise ship fleet, capturing the Blue Riband transatlantic speed record in both directions the year of her maiden transatlantic voyage in 1936. She served as a troopship during World War II, before returning to her peacetime cruising duties. Superseded by the jumbo jet age, with her glamor faded but not forgotten, she now serves as a hotel and museum at her permanent dock in Long Beach, CA. With a storied past, The Queen Mary has seen much love and loss, and is consequently said to be one of the most haunted places in America. My husband and I decided to check in for a night to check out the grand old lady of the sea's restless soul.

• 5.50 p.m. As we unpacked, a bag that was lying on the bed in our room shifted a little in front of our eyes. My husband and I looked at each other and raised our eyebrows.
  
  
  
• 6.06 p.m. I changed my clothes in the bedroom, while my husband took a shower in the bathroom. Suddenly, the toilet seat crashed down all on its own. The spook is on.
  
  
  
• 6.25 p.m. I stopped by the Piccadilly Corner gift shop to buy a postcard or two. The manager told me that while he was a skeptic where ghosts were concerned, a very good and reliable friend of his had seen a lady in white in the lounge at the Queen Mary's Sir Winston's restaurant.
  
  
  
• 6.30 p.m. Naturally our next stop was dinner with a spot of ghost-hunting on the side at Sir Winston's. I asked Jesus our waiter if he'd seen any ghosts. "I am a ghost," he jovially replied. "I serve the food and then disappear." If only he could've made our check vanish too.
  
  
  
• 8.45 p.m. We watched chanteuse Lauren Koval raise the spirits of Frank Sinatra and Cole Porter by the piano in Sir Winston's lounge where the White Lady is said to hang out. Though Lauren hadn't personally seen the music-loving ghost, she did report an incident that occurred some time ago which spooked her. While getting ready to perform in the restaurant's bathroom her toothbrush got thrown from the countertop to the floor, twice.
  
  
  
• 9.30 p.m. We took an evening stroll around the ship, checking out all the obvious spiritual hangouts, the bridge, the chapel and the many bars.
  
  
  
• 10.33 p.m. Back in our room, my husband heard a faint thud coming from the wardrobe.
  
  
  
• 12.33 a.m. The bath taps began to trickle out of the blue, and continued to do so for several minutes. Was it old plumbing or something more?
  
  
  
• 8.00 a.m. After a night of strange dreams about life on board the ship during war time, I drifted awake and was left with an overwhelming sense of loss, and a black and white photographic-like image of a small boy, dressed for school in shorts and long socks, carrying an old fashioned metal lunch box in my mind's eye.
  
  
  
• 8.33 a.m. My husband was awakened by a loud crash coming from next door. Judging by the equally loud voices that accompanied it, the disturbance was by those that were living rather than by anyone who'd crossed over.
  
  
  
• 9.00 a.m. We heard feint, very old-fashioned singing wafting down the corridor as we made morning coffee in our room.
  
  
  
• 9.11 a.m. When I went to the bathroom the toilet seat was up. My well-trained husband is always polite enough to leave it down. Very strange.
  

While the only spirits we can 100 percent say we experienced were the ones in our glasses after dinner, some strange things did happen that night. We'll definitely be back to investigate, and are planning to return at a later date for the Queen Mary's midnight Paranormal Investigation Tour.