Queen Mary on "Ghost Hunters"

[Brad Bowers]

Just a heads up:

One of the guilty pleasures my wife and I enjoy is watching Ghost Hunters on the Sci-Fi Channel. For those that haven't seen the show, the group investigates paranormal activity with high-tech equipment in the hopes of catching evidence.

Next week, they're investigating the Winchester House in San Jose, CA, and the Queen Mary in Long Beach. Ought to be interesting. Wednesday, October 5.

Brad

 

[Lauren]

EEK!! I'd better stay away from that show if I at all want to enjoy myself on the Queen Mary. I am very timid of that sort of thing.

 

[scotrace]

Say, Brad

This might be a nifty thread of its own. "Share Your Ghost Experiences."
Have you seen any of the web sites claiming to show recent photographs of "ghosts?" If they are true in their definitions, I have captured a very fine example on film myself, quite by accident.

I've had a few chilling experiences, and our house has other occupants, quite harmless. They do, however, make their presence known from time to time. Right now, they're doing the "hide stuff" game.

 

[Biltmore Bob]

Scotty, That's just Gremlins...everyone knows there ain't no such thing as ghosts. Or it could be Gnomes I'm not sure.

 

[Brad Bowers]

This might be a nifty thread of its own. "Share Your Ghost Experiences."
Have you seen any of the web sites claiming to show recent photographs of "ghosts?" If they are true in their definitions, I have captured a very fine example on film myself, quite by accident.

I haven't seen the websites, but I don't delve into it too much. The thread would be interesting, leading up to Halloween! There are some old threads about the Queen Mary here at the Lounge that talk about the ship's ghosts, which is why I thought folks here might be interested in the episode. Show us your photos!

I've had a few chilling experiences, and our house has other occupants, quite harmless. They do, however, make their presence known from time to time. Right now, they're doing the "hide stuff" game.

We had the opposite, when I was a kid. Our house had a ghost that found stuff for us, no kidding.

BTW, I love your AT&SF avatar!

 

[scotrace]

Thanks...

The avatar is a full-page ad in Holiday Magazine, 1947. The colors are wonderful!

A halloween ghost story thread - what a GREAT idea!
Last week a piece of paper that was worth around $500 to us was suddenly gone. I had it in my hands, sat it down, and gone. We turned the house upside down looking for it. This morning, there it lay, neatly on the dining room table, all by itself. I picked it up and said to whomever "I KNEW you had it. Very funny!"

 

[Badluck Brody]

What did you think??

For those that caught the Queen Mary episode, what did you think???

Got my hopes up with the bed unmaking itself, only to be a bust!!

For those that have been there, what's your take on the ship???

Brody

 

[Wild Root]

There have been some things that have happened at the QM that can?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t be explained.

Any one here ever hear of the young girl of the pool? Well, story goes that a young girl who was sailing with her parents got lost on the boat. She also liked to swim and she swam in the pool a lot. Well, she drowned in the pool and she haunts the ship looking for her folks.

Some have been in the pool and heard the sound of children playing and the sound of water splashing. An eye witness (Name will go unsaid) saw this first hand. He was in the pool after 10:00pm and heard voices and splashing from with in the pool. The door should be locked but, it wasn?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t! He walked in and no one was there! Then, he looked into the pool and saw it had been empty for a very long time. Just then the sound of some one getting out of a pool was heard and then he saw wet footprints on the tile around the pool! Yep, he spotted Jacky, the young lady who drowned.

There have been other stories that are rather haunting! But, nothing that is really violent in any way.

As you walk around that ship, you feel different. I know every time I visit the QM I feel like I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢m some place else. It might be the highly attractive art deco interior or the rich history of the ship it?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s self but, when I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢m alone walking that ship I can?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t but help feel like I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢m being watched!

It?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s such a great ship and I can see why so many people love it. Long live the Queen!

Root.

 

[Wild Root]

A little side track.

I know this is off topic, but since we have a member who likes the Super Chief, here is a little RR image fun seeing I'm a Chief fan as well!

Get a load of this original color night time photo!

Ok, back to the mainline of discussion... The QM!

WR.

 

[Lauren]

Last time I was on the Queen Mary with Daniel, we were walking arm in arm and about to walk out onto the promenade deck, when I felt like in a fun house, where the bottom comes out from under you. I giggled and he said "what?" and I said "didn't you feel that?" and he said "no". Go figure

And when we were walking down the corridor I felt wind on my legs as I passed a door or two. But that could be coincidence.

What am I doing in here? I hate ghost stories!

 

[Badluck Brody]

See, that's all great stuff!!

They did also mention the little girl on TV. But I think when someone messed with their camera, they were highly... put-off and just wanted to call it quits??

Nov. 11th ????

Might have to pull a Fred and Barney scheme on this one, just so I can see it for myself?!

Take care

BLB

 

[Lauren]

Daniel Riser knows is friends witht the guy that edited this program, and he watched the raw footage with him. The two of them got pretty rattled over it.

 

[Wild Root]

I bet they did! Some of the stories and accounts from that ship can make some one want to stay away! As for me, I enjoy a good story! It's kind of fun.

The air on your legs as you walked by some doors might have been the AC. unless they were those doors to cabins down the dark unlit hallways... humm. They also have vents throughout the ships so, who knows for sure.

Any way, a ship with its history couldn't avoid some paranormal activity I should think.

WR.

 

[DanielJones]

Wanting to see a ghost...

I'm one of those poor saps that'll never see a ghost. Probably because I want to incounter one. I watch all the haunted shows on the Travel Channel and take notes so later on in my travels I may stay at one of those places to see what happens. Been to the Winchester Mystery House and nada. Not a goose bump or a single red hair rising. Lovely architechture though. Ah, maybe some day.

Cheers!

Dan

 

[Michael Mallory]

I can't decide if "Ghost Hunters" is a deadpan parody or not. I mean, sometimes it plays like "Reno 911." I have a very hard time believing any of those people are real. As for the Queen, I wrote the very first Ghost Tour way back when Disney still owned the ship. It didn't work, particularly, but that was more Disney's fault than the ghosts. And yes, I did see something in my time there. While I tend to be a natural skeptic in all aspects of life, I still cannot rationally explain the time I was alone in the swimming pool and watched three plate-sized balls of light enter from a side door, slowly run along the floor, slide over the edge of the pool and down the side, then slowly start to revolve in circles on the bottom. Just as that happened, I saw in my peripheral vision a white running figure dart out of the room from across the pool -- kind of like the "Miss Jessel" effects from "The Innocents," but faster. Maybe it was a waiter, a janitor, or one of my co-workers trying to give me a hard time. Or a guy with three flashlights. Or maybe it was a ghost. I don't know. It wasn't that frightening, though. Fascinating, but not frightening.

The thing that really gave me the creeps was when we were prowling around one night with someone from the Queen who had a pass key. We came up on a room that even he couldn't identify. I asked him to open it and we went in. It was some kind of salon, but clearly had not been used in quite a while. It was crammed with dusty antique furniture, all stacked up on itself. The only way to describe that room is DEAD. It was a dead space, almost like a time vaccum. We got out quickly.

Happy Halloween, everyone.

 

[scotrace]

The Chowder Society

With a company where I used to work, one of my jobs was looking after the ca. 1910 mansion that had become the main offices of the company, a monthly newspaper/ad rag. I was given this task because of a certain knowledge of the building's history, an interest in architecture, etc.
The place was quite haunted. You could feel it in some of the rooms. Just a strong uneasiness, a feeling of "keep moving, get back to where there are people around."
In the mornings, the office workers complained that their furniture was moved, wastebaskets upended, etc. We employed no janitor, and only two of us had keys to the place. The other guy was the owner of the company.
Once, the central wall in which the chimney ran became quite hot to the touch. It was summer, and the heat was not on, so I called the fire dept.
They arrived (as a courtesy to me, they ran "cold": no sirens or lights), and couldn't find any smoke, sparks, flame, etc. We went down to the furnace, which had been shut off and tagged by the gas company as it was an ancient boiler that needed replaced (cracked). It was off. The gas was disconnected. It had no fuel source. Yet, it was quite warm to touch. When the others had retreated upstairs, I was alone in the furnace room with my flashlight, and one of the valves began turning on its own. First clockwise, then counter-clockwise.
Well, you hear of your hair standing on end, but mine DID, from head to toe. I felt the hair on my legs press against my socks. All I could think was FLEE!!! RUN!! So I beat it the hell out of there fast, and when I got upstairs the paramedics with the firefighters came forward quickly. I must have been a sight.
We sold the place soon after, and moved into another building, a newer, plain office building. The new owners called me not long after, raving angry that they had not been told of "issues." But I had had no part in the marketing, sale or transfer of the property. The buyer was a lawyer, so the threats and angry exchanges went on for some time after I had stepped out of the situation. They do still live there.
That is one of several stories of this sort of thing I have experienced. I think either you're predisposed to be aware of this stuff, or you aren't. Or, you're either mad as a hatter, or you aren't. The latter may well be true in my case.

 

[swinggal]

I saw an episode on Unsolved Mysteries years ago about the ghosts of the Queen Mary. It freaked me out because they set up recording devices down in the engine room where apparently a ghost resides. And you could hear a voices speaking and the clinking of tools....was in the middle of the night and no one was there.

I believe because I have seen things myself. My mother, sister and myself all saw a ghost that used to reside at our place in the 80s. He was dressed in 1920s attire and would wear a boater hat and striped jacket. I saw him in the house but my sister saw him outside several times. He was just there...not doing anything. Also explained why things used to go missing at our house all the time...big things too that would just dissapear and turn up somewhere else. Anyway, we left that place and my mum was talking to the neighbour across the road recently and she said he seems to have moved over to them!

 

[Wild Root]

Wow, that's crazy!

I have heard about the chap that occupies the engine room of the QM. Said he was killed by a water tight door closing on him in #2 engine room. Crazy spooky stuff!

So, you had a fashionable ghost? Wearing a boater and a striped coat? And he didn?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t do anything but move things around? And now your old neighbor has him over there? You need to call Art Bell or something!

I have never seen a ghost and I don?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t think I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢d care to but, if he?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s from the 20?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s or 30?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s I might like to chat with him about fashion. Maybe I'd fool him by the clothes I wear!

WR.

 

[swinggal]

Haha. Indeed. A 1920s ghost. I was never afraid of our him. He didn't do anything to make us scared. The first time my sister saw him she thought he was a real person sitting outside and went and got my mum. We also used to see him out of the corner of our eye when watching TV in the lounge room. All three of us confirmed it, but my stepfather never saw anything.

One of my best friends in college had a ghost in his house. I used to stay at his place sometimes but insisted on staying in his room on the floor on a matress next to his bed because I was scared. He used to tell me about how the corner of his bed would sink down really low, like someone was sitting there. Never believed it til I saw it for myself!!! His cat also used to go absolutley phsyco and would stare and the old fire place and hiss like a maniac sometimes - nothing there.

 

[Wild Root]

Now the 20?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s guy I wouldn?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t mind. But your friends place sounds like a spook house! I have heard bad stories about seeing the bed sink in spots, not a good thing by any means! I saw the movie ?¢‚Ǩ?ìThe Emily Rose Exorcism?¢‚Ǩ? and it freaked me out. Oh, and animals do sense evil! They can sense things that aren?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t right. I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢m not sure what I would have done in that case but, I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢m sure I would have had a hard time with that.

There was a story I heard once on the Coast to Coast program on the AM radio. There was this lady and her daughter that moved into a very old apartment from the 1890?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s. They unpacked and started to live a normal life. Well, some times the mother would tell her daughter to go to bed and that she?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢d be right in to tuck her in, she would go in and see her daughter already tucked in! The little girl said that a nice lady did it. Any way, the mother and child would find things rearranged on a daily basis! The mother would put her groceries away as she wanted them to be and then find they were all moved the next day. Even the flowers she bought were in a different arrangement! She then called out to the spirit and asked her to stop it! The spirit got mad and trashed the place. A week later, she decided to let the spirit do it her way and just live with it. Things went on as normal. The spirit was a woman from the Victorian period who died in that apartment. She had a small daughter at one time too and cared for this modern woman?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s little girl very much. The spirit even protected the house hold against any unwanted visitors. She was like a grandmother to this small family.

I kind of liked that story my self and felt it was interesting.

WR.