Beyond the Veil Magazine

The Ghosts of the Queen Mary

Issue #48: December 1982

The RMS Queen Mary, once the pride of the Cunard Line, now lies permanently docked in Long Beach, California. She no longer sails the Atlantic, but she has gained a new reputation among those who work aboard her: something walks her decks at night.

The Ship

The Queen Mary was launched in 1936, the largest ocean liner of her time. She served as a luxury liner until the Second World War, when she was converted to a troop transport. After the war, she returned to passenger service until 1967, when the age of transatlantic liners ended.

Rather than scrapping her, the city of Long Beach purchased the vessel and converted her into a floating hotel and tourist attraction. She has remained docked there since 1967, a monument to an earlier age.

But the past, it seems, refuses to stay buried.

The Tragedies

The Queen Mary’s history includes numerous deaths that might leave their mark:

The Curacoa Disaster: During the Second World War, while operating as a troop ship, the Queen Mary accidentally rammed and sank the light cruiser HMS Curacoa on 2 October 1942. The impact killed 338 of the Curacoa’s 439 crew. The Queen Mary, under strict orders not to stop for any reason due to U-boat threat, sailed on. Staff today report strange sounds from the bow section: voices, screaming, the rush of water where none should be.

Engine Room Deaths: At least two crew members died in the engine room during the ship’s operational years. One man was crushed by a watertight door in 1966. Workers in that section report feeling watched, hearing footsteps, and glimpsing figures in old-fashioned overalls.

Passenger Deaths: Over her decades of service, passengers died of natural causes, accidents, and illness aboard the Queen Mary. The ship’s first-class swimming pool was the site of at least one drowning. Staff report hearing splashing from the drained pool, and seeing wet footprints that lead nowhere.

Staff Reports

Those who work aboard the Queen Mary speak of experiences they cannot explain. Over the years, employees have reported:

Sightings of a woman in white in the first-class quarters. She walks through corridors and disappears through walls. Multiple staff members have reported seeing her.

Strange sounds in the engine spaces. Workers have described hearing voices call their names when no one is present.

Doors that open and close on their own. Staff have reported that even doors wedged open will move of their own accord.

These accounts come not from visitors seeking thrills but from employees, many sceptical of the supernatural, describing what they have witnessed.

The Atmosphere

The Queen Mary is a vessel from another era, preserved in a world that has moved on. Walking her corridors at night, one feels the weight of history. The art deco fittings, the wood panelling, the vast empty spaces that once held thousands of passengers or troops: they exist between past and present.

Perhaps this temporal dislocation contributes to the phenomena. The ship is a bubble of the 1930s and 1940s, floating in modern California. The boundaries between then and now may be thinner here than elsewhere.

Or perhaps the intensity of human experience aboard her, the glamour of peacetime crossings, the terror of wartime service, the deaths and births and ceremonies, has left a permanent mark on her fabric.

Investigation

Accounts collected over the past decade show striking consistency. Different witnesses, unknown to each other, describe similar phenomena in similar locations.

The forward sections, near where the Curacoa’s men died. The first-class pool. The engine room. Certain cabins where guests complain of restless nights and strange dreams.

Whether these phenomena represent genuine hauntings or the psychological effects of working in an unusual environment, they are real to those who experience them. The Queen Mary is not just a museum piece. For those who work there, she is something stranger.

Visiting

The Queen Mary welcomes visitors and overnight guests. The hotel operates year-round. Those curious about her strange reputation can explore her decks and draw their own conclusions.

Whether you believe in ghosts or not, the Queen Mary offers an encounter with history. She is a relic of an age when ocean travel was glamorous and dangerous, when great ships carried the hopes and fears of thousands.

That some of those travellers may never have left her is, perhaps, not surprising.

Readers who have experienced phenomena aboard the Queen Mary are invited to contact our research department.