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A haunted ship. A world once restricted to the ultra-wealthy. And a chance to experience all of it, yourself.
Here’s what to know before you go ghost hunting there.
For many people visiting California, the haunted ship – the Queen Mary – is a must-see. And a must-investigate.
Some ghost hunters claim the ship is home to over 100 ghosts.
Whether or not such high numbers are accurate, the Queen Mary “ghost ship” is still an iconic haunted site, and worth visiting if you’ll be in the Los Angeles area.
Note: If you’ve always wanted to spend the night on the Queen Mary, I recommend doing so, soon. As an April 2018 article in the L.A. Times explained, “An engineering report has warned that the ship urgently needs $5.7 million in fixes and requires a total of $289 million in repairs over the next five years.”
If the money isn’t raised in the next five years… well, I’m not sure what the alternative is. That’s why I recommend spending the night in the near future, if it’s on your bucket list.
You’ll probably want to start with the history of the ship. The Queen Mary ship site features a summary: The Queen Mary – A Trip Across Time.
Of course, one suite on the ship – Stateroom B340 – is legendary. It’s also open to overnight guests. Here’s a Forbes article: The Queen Mary Opens Up Its Haunted Hotel Suite For An Overnight Ghostly Experience.
Note: If you’re uneasy with the Ouija board in the room, bring it to the front desk and ask them to store it until after you check out.
If you’ll be investigating the ship’s ghosts and haunted rooms, listen to the following podcast. It’s nearly an hour long. It’s well narrated in a “ghost story” style, and – even better – it includes a superb interview with Commodore Everette Hoard (ship’s historian) of the Queen Mary.
He provides some intriguing insights. They could be especially useful if you’re looking for triggers to prompt ghostly activity or EVP responses.
YouTube link: https://youtu.be/r__5_AnpUsA
And finally, this article could save you money, time, and perhaps some irritation. It’s by someone who spent the night at the Queen Mary. (To read the entire article, visit What’s It Like to Spend the Night Aboard the Haunted Queen Mary?)
Here are some of the many tips from that article:
If you’re arriving from LAX, which we were, they don’t have a hotel shuttle between the Queen Mary and the airport. (Or they didn’t at the time, anyway.)
We Uber’ed it for $80. A taxi will cost you about the same…
I was sort of surprised about the security out front. Not that there were guards with machine guns or anything. Just staff to direct you to the appropriate place, depending on whether you were checking in or coming just to have dinner or do a night activity.
Our luggage gave us away. It was pretty obvious we were there to check-in so up the elevator to Level 3 or “A” Deck we went to.
Check-In at the Haunted ‘Queen Mary’
There’s really nothing special about check-in. It’s the same as anywhere else basically.
Except if you’ve always wanted to stay aboard the ship. Then you might be giddy and bursting with excitement like I was!
Also, I was enamored with the decor. It wasn’t as grand as I’d expected. Dated really. Yet, I was okay with that. It retained its authentic charm.
Tips
- If you drive yourself, be prepared to pay for parking. ($22 for overnight.)
- If you’re not driving there yourself, and you want a cheaper option than Uber, Lyft or taxis, SuperShuttle and Prime Shuttles go to and from the Queen Mary also. It would’ve cost us about $35 total for the both of us to get there. We did book a shuttle back to the airport through the hotel. (We went with SuperShuttle for $30 for the both of us. That’s a $50 savings over Ubering it!)
- You can also use public transit to get there. That will also save you a bit of money on transportation cost, but you’ll have to trade time for money. (Meaning it will take you a little longer to get there.) Also, you wouldn’t want to do this if you had a lot of luggage to schlep around. There will be walking involved.
- Maybe ask if there non-adjoining rooms carry sound from neighbors a little less. (We’re thinking the door in our room that adjoined to our neighbor’s maybe contributed to being able to hear them so well?)
Read more at Haunt Jaunts’ What it’s like to spend a night aboard the haunted Queen Mary
RESOURCES
If you’re going to spend much time or money (or both), learn as much as you can, before your visit.
- Ghosts of the Queen Mary by Brian Clune and Bob Davis is a recent-ish (2014) book with very good reviews. However, the Kindle edition is so expensive, I recommend getting the printed book instead. (Besides, I prefer printed books.)
- The Haunted Queen Mary by the Wlodarskis is a small (110 pages) book with mixed reviews. I recommend getting an inexpensive, used copy at Amazon for one important reason: It was publishing in 2000, before ghost hunting became so trendy. So, though the stories may not be as colorful as those in more recent books, they could be more reliable.
- And, as a reminder, click here to read Haunt Jaunts’ complete article about spending the night aboard the Queen Mary.
