Is the Queen Mary Ship Really Haunted?

The Queen Mary Ship, once a premium ocean liner that sailed the North Atlantic between the 1930s and the 1960s, is now a famous tourist attraction, given its rich history and the spirits of the dead who are supposed to be haunting it.

The luxury liner embarked on its maiden voyage in 1936 from Southampton, England to Cherbourg, France to New York. During World War II, it was painted grey and called the ‘Grey Ghost’ and was used to ferry troops to the battlefronts.

The fastest ship of its era, reaching a size of up to 1000 feet, Queen Mary’s last voyage was in 1967. After that, it was docked in Long Beach, California, as a floating hotel.

However, about 49 people died in the ship’s 1001 trans-Atlantic sailings and today, there are around 150 different ghosts, said to be haunting the once luxury liner which saw personalities like Winston Churchill.

Sightings, screaming, sudden temperature changes, sounds of closing doors, running, children playing and giggling, smell of smoke from nowhere, ghostly figures who disappear suddenly are some of the reasons why Queen Mary has been titled the most haunted ship in America.

The ship underwent an extensive renovation in 2023 and offers spooky onboard tours to take full advantage of the stories.

There have been numerous sightings by tourists who claim to have witnessed events that could not have occurred on a ship that has been defunct for over 40 years.

People seem to have experienced drastic temperature changes when they entered certain parts of the ship, such as near the second-class pool, the haunted stateroom, the shaft alley and the adjacent bathroom.

The stateroom is said to smell of cigars and perfume. Another weird phenomenon is the creaking of doors, knocks, sudden squeals, laughter, sounds of people talking, whistling in an empty room etc.

Stateroom B340 is said to be haunted by the ghost of a third-class passenger, Walter J.Adamson who died there in 1948. A woman who stayed in the room in 1966 reported strange occurrences at night such as bed covers pulled off from her while asleep, knocking on the door in the middle of the night, etc.

Three women working in the ship’s cleaning department recalled a bone-chilling incident when they cleaned the Mauretania room in 1989. They saw a person sitting on the floor, who refused to move and after they called security, the figure disappeared suddenly in front of their eyes.

The Mayfair Room, originally the ship’s beauty salon was later converted into an office. In 2001, an employee who came to work early, around 5:30 a.m. suddenly felt shivers and saw a man in white pass through the door.

A crewman in blue coveralls whose face is bearded is also a regular apparition. He was a fireman who was killed by getting crushed underneath a watertight door during a regular fire drill. He is said to haunt the doorway responsible for his death.

Wet footprints on the floor near the first-class swimming pool is also a spooky happening that tourists mention frequently.

Apart from these two events, children crying and laughing in the third-class playroom nursery and the sighting of a little girl who drowned in the second-class swimming pool have also been reported.

It is said that the ghost of an engineer who died in the engine room, a woman wearing white clothes and children near the first-class pool are also seen by visitors.

The presence of ghosts aboard the Queen Mary Ship indicates paranormal activity hovers on the periphery of our mundane life, adding an entirely new dimension to it.

Whether we want to accept or regard it with doubt is up to us. The Queen Mary Ship is not going anywhere; by the looks of it, neither are its paranormal inhabitants.

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About Author

Zahra is an alumna of Miranda House, University of Delhi. She is an avid writer, possessing immaculate research and editing skills. Author of several academic papers, she has also worked as a freelance writer, producing many technical, creative and marketing pieces. A true aesthete at heart, she loves books a little more than anything else.

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