Two weeks ago, SCOOPS got the opportunity to participate in Ghost Fest at the Queen Mary. This sounded like too much fun. The deal is, we get a special rate on a room on the boat, we get to participate in workshops, meet vendors, attend seminars, and, most importantly, wander around on our own investigating. We had quite a large group of us going, or so we thought. There was an evil, deadly plague that swept through the group in the week leading up to our departure, which reduced our numbers from 12ish to 6. We dropped from 3 reserved rooms to 2.

Three of us carpooled up in my car, and I subjected treated them to both the new Bob Spelled Backwards album and the new EarthShine album. They were amused and horrified, which indicates a success. Lorraine, our founder, and Debbie rode up with me, and we were meeting an associate member from out of town once we got there.

Despite being 74 years old, the boat is still an impressive sight.

It's in pretty good shape, too, although it's age does often show through. What thrilled me the most about it is it's Art-Deco architecture on the inside.


I'm not sure why, but I've always had a fascination with Art-deco. A powerful one. So, Ghost Fest aside, I was enjoying the ship for it's history alone. We reserved a state-room, which has a large bedroom with two portholes adjoining a smaller bedroom with an attached bathroom. Few of the features of the rooms are original, unfortunately, aside from a non-functioning fan, and the fascinating ventilation system. (visible above the shelves in the below photo)



The spookiest part of the ship, according to some, is the hallways, which are very long, completely straight, and slightly U shaped.


The disappointing thing about "Ghost Fest", we would find, is that the only way to "investigate" the supposed "hot-spots" on board the ship, was with a paid tour, along with up to 30 other people. I don't know how many of you have ever tried to capture an EVP, but I can tell you there is no point in trying to do so if you're traipsing around with 30 people. There will be a lot of voices on your recorder when you're done, and you'll never know if one of them was disembodied. Several from our group went on the official "investigation", but I decided it wasn't worth the money. The rest of us wandered the ship on our own, trying to find our way to the "hot spots", but they were all effectively blocked off. Only on our way off the boat did an employee we had befriended finally tell us how we could've found our way to the biggest one, the first class pool. Before leaving, I did go on the "Ghosts and Legends" tour, which is really like something out of Universal Studios, complete with special effects and bogus stories. It did lead to the Pool area, though, which was rigged with special lights, speakers, and a fog generator. I'm told that some people on the tour actually thought it was real. *sigh*. Here's the pool, complete with spooky lighting and fog effects:


Perhaps we can go back sometime, and gain access to the areas we couldn't get to this time. Then, perhaps, we may actually find something. But, for now, in our admittedly under-informed opinion, The Queen Mary isn't haunted. But, the proprietors of the establishment are trying to make the most out of the rumors and legends of it's haunting to keep business up. If I owned this magnificent old ship, instead of trying to pass it off as haunted, I would restore it to it's original art-deco grandeur, and make it a living time capsule. You could come visit the Queen Mary and step back into the 30's or 20's. They could hire a big-band, have all the employees in period costumes, and serve food from the era. Now that would be something to see.
Bye for now!