Haunted History Tours – The Queen Mary

Our previous ghost tours, the French Quarter and Wilmington, are both top-notch tours on the goose bump scale, but they do have a lot in common: old buildings, narrow alleyways, misty cemeteries – you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all, right?

That’s precisely why we thought to suggest the RMS Queen Mary in Long Beach, California. One of two ships from the early-to-mid 1900s to bear the name, the Queen Mary began life as a North Atlantic passenger ship from Southampton to New York, though that pesky Second World War did get in the way. After a fruitful 30-year career, the Queen Mary was berthed permanently in Long Beach, shortly after which she was gutted of drive machinery until the Coast Guard was forced to declare her a building and no longer a ship.

The ocean’s loss is our gain however, as the Queen Mary has since grown into one of the top tourist attractions in the Long Beach area. She’s got a hotel, several restaurants, clubs, a show theatre and event space for weddings, receptions, galas and the like. Fortunately for us, it might also have a ghost or two.

Three nights a week, the Queen Mary hosts paranormal shipwalk tours of several ghostly “hot spots” not generally accessible to the public. Listen to the portentous musings of your psychic tour guide as you explore the old girl’s most haunted, and some say dangerous, places. The atmosphere is unforgettable, and at a full two hours, this is no throwaway attraction.

If you’ve got the money to spend, you can upgrade to something truly unusual with the paranormal investigation tour hosted every Friday at midnight. In this hands-on version of the regular tour, you and your mates are given actual ghost detection equipment with which to perform your own expert investigation. If you’ve ever wanted to join the ranks of TAPS, now’s your chance.

I have some reservations about recommending this one, notably the cost. At $50 per person for the regular tour ($75 for the fancy one), the Queen Mary is definitely more expensive than your average ghost tour, but the genuinely creepy vibe of an ocean liner at night makes for a haunting experience, ghosts or not. Price-wise, I’ll let you decide.

I can at least save you money on the hotel room. I suggest skipping the overpriced shipboard accommodations and instead staying at the Doubletree Hotel San Pedro. It’s only about six miles out from the ship, allows pets and has a complimentary area shuttle. It’s always my choice for San Pedro, CA hotels.

Image used under free Creative Commons license CC-BY-SA

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