When one door closes another opens they say. For myself and my buddy Pat, the door to the Forward Cargo Hold had been permanently closed. One of the most active and haunted locations aboard the RMS Queen Mary and , now we were forbidden to visit. your guess is as good as any. We heard multiple excuses from a busted pipe flooding the pit of the cargo hold to, they had caught others stealing items from the area I refer to as Ebay City or the archive of the ship. This is the area where old furniture and painting and fixtures and books, yes, even books are deposited until they can figure out what to do with them. Anyways, the ship / hotel no longer welcomed their own tour into the area.
So a door was closed to us but, keep in mind that this is the RMS Queen Mary and baby, she is one haunted ship.
It has been a few years now since that January of 2010. January 23rd to be exact. This was going to be an eventful year for me on this ship. I just didn't know it yet. With maybe the best photos ever captured by anyone to be captured by me. But, that is a story for another time.
My buddy Pat, who was the host of this tour, would keep the night's guests in the paranormal Research Center for a while and explain to them the proper use of equipment. While he was doing that I would be allowed to venture into the 1st Class Pool and sometimes spend as long as a half hour in there by myself before the tour came down and I had to let them in. We would spend about 40 minutes in the pool area and sometimes as few as 20 minutes. Depending upon the group and how enthusiastic they were. We always were considerate of not rushing people and giving them time to explore.
Next we'd head over to Boiler Room 2 and 3 and the Green Room. This area was dark and ominous. It was huge and probably seemed like a giant steel cave to some people. I know it did to me when I first saw it. If there was any place you could point to and say that this place looks haunted then the boiler room was it. It seemed to go on forever. Three large rooms / compartments combined. And the floor we walked onto and, were standing on was not even the true deck or bottom of this compartment. It was a false floor about 8 to 9 feet above the actual deck. Separating Boiler Room 2 and 3 was the
"Disney Stage". A stage area built back in the day when the Disney company was managing the ship. I've been told they actually had live performances on this stage.
The Green Room is a little box of a room that, according to what I was told, had been set up to allow the performers a place to take a break between acts. During our tours, this Green Room was utilized to show our guests the effects of total darkness on the eyes and the mind.
If we had a large group, 25 to 30 people, we could not fit them all into the Green Room. So we broke up the guests into two groups of 10 to 15 people each. While Pat led one group into the Green Room, I would hold court with the others and we would do EVP and discuss the boiler rooms and the strange things which have been experienced in them or I'd let them tell me and the others about their past ghost experiences.
Our final two stops for the evening / morning were the Engine Room and then the Rudder Control room. In the Engine Room it was Door 13, the hydraulic, water tight door which according to the story crushed the life out of a young fireman who was found by his shipmates. It is said, he roams the Engine Room and, is a mischievous prankster. And, he loves the young ladies. Poor John was only 18 when he passed on.
Pat held court at Door 13 and, told the story of young John and also the story of an apparition that Pat sees ever so often down the passage way on the lower starboard side. A person wearing dark slacks and shoes, climbing this giant gear wheel. Pat says he has seen the unknown person many times. Thinking perhaps it was a member of ships' security. Then he let the group loose to explore the Engine Room and try to find those ghosts. I told Pat I was moving up to the Rudder Control Room to set up for the EVP session.
To get to the Rudder Control Room you have to climb two escalators that have never operated since I've been helping with these tours. The first set from the lower level of the Engine Room to the deck just above is not a short one. I've tired myself out many times walking up those steps. Escalator steps are not made for people to just walk up them like a regular set of stairs. No, with these you feel like your lifting those knees to get over the high hurdles on the 440 track. Fortunately for me there is about 30 feet of level deck between the two escalators and I can catch my breath.
Once I was into the Rudder Control Room I made my way back to the very back of the compartment and set up between two gigantic, hydraulic rams which in their day was part of the control mechanism to turn the rudder and steer the ship. As I set up my recorder and video cameras I thought about all the EVP caught in this compartment. About the story of what appeared to be a ship's officer seen by tourist who believed he worked for the ship. He stood in the back behind the starboard side ram and they tried to talk to him but he would not respond to them. They reported that he finally turned his back on them and walked into the storage area at the after end of the compartment . He vanished and was not to be seen again on that day.
I had been in the compartment about 15 minutes and doing EVP work. It was as quiet as a library. Pat and the group finally showed up and they all situated themselves around the front end of the two rams. Both port and starboard sides. I cannot say for certain when the incessant pounding began. My best recollection was it was about the time we started the group EVP session. I was dumbfounded and frankly so was Pat. I could see the perplexed look on his face and new the wheels in that engineer's mind of his was turning, trying to figure out a logical reason for us to be hearing this pounding. This was the very back end of the ship and this compartment sits at the water line of the ship and we are essentially under water in this room. Of course the water is kept out by the hull of the ship.
Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom it went on and on. "Is this you we are hearing?!" I yelled out the question. "If it is you, could you please confirm for us by stopping your pounding?!" The pounding slowed down and then effectively came to a stop. We all stood there looking at each other. "Okay, now, if you could confirm for us one more time, this is you and start pounding again, please?" And so it started up and was even louder. Pat asked me a question I did not quite understand and I said "It's behind me!" To me it sounded like the pounding was coming from the storage area to the portside just behind me. Pat utilized his thermocouple to check the ambient temperature readings. There was a security guard with us and he went out of the area and to surrounding areas to see if he could find a source for the pounding. But, there was no logical source to be found. At one point when it was quiet I asked "Can you see us?" After the session a young man told me that at that point he heard a clear voice which sounded like it was right next to him say "yes!" On the recording you will listen to, you can hear a voice say "Yes". In the days to come, Pat would check with the ship's maintenance department and they told him there were no crews working on the ship at that time. After all, it was 3:30 AM in the morning. No logical explanation that a debunker would latch onto like a warm blanket on a cold night, could be found. It was an experience I will always remember and best of all, it really happened and I was surrounded by witnesses to the fact. Including my buddy Pat who is very skeptical on most things and ship's security.
Listen to the audio above and see what you think.
Reproduction of this story and video is prohibited.
So a door was closed to us but, keep in mind that this is the RMS Queen Mary and baby, she is one haunted ship.
It has been a few years now since that January of 2010. January 23rd to be exact. This was going to be an eventful year for me on this ship. I just didn't know it yet. With maybe the best photos ever captured by anyone to be captured by me. But, that is a story for another time.
My buddy Pat, who was the host of this tour, would keep the night's guests in the paranormal Research Center for a while and explain to them the proper use of equipment. While he was doing that I would be allowed to venture into the 1st Class Pool and sometimes spend as long as a half hour in there by myself before the tour came down and I had to let them in. We would spend about 40 minutes in the pool area and sometimes as few as 20 minutes. Depending upon the group and how enthusiastic they were. We always were considerate of not rushing people and giving them time to explore.
Next we'd head over to Boiler Room 2 and 3 and the Green Room. This area was dark and ominous. It was huge and probably seemed like a giant steel cave to some people. I know it did to me when I first saw it. If there was any place you could point to and say that this place looks haunted then the boiler room was it. It seemed to go on forever. Three large rooms / compartments combined. And the floor we walked onto and, were standing on was not even the true deck or bottom of this compartment. It was a false floor about 8 to 9 feet above the actual deck. Separating Boiler Room 2 and 3 was the
"Disney Stage". A stage area built back in the day when the Disney company was managing the ship. I've been told they actually had live performances on this stage.
The Green Room is a little box of a room that, according to what I was told, had been set up to allow the performers a place to take a break between acts. During our tours, this Green Room was utilized to show our guests the effects of total darkness on the eyes and the mind.
If we had a large group, 25 to 30 people, we could not fit them all into the Green Room. So we broke up the guests into two groups of 10 to 15 people each. While Pat led one group into the Green Room, I would hold court with the others and we would do EVP and discuss the boiler rooms and the strange things which have been experienced in them or I'd let them tell me and the others about their past ghost experiences.
Our final two stops for the evening / morning were the Engine Room and then the Rudder Control room. In the Engine Room it was Door 13, the hydraulic, water tight door which according to the story crushed the life out of a young fireman who was found by his shipmates. It is said, he roams the Engine Room and, is a mischievous prankster. And, he loves the young ladies. Poor John was only 18 when he passed on.
Pat held court at Door 13 and, told the story of young John and also the story of an apparition that Pat sees ever so often down the passage way on the lower starboard side. A person wearing dark slacks and shoes, climbing this giant gear wheel. Pat says he has seen the unknown person many times. Thinking perhaps it was a member of ships' security. Then he let the group loose to explore the Engine Room and try to find those ghosts. I told Pat I was moving up to the Rudder Control Room to set up for the EVP session.
To get to the Rudder Control Room you have to climb two escalators that have never operated since I've been helping with these tours. The first set from the lower level of the Engine Room to the deck just above is not a short one. I've tired myself out many times walking up those steps. Escalator steps are not made for people to just walk up them like a regular set of stairs. No, with these you feel like your lifting those knees to get over the high hurdles on the 440 track. Fortunately for me there is about 30 feet of level deck between the two escalators and I can catch my breath.
Once I was into the Rudder Control Room I made my way back to the very back of the compartment and set up between two gigantic, hydraulic rams which in their day was part of the control mechanism to turn the rudder and steer the ship. As I set up my recorder and video cameras I thought about all the EVP caught in this compartment. About the story of what appeared to be a ship's officer seen by tourist who believed he worked for the ship. He stood in the back behind the starboard side ram and they tried to talk to him but he would not respond to them. They reported that he finally turned his back on them and walked into the storage area at the after end of the compartment . He vanished and was not to be seen again on that day.
I had been in the compartment about 15 minutes and doing EVP work. It was as quiet as a library. Pat and the group finally showed up and they all situated themselves around the front end of the two rams. Both port and starboard sides. I cannot say for certain when the incessant pounding began. My best recollection was it was about the time we started the group EVP session. I was dumbfounded and frankly so was Pat. I could see the perplexed look on his face and new the wheels in that engineer's mind of his was turning, trying to figure out a logical reason for us to be hearing this pounding. This was the very back end of the ship and this compartment sits at the water line of the ship and we are essentially under water in this room. Of course the water is kept out by the hull of the ship.
Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom it went on and on. "Is this you we are hearing?!" I yelled out the question. "If it is you, could you please confirm for us by stopping your pounding?!" The pounding slowed down and then effectively came to a stop. We all stood there looking at each other. "Okay, now, if you could confirm for us one more time, this is you and start pounding again, please?" And so it started up and was even louder. Pat asked me a question I did not quite understand and I said "It's behind me!" To me it sounded like the pounding was coming from the storage area to the portside just behind me. Pat utilized his thermocouple to check the ambient temperature readings. There was a security guard with us and he went out of the area and to surrounding areas to see if he could find a source for the pounding. But, there was no logical source to be found. At one point when it was quiet I asked "Can you see us?" After the session a young man told me that at that point he heard a clear voice which sounded like it was right next to him say "yes!" On the recording you will listen to, you can hear a voice say "Yes". In the days to come, Pat would check with the ship's maintenance department and they told him there were no crews working on the ship at that time. After all, it was 3:30 AM in the morning. No logical explanation that a debunker would latch onto like a warm blanket on a cold night, could be found. It was an experience I will always remember and best of all, it really happened and I was surrounded by witnesses to the fact. Including my buddy Pat who is very skeptical on most things and ship's security.
Listen to the audio above and see what you think.
Reproduction of this story and video is prohibited.
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