I was in the 1st Class Pool on the lower level, starboardside near the stairs and the towel room there in the corner.  Just opposite of where the entrance to the changing room is.  The guard leaves the pool area to go about his duties and just before I turn on my digital recorder  I hear   "Good morning"  A clear male voice that kind of echoed throughout the 1st class pool as if someone was speaking to me from a distance.  I turned on my recorder and said "Hello,  I believe I just heard somebody say good morning to me."  I checked the entire pool area and found no one.   The voice was not like as you and I sound when we are holding a conversation.  This sounded almost like it came from another dimension but was clear and understandable.   It was definitely a "chills" moment.  I could feel the goose bumps pop up on my arms

and I am not one to get goose bumps.  It was like a waive of energy washed through me when I heard that voice.

Anyways, personal experience.  I was not able to record it but, at least to me anyways, it happened.

The following is a true ghost story I wrote for a contest which for various reasons never took place.  I thought I'd share this with you all.  Its a true story.

In an article in 2007 prior to his death the Late Peter James a former resident psychic medium aboard the Queen Mary claimed there are 600 plus ghosts who roam the Queen Mary and he had made personal contact with 150 of them. In July of 2009 a tour group aboard the Queen Mary became witness to strange environmental noises of which one or more of those possible 600 resident ghosts could have been the source and I was fortunate enough to be there and experience it first hand. The resident paranormal investigator aboard the Queen Mary with 30 years of experience investigating the strange and unusual Pat Wheelock says that the forward cargo hold of the Queen Mary may be the most active area of the ship. Active in regards to the strange and unusual. Pat tells of the times where lights, similar to a bolt of lightning in appearance have been seen in the corner of the very bottom compartment where axis prisoners were kept during World War II. People have experienced cold spots, physical touch, hair being pulled and disembodied voices. Many Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP) recordings have been gathered from this compartment of the Queen Mary. In terms of being spooky and making the hair on the back of your neck stand up the forward cargo hold area, other then the 1st Class Pool may be the most foreboding and ominous area of the ship. 

July, and it was a typical summer day in Southern California. The ship retains the heat of the day and it was warm to say the least. The tour had just left the 1st Class Pool and there was no sign of Jackie the little girl spirit who reportedly drowned aboard ship decades ago. Forward we moved toward the archive area where all the old ships furniture is kept. I sometimes refer to it as Ebay City. Along this passageway forward is an open cargo hatch on the outside hull of the ship. It provides a spectacular view of the skyline that is downtown Long Beach. You can see the marina, shoreline village and Ocean Boulevard. Of course that view is over a body of water as the Queen Mary is permanently docked just across the bay from the city next to a man-made island which is part of the Port of Los Angeles. 

Ships’ security unlocks a gate to allow us in to the archive area and forward cargo hold. Keep that bit of information in mind as this story goes along. Nobody is allowed in this part of the ship except employees and our tour. 

To reach the bottom of the ship you must traverse three flights of stairs to the deck just above what I refer to as the pit. You need a flash light as the area is in total pitch darkness and you cannot see your hand in front of your face. The pit has remained as it is since the Queen Mary arrived in Long Beach in 1967. It is an estimated 35 feet below the waterline, where the surface of the ocean and the Queen Mary’s hull meet.

Inside the dark and eerie compartment Pat began to recite the history of the ship, the cargo hold and the pit. Noises came from the decks above us. We assumed that maybe one or two security guards were searching the area.

The doors to the pit were opened and all those present were allowed to look into the darkness where axis prisoners were kept. As time went on more noise from over head could be heard intermittently. We found it curious as to why security, if it was security would spend so much time searching the above decks of the cargo hold area.

Pat sent me up to look and I searched all three flights. Its been my pleasure for sometime now to assist Pat on the weekly ghost investigation tours. Each compartment was given a cursory walk through. Looking every where I could there apparently was no other persons to be found. Returning to the bottom level with Pat and the tour I reported that nobody was found in the upper levels and we commenced to hold the group EVP session. I told Pat I would go to the compartment just above incase the noises reoccurred. Standing alone in this empty compartment of rusty metallic bulkheads and steel decks of which sound can echo through out I turned on my recorder and as is habit made note of the time and the day. The EVP session began and so did the noise. This time it was right there with me. I was surrounded by a compartment reverberating with the sound of someone or something either stomping about or pounding the metal surfaces. Pat called up to me and I responded with “that’s not me!” The noise ended and eventually so did the EVP session. We left the cargo hold to proceed onto other parts of the ship.

Security reassured us that no other persons had been in the compartments above us during this time. When I reviewed the recording the next day, at the end of the pounding was a clear female voice saying “I was the one”.

<p>　</p><p>　</p><p>　</p><p>Resource for Peter James reference in regards to the number of ghosts on the Queen Mary.</p><p>http://www.fabuloustravel.com/usa/article/394/21975</p>

Ghost Hunting Aboard the Queen Mary with Peter James



<p>Searching for Spirits</p>Peter James has been conducting ongoing research at the Queen Mary since 1991, and he claims it is one of the world's most haunted locations. One of America's most respected psychic investigators and a regular contributor to TV's popular Sightings show, Peter has dedicated his life to conducting ghost research. Of the 600 plus ghosts he says that still roam the Queen Mary, he's made personal contact with about 150.


Reproduction of this story without written permission from Gerald S. Reynolds is prohibited.

It had been a long time since she moved into the house.  She loved the country which surrounded it.  Just a few miles from the beach and yet there were hills and mountains all around.   Sometimes movie companies would come into the area to shoot films.  Westerns mostly because of the back drop of the landscape.   

It was her, her husband and two children.   Her daughter and her son.   The life was good and the children grew up and most if not all about life was good.  Then the great war came and the son joined the Army-Air Corps.

One day, an officer visited her in her home and gave her the news she had been dreading.  Her son served his country well and had made the ultimate sacrifice.   It was hard news.  The kind a parent never wants to hear.  She never really recovered from this. His room was kept as it had been when he left.  Memories of his childhood and then high school days.  Good memories.  At the same time, sad memories because, there was one inescapable truth.  He was gone.  She continued to live in the beautiful home, in the beautiful countryside, not far from the ocean and in the mountains.  Burning blue skies,  deer and coyote and other wildlife all around.  One day her beautiful country side would become a park, where others would come to enjoy its beauty and escape their lives in the city.  Where other mothers and other sons would come to enjoy some time together.  But not her son. 

Life carried on as life does.  Changes happen and eventually change caught up with her.  

These days there are times, when many strangers are camping in her beautiful countryside.  Just on the other side of the road and the fence, outside her house.  She watches them from an upstairs window and enjoys seeing the children play and she likes to people watch. All kinds of people come to camp just outside her house.

When she is not watching the people, she is taking care of her house.  She tends to her son's room.  The house is not as it once was.  Strange changes take place in her home.  The bedrooms seem to have become offices now and people wearing beige and green uniforms with badges and insignias strange to her.  Not all the people wear uniforms though.   Some are women and they seem very nice.  Its nice to have people around and even though they are strangers in her home, she doesn't mind it as much, as she did at first.  She never liked being alone and they do not stay all the time.  They leave at night and go away.  Perhaps to their own familes and homes but they always come back.  Sometimes, some people go away and others take their place.

One day, one of the ladies she knows, who she sees most days in the house, had some new strangers over.  These people were unusual.  They came in asking questions about things happening in the house.  They asked about her and about her son and her daughter.  They asked the lady she had heard or seen any strange things in the house.  "Strange things in my house?"  She wondered.

She watched the strangers for a while as they laid out the stuff they had brought with them.  Strange devices.  Some familiar and some not.  She knows what a camera is and they all had cameras.  They were taking pictures.  Some had funny little movie cameras and others had little boxes that worked like tape recorders.  They all sat down, around the big table in what use to be her dining room and they asked that whomever was there to effect their devices and tell them things.  "Whomever was there?" she thought.  "Who did they think was there?"

These strange people were very intrusive.  They ran about the house and didn't ask her permission.  Some went into her son's room and they asked questions in there.  They walked about the house and asked questions as they walked about.  They were everywhere.  She would tell them "Please do not come in here"  She asked them to leave her son's room and she would say many things to them.  Some they heard when they replayed their recorders and they all seemed very pleased.

Soon they would pack up the equipment, say their goodbyes to each other and the lady she knew.  Some even thanked her for allowing them into her home and asked that she not attach herself to their energies and follow them home.  "Good Lord!"  she thought to herself.  "Why would she follow them home and leave her own beautiful home?"   She was sure they would return as she heard them talk about it to the lady she knew.

After they were gone, she sat down and enjoyed the quiet.  As she thought about her son and many things. The thought crossed her mind, "Why are they here?"

REPRODUCTION OF THIS STORY WITHOUT MY PERMISSION IS PROHIBITED