The world’s oceans have been the settings for many things including tragedy, intrigue, and death. Truly, the oceans could be considered the earth’s largest mass graveyards. Some believe that the spirits of many of those who were buried in the depths of the seas are not at rest, but roam in their malcontent. One of the places that legends say these ghosts roam are ships. The British ocean liner Queen Mary is one of them.

Queen Mary is a historic ocean liner that was the crown jewel of the North Atlantic Ocean between the 1930s and the 1960s. Due to her swiftness and large carrying capacity, Queen Mary was converted into a troop ship during World War II, painted battleship gray, and nicknamed “The Grey Ghost.” On October 2nd, 1942, while carrying thousands of American soldiers to Europe, Queen Mary accidentally collided with H.M.S. Curacao, a light cruiser of the Royal Navy. Curacao was ripped in half, killing hundreds of servicemen. Prohibited from stopping, Queen Mary sailed on, leaving over three hundred men in the water. Queen Mary has reportedly been the site of many more ill-fated deaths and accidents since then.

Now permanently docked in Long Beach, California, Queen Mary is considered one of the most haunted hotels in the world. Crew members have reported what sounds like dozens of hands ‘pounding’ the outside of the ship as if the ghosts of the lost servicemen are begging to be let aboard. The most haunted room on the ship is said to be room B340. The room was reportedly sealed shut for many years but has been opened once again for overnight stays by only the most fearless patrons. This popular cabin has allegedly held a significant number of paranormal activities. Several stories have been reported of haunted meetings taped in the ship’s records. Staff and visitors of the Queen Mary have reported apparitions, chilling screams, phantom figures, cold spots, and a generally haunted feeling while aboard the shi

Worth a trip if one is in the area, the Queen Mary hotel and museum might be the closest that many people may ever get to real ghosts. Of course, there are many locales across the globe that boast being haunted, but few have the history of Queen Mary. And for us, that history makes Queen Mary hauntingly attractive.