PHASM

The Queen Mary

Long Beach, California, United States

Other · established

The Story

At Long Beach, the Queen Mary’s shipboard legends lead from the First-Class Pool to stateroom B340 and the engine room. Stories of a playful child spirit, unexplained knocking and moving fixtures accompany a preserved ocean liner that still welcomes visitors and overnight guests.

The Hauntings

Aboard the Queen Mary, the scale shifts as visitors move between passenger rooms, public lounges and machinery spaces. Each belongs to a different part of life at sea. The haunting tradition follows those contrasts: play near a swimming pool, disturbances in a cabin and metallic sounds deeper in the ship. The liner is also a working hotel and heritage attraction, with restoration continuing around the spaces open to visitors. The First-Class Pool is associated with Jackie, a child spirit whom the operator’s stories describe singing, giggling and playing hide-and-seek. Another strand identifies the space as a vortex through which spirits may pass. These are the pool’s own traditions; Jackie’s name appearing on a modern themed guest room does not move the original story out of the pool. Stateroom B340 has a different repertoire. The hotel recounts nighttime knocking, bathroom lights coming on, a faucet turning on and off, and bathroom doors moving. Its current accommodation page offers the suite as a bookable stay. The reports are presented as part of that room’s history without attaching them to an invented passenger biography. In the engine-room interpretation, the operator directs attention to watertight door 13, where visitors are said to hear a wrench-like metallic banging. This machinery-space story differs from the playful pool accounts and the private disturbances associated with B340. Authorized tours connect some of these places, with routes determined by the experience booked and the areas currently available.

The History

Construction began at Clydebank, Scotland, in 1930, with the Depression interrupting progress. On May 27, 1936, the Queen Mary left Southampton on her maiden voyage. Built for transatlantic passenger service, she later carried military personnel during the Second World War before returning to civilian voyages. Her seagoing career ended in 1967; Long Beach became her permanent home as a hotel and visitor attraction. Preservation continues beyond the visible public rooms. The operator documents work on wood and metal fittings, artwork, decks and water-management safeguards installed before the 2023 reopening. Some finishes are conserved originals; others are carefully identified recreations. Exhibits and historic accommodation now share the ship, allowing visitors to encounter an ocean liner whose use has changed without erasing every trace of its earlier life.

Visitor Experiences

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Plan Your Visit

Use the Queen Mary’s official site for admission, ghost tours and overnight accommodation. Some after-hours experiences have age limits and separate tickets; a hotel booking does not provide unrestricted access to machinery, closed exhibits or other guests’ cabins. B340 is offered through the accommodation program, subject to availability. New rooms inspired by the ship’s folklore are themed experiences, distinct from the original locations of the stories.

Official visitor information

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