It was October...my favorite month - love the warm days, the fall colors, and Halloween! - and my sisters decided to take me down to Long Beach for my birthday. They had found that The Queen Mary gave ghost tours of the ship during the month of October. I was excited...and a little nervous...I had never been on a "ghost tour" before. What would it be like??
The tour turned out to be pretty creepy...it took us down into the very bowels of the ship...into places that most tourists don't have access to, unless on a tour like this.
Our tour group wasn't too big...only about 20 or so of us. And our tour guide was pretty cool. She had been a guide aboard the Queen Mary for quite awhile, and admitted that she had yet to see something herself...but if she ever did...that would be her last day of work on the ship! She did have a lot of interesting stories that she shared with us as she took us around.
As we made our way down deep inside the ship, we found ourselves in small, tight corridors that only allowed you to walk single file. And since we always have the Easton luck on our side, the three of us seemed to find ourselves constantly in the very back of the group! What was up with that? We were always bringing up the rear.
The three of us took turns with who would be the very last in line. I don't mind admitting...it was not a pleasant sensation! When I think about it, I can still feel myself down in those tiny corridors, in almost complete darkness, with the constant sensation that someone was always right behind me...even though I was the last in line. Was someone...or something really following us? Probably not...but it's hard to convince yourself of that when you are in the moment!
The part that I remember most from that tour was when we were taken into the area that used to be the First Class Swimming Pool.
Incredibly creepy down there! Of course, the fact that it was an empty pool, in a semi-state of disrepair, and dark definitely added to the ambiance of the place as the guide told the stories of the many ghost sightings that have been reported from that area. The most frequent reporting is of a little girl, who is supposed to peek out from around the corners at the tour groups. So I kept taking pictures of the entire place, hoping something would show up.
I kept thinking: "What in the world would I do if I suddenly saw a little girl peeking around a corner at me? Or if an image showed up on one of my pictures?" I have yet to answer that question...
Nonetheless, I did a pretty good job of freaking myself out just thinking about the possibilities.
Our tour from there on led up into the more habitable parts of the ship. We were led to a room which they have never been able to remodel. According to the stories, everytime they would work on the room, they would come back the next day to find everything ripped out and in a disarray.
Wait! Is that a ghost in the mirror? Oh no...never mind...it's just my sisters. :)
Another cool part of the ship (but nothing to do with ghosts), is this corridor...which runs the entire length of the ship. Which is VERY long!
Our tour eventually came to a close and we emerged topside unscathed. No ghosts visited us that day...no spirit showed up in our pictures. But the day was not a complete waste. We did get in a game or two of shuffleboard...
Though our ghost hunt turned up no ghosts...it was an awesome trip. And it got me and my sisters hooked on ghost tours. It's a fun way to not only hear ghost stories, but to learn about the history of places. I was definitely looking forward to my next one.
