Investigation Team: Dave Miller, Shane Miller
Investigation Date: August 2009
After dropping son Matt off in Arizona for college football preseason practice, we traveled to several California National Parks before spending a night on the famous Queen Mary.
HISTORY: The famous Queen Mary – first voyage in May 1936 carried 1,742 passengers, 1,186 crew and 6,100 sacks of mail from England to New York. Held the record for 14 years as the fastest ship to travel that distance. Due to World War II, from 1940 to 1946 the ship was converted to transporting soldiers, war supplies & refugees. The Queen Mary was “marked by Adolf Hitler” but was never sunk. The ship returned to passenger service in 1947 & retired in 1967 after 1,001 transatlantic crossings carrying over 2 million passengers. During her heyday, the Queen served people from all walks of life – royalty & working class.
PARANORMAL CLAIMS: Today, many haunts exist on this famous, majestic “ship of celebrities”. Footsteps, sounds, voices, apparitions – so many that a paranormal organization has an office on board. Hotbeds for activity include the nursery, corridors, pool area and locker rooms, guest bedrooms (where wounded and deceased WWII soldiers bunked), the engine and boiler room.
INVESTIGATION: After Rosie, Jacque and Holly retired to the cabin, Shane roamed the ship with me taking photos and EVP‘s. When he returned to the cabin, I investigated two main areas, trying to obtain evidence of John Pedder and William Stark. Nicknamed the “Shaft Alley Spectre”, Fireman/Cleaner Pedder, age 18, was killed in 1966 when somehow he was crushed in a mechanical water tight door. The creepy full body apparition of him standing in the walkway staring at you in often seen. Second Officer Stark is spotted in his quarters near the bridge and radio room. He died in 1949 when he accidentally drank tetrachloride mistaking it for gin.
FINDINGS: I spent 90 minutes investigating. The long eerie corridors at night look like they enter another dimension. The boiler room is creepy and shadowy. Thankfully, Mr. Pedder did not put in an appearance in the darkened corridor where I set up or I would have had to change my shorts. One photo of the creepy pool area (see photo #7 below), shows an arm and part of a woman’s dress behind a wall. Swimmers in 1930 & 40’s attire are reported in this area. All EVP’s were negative.
