What’s big, white, historic and lights up at night while offering ghostly tours?
Give up?
Of course you don’t, because the obvious answer is none other than the Queen Mary, the formerly royal flagship of the sea, which has become the flagship symbol for the city of Long Beach.
But going back to ghostly adventures, I recently had the pleasure of embarking on the Paranormal Investigation Tour, the smallest and most intimate excursion one can take aboard the “Grey Ghost.” Led by Erika Frost, the house psychic, the tour indulges visitors into areas of the ship beyond the limits of the others (this I know is fact because I’ve taken most of them).
One of those locations will likely include the bottom front end of the Queen, an area once used to store prisoners of war. The area is reputed to be extremely haunted because several have died there for one reason or another, leaving their presence behind for tourists and psychics alike to find.
On the fateful night of my investigation within this supposed hotspot, the group was instructed to hold hands and follow a few meditation procedures. The lights were turned off and we stood together in the dark hull that was well below the water line.
That’s when things started to get creepy.
One of us from the Daily Forty-Niner said she could hear mutterings and whispers from beyond after Frost called upon the spirits to congregate. As for skeptical me, I thought I could see a black figure circling the group, which is a lot considering I’m not the quickest person to accept a haunting or see bodies from beyond the grave, so to speak.
Frost, always unfailingly polite and an interesting speaker, led the small group to a few other locations, including the ghost hotspot by one of the Queen’s pools.
All in all, I recommend this tour for people who are authentically interested in the cultish art of ghost hunting, or for history fanatics of neat locales like the Queen Mary. Prices run steep for this particular exploration, however, at $150 per person.
Tours are offered when the sun is down and the clock strikes twelve on the first and third Fridays of each month. Reservations must be made and can be limited, as this tour only takes groups of up to six deep within the hull of the Queen Mary in search of her infamous paranormal activity.