October 30, 2023 • 27 mins
In this special Halloween episode, Chiquis chats with Commodore Everette Hoard, the official spokesperson and historian of the Queen Mary, about the ship’s fascinating and spooky history. Do ghosts really roam around its decks? Is it true people have heard voices and seen paranormal activity around the ship? Commodore Hoard shares some of the most chilling stories and legends that have made the Queen Mary a popular haunted attraction and cultural landmark.
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
I feel like I should know a little bit more
history on the Queen Mary, but I saw it was
on the top ten list of like the most haunted places.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
It is correct, and it is true. I began to
hear breathing, very faint. At first, I really thought I
was hearing things, but it became louder and louder, and
I could finally feel the breath going down the back
of my neck.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Have you ever seen anything?
Speaker 2 (00:26):
I've seen glimpses of the corner of my eye. I
look down the alleyway that I've just been walking down,
and there's nobody there. You know, there's no place for
them to go.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Hello everyone, I hope everyone is getting ready for Halloween tomorrow.
I definitely am. I can't wait for you guys to
see my costume. I'm not going to tell you what
it is, so check it out tomorrow. Okay, Halloween is
definitely one of the spookiest times of the year, and
I'm here for it. As some of you may know,
I'm really interested in ghosts, spirits, and the paranormal, so
I thought it could be very interesting to explore some
(00:59):
of that. On today's episode, We're going to be speaking
with someone from the Queen Mary in Long Beach, where
I'm from. He's going to fill us in on the
ship's haunted history. So, without further ado, this is Cheekys
and Jill. Here with me today is Commodore Everett Hort.
(01:21):
He's also a historian who has been with the Queen
Mary for more than forty years, which means he's probably
seen and heard a lot of strange things.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
On the ship, which I'm excited to hear about. Welcome, Commodore.
How are you.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Oh, I'm doing very well today. How are you doing?
Speaker 3 (01:37):
I'm good.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
You look amazing. I wish people could see what you
know your your uniform.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Oh, thank you, thank you very much.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
That was great. I'm so excited.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
I'm excited to have you because I was born in
Long Beach and I feel like I should know a
little bit more history on the Queen Mary.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
But that's what we have you for.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
So I'm going to learn along with my listeners. I've
been there before. I just don't know all of the
hardcore history. So before we get into the haunted stuff,
I would like you to just give us like an
overview on the Queen Mary, Like how did it end?
Up in Long Beach. All that good stuff.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Well, the Queen Mary was designed all the way back
in the late twenties to operate along with a sister
ship across the North Atlantic route. It would be the
first and only two ship express service ever and the
ship would serve for thirty one years and warn peace. It,
along with its sister, the Queen Elizabeth, helped shorten World
(02:35):
War Two by up to a year by its ability
to safely carry troops across the North Atlantic for the
build up of Normandy. Oh and of course, by the
sixties but jet aircraft taking over the skies and a
more efficient way to travel. The Queen Mary used a
thousand tons of oil every twenty four hours. That's about
(02:55):
thirteen feet to the gallon if you wanted to pay
the fuel bial And so the que Nard Lione optingly
ship off because of her magnificent reputation and war and peace,
they decided that it would go to the highest bidder,
and the highest bidder was Long Beach, who was looking
for an attraction in a maritime museum. And so that's
(03:16):
how the Queen Mary came to Long Beach and moreover
became the face of Long Beach.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
Yes, okay, shout out to Long Beach, all right. I
love that.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
I mean, that's the main reason that Long Beach wanted
the ship was because they wanted a basically a landmark
for Long Beach.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
Exactly, an icon And there's never been a ship that's
fit as iconic as the Queen Mary, unless perhaps it's
the Titanic for a completely different reason. But the Queen
Mary was one of the greatest success stories of any
ship in living memory. I mean, if you think about
how many people the Queen Mary has actually touched, some
(03:57):
two point two million peaceful passengers, eight hundred and ten thousand,
seven hundred and thirty military personnel in the war here
in Long Beach since opening in nineteen seventy one, we've
seen in excess of fifty six million guests to come
through the ship.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
You really know your stuff.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Well, I've been hanging around a long time. So why
my hairs great?
Speaker 1 (04:20):
How long have you been there at the Queen Mary?
How long have you been working there?
Speaker 2 (04:24):
I've started the Queen Mary on Valentine's Day in nineteen
eighty one, and the Queen Mary is a lifelong dream
of mine since I was a little boy.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
You are so awesome. Oh, gonna want to hug you
right now. I love that.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
I love to hear when people are so passionate, like
you probably go to work just happy and so excited
every single day.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Well, I'll tell you, I never I never cease to
get a thrill when I drive up and there she
is floating so majestically and her custom made birth, and
she's just the proudest ship I've ever seen in my life.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
Oh, that is so beautiful. That is so beautiful. I
love that.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
And now, I mean, since we're talking about it, since
you know so much about the Queen Mary, I've heard
so many things. I believe I went years ago. It
was like a it's like a haunted dinner. I don't remember.
It was years ago. So I mean I saw that
on Time magazine. It was on the top ten list
of like the most haunted places. Is that correct?
Speaker 2 (05:20):
It is correct? And it is true?
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Oh, it is true, okay, because I didn't know if
it was like real.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
They raised in the South where I was raised, if
you mentioned paranormal or supernatural or ghost or anything like that,
they'd break out the rock, salt and holy water and
fix you about it. So I say that because I
came to California not believing in any sort of ghost
or anything like that. And for the first four or
(05:48):
five years working here, I crawled in every nook and
cranny of this ship, and to no avail, nothing happened.
A security guard told me a couple of months after
I started. He says, you know, the shit was haunted.
While I took it as an insult that something I
had loved my entire life, you know, was different, but
I didn't understand. I didn't understand what different was. And
(06:11):
I can tell you though, that after about I think
about four and a half years, it was I was
giving some VIPs a tour of the boiler rooms and
we were walking along the tank tops and the boilers
and engines except for one engine room have been removed.
So when you get all the way forward where the
valley is, there's one watertight bulkhead that goes from keel
(06:34):
to the main deck, and that's called the collision bulkhead.
And I was just explaining to my guest how the
Queen Mary had accidentally rammed a British cruiser in World
War two and split it in Hanat and killed three
hundred and thirty eight of the cruiser's crew, and I
began to hear breathing on the opposite side of this
(06:56):
steel bulkhead, and it was very fainted, for I really
thought I was hearing things. We had just enjoyed the
Sunday brunch in the Queen Mary, and so I'd had
a few emosas, and I thought I might be feeling
the effects, but became louder and louder, and I could
finally feel the breath going down the back of my neck.
And it was at that point my guests looked at
(07:19):
me and said, maybe we better go up topside. And
you should have seen three adults clamber up ten decks
and sit under a lifeboat and look at one another
and wonder what just happened to them. But that was
only the first and it became often after that. I
heard the breathing several more times after that. As a
matter of fact, I still here breathing. Sometimes it's a long, slow,
(07:40):
sort of Darth vadery kind of you know, oh my gosh,
I know. Sometimes they call your name, stop it right now,
and sometimes they touch you. I mean, I've been different
parts of the ship and just to tap. One time,
I was in my office. In my office that was
(08:02):
really my dressing room. I can put my feet up
for you know, a few minutes after lunch and rest
in which I had done, and I had a VIP
coming at two o'clock and I was I've just fell
into a deep sleep, what can I say? And something
tapped me on the shoulder and I woke up, and
(08:23):
I knew my office was locked and no one had
keys to it but me, But so I was pretty
well awake after that, and it tapped me again on
the shoulder. Oh well, had that not happened, I would
have missed my appointment, and that would have been a
very bad show for myself and the ship. But this
is not a malevolent place. It's very benevolent. When you
(08:45):
come across the Gangway and the Queen Mary, you feel
the strongest aura of the purest form of history, and
I mean the people that shape the world that we
live in today. On the lights of the world of Hollywood, royalty,
heads of state, the royal families of Europe and Japan
(09:06):
and other nations, the Shaw of Iran. They were all
traveling in this ship in the sea, going days as
well as the common folk. I mean, you know, the
Queen Mary was a three class ship. You had first class,
cabin class, and tourist class, so it was a real
mixture of humanity. And a lot of people have asked
(09:29):
me what do I think is the ghost and they say, well,
did anyone die here? Well, of course people have died here.
People have been dropping dead all over the world since
time began. That means every freeway, every intersection, every hotel
is probably full of them. But my explanation for the
(09:51):
enchantment of the Queen Mary is a little bit unique,
and I fashioned it toward my own feelings. But I'll
share with you for what it's worth. If you think
about the amount of labor and human spirit that it
took to construct the ship. Four thousand Scottish shipwrights pounding
(10:13):
rivets in ten million album one at a time, bathing
the interiors with fifty six exotic wood veneers from all
over the British Empire. Another thirty thousand vendors from around
Great Britain, providing anything from textile, silverware crystal art. Thirty
seven artists would contribute to the Queen Mary's interiors. So
(10:35):
and then the spirit of the passenger. I don't know
if you've ever been at sea in a ship, but
when the ship leaves the pier, you become totally dependent
on the ship. She is your mother, she is your
sustainer of life. And so much life has been through
this ship, you know, the fifty six million people here,
(10:58):
the two point two million people in peacetime. The gis
So I feel that as human beings, we go and
we leave a little bit of ourselves as we go.
And I think that the ship, being put together with
so much human will and love and zeal and that
(11:20):
really matches everything that we have inside us, and I
think that it picks up a little bit of all
of us. So really the ghosts are all of us
and the ship herself.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
I love the way you just stated it. It just
made me see it in a completely different light. Instead
of saying it's haunted, it's enchanted. I'm like, oh my gosh, yes,
it's They're probably people that love the ship just as
much as we all do, and they never wanted to leave,
so it's not necessarily they're trying to scare you. I mean, like,
for instance, whoever woke you up was like, hey, you're
going to miss your appointment. They're actually loving exactly.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
That was a friend indeed that day.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
I know you have felt things, you have heard things.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Have you ever seen anything like I've never seen a ghost,
but I have had my share of moments where I've
heard and felt that breathing that you're talking about before,
But I've never seen anything.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
I've seen glimpses ei the corner of my eye, and
usually it's a person that just goes by me quickly
and I don't really focus on it, but it was
in my peripheral vision. And then I'll look around and
of course I look down the alleyway that I've just
been walking down, and there's nobody there. You know, there's
no place for them to go.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
I have seen them a few times, captured in videography.
A good friend of mine used to work for E
Television and he had a variety of the finest cameras
in the world. And in twenty eleven he came down
and my wife and some friends we were going through
the dressing rooms in the pool, which the paranormal researchers
(13:02):
insist is a vortex into another universe. Oh, I don't know,
but I can tell you this we were walking through
and it's a very narrow alleyway and the little dressing
cubicles are on each side of the alleyway. It was dark,
but I could see the room from the pool room
shining through at the end of the hall, and my
friends in front of me with his camera, walking very slowly,
(13:23):
and all of a sudden, he grunts, he goes oh.
He said, I think I need to go check my
blood sugar. I feel dizzy, and I said, okay, yeah,
we'll catch up to you later. Well, he called me
about twenty minutes later. He says, you got to come
see what the camera's shot. And so my wife and
I went to his cabin and he replayed it for us,
and a very tall, dark figure walked out of a
(13:46):
steel wall at the end of the alleyway, turned toward us,
and as it comes closer, you can see the darkness
getting bigger. Then the pyrus said, the camera goes black.
You hear him grunt, and then it's light again. Oh wow,
look right through us.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
Oh my god.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
There's a legend crazy. And I'm not able to prove
this because I read it in a book and I've
never found it in any of our records. But there's
a legend that there was a night steward that liked
to get off work and he usually got off his
watch around two am, and he was friends with one
of the pool attendants, and so the pool attendant would
(14:27):
leave the key stashed in a special place where he
could go in and take a steambath every night. Well,
one night he went in and he turned the valve
too many revolutions, and he got way too hot in there,
and he had a stroke and died. And so when
the morning watts came on, they found him in a
very well done condition. And so, you know, goodness is
(14:51):
to say, I mean, maybe that was that was this
chap that allegedly passed away in there. I don't know.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
Yeah, but oh my goodness, book commodore, you don't seem
like scared at all. I mean, do you have you
ever felt afraid? Do you walk around the ship all
alone when it's dark or I don't know, I feel
like you're just not scared.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Well I'm really not. But if I do get creeped out,
I'll go to another area. And I do get creeped
out occasionally, it's possible to do that. I was during
the pandemic, especially I was here a lot when you know,
there was no one else in the ship. There's just
the security staff outside. And in the afternoons, the you know,
(15:35):
the managing director and his team would leave and go home. Well,
I was. I was in the archive working and I
was reorganizing and filing photographs, historic photographs. And at the
top of the stairs, I've got the whole area wired
down there where everything is. I can hear if somebody
comes through a door, I know if I know how
(15:58):
many steps there is between that doorway and down to
where I am. Anyway, I heard the door open up
there and it closed, and there's a landing halfway down,
and I heard the footsteps go to the middle landing
and they stopped. I'm expecting to see them walk past
(16:19):
this room where I'm in, and fortunately there's a fence
on it that I keep locked so people don't spook me.
And the footsteps never continued. They didn't go back up,
the door didn't open or close, they didn't come down
and walk past me. So after about five minutes, I
was really starting to get wigged out, and I opened
(16:42):
the chain link gate and I walked to the stairway
and I looked up and there's nobody on the landing.
So I walked all the way up to the door
that I heard them come through, and it was locked
from the inside.
Speaker 3 (16:55):
Oh wow, oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
But are there parts of the ship that you feel
are more enchanted, let's say, than other parts that where
you're like, oh, you think about it twice.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
Well, you know, naturally, it's harder to notice things like
that when you're in a really populated area of the
ship because the ship's you know, her daily organism of
passengers and visitors. Everyone is enjoying themselves, so you don't
notice it. But if you get down like into the
(17:27):
boiler rooms, it's usually very quiet down there, or where
the archive is, where my dressing room is. Down there,
it's very very secluded, and you could die down there
and then nobody find you for a month.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
What the heck?
Speaker 2 (17:42):
Just kidding?
Speaker 1 (17:44):
Have people left to people that started working at the ship,
but the Queen Mary and then just said, you know,
this is too much, I'm leaving.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
We've had a couple of people that it was overwhelming
for them. The story of Cabin B three forty I
think in the forties, a fellow died of natural causes
in that cabin. And then in the sixties there was
a night steward that answered a call for a lady
passenger that was awakened by a man who pulled the
(18:14):
covers off of her bed and dropped him at the
foot of the bed. And then you know, when she
flicked the light on, he was gone, Oh my god.
And so the steward came in says, madam, no one's
come or gone from your cabin all night. And so
that particular cabin B three forty in the mid eighties,
there was a housekeeper that went there and she cleaned
(18:35):
the room, and she was finished except for putting the
towels in the bathroom. And her maid cart was right
outside the door, so no one could have gone in
or out without her seeing them. And when she gets
back in to put the towels up, all the covers
are pulled off the two beds and wadded in the
floor at the foot of the bed. And so she quit.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
Yeah, I'm sorry. I would have done the same thing.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
I would have been like, you know what, as much
as I love you, Queen Mary and I appreciate you,
I'm sorry. That's what I commend you, and I admire
you for the love and the passion that you have
for this ship because I don't know.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
I just I don't know if I could do it.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
Well, you could, because all you have to remember is
they can't hurt you unless you fall running.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
Has anyone ever come to the ship to try to
get rid of, you know, the spirits in any way,
because you know they have rituals and things like that.
Has anyone tried.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
Not that I know of, but I'm sure they probably have.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
Yeah, I mean, I feel like if they're not bothering,
I mean, they're kind of scaring you. They could freak
you out, keep you out a little bit. But that's
what my mom would always say. She's like, you know what,
you got to be afraid of living people because they
can really hurt you, these ghosts or spirits or souls.
Someone told me don't ever follow them if they tell
you come and you start following, Like, don't do that.
But I mean, I guess if you see it that way,
(20:03):
you're right.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
My mom, she's right, You're mama so wisely.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
Yes, right, yes, yes she is, yes she is well.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
But you know, I just don't let them unnerve me.
I love the Queen Mary so much and her indigenous
magic is so compelling to me that it's really a feature.
And over the years, the paranormal activity has really become
a golden rivet for the ship, if you will, Yeah,
(20:30):
because it captures people's interest that would not normally visit
the Queen Mary, and especially a lot of youngsters. You
know that they're not as enthralled with history as somebody
like myself might be. But maybe if they come here
on a paranormal hunt or something like that, then they
(20:50):
might hear some of the history of the ship, and
they do quite often, and they come away with a
different view of the Queen Mary and what it means.
It is meant.
Speaker 3 (21:01):
Yeah, in this short conversation, that's how I feel. I feel.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
I feel like I've always loved the Queen Mayor because,
like I said, I'm from Long Beach, but now speaking
to you, I see it in a different way.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
So I thank you for that.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
And now that we're talking about paranormal like tours, tell
us a little bit more about some that you guys have, like,
for instance, the Gray Ghost Project.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Yes, the Great Ghost Project is going to be a
new paranormal investigation. And when I say that, it means
that our master investigator and illusionist, Aiden Sinclair will be
leading these investigations. And Aiden is very gifted spiritually, and
(21:44):
he also does a show on board with us as
well in the Revenant Room. So and it's a seance,
but he goes back and he contacts, you know, some
of the some of the spirits in the ship. And
he's a really fascinating and talented man.
Speaker 3 (22:04):
That sounds very intriguing.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Yes, and you know there's a difference between us giving
you a tour and telling you ghost story or having
someone that's really a psychic going on an investigation with you.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
Definitely that sounds very very interesting to me. I mean,
is it's something that you guys just do around like
Halloween or is it all year round?
Speaker 2 (22:27):
It's gonna be all year round, Friday through Sunday.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
Okay, perfect, Okay, So I really I need to go.
I haven't been to the Queen Mary in so long.
I'm so sorry. Queen Mary, forgive me, but I love you.
But now speaking to you, Commodore, I definitely I have
to go visit it. And I think everyone that's listening
as well. I just I see it in a different light.
And I loved how you just changed the perception for me,
which is it's enchanted. It's a beautiful piece of art,
(22:53):
and there's so much history. So I just now I'm
not necessarily afraid. Now I'm just going to be like,
you know what, they can't hurt me anyways. I'm gonna
enjoy myself.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
You should. The Queen Mary is meant to be enjoyed.
And as I said, she was one of the most
popular ships the world has ever known. And her last
captain used to say, I knew him well. I used
to visit his home in England. His name was John
Treasure Jones, and he used to say that Queen Mary
is the closest thing to a living being that I
(23:22):
have ever commanded. She even breeds. And you know, in
the day that the ship was launched, the hull the
hall was finished and launched into the River Clyde in Scotland,
King George the fifth made some very remarkable comments in
his speech that day. He said, may she no longer
be a number on the books, but a ship in
(23:46):
the world, alive with beauty, energy and strength, and may
she carry the peoples of the nations to come together
as students and leave his friends. Today we have the
happy task of sending forth on her way, this stagliest
ship now in being. And he all but spoke the
(24:08):
soul into the Queen Mary. And someone else spoke that day,
and they weren't up in Scotland with the launching and
the royal family and the two hundred fifty thousand guests.
She was a very humble lady and lived in London,
but she was a psychic. Her name was Lady Mabel
Ford esque Harrison, and on that same day Lady Mabel
said these words. Most of us will be gone when
(24:30):
this takes place, but the ship called the Queen Mary
will know her greatest fame and popularity when she never
sells another mile or carries another fair paying passenger. Fifty
six million people since the Queen Mary's propellers have turned
a revolution. So I think that was that was quite
on insight.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
Yes, definitely. I love that.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
I am so happy that I was able to speak
to you, and I love listening to you because I
feel can you transmit the love that you have for
the ship, and it makes me want to love it
even more. So I want to thank you, and before
I let you go. I just want to know what
are your plans for Halloween night?
Speaker 2 (25:11):
Oh? My plans for Halloween night? Well, I'll probably be
on the sofa waiting for the little trigger treaters like
everyone else.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
Nice. Yep, that's what I like to do, to be honest.
When I was younger, I'm like, Okay, I want to
go get candy. Now I'm like, you know, I'm gonna
sit down and enjoy some television and drink some cocoa
or maybe I don't know, have some wine and give
everyone some candy.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
Here you go. A great Halloween, Yes.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
A great Halloween exactly. Well, thank you so much, Commodore.
It's been such a pleasure speaking to you. Thank you
for your time and for your insight and all the
history that you have given us. And I hope you
enjoyed our conversation as well.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Oh I certainly did you know? My wife will be
glad that we had this conversation because she won't have
to hear about the Queen Mary when I get home
from work tonight because I got to talk it out.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
Oh, it's amazing. We'll tell her, I said, hello, sure will.
Thank you, Commodore. I'm sending you a big hug and
hopefully I see you there soon at the ship.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
I'll be looking for it.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
All right, sounds good, So you guys, thank you for listening,
los kiro Mucho, and I will catch you on the
next episode. Okay, do you need advice on love, relationships,
health emails? I'm so excited to share with you that
my Cheekys and Chill podcast will have an extra episode
drop each week. I'll be answering all your questions. Just
(26:31):
leave me a voice message first nine Monday.
Speaker 3 (26:36):
All you have to do is go to speak.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
Pipe dot com, slash Cheeky's and Chill podcast and record
your questions.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
I can't wait to hear from you.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
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Speaker 2 (27:12):
Hm
I feel like I should know a little bit more
history on the Queen Mary, but I saw it was
on the top ten list of like the most haunted places.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
It is correct, and it is true. I began to
hear breathing, very faint. At first, I really thought I
was hearing things, but it became louder and louder, and
I could finally feel the breath going down the back
of my neck.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Have you ever seen anything?
Speaker 2 (00:26):
I've seen glimpses of the corner of my eye. I
look down the alleyway that I've just been walking down,
and there's nobody there. You know, there's no place for
them to go.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Hello everyone, I hope everyone is getting ready for Halloween tomorrow.
I definitely am. I can't wait for you guys to
see my costume. I'm not going to tell you what
it is, so check it out tomorrow. Okay, Halloween is
definitely one of the spookiest times of the year, and
I'm here for it. As some of you may know,
I'm really interested in ghosts, spirits, and the paranormal, so
I thought it could be very interesting to explore some
(00:59):
of that. On today's episode, We're going to be speaking
with someone from the Queen Mary in Long Beach, where
I'm from. He's going to fill us in on the
ship's haunted history. So, without further ado, this is Cheekys
and Jill. Here with me today is Commodore Everett Hort.
(01:21):
He's also a historian who has been with the Queen
Mary for more than forty years, which means he's probably
seen and heard a lot of strange things.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
On the ship, which I'm excited to hear about. Welcome, Commodore.
How are you.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Oh, I'm doing very well today. How are you doing?
Speaker 3 (01:37):
I'm good.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
You look amazing. I wish people could see what you
know your your uniform.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Oh, thank you, thank you very much.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
That was great. I'm so excited.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
I'm excited to have you because I was born in
Long Beach and I feel like I should know a
little bit more history on the Queen Mary.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
But that's what we have you for.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
So I'm going to learn along with my listeners. I've
been there before. I just don't know all of the
hardcore history. So before we get into the haunted stuff,
I would like you to just give us like an
overview on the Queen Mary, Like how did it end?
Up in Long Beach. All that good stuff.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Well, the Queen Mary was designed all the way back
in the late twenties to operate along with a sister
ship across the North Atlantic route. It would be the
first and only two ship express service ever and the
ship would serve for thirty one years and warn peace. It,
along with its sister, the Queen Elizabeth, helped shorten World
(02:35):
War Two by up to a year by its ability
to safely carry troops across the North Atlantic for the
build up of Normandy. Oh and of course, by the
sixties but jet aircraft taking over the skies and a
more efficient way to travel. The Queen Mary used a
thousand tons of oil every twenty four hours. That's about
(02:55):
thirteen feet to the gallon if you wanted to pay
the fuel bial And so the que Nard Lione optingly
ship off because of her magnificent reputation and war and peace,
they decided that it would go to the highest bidder,
and the highest bidder was Long Beach, who was looking
for an attraction in a maritime museum. And so that's
(03:16):
how the Queen Mary came to Long Beach and moreover
became the face of Long Beach.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
Yes, okay, shout out to Long Beach, all right. I
love that.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
I mean, that's the main reason that Long Beach wanted
the ship was because they wanted a basically a landmark
for Long Beach.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
Exactly, an icon And there's never been a ship that's
fit as iconic as the Queen Mary, unless perhaps it's
the Titanic for a completely different reason. But the Queen
Mary was one of the greatest success stories of any
ship in living memory. I mean, if you think about
how many people the Queen Mary has actually touched, some
(03:57):
two point two million peaceful passengers, eight hundred and ten thousand,
seven hundred and thirty military personnel in the war here
in Long Beach since opening in nineteen seventy one, we've
seen in excess of fifty six million guests to come
through the ship.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
You really know your stuff.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Well, I've been hanging around a long time. So why
my hairs great?
Speaker 1 (04:20):
How long have you been there at the Queen Mary?
How long have you been working there?
Speaker 2 (04:24):
I've started the Queen Mary on Valentine's Day in nineteen
eighty one, and the Queen Mary is a lifelong dream
of mine since I was a little boy.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
You are so awesome. Oh, gonna want to hug you
right now. I love that.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
I love to hear when people are so passionate, like
you probably go to work just happy and so excited
every single day.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Well, I'll tell you, I never I never cease to
get a thrill when I drive up and there she
is floating so majestically and her custom made birth, and
she's just the proudest ship I've ever seen in my life.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
Oh, that is so beautiful. That is so beautiful. I
love that.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
And now, I mean, since we're talking about it, since
you know so much about the Queen Mary, I've heard
so many things. I believe I went years ago. It
was like a it's like a haunted dinner. I don't remember.
It was years ago. So I mean I saw that
on Time magazine. It was on the top ten list
of like the most haunted places. Is that correct?
Speaker 2 (05:20):
It is correct? And it is true?
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Oh, it is true, okay, because I didn't know if
it was like real.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
They raised in the South where I was raised, if
you mentioned paranormal or supernatural or ghost or anything like that,
they'd break out the rock, salt and holy water and
fix you about it. So I say that because I
came to California not believing in any sort of ghost
or anything like that. And for the first four or
(05:48):
five years working here, I crawled in every nook and
cranny of this ship, and to no avail, nothing happened.
A security guard told me a couple of months after
I started. He says, you know, the shit was haunted.
While I took it as an insult that something I
had loved my entire life, you know, was different, but
I didn't understand. I didn't understand what different was. And
(06:11):
I can tell you though, that after about I think
about four and a half years, it was I was
giving some VIPs a tour of the boiler rooms and
we were walking along the tank tops and the boilers
and engines except for one engine room have been removed.
So when you get all the way forward where the
valley is, there's one watertight bulkhead that goes from keel
(06:34):
to the main deck, and that's called the collision bulkhead.
And I was just explaining to my guest how the
Queen Mary had accidentally rammed a British cruiser in World
War two and split it in Hanat and killed three
hundred and thirty eight of the cruiser's crew, and I
began to hear breathing on the opposite side of this
(06:56):
steel bulkhead, and it was very fainted, for I really
thought I was hearing things. We had just enjoyed the
Sunday brunch in the Queen Mary, and so I'd had
a few emosas, and I thought I might be feeling
the effects, but became louder and louder, and I could
finally feel the breath going down the back of my neck.
And it was at that point my guests looked at
(07:19):
me and said, maybe we better go up topside. And
you should have seen three adults clamber up ten decks
and sit under a lifeboat and look at one another
and wonder what just happened to them. But that was
only the first and it became often after that. I
heard the breathing several more times after that. As a
matter of fact, I still here breathing. Sometimes it's a long, slow,
(07:40):
sort of Darth vadery kind of you know, oh my gosh,
I know. Sometimes they call your name, stop it right now,
and sometimes they touch you. I mean, I've been different
parts of the ship and just to tap. One time,
I was in my office. In my office that was
(08:02):
really my dressing room. I can put my feet up
for you know, a few minutes after lunch and rest
in which I had done, and I had a VIP
coming at two o'clock and I was I've just fell
into a deep sleep, what can I say? And something
tapped me on the shoulder and I woke up, and
(08:23):
I knew my office was locked and no one had
keys to it but me, But so I was pretty
well awake after that, and it tapped me again on
the shoulder. Oh well, had that not happened, I would
have missed my appointment, and that would have been a
very bad show for myself and the ship. But this
is not a malevolent place. It's very benevolent. When you
(08:45):
come across the Gangway and the Queen Mary, you feel
the strongest aura of the purest form of history, and
I mean the people that shape the world that we
live in today. On the lights of the world of Hollywood, royalty,
heads of state, the royal families of Europe and Japan
(09:06):
and other nations, the Shaw of Iran. They were all
traveling in this ship in the sea, going days as
well as the common folk. I mean, you know, the
Queen Mary was a three class ship. You had first class,
cabin class, and tourist class, so it was a real
mixture of humanity. And a lot of people have asked
(09:29):
me what do I think is the ghost and they say, well,
did anyone die here? Well, of course people have died here.
People have been dropping dead all over the world since
time began. That means every freeway, every intersection, every hotel
is probably full of them. But my explanation for the
(09:51):
enchantment of the Queen Mary is a little bit unique,
and I fashioned it toward my own feelings. But I'll
share with you for what it's worth. If you think
about the amount of labor and human spirit that it
took to construct the ship. Four thousand Scottish shipwrights pounding
(10:13):
rivets in ten million album one at a time, bathing
the interiors with fifty six exotic wood veneers from all
over the British Empire. Another thirty thousand vendors from around
Great Britain, providing anything from textile, silverware crystal art. Thirty
seven artists would contribute to the Queen Mary's interiors. So
(10:35):
and then the spirit of the passenger. I don't know
if you've ever been at sea in a ship, but
when the ship leaves the pier, you become totally dependent
on the ship. She is your mother, she is your
sustainer of life. And so much life has been through
this ship, you know, the fifty six million people here,
(10:58):
the two point two million people in peacetime. The gis
So I feel that as human beings, we go and
we leave a little bit of ourselves as we go.
And I think that the ship, being put together with
so much human will and love and zeal and that
(11:20):
really matches everything that we have inside us, and I
think that it picks up a little bit of all
of us. So really the ghosts are all of us
and the ship herself.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
I love the way you just stated it. It just
made me see it in a completely different light. Instead
of saying it's haunted, it's enchanted. I'm like, oh my gosh, yes,
it's They're probably people that love the ship just as
much as we all do, and they never wanted to leave,
so it's not necessarily they're trying to scare you. I mean, like,
for instance, whoever woke you up was like, hey, you're
going to miss your appointment. They're actually loving exactly.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
That was a friend indeed that day.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
I know you have felt things, you have heard things.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Have you ever seen anything like I've never seen a ghost,
but I have had my share of moments where I've
heard and felt that breathing that you're talking about before,
But I've never seen anything.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
I've seen glimpses ei the corner of my eye, and
usually it's a person that just goes by me quickly
and I don't really focus on it, but it was
in my peripheral vision. And then I'll look around and
of course I look down the alleyway that I've just
been walking down, and there's nobody there. You know, there's
no place for them to go.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
I have seen them a few times, captured in videography.
A good friend of mine used to work for E
Television and he had a variety of the finest cameras
in the world. And in twenty eleven he came down
and my wife and some friends we were going through
the dressing rooms in the pool, which the paranormal researchers
(13:02):
insist is a vortex into another universe. Oh, I don't know,
but I can tell you this we were walking through
and it's a very narrow alleyway and the little dressing
cubicles are on each side of the alleyway. It was dark,
but I could see the room from the pool room
shining through at the end of the hall, and my
friends in front of me with his camera, walking very slowly,
(13:23):
and all of a sudden, he grunts, he goes oh.
He said, I think I need to go check my
blood sugar. I feel dizzy, and I said, okay, yeah,
we'll catch up to you later. Well, he called me
about twenty minutes later. He says, you got to come
see what the camera's shot. And so my wife and
I went to his cabin and he replayed it for us,
and a very tall, dark figure walked out of a
(13:46):
steel wall at the end of the alleyway, turned toward us,
and as it comes closer, you can see the darkness
getting bigger. Then the pyrus said, the camera goes black.
You hear him grunt, and then it's light again. Oh wow,
look right through us.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
Oh my god.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
There's a legend crazy. And I'm not able to prove
this because I read it in a book and I've
never found it in any of our records. But there's
a legend that there was a night steward that liked
to get off work and he usually got off his
watch around two am, and he was friends with one
of the pool attendants, and so the pool attendant would
(14:27):
leave the key stashed in a special place where he
could go in and take a steambath every night. Well,
one night he went in and he turned the valve
too many revolutions, and he got way too hot in there,
and he had a stroke and died. And so when
the morning watts came on, they found him in a
very well done condition. And so, you know, goodness is
(14:51):
to say, I mean, maybe that was that was this
chap that allegedly passed away in there. I don't know.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
Yeah, but oh my goodness, book commodore, you don't seem
like scared at all. I mean, do you have you
ever felt afraid? Do you walk around the ship all
alone when it's dark or I don't know, I feel
like you're just not scared.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Well I'm really not. But if I do get creeped out,
I'll go to another area. And I do get creeped
out occasionally, it's possible to do that. I was during
the pandemic, especially I was here a lot when you know,
there was no one else in the ship. There's just
the security staff outside. And in the afternoons, the you know,
(15:35):
the managing director and his team would leave and go home. Well,
I was. I was in the archive working and I
was reorganizing and filing photographs, historic photographs. And at the
top of the stairs, I've got the whole area wired
down there where everything is. I can hear if somebody
comes through a door, I know if I know how
(15:58):
many steps there is between that doorway and down to
where I am. Anyway, I heard the door open up
there and it closed, and there's a landing halfway down,
and I heard the footsteps go to the middle landing
and they stopped. I'm expecting to see them walk past
(16:19):
this room where I'm in, and fortunately there's a fence
on it that I keep locked so people don't spook me.
And the footsteps never continued. They didn't go back up,
the door didn't open or close, they didn't come down
and walk past me. So after about five minutes, I
was really starting to get wigged out, and I opened
(16:42):
the chain link gate and I walked to the stairway
and I looked up and there's nobody on the landing.
So I walked all the way up to the door
that I heard them come through, and it was locked
from the inside.
Speaker 3 (16:55):
Oh wow, oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
But are there parts of the ship that you feel
are more enchanted, let's say, than other parts that where
you're like, oh, you think about it twice.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
Well, you know, naturally, it's harder to notice things like
that when you're in a really populated area of the
ship because the ship's you know, her daily organism of
passengers and visitors. Everyone is enjoying themselves, so you don't
notice it. But if you get down like into the
(17:27):
boiler rooms, it's usually very quiet down there, or where
the archive is, where my dressing room is. Down there,
it's very very secluded, and you could die down there
and then nobody find you for a month.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
What the heck?
Speaker 2 (17:42):
Just kidding?
Speaker 1 (17:44):
Have people left to people that started working at the ship,
but the Queen Mary and then just said, you know,
this is too much, I'm leaving.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
We've had a couple of people that it was overwhelming
for them. The story of Cabin B three forty I
think in the forties, a fellow died of natural causes
in that cabin. And then in the sixties there was
a night steward that answered a call for a lady
passenger that was awakened by a man who pulled the
(18:14):
covers off of her bed and dropped him at the
foot of the bed. And then you know, when she
flicked the light on, he was gone, Oh my god.
And so the steward came in says, madam, no one's
come or gone from your cabin all night. And so
that particular cabin B three forty in the mid eighties,
there was a housekeeper that went there and she cleaned
(18:35):
the room, and she was finished except for putting the
towels in the bathroom. And her maid cart was right
outside the door, so no one could have gone in
or out without her seeing them. And when she gets
back in to put the towels up, all the covers
are pulled off the two beds and wadded in the
floor at the foot of the bed. And so she quit.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
Yeah, I'm sorry. I would have done the same thing.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
I would have been like, you know what, as much
as I love you, Queen Mary and I appreciate you,
I'm sorry. That's what I commend you, and I admire
you for the love and the passion that you have
for this ship because I don't know.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
I just I don't know if I could do it.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
Well, you could, because all you have to remember is
they can't hurt you unless you fall running.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
Has anyone ever come to the ship to try to
get rid of, you know, the spirits in any way,
because you know they have rituals and things like that.
Has anyone tried.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
Not that I know of, but I'm sure they probably have.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
Yeah, I mean, I feel like if they're not bothering,
I mean, they're kind of scaring you. They could freak
you out, keep you out a little bit. But that's
what my mom would always say. She's like, you know what,
you got to be afraid of living people because they
can really hurt you, these ghosts or spirits or souls.
Someone told me don't ever follow them if they tell
you come and you start following, Like, don't do that.
But I mean, I guess if you see it that way,
(20:03):
you're right.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
My mom, she's right, You're mama so wisely.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
Yes, right, yes, yes she is, yes she is well.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
But you know, I just don't let them unnerve me.
I love the Queen Mary so much and her indigenous
magic is so compelling to me that it's really a feature.
And over the years, the paranormal activity has really become
a golden rivet for the ship, if you will, Yeah,
(20:30):
because it captures people's interest that would not normally visit
the Queen Mary, and especially a lot of youngsters. You
know that they're not as enthralled with history as somebody
like myself might be. But maybe if they come here
on a paranormal hunt or something like that, then they
(20:50):
might hear some of the history of the ship, and
they do quite often, and they come away with a
different view of the Queen Mary and what it means.
It is meant.
Speaker 3 (21:01):
Yeah, in this short conversation, that's how I feel. I feel.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
I feel like I've always loved the Queen Mayor because,
like I said, I'm from Long Beach, but now speaking
to you, I see it in a different way.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
So I thank you for that.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
And now that we're talking about paranormal like tours, tell
us a little bit more about some that you guys have, like,
for instance, the Gray Ghost Project.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Yes, the Great Ghost Project is going to be a
new paranormal investigation. And when I say that, it means
that our master investigator and illusionist, Aiden Sinclair will be
leading these investigations. And Aiden is very gifted spiritually, and
(21:44):
he also does a show on board with us as
well in the Revenant Room. So and it's a seance,
but he goes back and he contacts, you know, some
of the some of the spirits in the ship. And
he's a really fascinating and talented man.
Speaker 3 (22:04):
That sounds very intriguing.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Yes, and you know there's a difference between us giving
you a tour and telling you ghost story or having
someone that's really a psychic going on an investigation with you.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
Definitely that sounds very very interesting to me. I mean,
is it's something that you guys just do around like
Halloween or is it all year round?
Speaker 2 (22:27):
It's gonna be all year round, Friday through Sunday.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
Okay, perfect, Okay, So I really I need to go.
I haven't been to the Queen Mary in so long.
I'm so sorry. Queen Mary, forgive me, but I love you.
But now speaking to you, Commodore, I definitely I have
to go visit it. And I think everyone that's listening
as well. I just I see it in a different light.
And I loved how you just changed the perception for me,
which is it's enchanted. It's a beautiful piece of art,
(22:53):
and there's so much history. So I just now I'm
not necessarily afraid. Now I'm just going to be like,
you know what, they can't hurt me anyways. I'm gonna
enjoy myself.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
You should. The Queen Mary is meant to be enjoyed.
And as I said, she was one of the most
popular ships the world has ever known. And her last
captain used to say, I knew him well. I used
to visit his home in England. His name was John
Treasure Jones, and he used to say that Queen Mary
is the closest thing to a living being that I
(23:22):
have ever commanded. She even breeds. And you know, in
the day that the ship was launched, the hull the
hall was finished and launched into the River Clyde in Scotland,
King George the fifth made some very remarkable comments in
his speech that day. He said, may she no longer
be a number on the books, but a ship in
(23:46):
the world, alive with beauty, energy and strength, and may
she carry the peoples of the nations to come together
as students and leave his friends. Today we have the
happy task of sending forth on her way, this stagliest
ship now in being. And he all but spoke the
(24:08):
soul into the Queen Mary. And someone else spoke that day,
and they weren't up in Scotland with the launching and
the royal family and the two hundred fifty thousand guests.
She was a very humble lady and lived in London,
but she was a psychic. Her name was Lady Mabel
Ford esque Harrison, and on that same day Lady Mabel
said these words. Most of us will be gone when
(24:30):
this takes place, but the ship called the Queen Mary
will know her greatest fame and popularity when she never
sells another mile or carries another fair paying passenger. Fifty
six million people since the Queen Mary's propellers have turned
a revolution. So I think that was that was quite
on insight.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
Yes, definitely. I love that.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
I am so happy that I was able to speak
to you, and I love listening to you because I
feel can you transmit the love that you have for
the ship, and it makes me want to love it
even more. So I want to thank you, and before
I let you go. I just want to know what
are your plans for Halloween night?
Speaker 2 (25:11):
Oh? My plans for Halloween night? Well, I'll probably be
on the sofa waiting for the little trigger treaters like
everyone else.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
Nice. Yep, that's what I like to do, to be honest.
When I was younger, I'm like, Okay, I want to
go get candy. Now I'm like, you know, I'm gonna
sit down and enjoy some television and drink some cocoa
or maybe I don't know, have some wine and give
everyone some candy.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
Here you go. A great Halloween, Yes.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
A great Halloween exactly. Well, thank you so much, Commodore.
It's been such a pleasure speaking to you. Thank you
for your time and for your insight and all the
history that you have given us. And I hope you
enjoyed our conversation as well.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Oh I certainly did you know? My wife will be
glad that we had this conversation because she won't have
to hear about the Queen Mary when I get home
from work tonight because I got to talk it out.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
Oh, it's amazing. We'll tell her, I said, hello, sure will.
Thank you, Commodore. I'm sending you a big hug and
hopefully I see you there soon at the ship.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
I'll be looking for it.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
All right, sounds good, So you guys, thank you for listening,
los kiro Mucho, and I will catch you on the
next episode. Okay, do you need advice on love, relationships,
health emails? I'm so excited to share with you that
my Cheekys and Chill podcast will have an extra episode
drop each week. I'll be answering all your questions. Just
(26:31):
leave me a voice message first nine Monday.
Speaker 3 (26:36):
All you have to do is go to speak.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
Pipe dot com, slash Cheeky's and Chill podcast and record
your questions.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
I can't wait to hear from you.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
This is a production of iHeartRadio and the Micaeldura podcast Network.
Follow us on Instagram at Michael Dura Podcasts, then follow
me Cheeky's That's c h I q U I s.
For more podcasts from I Heart, visit the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcast,
and check us out on YouTube. Mm hm
Speaker 2 (27:12):
Hm
Host
Chiquis
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Decisions, Decisions
Welcome to "Decisions, Decisions," the podcast where boundaries are pushed, and conversations get candid! Join your favorite hosts, Mandii B and WeezyWTF, as they dive deep into the world of non-traditional relationships and explore the often-taboo topics surrounding dating, sex, and love. Every Monday, Mandii and Weezy invite you to unlearn the outdated narratives dictated by traditional patriarchal norms. With a blend of humor, vulnerability, and authenticity, they share their personal journeys navigating their 30s, tackling the complexities of modern relationships, and engaging in thought-provoking discussions that challenge societal expectations. From groundbreaking interviews with diverse guests to relatable stories that resonate with your experiences, "Decisions, Decisions" is your go-to source for open dialogue about what it truly means to love and connect in today's world. Get ready to reshape your understanding of relationships and embrace the freedom of authentic connections—tune in and join the conversation!