The Queen Mary (Ghost Ship)

Bigger than the Titanic, The Queen Mary was the pride of the Cunard Lines.  She carried many distinguished guests, and during WWII was converted to carry troops to the front.  It was during one of these troop carrying missions that one of the most horrific episodes of her history occurred.  On October 2, 1942 the Queen Mary was rounding Ireland on the last leg of her journey.  At this time, she was joined by the HMS Curacoa and 6 destroyers as she was within Luftwaffe range.  The Queen Mary was zig zagging in her course to make it difficult for U-boats in the area to target her.  Because of the zig zag pattern, the Curacoa and the destroyers were told to stay ahead of the Queen Mary.  The turbulence from all of the ships made a heavy wash and forced the ships to make minor adjustments in their courses.

    Down in engine and fire rooms of the Queen Mary, a slight bump was felt.  No one thought anything of it as the ship was unscathed and kept on its course.  The "bump" was the HMS Curacoa.  The slight change in course caused the Queen Mary to nudge the Curacoa's stern, sending the ship into the path of the massive ocean liner.  Because the orders were to continue on no matter what, the Queen Mary did not stop and snapped the HMS Curacoa in two.  Of 439 men aboard 338 were lost.

    In October of 1967, The Queen Mary made her way to Long Beach, CA where she was going to be converted into a floating hotel.  During the transition between ship and hotel, strange things began happening. 

    A secretary was was walking passed the engine room when she heard a clanging noise as if a worker was in there doing some repairs.  She went in to investigate and the noise immediately stopped.  The woman went on her way and the noise started again.  As she started to enter the engine room again, the noise stopped.  The woman fled the area.

     Another incident occurred in the area of the boat which housed the swimming pool.  No one was allowed in that area of the ship, and the pool was completely drained.  However, next to the pool was a woman dressed in a one piece bathing suit that looked to be from the early 1950's.  The woman was about ready to dive into the empty pool.  The crewmember yelled for the woman to stop and she disappeared.  Later, while checking the ship's records, the crewmember discovered that a woman had drowned in the swimming pool.

source: www.gettysburgghosts.net/queenmary.htm