“Every room has a story.”
Whether it’s the original elevator that slightly shakes as it rises, the new Paranormal Passage or the traveling Spookeasy, the Queen Mary’s paranormal history is one of the many reasons why it’s such a popular and eerie Long Beach attraction.
“There’s an incredible fascination with The Queen Mary’s paranormal history and the stories that have become part of her lore,” said Dylan Matteson, the Queen Mary’s General Manager. “Our guests want to know more, explore more and get closer to the stories.”
When spooky season rolls around, the Queen Mary hosts Dark Harbor, a Halloween festival and attraction centered around the most spine-chilling stories from the ship.
This year, the Queen Mary will unveil the Paranormal Passage, a collection of three immersive staterooms — B326, B328 and B334 — each with its own lore. The staterooms are tied to B340, the Paranormal Suite, which the Queen Mary reactivated last year.
“Everybody who comes on the ship, they keep coming back and back because there are new nooks and crannies that you find, so it’s kind of a celebration of that and a celebration of the lore of the ship,” Matteson said. “People love all the spooky activations that we have here, and for good reason. There’s this energy around the ship and people love that.”
Bloody hand prints, scary framed photos and dead bodies located inside the Grey Ghost Galley at the Queen Mary on Sept. 23, 2026. (Samuel Chacko | Signal Tribune) 
Media members walk inside Jackie’s Spirit Shoppe, which has items such as Ouija boards, haunted apparel and souvenirs, on Sept. 23, 2026. (Samuel Chacko | Signal Tribune) 
Inside the Spookeasy, Queen Mary first officer Paul Jacek tells secret stories about the Queen Mary after audience members drink a green-colored cocktail on Sept. 23, 2026. (Samuel Chacko | Signal Tribune) 
Halloween-themed photos and a poster of the Lady in White fill the bar area inside the Queen Mary on Sept. 23, 2026. Samuel Chacko | Signal Tribune) 
A teddy with blood inside his head and stomach, hangs on one of the laundry lines inside the Queen Mary on Sept. 23, 2026. (Samuel Chacko | Signal Tribune)
Here is some of the lore of each of the new rooms:
- Jackie’s Room (B326): The room is centered around the story that a little girl named Jackie drowned in the pool and subsequently haunts the ship. People have reported seeing and hearing her and even paranormal investigators have heard the name Jackie consistently, according to Matteson.
- Matteson mentions that the Queen Mary’s historians like to think there’s no record of a girl drowning in the pool. What they believe is that she was one of the little girls that was brought back and forth from the United States to Europe for the War Bride Effort and she had a fond memory of that time, getting reunited with her family and her father. So she chose, when she died, to go back to that fond memory that was her at the pool, where she’s known to be today.
- The Dressing Chamber (B338): This room is known to be the favorite room of the “Lady in White,” who has been seen around the ship consistently. The story goes that she is one of the war brides who resided on the ship. When World War II hit, the Queen Mary was the fastest ship in the world, making it instrumental in moving troops worldwide. At one point, Adolf Hitler put a $250,000 bounty on the ship because of its importance to the Allies, and Winston Churchill had said that without the Queen Mary and the Queen Elizabeth, the war would have lasted at least another year.
- What’s thought is that she still roams the hall, still remembering of that time.
- Officer Court Quarters (B334): The Officers Court Quarters is a nod to all the officers that supposedly still roam the halls of the ship. There are many stories of officers dying while on duty or on the ship and all the lives they were in charge of.
They brought in these three immersive staterooms this year because of the consistent stories The Queen Mary staff hear about Jackie, the Dressing Chamber and the Officers.
“[These] are the three that just keep coming up, and it’s come up so often now that where it’s on the verge of fact because there are so many people that experienced these three entities,” Matteson said.
New additions also include the Grey Ghost Galley, an all-you-can-eat Halloween feast serving up a variety of food and the Spookeasy, where audience members hear The Queen Mary’s haunted stories over a spooky cocktail.
The Queen Mary has done the Spookeasy for a few years in a single room, but this year they wanted to make it a little bit more interactive.
“It’s almost like a traveling Spookeasy [where] you start off in one location, you hear ghost stories, you have a cocktail and then we do almost like a mini tour and bring them back into the No. 3 Speakeasy … and it ends with [a] palm reading and tarot card reading,” Matteson said.
The Dark Harbor’s signature mazes, monsters and maritime mayhem are open now through Nov. 1.
The Queen Mary will have its Spookeasy open for visitors 21 and older beginning Sept. 28 and continuing Oct. 5, 12 and 19 from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. The Murder on the High Seas takes place Sept. 13 through Oct. 19, which includes a three-course dinner, unexpected clues and audience participation to crack the case. The Queen Mary will also screen select horror movies inside the ship’s private theater as part of Movies on the Mary, including Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho,” “Beetlejuice” and “The Shining.”
Guests can save on the spooky experiences with the Queen Mary’s Spooky Package for $125, which includes one admission to the Murder on the High Seas, Movies on the Mary and the Spookeasy.
For more information on the ship’s history, ticketing and events, check out the Queen Mary’s website.
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