Tours of a ‘Haunted’ Ship

Although it is easy to disparage ghost sightings 364 1/2 days of the year, it is hard to be cynical about celestial specters on Halloween night.

So why not believe the people at the Queen Mary when they say they have resident ghosts on board, even though the closest anyone seems to have come to them is knowing somebody who saw one.

The most common ghost story bandied about the boat concerns John Pedder, an 18-year-old laborer crushed to death by mechanical doors in the engine room as the ship sailed across the Atlantic in the summer of 1966.

You may have the pleasure of meeting Pedder this Halloween on a tour of the Queen Mary’s haunted vaults and passages, a journey with three-dimensional ghosts appearing and disappearing in the most unpredictable places.

Are the ghosts real? Some are, some aren’t, said Jennifer Blazey, the ship’s public relations manager.

“I’ve never really seen one,” she said, “but I’ve talked to people who have. More than one person has seen and heard them. Whole groups of people have, there’s so many of them! So I guess, yeah, there is something unusual about the place.”

The dead Pedder usually hangs out in the engine room, keeping his distance from W.E. Stark, who died on board in 1949 after swallowing a swig of acid he mistook for gin. And neither of those gentlemen gets in the way of the dead lady of the first-class swimming pool.

But that’s another story, one of many scary tales of sordid deeds told during the Haunted Passages tour, a journey disturbing enough to prompt ship officials to recommend leaving children under 11 home.

Those who need a little more convincing might want to sign up for “Room With a Boo,” a package deal that includes spending the night in a first-class stateroom, touring the ship’s haunted passages with a psychic and having a reading to determine where your own ghosts are hiding.

“Room With a Boo” packages cost $69 a person, double occupancy required. The Haunted Passages tour comes with the price of admission to the Queen Mary and Spruce Goose: $17.50 for adults and $9.50 for kids. The Queen Mary is at the southernmost point of the Long Beach (710) Freeway. For more information, call 435-3511.