MJ STEEL COLLINS takes a look back at Most Haunted: Queen Mary Part Two
Episode Title: Queen Mary Part 2
Location: Long Beach, California, USA
Series: 6 Episode: 24 Originally broadcast: 26 July 2005
When Yvette’s ominous voice over, that the scariest was yet to come, signed off part one of this investigation, she wasn’t far wrong. At least, if not the scariest, it was certainly more interesting. About three times as much was packed into this, out of which came a couple of things: Most Haunted can actually be highly entertaining and Karl Beattie cannot be taken anywhere haunted without the company of a well stocked mobile hospital on site.
In the first of this two parter, we witnessed Karl look decidedly ill and clutch his chest whilst holding a vigil in the reputedly super haunted cabin B340, before making a quick recovery. In this episode, he took a funny turn after clambering down a very long ladder to the bottom of the ship, where prisoners of war were kept when the Queen Mary served as a troop ship. Considering how long the climb to the lowest deck probably is, he couldn’t really be blamed for being a little peaky. This time, he lost his balance, and looking like he was about to lose his lunch, had to be helped to sit down, whilst wife Yvette cooed over him and medium David Wells did a grounding exercise. Karl made another swift recovery, but footage of this can’t do much for the Most Haunted team’s health insurance. Incidentally, Jon, last seen lying comatose on the bed on B340 also makes a dramatic recovery, seen in this episode.
Ill crew members aside, all sorts of weird stuff was afoot, which had Ciaran O’Keefe smiling gleefully. Of particular interest was the first class swimming pool, perhaps the most famous haunted location on the Queen Mary. The pool is now empty, but it doesn’t stop spooky bathers frequenting it from the other side. Three ghosts haunt this area: that of a young girl, named elsewhere as Jackie; a female bather from the 1930s, who walks along the top balcony of the pool and another woman from the 1960s. Derek Acorah claims that neither of the adult ghosts are aware of each other. The 1960s entity haunts the pool itself. What isn’t mentioned is that the ghost of Jackie is renowned for conversing with investigators. There are numerous videos of this to be found on YouTube for those interested. The pool area is also the site of a large vortex, according to Acorah, through which several entities pass at once. Bit crowded then.
Following this, the team take a trip to the very bottom of the Queen Mary, as mentioned above. As well as Karl getting ill, it appears that David Wells spots the ghost of an emaciated, unkempt man with a beard called Tomas; perhaps a prisoner of war? A bizarre snoring can be heard echoing around the space, freaking out Yvette, and perhaps not helping the afflicted Karl. Either way, it doesn’t look like a section of the liner that would be a lot of fun to hang round in, being exceeding dark and empty! It was also where the morgue was once located.
Another significant place investigated is Door 13, where the liner’s massive engines were once located. It was here in 1966 that a young crew member named John was crushed to death when the door slid shut on him. These days, a metal plate holds the door open. John’s ghost is said to lurk where he was killed. Karl attempts to contact John’s spirit, asking him to knock in response, earning several loud bangs on the pipe in response. Ciaran O’Keefe also arrives promptly on the scene, after Karl sees an apparition that looked somewhat like the parapsychologist
The rather eventful investigation finishes once again at the first class pool. First off, a member of the production team (another Jon, different to he who went comatose in Cabin B340), nearly wound up at the bottom of the pool after seeing the apparition of a woman sitting on the diving board. This prompted further investigation the following night, when it appeared they had struck gold with the presence of damp foot prints leading from the pool. Apparently, the presence of bare footprints, akin to those someone makes when leaving an empty pool, is a common occurrence in the Queen Mary’s empty first class pool. Predictably, everyone got very excited about this.
This was by far a much better outing than part one, and utilised the legends of the Queen Mary to great effect. It outshone the more recent Ghost Adventures episode on the liner by a country mile. And wins extra Brownie points from me by mentioning the Queen Mary was built in Clydebank, Scotland. Other shows I’ve seen on the ship omit this. Being a Clydesider, it is a pet peeve.
See Review of Most Haunted Queen Mary Part One here.
