By Charly SHELTON

There is no doubt that the ship Queen Mary is haunted. There are resident spirits, including Jackie, the little girl who haunts the first class pool, John Pedder, who was crushed by a watertight door, Senior Second Officer William Eric Stark, who accidentally drank dry cleaning fluid instead of gin, and The Cook, who was baked alive by his own kitchen staff during World War II. But arguably the most notorious location on the ship for paranormal activity is stateroom B340. Its paranormal occurrences stem from a horrid event, or so it is said.

Apparently back in the ’60s, during one of the final transatlantic cruises before the ship was docked in Long Beach, a man went crazy and brutally murdered two women. His crimes were discovered and he was locked in his third class stateroom, either B222, B224 or B226. The door was locked and a guard was posted outside. A little while later, he started pounding on the door saying someone was in there with him, trying to kill him. The guard ignored him, thinking it was a ruse to escape. After a while, the passenger quieted down and the guard figured he went to sleep.

The next day, when the ship arrived in New York, the crew summoned NYPD detectives and they went to apprehend the murderer. When they opened the door to the stateroom, they found the man had been ripped apart and his entrails and limbs spread all over the room. There was no way he could have done this himself.

Upon the next sailing, the paranormal reports started coming in from that stateroom. When it was docked in Long Beach in 1967, the three third class staterooms were combined into the larger guest room B340, and the reports continued. By the 1980s, B340 was closed to booking because guests would leave in the middle of the night.

That’s how I first heard of the haunted stateroom. Over the years, I’ve heard variations of the story: a man killed his family in the cabin, a woman killed her husband, a husband killed his wife, a lone passenger’s throat was cut – the list goes on and on. For some reason, nobody can trace back exactly what happened. The ship’s records show nothing happening in any of those rooms.

According to Nicole Strickland in her book “Spirited Queen Mary,” the legend of B340 was invented in the late ’80s or early ’90s by employees of the Walt Disney Company, which owned the hotel at the time. A few cast members wanted to scare guests who were asking about one of the yet-unfinished rooms that was unavailable for bookings due to renovations. And so the legend was born.

If the tales are true then unbridled psychokinetic thought-energy would charge the room to cause manifestations of nomadic spirits that, to me, is even cooler than a haunt. But whatever happened in the room to give it its spirited beginnings, there is real activity in there now. Covers have reportedly been pulled off guests while sleeping, clothes hangers rattle, footsteps can be heard, as can knocks, and more. And for the first time since the ’80s, the room is finally open to check-ins.

In the first week since the room was open to reservations, there have been 40 bookings. The stateroom has been entirely redone and opened to guests as of Friday the 13th of April. And, aside from its being haunted, it is just a beautifully redone room.

The space is warm and comforting, with modern amenities and classic elegance. It’s hard to imagine being scared in that room because it is so nice. To enhance the scary quota, the stateroom features some spooky extras – a Ouija board, tarot cards, ghost-hunting equipment and electric candles and the walls are covered with pictures of ghosts and stories of guests’ encounters. My favorite aspect is in the bathroom where directions for summoning Bloody Mary are printed on the wall between the hair dryer and the individually wrapped small soaps.

The room is available for booking now, but reservations are way in advance due to so much interest in the stateroom. Rates start from $499 per night and it promises to be a night you will never forget. For more information, visit QueenMary.com and, for B340 bookings, call (877) 342-0742.

  Charly Shelton