‘A ghost grabbed my leg’ – my spine-chilling encounters aboard America’s most haunted ship

Brocarde, who once claimed to be married to a ghost, is now a paranormal investigator and says she has communicated with over 100 spirits

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I’ve visited plenty of supposedly haunted places over the years, but nothing prepared me for what happened when I stepped aboard the legendary RMS Queen Mary.

The giant ocean liner, permanently docked in California, is widely dubbed one of the most haunted places in the United States. After two separate visits, one during a Halloween horror event and another recent overnight stay in the ship’s most infamous cabin, I’m not entirely convinced the ghost stories are just stories.

Because during one visit… something grabbed me.

The moment something clutched my leg

My first eerie encounter happened during the ship’s famous Halloween spectacular Dark Harbor.

The event transforms the historic liner into a floating nightmare packed with scare mazes and haunted attractions hidden deep inside the ship’s steel hull. One maze in particular left me genuinely shaken.

The attraction, called Lullaby, is inspired by the legend of “Jackie” — a young girl believed to have drowned in the ship’s first-class swimming pool decades ago.

Naturally, the maze is located right near where that pool still stands empty. While walking through the dark passageways, something suddenly grabbed my leg. Hard.

At the exact same moment my chest tightened and I felt like I couldn’t breathe — as if I was being dragged underwater. For a few terrifying seconds I genuinely felt like I was drowning. Then just as quickly as it began, the sensation disappeared.

My recent night in the ship’s most haunted room

That unsettling experience stuck with me, so much so that I recently decided to return to the Queen Mary and take things one step further. This time, I booked a night in Stateroom B340, the ship’s most infamous haunted cabin.

The room has built a legendary reputation among paranormal investigators and curious visitors alike. When I checked in, I was told that the room may be haunted by a spirit called Walter.

Other stories suggest a violent killer known as “Samuel the Savage” once murdered people there before taking his own life. Not exactly the most relaxing bedtime tale.

The ship fully leans into the paranormal reputation too. Inside the room I found tarot cards, a Ouija board and even a crystal ball — all waiting for guests brave enough to try contacting whatever might still linger onboard. Clearly, the Queen Mary isn’t afraid of its ghostly reputation.

The unexpected problem with staying there

The most surprising part of staying in B340 wasn’t paranormal activity. It was tourists.

The cabin is actually a stop on the ship’s ghost tours, meaning groups regularly gather outside the window while guides explain the chilling stories linked to the room.

If you forget to close the curtains, you could easily find yourself accidentally giving a live performance to a group of ghost hunters. Of course, if you’re feeling mischievous, there’s always the option of hiding behind the curtains and jumping out to scare them.

A haunted room deserves a bit of fun.

The wartime disaster still linked to the ship

Part of what makes the Queen Mary so eerie is its very real history. During World War II the liner collided with the British cruiser HMS Curacoa in 1942.

The impact split the warship in half and nearly 300 sailors drowned. Although the tragedy happened in the water beneath the liner rather than onboard it, many believe the spirits of those sailors still linger around the ship.

When I toured the lower sections of the vessel, deep inside the bow, the atmosphere suddenly felt incredibly heavy. Within seconds I developed a pounding migraine.

Maybe it was coincidence. But it was hard to ignore how different that part of the ship felt.

The creepy corridor I can’t forget

Strangely, one of the most unsettling moments happened before I even checked into my room.

While wandering the ship looking for a restroom, I ended up in a long corridor that seemed to stretch endlessly through the vessel. At the end was a bathroom filled with mist. Inside, I thought I saw the shadowy outline of a heavy-set man. I returned more than once to check if I’d imagined it. Each time the room felt just as eerie.

A ship frozen in time

Ghosts or not, the Queen Mary is an unforgettable place.

Standing alone on the deck beneath the ship’s enormous red funnels, staring up at the night sky, it feels like stepping back into another era. Historic. Mysterious. A little chilling. And after what I experienced there, I can’t help wondering whether some of the ship’s former passengers, and perhaps a few unlucky sailors, never really left.