Can the Queen Mary Be Saved?

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Breaking news out of the LA Times yesterday:

“After decades of rocky seas in Long Beach, Queen Mary in danger of sinking. Can it be saved?” 

(byline: Hayley Smith, June 1, 2021)

According to the article, the famed ship, which has been docked in the Port of Long Beach since 1967, is suffering from lack of maintenance over the time of various owners, and is now in need of emergency repairs to the tune of $23 million. There is legitimate concern the ship is in danger of capsizing or sinking, with aging steel, a faulty bilge system, and a corroded and leaking hull at the top of the list.

Before becoming a tourist attraction, the RMS Queen Mary took its maiden voyage on May 27, 1936 (85 years ago) from Southampton, England as a passenger liner. During WWII, it was recommissioned to a troop ship, then reconverted to a passenger liner after the war. 

Queen Mary was retired from official cruise ship duty in 1967 when she was thirty years old, taking her final cross-Atlantic voyage on Halloween of that year, and she has been docked in the Port of Long Beach since, serving as a hotel, tourist attraction, and (most notably for the purposes of this blog) a haunted location. Time magazine dubbed it one of the Top 10 Haunted Places. [1]

What hauntings have been reported on the Queen Mary? 

• Cabin B340 is allegedly haunted by someone who was murdered there and has been heavily advertised for its hauntedness. [2]  Prior to the pandemic, booking an overnight in that room would cost $500. Reports include lights turning on and off by themselves, knocking sounds, faucets turning on and off without human intervention, and bed covers being pulled off sleeping guests, among other things. [1]
• The children’s nursery is reported to have the sounds of phantom children playing. [2]
• The first- and second-class swimming pools are reputed to be haunted. The first-class swimming pool has been closed for thirty years, yet guests have reported seeing wet footprints leading to the pool and hearing the sounds of splashing. The second-class swimming pool is said to host the spirit of a little girl called Jackie who reportedly drowned in the pool. [3]

I’m barely scratching the surface with this list. Just google “Haunted Queen Mary” and you’ll find reports on places like Trip Advisor, hotel websites, major news sites, and enthusiast blogs like mine. 

I know the Queen Mary is really important to those of us who are interested in paranormal investigation and history (often the two interests go hand in hand). What do you think is going to happen? The LA Times article sounds quite dire, listing a long history of maintenance and ownership disputes and failures, and then with the pandemic stopping all tourism, I imagine needed funds just dried up. I truly hope they are able to save this beautiful, historic ship!

Are you interested in learning more about the Queen Mary and its hauntings? Check out some links below for more information. 

In the meantime, have you had an experience there? We’d love to hear it. Submit your paranormal encounter here.

 

Episode 4 features the Queen Mary

Season 2, Episode 1 features Queen Mary

Article Sources:

[1] https://www.queenmary.com/hotel/rooms/b340/

[2] https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2012/oct/30/travel-haunted-queen-mary-ship-long-beach-ca/

[3] https://ocghostsandlegends.com/queen-mary-real-ghost-photo-captured/

Deery Inn in Tennessee Open for Paranormal Investigators

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Will you be located anywhere near or in driving distance to Blountville, Tennessee on June 25th?

Good news, then! The "Haunted and Historic" Old Deery Inn is open for you to tour and/or investigate!

According to News Channel 11 WJHL (byline: Ben Gilliam/May 26, 2021), "ghost enthusiasts and history buffs" can unite on June 25th, when the site opens for tours.

The historic Old Deery Inn is a two-story Dutch clapboard building built in the early 1800s by William Deery, and it was expanded upon in approximately 1821 prior to his marriage. Mr. Deery was an Irish immigrant who developed the inn into a trading post with a general store and rooms for the inn upstairs. It reportedly has "nineteen rooms, two attics, a cellar, and two kitchens."[1]

The estate suffered under some litigation until the Cateses became the next owners; they ran the inn as the Cates' Hotel. According to the article at the linked footnote below, Mr. Cates bribed both Federal and Confederate troops not to shell the property during the Battle of Blountville in 1863. It survived the war, and then changed hands several times until it eventually came under the care of the Sullivan County Department of Archives and Tourism, who have restored and preserved the property. 

According to them, there have been many notable guests at the home, including "Andrew Jackson, James K. Polk, Andrew Johnson, Louis Phillipe Orleans the King of France, and the Marquis de LaFayette. The inside doors have been autographed by three Tennessee governors, including Frank Clement, Buford Ellington, and Lamar Alexander, and the front door by President Jimmy Carter." [2]

So why is the Deery Inn the focus of paranormal investigators? 

I had to do a tiny bit of digging for that info. According to one legend, there is a story of two wayfarers getting into a fracas over a horse; a murder allegedly ended that argument. There is another tale of a girl who was a "fire starter" with alleged scorch marks still being visible. And last (but probably not all there is to discover), the town's history in the Civil War and the Battle of Blountville allegedly left some marks by disquieted soldiers and townspeople affected by the battle.

Ghostly tales aside, the property seems to have great historical significance to the area. Someone even wrote their thesis, an ethnographic case study, about the Old Deery Inn and its impact on cultural memory and community identity.

Attend the event

If you'd like to tour and investigate the Old Deery Inn, the event runs from 6:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. on June 25, 2021, and is open for people aged 12 and up. Preregistration is necessary. The Southern Research Society (SRS) will give tours and demonstrations on using paranormal investigating equipment. 

Register by email to: srshistorian@hotmail.com

Fee for registration: $25

Location Address: 3397 TN-126, Blountville, TN 37617

Location Phone: (423) 323-4660 

So hey, if you go, let us know how it was! 

Either comment below or write up your experiences here. 👻

[1], [2] Sullivan County Department of Archives and Tourism [link]

Book Review: The Farnsworth House Haunting: On the Gettysburg Ghost Trail by Richard Estep

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I’ve had this book on my to-read list for a long time, and a couple of months ago, I finished it in only a couple of days. I was able to get it in the Kindle edition.

Synopsis:

This book is a history of the Farnsworth House and the role it played in the Battle of Gettysburg in July of 1863. It is also a history of Richard Estep and his team’s investigation of the Farnsworth House, with experiencer accounts included as Mr. Estep interviewed people who had witnessed objects moving, strange voices, etc. while he stayed there. He also included evidence from Brad Klinge of Ghost Lab (and known for video footage of a soldier on the battlefield). The Klinge brothers had done an investigation of Farnsworth House that was very interesting, which was touched on here. Finally, at the end is a short piece of historical fiction to give the reader a realistic sense of what things were like during the war.

My thoughts:

I gave this book 5 stars on Goodreads without even hesitating! It was a real page-turner and well researched, with a friendly, accessible voice and tone. You could almost imagine Richard Estep just talking to you as you read it. I appreciated his thoroughness in both historical research and trying to get a balanced sense of what the paranormal issues are. He has a knack of giving your mind’s eye the details it needs to envision past and present together as he discusses his team’s investigation.

I was particularly impressed by the short fiction piece at the end. I had no idea that would be in the book before I started, but it was an immersive experience and I got quite emotional. I used to be a Civil War reenactor, and I know Gettysburg quite well. For someone to be able to help you really see the battles for the human toll they took is quite a gift.

Get the book:

You can find The Farnsworth House Haunting: On the Gettysburg Ghost Trail in various formats on Amazon. At the time of this posting, it was also available for free with your Kindle Unlimited subscription. I read this book via my KU subscription and love that for a small monthly fee I have excellent books at my fingertips anytime I wish! 

Inquire with your local bookstore or library about availability in those venues. While I provide links to books as a courtesy, if you want to support your library or indie bookstore, or buy from the author directly, I always support that!

Have you been to Farnsworth House, and if so, have you had an experience? Submit your story or share one in the comments! I'd love to hear all about it, especially as I am about to go to Gettysburg in a little more than a week.

Seeing the Humor in the Haunted Edinburgh Vaults

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Have you ever been to Edinburgh, Scotland? 

There are lots of opportunities to get creeped out there, what with Edinburgh Castle, Greyfriars Kirkyard, and the Edinburgh Vaults, to name a few.

My dad took us on a trip in the summer of 2001, and it was like a dream come true. I had always wanted to go to Scotland!  

Edinburgh 2001

We traipsed through the city like happy little beans, seeing all the castles, parades, churches, cemeteries, and ghost tours we could fit in before we then went on excursions through the countryside, such as to Loch Ness and Oban. I absolutely loved the city, the atmosphere, and the time with my folks. I'd love to do a further write-up of some of the spooky places we visited, but for now, I'll focus on the Edinburgh Vaults.

The Edinburgh Vaults were built sometime in the late 1700s as chambers beneath the South Bridge that were used for storage, workshops, and space for businesses in the South Bridge district. At one point cobblers, smelters, cutlers, milliners and other legitimate trades all operated businesses there.  But the vaults weren't impervious to water and were eventually abandoned by those businesses. After they cleared out, certain sections of the vaults had become like a slum, inhabited by the city's shadier side. Robbers, murderers, and brothels all plied their trade in the vaults. It is said even body snatchers operated there! 

There was poor sanitation and airflow, making it a hotbed of disease. Eventually, water seepage meant this barely habitable area became completely uninhabitable, and the vaults were abandoned to time until one day in 1985 when excavation of the area brought their existence to the public eye once again. And in 2001, my Dad bought us tickets for the ghost tour of the Edinburgh Vaults.

Back to the present day...

I saw the following bit of comedy come up on my newsfeed last week and just about died laughing because it brought my memories of our tour of the vaults right back: Scottish comedian Eleanor Morton has done a send-up of a bored tour guide in the Edinburgh Vaults. Check it out (with apologies for the language):

Edinburgh Ghost Tour Guide Doesn't Give a Fuck pic.twitter.com/KLfZ7igAi4

— Eleanor Morton (@EleanorMorton) May 7, 2021

If you've ever been to the vaults, then I bet you howled! Thankfully, our tour guide was not anything like "Craig," but I can appreciate the joke.

All joking aside, if you can ever get to Edinburgh and tour the vaults, I highly recommend it for creep factor. I remember feeling quite claustrophobic down there, which added to the eerie experience. They are like horrible labyrinths, dank and damp and musty, the kind of place your imagination can grow wild with fear as you tour with a hopefully less disinterested tour guide than the one portrayed by Ms. Morton. 

Our tour guide did a spectacular job keeping the suspense going. I remember in one of the vaults, I got a sickly feeling that made the hairs on my arms stand up on end, and I'm not sure if it was just the tour guide's influence when she mentioned that in one of the rooms, women in particular were attacked, seemingly by a nasty, male spirit, or if something else caused Dad and I to get our hackles up, but my Dad got pretty protective, like he wasn't taking any chances letting me be last out of that room. 

The sickly feeling continued, and I had to do a clearing afterwards. And by "clearing," I mean that when we got to the end of the tour, I told my dad we needed to find the nearest pub for a beer and some fresh air. 🍻

I will probably never go down there again if I get to Edinburgh in the future (once was enough, thank you very much!) but if you haven't been, I recommend you check out the Edinburgh Vaults. Let us know your experiences in Edinburgh, in the vaults or otherwise, in the comments — or better yet, submit a spooky report here! 

Mothman Festival is ON!

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The news came out a few weeks ago, and I've made my hotel reservation, because...

The 2021 Mothman Festival is ON!

The organizers' website states the following at the time I’m writing this:

“SEPTEMBER 18th & 19th 2021 - ***We currently plan on moving forward with the Mothman Festival for 2021 assuming that we are given the OK by our state and local health departments in regards to restrictions if still in place that can be conducive in a festival setting such as ours.....Thanks and hope to see you all in September.***”

I'm mentioning it here because in the course of talking with some vendors at another event I attended, they weren't aware that the festival was back on. I wonder how many people assume it’s still canceled? 

I've never been to the Mothman Festival before, but it's been a bucket list item for me for a long time. I have no idea what to expect, though. It looks like part street fair, part paranormal festival — I can’t wait to find out! 

I'm also looking forward to going because it means I can hang out with at least two authors I've enjoyed working with, but they live far away, so we’re not often in the same time zone.

Got any tips for a Mothman Fest newbie? Drop your advice below in the comments! 

Are you coming to Phenom 2020?

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That’s right... Phenom 2020 is finally happening... in 2021! 

Let me tell you about Phenom.

Way back in 2012 or 2013, I started going to paranormal conventions. And one of the very first ones I went to was called Phenomenology, in Gettysburg at the Eisenhower Hotel, which is located right off the battlefields near the Eisenhower Farm.

When I started going to paranormal conventions, I knew no one, but I had listened to some podcasts and connected with a few people via social media, and I heard about what we all now lovingly call “Phenom.”

Why do I use the word “lovingly”? 

Because this is the most welcoming, friendly event — one where lifetime friendships are made and the vibe is more like a paranormal family reunion than a “convention.” 

That first year I went, I heard about a meetup for lunch prior to the start of the convention at a diner in the middle of town, so I went. I made lifelong friends at that lunch, people who are very dear to me. And by meeting them in a smaller setting, I then knew familiar faces at the larger convention when it began. 

The organizer, Dana Wingerd, and her team were very professional, warm and friendly ... and they all became lifelong friends, too. You may come in a stranger, but you’ll leave having made new friends.

So why do I tell you all this? It’s to inspire you to COME to the next one the weekend of June 3-6 in Gettysburg where it all began, at the newly remodeled Eisenhower Hotel.

Phenom 2020 had originally been scheduled for March of last year, but had to be postponed because of the pandemic. Then it was impossible to reschedule until this year. 

Featured guests will include Dave Schrader, Shane Pittman, Tim Dennis, Jeff Belanger, Aaron Sagers, Chris Fleming, Jason Hawes, Shari DeBenedetti, John Zaffis, Andrea Perron, and so many more! And the vendor room is always hoppin’. The event always rounds out with a nice themed party — this year’s is Haunted 20s.

The details:

• June 3-6, 2021
• Get info and tickets here. 
• Follow the event on Facebook here.
• Hotel info is here. 

Note you must CALL the Eisenhower and Aspire Hotel and mention you’re with the paranormal convention for the group room rate. Rooms are almost sold out, so don’t hesitate!

And most importantly...

Plan to have fun! 👻

Will we see you there? Let us know in the comments! 

A Fun Day at the Southwest Pennsylvania Haunted Con!

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I had a great time at the SW PA HauntedCon! 

This past weekend I hopped into my little car and tootled down to Waynesburg, PA, a town I hadn’t been to since the 2010 Sheep & Fiber Festival....and I can’t believe how quickly time flies now I say that. It was an absolutely gorgeous day for an indoor/outdoor event. This was the second SW PA HauntedCon, and I hope this will be an annual event for many years to come. It's worth the trip!

HauntedCon was hosted at the Greene County Historical Society Museum, which is located at the site of the old county poor house and has a lot of history and hauntings associated with it. 

The museum is situated on grounds with many outbuildings. There is the main house, originally under private ownership, then it was sold to the county and expanded to become the poor house in the mid-1800s. Then there are several cabins and outbuildings behind that, a large barn, and another cabin to the front of the barn. There is even a railroad restoration workshop of some kind, but I didn’t have time to explore that. 

The event featured speakers in the barn area, vendors in the main house, and refreshments were served in the cabin in front of the barn. 

Greene County Historical Society Museum – original house

There was also a Native American cultural interpreter — Todd Johnson of Ghost in the Head — reenacting in the cabins behind the main house. The gentleman told me he is Huron and spends his days as a living history educator and actor who demonstrates what living in a particular period would have been like, and everything on display in the cabin was made by him. For instance, he showed me a pump drill, which I’d never seen before. And because I’m a crafter, I really enjoyed looking at the beadwork on display as well. 

The cabins where Todd Johnson of Ghost in the Head was stationed.

Here’s the lecture lineup: 

• Ron Murphy spoke about witches and witchcraft, both from a broader historical perspective and a local perspective, including a really spooky encounter he once had with an entity that may related to a local witch story. Ask him to tell you about his scarf if you ever bump into him — it’s a good one! 
• Kevin Paul gave a preview of his upcoming book (full disclosure: I edited it) and while doing so, he let the audience know he didn’t realize he’d written 13 chapters until I pointed it out to him. I will never not notice 13 of anything; it’s in my blood! :) Look for Vol. 2 of Haunted Hills & Hollows soon.
• Stan Gordon spoke about continued anomalies in Pennsylvania. Stan couldn’t attend in person, but I have a lot of respect for how he called in and gave the lecture over the phone, hooked up to the sound system via Google Voice and a laptop.
• Northern Appalachian Paranormal Society (N.A.P.S.) gave a lecture on some of their findings from investigating the museum. I unfortunately missed most of this one due to needing a break for water.
• Joey & Tonya Madia gave a lecture on their experiences investigating the museum and also the Earle W. Webb, Jr., Memorial Library in Morehead, NC, which they spent two years investigating, as well as some time they spent in Point Pleasant, WV (scene of the famous Mothman phenomenon).
• Panel discussion with all the speakers, which was very interactive. Instead of just taking audience questions, the panel treated it like a roundtable discussion that included the room at large. Topics touched on having respect for the subjects and properties in paranormal investigations, including how if an entity makes it known investigators aren’t wanted, they’ll stop investigating that area. (This reminded me of the time an entity escorted me politely out of a building in Gettysburg, but that’s a story for another time). Also discussed were NDEs and “Summerland” (in which I found out my NDE experience is not necessarily unique, so now I’m curious for more info about that—also a story for another time); and general questions/comments from the audience.

The vendors were located inside the main building. Books, candles, luminaries, masks/notebook covers/tea towels, whimsical birdhouses, tarot readings, unique accessories, awesome art, T-shirts, and some really cool soaps. Below are some pictures of the items I bought (because of course I bought a book and a journal and some art for my office), and I'm including some links to books you can check out by authors who were at the event. (I’m an editor, okay? I’m always going to recommend good books. 📚)

The weather was nice and the scenery was breathtaking. Everyone seemed to have fun, too! I think even the ghosts were enjoying it, because until I got upstairs into a particular section of the building, the house itself felt light as a spring breeze — for the most part. There were a few heavy spots here and there — and at least one room I did not want to go into. And at one point I heard footsteps that were not exactly possible—someone was coming up behind me, and there wasn’t anyone there, but I could feel the approach through the floor as well as hear the steps—so I just excused myself to whoever (or whatever) and continued on my way.

Oh, and someone living has a macabre sense of humor: I got a kick out of the private office where a fully-dressed skeleton was sitting in a chair, complete with floral dress and sun hat.

See the skeleton peeking out?

Art from 1331 studios –
Perfect for my office!

Universal Classic Monsters Notebook
by Miss Trixie's Quilty Pleasures 

Ron Murphy gave a great talk
about topics covered in this book

Kevin Paul's book with
Rosemary Ellen Guiley
about Greene County. 
Look for Vol. 2 soon!

The Madias discussed the
investigation covered in this book
        

If SW PA HauntedCon happens again next year, go! And I think I would like to return some day to see the museum when there isn’t an event going on, as I really didn’t have enough time to view the exhibits. The building and grounds have a lot to offer.

Have you been to the Greene County Historical Society? Tell us about your investigation or experience here!