October 29, 2024 • 39 mins
Long Beach, CA | This week, we’re back aboard the Queen Mary, diving into firsthand accounts of its paranormal activity with Nicole Strickland, author of Haunted Queen of the Seas: The Living Legend of the RMS Queen Mary. From her first visit, Nicole was captivated by the ship’s blend of rich history and paranormal intrigue. Despite its wartime tragedies and mysterious incidents, you may be pleasantly surprised—these spirits are more sociable and curious than menacing, adding depth to the Queen Mary’s vibrant and storied reputation.
To learn more about Nicole Stickland’s work, check out her website at www.nicoledstrickland.com and follow her on social media at facebook.com/authornicolestrickland and instagram.com/authornicolestrickland/.
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📚 In a world of viral history clips and quick hot takes, we do right by the many historians, journalists, and researchers who made this episode possible by citing their work. Our key reference for this episode is:
Strickland, N. (2024). Haunted queen of the seas: The living legend of the RMS Queen Mary (4th ed.). KayliMax Books.
https://nicoledstrickland.com/haunted-queen-of-the-seas
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello Dark City fans.
This is Leah.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
And this is April.
This week we have a specialguest interview in honor of
spooky season.
Author of the book HauntedQueen of the Seas the Living
Legend of the RMS, queen Mary,nicole Strickland joins us and
shares some ghost stories aswell as her experiences from the
time that she has spent on theship.
(00:24):
If you haven't already listenedto episode 18, where we talked
about the Queen Mary's historyand ghost stories, we encourage
you to give it a listen first.
This is Dark City, season one,los Angeles.
Nicole, I just wanted to startby saying thank you for joining
us.
We're very excited to be ableto do this with you.
(00:45):
Can you tell us a little bitabout yourself and how you were
first introduced to the QueenMary?
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Oh, absolutely.
First of all, thank you guysfor having me.
It really is an honor.
Queen Mary, where do I start?
So it's one.
It's an interesting story.
So my mom actually ballroomdanced in the Veranda Grill,
which used to be the StarlightRoof Club.
It was a very famous restaurantfor cabin first class
(01:12):
passengers there back in the day.
So I knew about the ship many,many years ago and it was I was
spring break and it was my, Ibelieve my junior year in
college and one of my friendsand I came back out here to do
the three day carnival cruisethat they have.
So we came back out fromArizona, out here, spent spring
(01:33):
break here, and I saw the QueenMary for the first time out of
the backseat of a car and I justremember saying to myself oh my
goodness, I will be backsomeday, so fast forward to
about 2005.
That's when I actually firstwent on board the ship for the
first time, on ADEC, where thehotel lobby check-in is, and it
just felt like home.
(01:54):
It felt instantly familiar, itfelt as though I've been there
before and that's actually whenit started and never at that
point did I realize that I wouldhave been 20 years out.
Here I am, you know,researching the ship
historically, paranormally.
But yeah, that's how it allstarted.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
How many times have you investigated there now?
Speaker 3 (02:16):
You know it's spanning over about 20 years.
It's many, it's several I don'thave an exact number per se,
but several and in variousdifferent areas of the ship.
So former first and third classpool, engine room, boiler rooms
, other sorts of public rooms,but it's been many times.
Just enough to where I can getan idea of really what's going
(02:38):
on on board the Queen Mary.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Yeah, do you still get that same feeling that you
got the first time that you wenton board?
Speaker 3 (02:49):
Yeah, I would say yes , and it's interesting for those
that have actually never beenon board.
But as I've done a lot ofresearch, historical research
I've interviewed former crew andformer passengers and war
brides and even her former crew,many of them have said, wow,
the Queen Mary is sentient.
Even Captain John TreasureJones once said the Queen Mary
(03:11):
is as closest to a human beingof any ship I've ever commanded.
So I think a lot of people feelthis real close bond and
connection with the Queen Mary.
I myself am one of them and Iactually felt that the first
time I went on board.
And it's one of those thingsit's hard to put in words per se
, but it's just.
You'll know if you're one ofthose people.
(03:33):
It's just it hits you and it'sso, yeah, that's it's, it's
pretty, it's an incrediblefeeling really.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
I do have a question on that.
What do you think it is aboutthis particular ship?
Or, if you've heard of it, theCecil Hotel in LA, where they
have this undercurrent ofsomething.
Oh yeah, how is that possible?
Speaker 3 (03:55):
You know it's so interesting, the Cecil.
Have you guys been, by the way,to the Cecil?
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Oh, I don't know if you can go inside now.
It's public housing.
Now I've driven past it, Okaybefore I was able to.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
Yeah, so I haven't been recently, but I've heard
from this, I've heard peoplethat have actually investigated
it.
They've said, wow, the hotel isalive.
I mean, it has such a weirdhistory, you know, it has
suicides and murders and whatnot.
I think with the Queen Marythere's different layers of
history.
I think the Queen Mary has sucha rich historical narrative
(04:29):
from having dignitaries andmembers of the aristocracy and
World War II service men andwhat celebrities dignitaries,
like I said, so many people fromall walks of life have sailed
on the Queen Mary.
Like I said, so many peoplefrom all walks of life have
sailed on the Queen Mary andjust her career during the war
and just all this history withthe ship.
I mean you can go a lifetimelearning about the Queen Mary
(04:52):
and still not uncover it all.
So I think history is probablyfirst and foremost as to why
there's so much activity onboard.
But then you have to thinkabout too, while she sits in
water.
There's a theory that, okay, ifghosts and spirits may be
attracted to water, it's anatural conductor of electricity
.
You have the items that wentinto the making of the ship.
(05:17):
You have the iron, you have themanganese, bronze propellers.
You have the 56 differentvarieties of woods from all over
the world.
So you have all of thesecomponents and I think they just
all work in tandem andproviding a nice layer of
spiritual activity.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
What was your first paranormal experience on the
ship?
Speaker 3 (05:36):
Oh my gosh, my first one.
Okay, yes, this would have beennow, this would have been with
Jackie, but I didn't know it atthe time, so this would have
been 2005.
And so I was staying on ADEC.
Where was I?
Portside Forward ADEC, and itwas about one or two in the
morning, give or take, and Idecided to go walk around.
So I exited my room and Iremember turning left, going
(05:57):
forward, and something said turnaround.
So I turned around and maybeabout I'd say, 10, 15 feet from
me there was a little girlstanding in the middle of the
hallway wearing what looked likea blue nightgown or like a blue
plain dress, and she didn't sayanything, but her hand went
slightly up, as if she was goingto wave to me, and she slightly
(06:18):
smiled and then I saw herdissipate.
So, as the years went on.
I realized that that was withJackie, and so people have seen
her.
She's thought to be verysimilar to like a Shirley Temple
, very intelligent, about sixand a half seven years old.
We don't know her origins.
It's thought that the latepsychic resident Peter James
(06:39):
felt that maybe she passed awayin the second class pool.
Again, that's not been verifiedso we don't really know her
origins but for whatever reason,she's highly intelligent, very
interactive, drawn to certainpeople.
Oh my gosh, I have so manyexperiences with her, both
hearing her audibly to EVPcaptures to seeing her.
She's adorable, absolutelyadorable.
(07:01):
I love her.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
What other types of experiences have you had aboard
the Queen Mary and other thanJackie?
What are some of the mostmemorable ones?
Speaker 3 (07:13):
Oh gosh, there's so many to describe over like so
many years.
I always tell people it's veryaudio friendly so you can be on
board and hear disembodiedvocalizations, both male, female
, young and old, whisper,regular tone.
It's very visual.
So a lot of people will seelike full bodied apparitions or
partially manifested apparitions, a lot of shadow figure
(07:36):
interplay, more common, I wouldsay, in the hotel deck areas and
in the former first and thirdclass pool.
But I've had so manyexperiences from different
disembodied vocalizations toseeing full bodied apparitions
of former crew, formerpassengers, even World War II
servicemen, some of the more Ishouldn't say famous but more
(07:58):
well-known spirits like Jackieor the young crewman.
That's sad.
I'm not going to mention hisname out of respect for the
family.
But the tragic case of theyoung man from York's sad, I'm
not going to mention his nameout of respect for the family,
but the tragic case of the youngman from Yorkshire who was on
his I believe his third voyagein 1966.
He was a fireman and bilgecleaner and was found wedged in
watertight door.
Number 13 sadly didn't make itso.
(08:18):
People have experienced him aswell as different energies.
Even phantom cats have beenspotted on board.
Oh my gosh, yeah, I mean I'lltell that experience but it's so
hard to condense becausethere's been so many.
But yeah, it's been a range.
But just it's very consistentwhich and I've investigated a
lot of different locations, youknow ships, homes, uh,
(08:41):
historical, other historical,even asylums and whatnot.
And with the Queen Mary there'ssuch a consistency in the
activity and you can have oneperson report almost an
identical experience five yearsapart.
Another person almost reportsthe same thing.
So there's just a really goodsense of consistency.
(09:01):
Is it haunted?
My definition for a hauntingwould be that there has to be
some sort of historical tie tothe property.
So whatever activity is goingon there, there has to be some
sort of historical tie, someconnection to the history, and I
think you do have that with theQueen Mary Speaking about the
cat.
So I was in the woman's changingroom area in the former first
and third class pool during aninvestigation.
(09:23):
I think this was when was this2015.
?
So we were all in this area andI was in one stall and some of
the other people were in otherstalls and all of a sudden,
across from me, this womanshouted out.
She said I felt something touchmy ankle, so then we all just
got quiet and then walking outof that stall.
(09:43):
Then we all just got quiet andthen walking out of that stall.
Many of us saw a cat, almostfull bodied, walk out of the
entrance to the women's changingrooms, then, after a few
moments, walked right back inand meowed right in front of us,
and it was captured on therecorder.
Oh, these are the types of.
I mean, there's so manydifferent types of experiences.
I've had my hair kind of tugged.
(10:05):
I've been like touched on theshoulder.
Phantom smells.
There's a, an earthbound.
Some people call him the.
What is that?
Cologne?
Speaker 2 (10:17):
I forget the name of the old spice.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
Yes, yeah, I was on and again it could have been
another person staying inanother room, but it was so
pungent in the bathroom and thenI walked out into the room and
then it was gone.
And then it just it was gonelike in a matter of seconds and
I thought, well, if it wasanyone living, it kind of would
have stayed after a while.
So I mean, it's just there'sbeen so many, it's really hard
(10:40):
to describe them all.
I try to get them all in mybooks but it's really hard.
Are any of them malevolent?
Not in my opinion.
Nope, not at all.
That is great.
Yeah, people have said oh,nicole, you're an expert on the
Queen Mary.
I disagree with that, because Ithink the real expert is the
ship itself.
I feel like I'm a student ofthe Queen Mary and, yes, I've
been going there for years.
(11:01):
I have a pretty good idea ofthe paranormal activity and,
based on my own experiences, Ido not at all.
I think the ship is a verywelcoming, very loving sort of
vessel.
Yes, she's seen tragedy.
She's seen death, hard timesduring the war and whatnot, but
no, not one time in myexperience have I ever felt
threatened.
So that's my take.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
That's my kind of haunting, see, right, yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
I'm going to go anywhere knowing it's haunted.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And there was a TV show I'm notgoing to say the name and the
first half of it or whatnot andsomeone did come on and say this
is a ship with evil forces.
And I just sat there and italmost made me want to cry
(11:52):
because I'm like that is so notthe truth.
I mean, when you look at herhistory, she's done so much for
humanity, for example lesseningWorld War II by about a year,
along with her sistership.
So she's a very humanitariansort of vessel and I think a lot
of people go on there.
They don't realize and don'tappreciate its history and what
it's gone through.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
So Right, and I always wonder too, when people
say it's evil, what do they meanby that?
What did it do?
Besides, you know, violate whatwe think you know is real and
not.
But it's not the same as doingsomething evil, right, right.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
Exactly, that's a good point.
I think there's a differencebetween the word negative and
malevolent, because you, someone, can, you can have an entity
that maybe had a negativeexperience, maybe had a tragic
death, but that doesn't mean heor she is negative per se.
But a lot of times people go onand maybe, like I said, they
don't know the history, they'renot familiar with the energy or
(12:41):
the environment, and you have tobe careful that they're not
projecting their own stuff ontoit.
Sometimes it's a fear of theunknown too.
Yeah, or what they think isgoing to happen, yeah, and so
then they kind of misquote theenergy there and misinterpret it
.
But in my experience, no, notat all.
It's very welcoming.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Are there rooms that you can stay in if you don't
want any activity happeningwhile you're in them?
Speaker 3 (13:09):
That is a hard question to ask, because you
know ghosts and paranormalactivity doesn't act on you,
right?
Speaker 2 (13:14):
They're not like okay , I'll stay in these three rooms
.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
Right, so there is a haunted rooms list and I think
that was generated just becausethose specific rooms got more
reports over the years.
But that doesn't mean that,let's say, a room that's not on
that list that doesn't mean thatit's fair game and you won't
have an experience, right?
So, yeah, it's hard to say,because you really, no matter
(13:38):
where you are on the ship, canhave an experience.
Just, some rooms are a littlebit more reported than others.
Experience.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
Just some rooms are a little bit more reported than
than others.
Yeah, I don't know how I woulddo with that.
I've had, I've had experiencesbefore only a couple times in
life, and one time I was youngerand I didn't react real well.
And then one time was a littlemore recently and I was like
there's no explanation for that,but I'm okay.
Like there's no explanation forthat, but I'm okay, right.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
Yeah, it's hard to know.
I mean, I've had experienceswhere I'll feel maybe someone
sitting down on the bed orrustling about in my bags of
snacks or whatnot hearingfootsteps knocks on the
stateroom doors and you open upand there's no one there and you
check the halls Sometimes phonecalls that can happen.
Is that a phone issue?
The stateroom doors and youopen up and there's no one there
and you check the hallsSometimes phone calls that can
(14:27):
happen.
Is that a phone issue?
Maybe plumbing issues faucetsturning on, drawers coming out
again with the faucets it couldbe a plumbing issue, but it's
just and it can be startling forsome people, especially if
they're you know they're notfamiliar.
See, for me, I'm familiar withthe ship, so it's like it just
goes in one ear and out theother.
I don't care.
(14:47):
Yeah, I can see how it can bestartling for some people, but a
lot of it too.
I think is is residual in thesense of that.
But I think with the Queen Marythere's a bit of a mix between
residual type of phenomena likea psychic imprint, right, actual
intelligent energies.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
I will choose to interact with you yeah, yeah so
yeah, have you had um anintelligent interaction that
like really stuck with you.
That left a big impression onyou I have.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
I have actually and and there, well there's, there's
several, I'm trying to think ofa more recent one.
I would say I'll share this one.
So this was not this last July,but the July before.
And again, it was the samegroup of friends that I
mentioned earlier.
We all got together just to seeeach other and it was I think
(15:42):
July 8th, so it was about 1, seeeach other, and it was I think
July 8th.
So I was about 1, 1.30 in mystateroom and I was staying on a
deck way aft.
So I was the way aft room onstarboard.
And so about 1, 1.30 and I gotin my room and I just decided to
do a little EVP session.
Now I will advise to not dothis sort of thing when you're
(16:02):
alone, but I feel like I'm sofamiliar with the ship I felt
comfortable to do it.
So I was asking some questionsand I got a sense of maybe a
World War II serviceman with me.
So I started to just kind ofhave a discussion with him and
at one point I asked you know,did you sail on the Queen Mary
or the Curacao?
(16:22):
So the Curacao was its WorldWar I escort.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
And.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
I'm sure you guys have heard of this on October
2nd 1942, the compass was off byabout a couple of degrees.
So what happened is the QueenMary rammed in the Curacao,
sliced it in half and over 300of its sailors perished, sadly.
So the Queen Mary could notstop.
I mean, commodore Ellingworthwas like okay, do I stop or do I
continue to go, because he had15,000 souls on board.
(16:48):
So he continued to go and theythrew out life preservers and
whatnot.
So I asked this during thesession.
I said did you sail on theQueen Mary of the Curacao?
And then I thought I heard likean audible response of Queen
Mary.
But then when I went andreviewed my audio a couple days
later, this was EVP, so I didn'thear this at the time.
There was a capture of a youngman and he said I tried to miss
(17:12):
the ship, which to me suggestsintelligence, and I think he was
referring to I tried to missthe Queen Mary, that perhaps,
maybe he was on the curacao.
Yeah, so that's an example ofwhen you can get a real
historical or a response thatcorrelates to not only what
you're talking about but to theship's history, and so that was
(17:32):
really touching.
But I've had so many.
I've had one that was reallyprofound and I try not to talk
about him too much just out ofrespect for the family, but this
is the young 18-year-old manwho came from Skipton and sadly
lost his life on board.
This was, let's see, 2015.
I was in boiler room numberthree and I was kind of in a
(17:53):
daydream state on what we usedto call the Disney stage in
there and I was looking.
I was just kind of like dazingoff and all of a sudden, out of
my right peripheral vision, Isaw something and when I looked
over it was him absolutely,because there is a historical
photo of him from the shouldersup and kind of in a sepia black
(18:15):
and white tone although that'skind of the lighting in the room
anyways and he moved toward me,stopped and smiled and floated
back, but I felt such a sense ofpeace when I saw that and so
that was really touching.
But I have gosh, there's somany, it's just there's so many.
But those are two that morerecent ones, I should say.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Yeah, I do like these friendly ghost experiences.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
Oh yeah, and you will get that on the Queen Mary.
Generally less afraid.
Yeah, it is a very homey and Iyou know it's interesting with
the Queen Mary and some peoplemay listen to this and say, oh
my God, she's so full of BS.
But in a way I kind of likewith the seesaw.
The seesaw has a little bitmore of a darker sort of history
, but I do believe that the shipis sentient in a way.
(19:02):
So if you think about that andassuming that's true, you have
the ship as one giganticsentient being and then you have
her human and animal spirits.
So they kind of interplay andinteract with one another and I
think it's possible that a lotof the energy is on board,
especially the intelligent ones.
(19:22):
They know each other, it's hardto explain, it's just in it.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
Yeah, go ahead.
It kind of reminds me a littlebit of we covered.
There's a haunted in in Denvercalled the Croke Patterson.
I don't think the ghosts thereare like you never know but
there's definitely some that arenot nice, malevolent.
(19:50):
But so there's a theory,because that mansion and then
another house or mansion thename is escaping me they were
both built with.
I think I called it Manitousandstone and it's really
Manitou sandstone yeah, thegarden of the gods.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
And so there's this theory that maybe there is
something about that sandstonethat is special and that's why
it reminds me of, in a way, thestanley hotel in estes park,
colorado, because they thinkthat, again, the geology of it,
so the limestone in the courtsmay hold impressions from the
(20:30):
past.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Nicole, do you feel like the ship or any of the
spirits on the ship recognizeyou because you've been so many
times?
Speaker 3 (20:40):
Oh my gosh, I get asked this all the time.
I think so, and I think this isthe same for other people that
go frequently as well.
There have been many times, Ican't count, but quite a few
usually happens within the firstfive or 10 minutes that I'm on
board and I'll hear male, female, regular tone voice whisper
either like hi, nicole, orNicole's here, and I'm
(21:02):
meticulous, okay.
So I look around and make sureit's not anyone else that has my
name or anything like that, andon these occasions I've looked
and I can't it, just I can't.
It's no one else that I can,that I can decipher.
So crazy.
But yeah, I think so.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
I think so yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
It's a good feeling.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Yeah, Especially if it's a welcoming it is peaceful.
I don't know.
It seemed like in even just alittle bit of research that I
did, that the ship was very wellloved.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
Oh, absolutely, yeah, very well loved, and still is.
I mean her even when she waslaunched.
I say this and this may soundhokey, but I think the ship's
destiny was sealed long beforeher inception.
Just, I mean, even with withthe depression which halted the
building because she wassupposed to launch in 1932 and
didn't launch until 34.
Current cunard chairman, sirpercy bates, received thousands
(21:58):
of letters from people saying,oh my gosh, please finish job
534, which was her whole numberat the time, before she was
named, and so, yeah, so it'svery well loved, and even to
this day as well.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
Yeah, in your opinion , is there a certain area or
areas on the ship that are themost haunted or have the most
activity?
Speaker 3 (22:22):
I think a lot of the areas that they go to on the
tours.
They just get more reports.
So I think there are many areason board that aren't traveled
to as much by people, so theynaturally won't get as many
reports.
But former first and thirdclass pool, which is a big one,
the aft engine room, the oldboiler rooms, the X hall, which
(22:45):
was actually the forward engineroom, and boiler number five,
those sorts of areas, publicrooms, even the hotel decks.
Now, in my experience and thisis just based on my experience
over the years forward, a and Bseem to be pretty active,
especially by the oldthird-class stairway.
(23:05):
But again, like I said earlier,it's fair game.
But I would say if I had topick one location on the ship
which has had more accounts andmore reports, I would probably
say the former first andthird-class pool.
Okay, just because it'sconsidered the heart of the
Queen Mary and whatnot, a lot ofactivity, a lot of reports come
(23:28):
out from that area.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
Yeah, so, other than Jackie, what are some of the
reports that come out of thefirst and third class pool?
Speaker 3 (23:37):
So Jackie's one of them.
There is another younger girl,maybe about three.
She's long blonde hair, alittle bit younger.
She's been seen in the poolarea.
She's been seen even in theengine room and boiler rooms.
We don't really know who she is.
There's another girl that'solder, thought to be her name to
be Sarah.
Again, we don't really know herorigins.
(23:58):
It's thought that she's maybe.
I don't know age, maybe 11, 12,dark brown hair, short brown
hair.
There have been sightings ofpeople jumping into the pool.
There's a woman in like anolder bathing suit that is seen
jumping into the pool.
I actually captured an EVP many, many, many years ago of actual
(24:19):
phantom swimming.
So the pool has no water right.
So you can hear on the clippeople doing laps in the pool.
There's activity in the women'schanging room.
From my experience there's amale energy in there.
We don't necessarily know whohe is.
Underneath the stairs Somepeople call there's another
group of, I think a couple ofmen.
Some people call them grumpy.
(24:40):
I didn't describe the nickname,but that's.
Other investigators have donethat.
Let's see.
There is a.
Now I've not spotted this, butI've heard claims of an old
Italian POW with no legs thathas been spotted in the pool
area.
So it's quite a few experiences.
Jackie's probably the moreknown type of energy, but she's
(25:01):
not just, in my opinion,isolated the pool.
I've had encounters with herelsewhere as well.
But it's interesting, though,to be in there and imagine
seeing a woman and this sightingat least some people that have
spotted this she's been seen inblack and white who jumps into
the?
Speaker 2 (25:19):
pool.
Speaker 3 (25:21):
I've not seen it myself, but I've heard many
stories.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
It's crazy and that she's in black and white and not
what we would see with our eyes.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
Yeah, isn't that weird yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
So you touched on this, maybe a little bit, in
your book that you mentionedthat there are parts of the ship
that are now closed to thepublic that you've been able to
investigate.
What areas are those and whatkinds of activity have you
encountered there?
Speaker 3 (25:45):
Gargoyle Pit, which is actually below the waterline,
and so this was where theyactually housed POWs.
So imagine standing room, onlybread and water being lowered in
by buckets the heat during thistime, because the ship was
(26:07):
designed for the North Atlanticroute, so during the war she
would sail to a lot of these hot, humid climates.
So imagine just being packed inthere like sardines, bread and
water lowered just in a bucket.
Many of them would succumb anddie and then their bodies would
tragically be thrownunceremoniously overboard.
So I had an experience downthere once.
(26:30):
I was with a team ofinvestigators and we were doing
some EVP work and all of asudden I said I remember me
asking the question and I saidis there anything that we can do
for you?
And I didn't hear anything atthe time.
But again, when I went back andreviewed my audio a few days
later, I captured a man.
He sounded frail, which isinteresting, and he said I'm
hungry, and so that really gotme.
(26:52):
But Patrick Wheelock used to dotours on board the Queen Mary
with Beyond Investigationmagazine and I think this
obviously the stories in thebook.
He was down there one night andall of a sudden doing a tour
and this woman's ponytailstarted going straight up and so
he investigated it to make sureshe wasn't.
You know there wasn't wire inthere or anything like that.
There wasn't wire in there oranything like that.
(27:13):
Obviously no, they couldn'texplain it, but her ponytail
literally went straight up andstood up for a few moments
before coming down, which is tome incredible.
I wasn't there this night, butthat's the stories in the book,
I think.
Haunted Queen of the Seas.
So, that's one area.
The boiler rooms right now arejust accessible on certain tours
(27:35):
, so the X Hall isn't reallyopen.
Ardek Forward's another areawhere Matt Schultz used to do
investigations on board prior toCOVID for many years and he
would take people into ArdekForward, right way forward in
the rope locker area, and sothat's not really open to the
(27:56):
public and I don't think.
I don't know if they're goingthere on tours now.
I don't think so, but that wasan active area as well, and
that's actually right abovewhere the curacao, where the
Queen Mary sliced in half thecuracao and sustained damage to
her bowel.
So in that area some people,including myself, would hear
phantom cries or screams of menthought to be left over from
(28:18):
that residual, of course, fromthat accident.
So those are some of the areas.
Again, on tours, they will takeyou.
I just went on the paranormalshipwalk back in April and they
do take you to the pool but theydon't allow you to go in it
right now.
So we just got to see a glimpseof it from the bottom just
because there's some issues withit, safety issues and whatnot.
(28:39):
So it's different.
It's different now, but if yougo on the tours, I recommend the
paranormal ship walk or hauntedencounters.
They do take you around toenough spots to where you can
get an idea of what's going onand learn about the ship and
whatnot.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
So so, other than those two, are there other tours
that the Queen Mary does thatyou would suggest for somebody
that's just starting out, Likefor Leah and I?
We haven't been there yet.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
Yes, totally so.
Queenmarycom.
That's its website.
If you go under attractions,it's going to list all the tours
they have historical, such astheir glory days tour.
They have the steam and steeltour.
I believe they're bringing backthe Hollywood tour, so that's
going to talk a lot about theHollywood celebrities that
sailed on board both pre-war andpost-war.
(29:32):
They have a new tour called theVIP tour, and I believe one of
my friends took it last, Ibelieve last Friday, so it's
like three and a half hours.
So you get lunch, you get to goto all these areas and whatnot.
I haven't done it, I'd like todo it.
And then you have hauntedencounters.
You have the paranormalshipwalk.
They have a new program nowcalled the Gray Ghost Project,
(29:53):
which is actually designed forparanormal investigations, and
we have that.
They also have seances on boardnow as well.
So there's a lot.
You know there's a lot forpeople to do but if you go into
the brunch, yeah, oh god, thebrunch with the free champagne I
have to stay on board or notlive home to san Diego.
(30:14):
When I do that, okay, becauseit's crazy, but oh, it's still.
It's so good it is.
It's worth every penny.
It's expensive, but it's worthit.
It's so good yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
I have a feeling the scariest thing that happens on
the ship are the people who havea little too much in the
bottomless champagne.
Oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (30:32):
And have campaign?
Oh yeah, and did you hear aboutthat accident that happened
about 10 years ago?
Oh no, oh my gosh, I don'tremember her name and I just,
out of respect for the family, Iwouldn't say it anyways, but I
think this was about 2015 or 16.
So there let's.
The story goes is that it was ayoung girl.
She was arguing with herboyfriend.
(30:53):
They probably were in theobservation bar.
She went out on I think it wasthe Promenade Gangway, climbed
up onto the railing and fell,hit her head.
There is a dent still where youcould see where her head hit.
Oh my gosh, she fell into thewater below and died.
Oh dear, that's awful, and Iwas actually driving to work
(31:14):
that morning and on the radio ithit here and I'm like, oh my.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
God.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
It ruined my whole day.
I was like how can?
That happen.
Oh my gosh, you have to becareful when you're drinking on
there, just because even therailings up on Sun Deck, it's
very easy for someone to maybefall off.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
Yeah, the observation bar is another fun area too.
Speaker 3 (31:37):
I mean, they make good drinks and it's just, it's
kind of a hot happening spot.
They have karaoke and whatnotthere.
It's fun, it's good stuff.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
How did you pick so in your book you had old
accounts of people that have hadsomething happen while they
were on the ship.
How did you decide whichstories to put into your book?
Speaker 3 (32:00):
Oh, that's a good in that section.
Yeah, that was nice of the shipbecause they gave me like it
was 120 page document that hadpeople's experiences from about,
I think, 1978 to up to thattime.
So I don't, I think I just Idon't think I was random, but I
wanted to pick the stories.
That kind of gave a variety,different locations and
(32:22):
different types of experiences.
But there were still a lot ofother stories in there that I
didn't choose, not just becausethey were not as good as the
other ones, it's just room.
But the second book I wroteSpirited Queen Mary.
That's where I really go intodetail spanning a lot of my
experiences and the evidenceI've captured, as well as other
(32:44):
people, and just a little bitmore on the hotspot locations,
like what to expect, claims andtheories with those, as well as
more information on a little bitof a background with some of
the spirits on board and theirpersonalities.
Of course we can't really knowexactly who they are, but you
know, when you're spending somany years on board you get an
(33:04):
idea of who they may be.
Speaker 2 (33:05):
So that was fun to write that was a fun book to
write my copy of your book thatI read for our episode.
I have things flagged in therebecause I don't like to like dog
your pages and stuff like that.
Speaker 3 (33:20):
Oh, I like that too.
That's funny.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
I have so many from that section and I really had to
.
I only talked about a few, butI had a lot covered in there.
There was a lot of good stuffin there.
Speaker 3 (33:34):
Yeah, and there's a lot of books written about the
Queen Mary.
It's crazy.
I can't believe I've done threeso far.
It's like nuts, but yeah, it'sdefinitely a fun location to
write on and there's so muchhistory to try to condense it.
It's crazy.
Yeah, it's impossible, itreally is you want to do it
justice, but at the same time,you don't want to write a
(33:55):
2,000-page book either.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
Right.
Speaker 3 (33:58):
I can't wait for you guys to come out and go on board
and take some tours.
Yeah, I think you'll reallyenjoy it.
Long Beach is fun, that wholearea of Long Beach and even
across the way with ShorelineVillage.
They have all these littleshops and restaurants.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
It's a lot of fun.
Yeah, village, they have allthese little shops and
restaurants.
It's a lot of fun.
Yeah, I wanted to ask youbecause I saw that you have it's
a paranormal research society,and it sounds like you just do
broader work in this space.
I would actually just love tohear to you more about, like,
how you got into that and whatyour work is like.
Speaker 3 (34:29):
So I've been one of these ever since childhood, just
to be interested in theparanormal, ghost, spirit,
spirit communication, theafterlife, whatnot.
And so I've had experiencesgoing back as far as like four
or five Maybe I did earlier andI just don't remember them, but
that interest in the unknownstayed with me.
So I would read everything Icould on it or watch
(34:51):
documentaries, TV, and so when Iwas at the University of
Arizona, my maternal grandmotherpassed away and she called me
the night before she passed.
I had a discussion with her andthen I found out the next
morning that she passed away andI was very close with her.
So then when I went back out toSan Diego for a few days just
to be with family, I was there.
(35:11):
And then when I came back outto Tucson, I started having odd
experiences in my apartment thatI didn't ever have prior.
So I thought, oh, I justchalked them away as neighbors
noise, what have you?
But these were doorknobs movingby themselves, a disembodied
hand caressing my face, to meactually seeing the apparition
of my grandmother, and again Ithought is this grief doing this
(35:35):
?
Am I causing this?
But I think she visited me soever since then.
That's when I wanted to reallyget out in the field and
investigate.
So I worked with different teamsin Southern California and
that's when I founded the SanDiego Paranormal Research
Society in 2009.
And so we specialize mainly inSan Diego, Southern California.
We've investigated privatehomes, historical sites, many of
them in San Diego, SouthernCalifornia.
(35:55):
We've investigated privatehomes, historical sites, many of
them in San Diego businesses.
I present on the topic a lot,so I have about 15 different
topics that I talk about relatedto the paranormal.
So investigation classes aswell that we do for people that
want to learn how to investigatethe paranormal.
We're not that active right nowin terms of investigating ever
(36:18):
since COVID.
We'll probably start maybe morein the spring.
But that's kind of how it allcame out for me in terms of
getting the team up and runningand we enjoy it.
We also for 10 years I don'tknow if you've heard of a
location that's in Vista andit's called the Rancho Buena
Vista Adobe, so it's an oldAdobe from 1850.
And we actually did tours therefor about 10 years private
(36:43):
investigations as well.
So it's a really nice location,but that's kind of how it all
started for me.
And then books three on theQueen Mary.
I have one on the Adobe.
Let's see what else.
I just co-authored one withMarie D Jones and Denise Agnew.
That's Women on the Fringe andit talks about different women
in the paranormal, the AfterlifeChronicle.
(37:04):
So it's a book on life afterdeath and the afterlife.
Let's see San Diego's MostWanted it's kind of a take off
of America's Most Wanted, Iguess, I don't know.
So I talk about historicalspots in San Diego in that book.
And then let's see what else Idid.
Oh, so the Queen Mary ones.
And then in my very first book,which I took out of print, I
might, because I want to redo,it was field guide to Southern
(37:25):
California hauntings, and then,yeah, that's about it.
So I have several more in thequeue.
I just have been lazy and Ihaven't started them yet, but
someday I will.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
I will like you have your hands full already.
Speaker 3 (37:39):
I know, I know.
Well, don't we all?
Speaker 1 (37:41):
it's called adulting right, yeah, not enough time.
Speaker 3 (37:45):
It's not enough time.
No, I gotta sleep somewhere,but this was so much fun, thank
you so much for having me on andyeah, we'll meet up one of
these days.
Speaker 1 (37:56):
Nicole, if our listeners want to explore more
of your work or follow you onsocial media, where's the best
place to find you?
Speaker 3 (38:03):
My website is NicoleDStricklandcom, so
N-I-C-O-L-E.
I don't have an H in there, soNicoleDStricklandcom.
And then Facebook.
My main page is same at NicoleD Strickland.
I'm on X but I'm not on therethat much and that's at S D P?
R S, nicole.
And then Instagram is.
Author Nicole Strickland.
Speaker 1 (38:22):
We'll link it in the show notes too.
Speaker 3 (38:24):
Sounds good, sounds like a plan, thanks ladies, this
was fun.
Speaker 2 (38:27):
Yeah, yeah, this was great, thank you.
Hello Dark City fans.
This is Leah.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
And this is April.
This week we have a specialguest interview in honor of
spooky season.
Author of the book HauntedQueen of the Seas the Living
Legend of the RMS, queen Mary,nicole Strickland joins us and
shares some ghost stories aswell as her experiences from the
time that she has spent on theship.
(00:24):
If you haven't already listenedto episode 18, where we talked
about the Queen Mary's historyand ghost stories, we encourage
you to give it a listen first.
This is Dark City, season one,los Angeles.
Nicole, I just wanted to startby saying thank you for joining
us.
We're very excited to be ableto do this with you.
(00:45):
Can you tell us a little bitabout yourself and how you were
first introduced to the QueenMary?
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Oh, absolutely.
First of all, thank you guysfor having me.
It really is an honor.
Queen Mary, where do I start?
So it's one.
It's an interesting story.
So my mom actually ballroomdanced in the Veranda Grill,
which used to be the StarlightRoof Club.
It was a very famous restaurantfor cabin first class
(01:12):
passengers there back in the day.
So I knew about the ship many,many years ago and it was I was
spring break and it was my, Ibelieve my junior year in
college and one of my friendsand I came back out here to do
the three day carnival cruisethat they have.
So we came back out fromArizona, out here, spent spring
(01:33):
break here, and I saw the QueenMary for the first time out of
the backseat of a car and I justremember saying to myself oh my
goodness, I will be backsomeday, so fast forward to
about 2005.
That's when I actually firstwent on board the ship for the
first time, on ADEC, where thehotel lobby check-in is, and it
just felt like home.
(01:54):
It felt instantly familiar, itfelt as though I've been there
before and that's actually whenit started and never at that
point did I realize that I wouldhave been 20 years out.
Here I am, you know,researching the ship
historically, paranormally.
But yeah, that's how it allstarted.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
How many times have you investigated there now?
Speaker 3 (02:16):
You know it's spanning over about 20 years.
It's many, it's several I don'thave an exact number per se,
but several and in variousdifferent areas of the ship.
So former first and third classpool, engine room, boiler rooms
, other sorts of public rooms,but it's been many times.
Just enough to where I can getan idea of really what's going
(02:38):
on on board the Queen Mary.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Yeah, do you still get that same feeling that you
got the first time that you wenton board?
Speaker 3 (02:49):
Yeah, I would say yes , and it's interesting for those
that have actually never beenon board.
But as I've done a lot ofresearch, historical research
I've interviewed former crew andformer passengers and war
brides and even her former crew,many of them have said, wow,
the Queen Mary is sentient.
Even Captain John TreasureJones once said the Queen Mary
(03:11):
is as closest to a human beingof any ship I've ever commanded.
So I think a lot of people feelthis real close bond and
connection with the Queen Mary.
I myself am one of them and Iactually felt that the first
time I went on board.
And it's one of those thingsit's hard to put in words per se
, but it's just.
You'll know if you're one ofthose people.
(03:33):
It's just it hits you and it'sso, yeah, that's it's, it's
pretty, it's an incrediblefeeling really.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
I do have a question on that.
What do you think it is aboutthis particular ship?
Or, if you've heard of it, theCecil Hotel in LA, where they
have this undercurrent ofsomething.
Oh yeah, how is that possible?
Speaker 3 (03:55):
You know it's so interesting, the Cecil.
Have you guys been, by the way,to the Cecil?
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Oh, I don't know if you can go inside now.
It's public housing.
Now I've driven past it, Okaybefore I was able to.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
Yeah, so I haven't been recently, but I've heard
from this, I've heard peoplethat have actually investigated
it.
They've said, wow, the hotel isalive.
I mean, it has such a weirdhistory, you know, it has
suicides and murders and whatnot.
I think with the Queen Marythere's different layers of
history.
I think the Queen Mary has sucha rich historical narrative
(04:29):
from having dignitaries andmembers of the aristocracy and
World War II service men andwhat celebrities dignitaries,
like I said, so many people fromall walks of life have sailed
on the Queen Mary.
Like I said, so many peoplefrom all walks of life have
sailed on the Queen Mary andjust her career during the war
and just all this history withthe ship.
I mean you can go a lifetimelearning about the Queen Mary
(04:52):
and still not uncover it all.
So I think history is probablyfirst and foremost as to why
there's so much activity onboard.
But then you have to thinkabout too, while she sits in
water.
There's a theory that, okay, ifghosts and spirits may be
attracted to water, it's anatural conductor of electricity
.
You have the items that wentinto the making of the ship.
(05:17):
You have the iron, you have themanganese, bronze propellers.
You have the 56 differentvarieties of woods from all over
the world.
So you have all of thesecomponents and I think they just
all work in tandem andproviding a nice layer of
spiritual activity.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
What was your first paranormal experience on the
ship?
Speaker 3 (05:36):
Oh my gosh, my first one.
Okay, yes, this would have beennow, this would have been with
Jackie, but I didn't know it atthe time, so this would have
been 2005.
And so I was staying on ADEC.
Where was I?
Portside Forward ADEC, and itwas about one or two in the
morning, give or take, and Idecided to go walk around.
So I exited my room and Iremember turning left, going
(05:57):
forward, and something said turnaround.
So I turned around and maybeabout I'd say, 10, 15 feet from
me there was a little girlstanding in the middle of the
hallway wearing what looked likea blue nightgown or like a blue
plain dress, and she didn't sayanything, but her hand went
slightly up, as if she was goingto wave to me, and she slightly
(06:18):
smiled and then I saw herdissipate.
So, as the years went on.
I realized that that was withJackie, and so people have seen
her.
She's thought to be verysimilar to like a Shirley Temple
, very intelligent, about sixand a half seven years old.
We don't know her origins.
It's thought that the latepsychic resident Peter James
(06:39):
felt that maybe she passed awayin the second class pool.
Again, that's not been verifiedso we don't really know her
origins but for whatever reason,she's highly intelligent, very
interactive, drawn to certainpeople.
Oh my gosh, I have so manyexperiences with her, both
hearing her audibly to EVPcaptures to seeing her.
She's adorable, absolutelyadorable.
(07:01):
I love her.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
What other types of experiences have you had aboard
the Queen Mary and other thanJackie?
What are some of the mostmemorable ones?
Speaker 3 (07:13):
Oh gosh, there's so many to describe over like so
many years.
I always tell people it's veryaudio friendly so you can be on
board and hear disembodiedvocalizations, both male, female
, young and old, whisper,regular tone.
It's very visual.
So a lot of people will seelike full bodied apparitions or
partially manifested apparitions, a lot of shadow figure
(07:36):
interplay, more common, I wouldsay, in the hotel deck areas and
in the former first and thirdclass pool.
But I've had so manyexperiences from different
disembodied vocalizations toseeing full bodied apparitions
of former crew, formerpassengers, even World War II
servicemen, some of the more Ishouldn't say famous but more
(07:58):
well-known spirits like Jackieor the young crewman.
That's sad.
I'm not going to mention hisname out of respect for the
family.
But the tragic case of theyoung man from York's sad, I'm
not going to mention his nameout of respect for the family,
but the tragic case of the youngman from Yorkshire who was on
his I believe his third voyagein 1966.
He was a fireman and bilgecleaner and was found wedged in
watertight door.
Number 13 sadly didn't make itso.
(08:18):
People have experienced him aswell as different energies.
Even phantom cats have beenspotted on board.
Oh my gosh, yeah, I mean I'lltell that experience but it's so
hard to condense becausethere's been so many.
But yeah, it's been a range.
But just it's very consistentwhich and I've investigated a
lot of different locations, youknow ships, homes, uh,
(08:41):
historical, other historical,even asylums and whatnot.
And with the Queen Mary there'ssuch a consistency in the
activity and you can have oneperson report almost an
identical experience five yearsapart.
Another person almost reportsthe same thing.
So there's just a really goodsense of consistency.
(09:01):
Is it haunted?
My definition for a hauntingwould be that there has to be
some sort of historical tie tothe property.
So whatever activity is goingon there, there has to be some
sort of historical tie, someconnection to the history, and I
think you do have that with theQueen Mary Speaking about the
cat.
So I was in the woman's changingroom area in the former first
and third class pool during aninvestigation.
(09:23):
I think this was when was this2015.
?
So we were all in this area andI was in one stall and some of
the other people were in otherstalls and all of a sudden,
across from me, this womanshouted out.
She said I felt something touchmy ankle, so then we all just
got quiet and then walking outof that stall.
(09:43):
Then we all just got quiet andthen walking out of that stall.
Many of us saw a cat, almostfull bodied, walk out of the
entrance to the women's changingrooms, then, after a few
moments, walked right back inand meowed right in front of us,
and it was captured on therecorder.
Oh, these are the types of.
I mean, there's so manydifferent types of experiences.
I've had my hair kind of tugged.
(10:05):
I've been like touched on theshoulder.
Phantom smells.
There's a, an earthbound.
Some people call him the.
What is that?
Cologne?
Speaker 2 (10:17):
I forget the name of the old spice.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
Yes, yeah, I was on and again it could have been
another person staying inanother room, but it was so
pungent in the bathroom and thenI walked out into the room and
then it was gone.
And then it just it was gonelike in a matter of seconds and
I thought, well, if it wasanyone living, it kind of would
have stayed after a while.
So I mean, it's just there'sbeen so many, it's really hard
(10:40):
to describe them all.
I try to get them all in mybooks but it's really hard.
Are any of them malevolent?
Not in my opinion.
Nope, not at all.
That is great.
Yeah, people have said oh,nicole, you're an expert on the
Queen Mary.
I disagree with that, because Ithink the real expert is the
ship itself.
I feel like I'm a student ofthe Queen Mary and, yes, I've
been going there for years.
(11:01):
I have a pretty good idea ofthe paranormal activity and,
based on my own experiences, Ido not at all.
I think the ship is a verywelcoming, very loving sort of
vessel.
Yes, she's seen tragedy.
She's seen death, hard timesduring the war and whatnot, but
no, not one time in myexperience have I ever felt
threatened.
So that's my take.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
That's my kind of haunting, see, right, yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
I'm going to go anywhere knowing it's haunted.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And there was a TV show I'm notgoing to say the name and the
first half of it or whatnot andsomeone did come on and say this
is a ship with evil forces.
And I just sat there and italmost made me want to cry
(11:52):
because I'm like that is so notthe truth.
I mean, when you look at herhistory, she's done so much for
humanity, for example lesseningWorld War II by about a year,
along with her sistership.
So she's a very humanitariansort of vessel and I think a lot
of people go on there.
They don't realize and don'tappreciate its history and what
it's gone through.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
So Right, and I always wonder too, when people
say it's evil, what do they meanby that?
What did it do?
Besides, you know, violate whatwe think you know is real and
not.
But it's not the same as doingsomething evil, right, right.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
Exactly, that's a good point.
I think there's a differencebetween the word negative and
malevolent, because you, someone, can, you can have an entity
that maybe had a negativeexperience, maybe had a tragic
death, but that doesn't mean heor she is negative per se.
But a lot of times people go onand maybe, like I said, they
don't know the history, they'renot familiar with the energy or
(12:41):
the environment, and you have tobe careful that they're not
projecting their own stuff ontoit.
Sometimes it's a fear of theunknown too.
Yeah, or what they think isgoing to happen, yeah, and so
then they kind of misquote theenergy there and misinterpret it
.
But in my experience, no, notat all.
It's very welcoming.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Are there rooms that you can stay in if you don't
want any activity happeningwhile you're in them?
Speaker 3 (13:09):
That is a hard question to ask, because you
know ghosts and paranormalactivity doesn't act on you,
right?
Speaker 2 (13:14):
They're not like okay , I'll stay in these three rooms
.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
Right, so there is a haunted rooms list and I think
that was generated just becausethose specific rooms got more
reports over the years.
But that doesn't mean that,let's say, a room that's not on
that list that doesn't mean thatit's fair game and you won't
have an experience, right?
So, yeah, it's hard to say,because you really, no matter
(13:38):
where you are on the ship, canhave an experience.
Just, some rooms are a littlebit more reported than others.
Experience.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
Just some rooms are a little bit more reported than
than others.
Yeah, I don't know how I woulddo with that.
I've had, I've had experiencesbefore only a couple times in
life, and one time I was youngerand I didn't react real well.
And then one time was a littlemore recently and I was like
there's no explanation for that,but I'm okay.
Like there's no explanation forthat, but I'm okay, right.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
Yeah, it's hard to know.
I mean, I've had experienceswhere I'll feel maybe someone
sitting down on the bed orrustling about in my bags of
snacks or whatnot hearingfootsteps knocks on the
stateroom doors and you open upand there's no one there and you
check the halls Sometimes phonecalls that can happen.
Is that a phone issue?
The stateroom doors and youopen up and there's no one there
and you check the hallsSometimes phone calls that can
(14:27):
happen.
Is that a phone issue?
Maybe plumbing issues faucetsturning on, drawers coming out
again with the faucets it couldbe a plumbing issue, but it's
just and it can be startling forsome people, especially if
they're you know they're notfamiliar.
See, for me, I'm familiar withthe ship, so it's like it just
goes in one ear and out theother.
I don't care.
(14:47):
Yeah, I can see how it can bestartling for some people, but a
lot of it too.
I think is is residual in thesense of that.
But I think with the Queen Marythere's a bit of a mix between
residual type of phenomena likea psychic imprint, right, actual
intelligent energies.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
I will choose to interact with you yeah, yeah so
yeah, have you had um anintelligent interaction that
like really stuck with you.
That left a big impression onyou I have.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
I have actually and and there, well there's, there's
several, I'm trying to think ofa more recent one.
I would say I'll share this one.
So this was not this last July,but the July before.
And again, it was the samegroup of friends that I
mentioned earlier.
We all got together just to seeeach other and it was I think
(15:42):
July 8th, so it was about 1, seeeach other, and it was I think
July 8th.
So I was about 1, 1.30 in mystateroom and I was staying on a
deck way aft.
So I was the way aft room onstarboard.
And so about 1, 1.30 and I gotin my room and I just decided to
do a little EVP session.
Now I will advise to not dothis sort of thing when you're
(16:02):
alone, but I feel like I'm sofamiliar with the ship I felt
comfortable to do it.
So I was asking some questionsand I got a sense of maybe a
World War II serviceman with me.
So I started to just kind ofhave a discussion with him and
at one point I asked you know,did you sail on the Queen Mary
or the Curacao?
(16:22):
So the Curacao was its WorldWar I escort.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
And.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
I'm sure you guys have heard of this on October
2nd 1942, the compass was off byabout a couple of degrees.
So what happened is the QueenMary rammed in the Curacao,
sliced it in half and over 300of its sailors perished, sadly.
So the Queen Mary could notstop.
I mean, commodore Ellingworthwas like okay, do I stop or do I
continue to go, because he had15,000 souls on board.
(16:48):
So he continued to go and theythrew out life preservers and
whatnot.
So I asked this during thesession.
I said did you sail on theQueen Mary of the Curacao?
And then I thought I heard likean audible response of Queen
Mary.
But then when I went andreviewed my audio a couple days
later, this was EVP, so I didn'thear this at the time.
There was a capture of a youngman and he said I tried to miss
(17:12):
the ship, which to me suggestsintelligence, and I think he was
referring to I tried to missthe Queen Mary, that perhaps,
maybe he was on the curacao.
Yeah, so that's an example ofwhen you can get a real
historical or a response thatcorrelates to not only what
you're talking about but to theship's history, and so that was
(17:32):
really touching.
But I've had so many.
I've had one that was reallyprofound and I try not to talk
about him too much just out ofrespect for the family, but this
is the young 18-year-old manwho came from Skipton and sadly
lost his life on board.
This was, let's see, 2015.
I was in boiler room numberthree and I was kind of in a
(17:53):
daydream state on what we usedto call the Disney stage in
there and I was looking.
I was just kind of like dazingoff and all of a sudden, out of
my right peripheral vision, Isaw something and when I looked
over it was him absolutely,because there is a historical
photo of him from the shouldersup and kind of in a sepia black
(18:15):
and white tone although that'skind of the lighting in the room
anyways and he moved toward me,stopped and smiled and floated
back, but I felt such a sense ofpeace when I saw that and so
that was really touching.
But I have gosh, there's somany, it's just there's so many.
But those are two that morerecent ones, I should say.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Yeah, I do like these friendly ghost experiences.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
Oh yeah, and you will get that on the Queen Mary.
Generally less afraid.
Yeah, it is a very homey and Iyou know it's interesting with
the Queen Mary and some peoplemay listen to this and say, oh
my God, she's so full of BS.
But in a way I kind of likewith the seesaw.
The seesaw has a little bitmore of a darker sort of history
, but I do believe that the shipis sentient in a way.
(19:02):
So if you think about that andassuming that's true, you have
the ship as one giganticsentient being and then you have
her human and animal spirits.
So they kind of interplay andinteract with one another and I
think it's possible that a lotof the energy is on board,
especially the intelligent ones.
(19:22):
They know each other, it's hardto explain, it's just in it.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
Yeah, go ahead.
It kind of reminds me a littlebit of we covered.
There's a haunted in in Denvercalled the Croke Patterson.
I don't think the ghosts thereare like you never know but
there's definitely some that arenot nice, malevolent.
(19:50):
But so there's a theory,because that mansion and then
another house or mansion thename is escaping me they were
both built with.
I think I called it Manitousandstone and it's really
Manitou sandstone yeah, thegarden of the gods.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
And so there's this theory that maybe there is
something about that sandstonethat is special and that's why
it reminds me of, in a way, thestanley hotel in estes park,
colorado, because they thinkthat, again, the geology of it,
so the limestone in the courtsmay hold impressions from the
(20:30):
past.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Nicole, do you feel like the ship or any of the
spirits on the ship recognizeyou because you've been so many
times?
Speaker 3 (20:40):
Oh my gosh, I get asked this all the time.
I think so, and I think this isthe same for other people that
go frequently as well.
There have been many times, Ican't count, but quite a few
usually happens within the firstfive or 10 minutes that I'm on
board and I'll hear male, female, regular tone voice whisper
either like hi, nicole, orNicole's here, and I'm
(21:02):
meticulous, okay.
So I look around and make sureit's not anyone else that has my
name or anything like that, andon these occasions I've looked
and I can't it, just I can't.
It's no one else that I can,that I can decipher.
So crazy.
But yeah, I think so.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
I think so yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
It's a good feeling.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Yeah, Especially if it's a welcoming it is peaceful.
I don't know.
It seemed like in even just alittle bit of research that I
did, that the ship was very wellloved.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
Oh, absolutely, yeah, very well loved, and still is.
I mean her even when she waslaunched.
I say this and this may soundhokey, but I think the ship's
destiny was sealed long beforeher inception.
Just, I mean, even with withthe depression which halted the
building because she wassupposed to launch in 1932 and
didn't launch until 34.
Current cunard chairman, sirpercy bates, received thousands
(21:58):
of letters from people saying,oh my gosh, please finish job
534, which was her whole numberat the time, before she was
named, and so, yeah, so it'svery well loved, and even to
this day as well.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
Yeah, in your opinion , is there a certain area or
areas on the ship that are themost haunted or have the most
activity?
Speaker 3 (22:22):
I think a lot of the areas that they go to on the
tours.
They just get more reports.
So I think there are many areason board that aren't traveled
to as much by people, so theynaturally won't get as many
reports.
But former first and thirdclass pool, which is a big one,
the aft engine room, the oldboiler rooms, the X hall, which
(22:45):
was actually the forward engineroom, and boiler number five,
those sorts of areas, publicrooms, even the hotel decks.
Now, in my experience and thisis just based on my experience
over the years forward, a and Bseem to be pretty active,
especially by the oldthird-class stairway.
(23:05):
But again, like I said earlier,it's fair game.
But I would say if I had topick one location on the ship
which has had more accounts andmore reports, I would probably
say the former first andthird-class pool.
Okay, just because it'sconsidered the heart of the
Queen Mary and whatnot, a lot ofactivity, a lot of reports come
(23:28):
out from that area.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
Yeah, so, other than Jackie, what are some of the
reports that come out of thefirst and third class pool?
Speaker 3 (23:37):
So Jackie's one of them.
There is another younger girl,maybe about three.
She's long blonde hair, alittle bit younger.
She's been seen in the poolarea.
She's been seen even in theengine room and boiler rooms.
We don't really know who she is.
There's another girl that'solder, thought to be her name to
be Sarah.
Again, we don't really know herorigins.
(23:58):
It's thought that she's maybe.
I don't know age, maybe 11, 12,dark brown hair, short brown
hair.
There have been sightings ofpeople jumping into the pool.
There's a woman in like anolder bathing suit that is seen
jumping into the pool.
I actually captured an EVP many, many, many years ago of actual
(24:19):
phantom swimming.
So the pool has no water right.
So you can hear on the clippeople doing laps in the pool.
There's activity in the women'schanging room.
From my experience there's amale energy in there.
We don't necessarily know whohe is.
Underneath the stairs Somepeople call there's another
group of, I think a couple ofmen.
Some people call them grumpy.
(24:40):
I didn't describe the nickname,but that's.
Other investigators have donethat.
Let's see.
There is a.
Now I've not spotted this, butI've heard claims of an old
Italian POW with no legs thathas been spotted in the pool
area.
So it's quite a few experiences.
Jackie's probably the moreknown type of energy, but she's
(25:01):
not just, in my opinion,isolated the pool.
I've had encounters with herelsewhere as well.
But it's interesting, though,to be in there and imagine
seeing a woman and this sightingat least some people that have
spotted this she's been seen inblack and white who jumps into
the?
Speaker 2 (25:19):
pool.
Speaker 3 (25:21):
I've not seen it myself, but I've heard many
stories.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
It's crazy and that she's in black and white and not
what we would see with our eyes.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
Yeah, isn't that weird yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
So you touched on this, maybe a little bit, in
your book that you mentionedthat there are parts of the ship
that are now closed to thepublic that you've been able to
investigate.
What areas are those and whatkinds of activity have you
encountered there?
Speaker 3 (25:45):
Gargoyle Pit, which is actually below the waterline,
and so this was where theyactually housed POWs.
So imagine standing room, onlybread and water being lowered in
by buckets the heat during thistime, because the ship was
(26:07):
designed for the North Atlanticroute, so during the war she
would sail to a lot of these hot, humid climates.
So imagine just being packed inthere like sardines, bread and
water lowered just in a bucket.
Many of them would succumb anddie and then their bodies would
tragically be thrownunceremoniously overboard.
So I had an experience downthere once.
(26:30):
I was with a team ofinvestigators and we were doing
some EVP work and all of asudden I said I remember me
asking the question and I saidis there anything that we can do
for you?
And I didn't hear anything atthe time.
But again, when I went back andreviewed my audio a few days
later, I captured a man.
He sounded frail, which isinteresting, and he said I'm
hungry, and so that really gotme.
(26:52):
But Patrick Wheelock used to dotours on board the Queen Mary
with Beyond Investigationmagazine and I think this
obviously the stories in thebook.
He was down there one night andall of a sudden doing a tour
and this woman's ponytailstarted going straight up and so
he investigated it to make sureshe wasn't.
You know there wasn't wire inthere or anything like that.
There wasn't wire in there oranything like that.
(27:13):
Obviously no, they couldn'texplain it, but her ponytail
literally went straight up andstood up for a few moments
before coming down, which is tome incredible.
I wasn't there this night, butthat's the stories in the book,
I think.
Haunted Queen of the Seas.
So, that's one area.
The boiler rooms right now arejust accessible on certain tours
(27:35):
, so the X Hall isn't reallyopen.
Ardek Forward's another areawhere Matt Schultz used to do
investigations on board prior toCOVID for many years and he
would take people into ArdekForward, right way forward in
the rope locker area, and sothat's not really open to the
(27:56):
public and I don't think.
I don't know if they're goingthere on tours now.
I don't think so, but that wasan active area as well, and
that's actually right abovewhere the curacao, where the
Queen Mary sliced in half thecuracao and sustained damage to
her bowel.
So in that area some people,including myself, would hear
phantom cries or screams of menthought to be left over from
(28:18):
that residual, of course, fromthat accident.
So those are some of the areas.
Again, on tours, they will takeyou.
I just went on the paranormalshipwalk back in April and they
do take you to the pool but theydon't allow you to go in it
right now.
So we just got to see a glimpseof it from the bottom just
because there's some issues withit, safety issues and whatnot.
(28:39):
So it's different.
It's different now, but if yougo on the tours, I recommend the
paranormal ship walk or hauntedencounters.
They do take you around toenough spots to where you can
get an idea of what's going onand learn about the ship and
whatnot.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
So so, other than those two, are there other tours
that the Queen Mary does thatyou would suggest for somebody
that's just starting out, Likefor Leah and I?
We haven't been there yet.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
Yes, totally so.
Queenmarycom.
That's its website.
If you go under attractions,it's going to list all the tours
they have historical, such astheir glory days tour.
They have the steam and steeltour.
I believe they're bringing backthe Hollywood tour, so that's
going to talk a lot about theHollywood celebrities that
sailed on board both pre-war andpost-war.
(29:32):
They have a new tour called theVIP tour, and I believe one of
my friends took it last, Ibelieve last Friday, so it's
like three and a half hours.
So you get lunch, you get to goto all these areas and whatnot.
I haven't done it, I'd like todo it.
And then you have hauntedencounters.
You have the paranormalshipwalk.
They have a new program nowcalled the Gray Ghost Project,
(29:53):
which is actually designed forparanormal investigations, and
we have that.
They also have seances on boardnow as well.
So there's a lot.
You know there's a lot forpeople to do but if you go into
the brunch, yeah, oh god, thebrunch with the free champagne I
have to stay on board or notlive home to san Diego.
(30:14):
When I do that, okay, becauseit's crazy, but oh, it's still.
It's so good it is.
It's worth every penny.
It's expensive, but it's worthit.
It's so good yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
I have a feeling the scariest thing that happens on
the ship are the people who havea little too much in the
bottomless champagne.
Oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (30:32):
And have campaign?
Oh yeah, and did you hear aboutthat accident that happened
about 10 years ago?
Oh no, oh my gosh, I don'tremember her name and I just,
out of respect for the family, Iwouldn't say it anyways, but I
think this was about 2015 or 16.
So there let's.
The story goes is that it was ayoung girl.
She was arguing with herboyfriend.
(30:53):
They probably were in theobservation bar.
She went out on I think it wasthe Promenade Gangway, climbed
up onto the railing and fell,hit her head.
There is a dent still where youcould see where her head hit.
Oh my gosh, she fell into thewater below and died.
Oh dear, that's awful, and Iwas actually driving to work
(31:14):
that morning and on the radio ithit here and I'm like, oh my.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
God.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
It ruined my whole day.
I was like how can?
That happen.
Oh my gosh, you have to becareful when you're drinking on
there, just because even therailings up on Sun Deck, it's
very easy for someone to maybefall off.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
Yeah, the observation bar is another fun area too.
Speaker 3 (31:37):
I mean, they make good drinks and it's just, it's
kind of a hot happening spot.
They have karaoke and whatnotthere.
It's fun, it's good stuff.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
How did you pick so in your book you had old
accounts of people that have hadsomething happen while they
were on the ship.
How did you decide whichstories to put into your book?
Speaker 3 (32:00):
Oh, that's a good in that section.
Yeah, that was nice of the shipbecause they gave me like it
was 120 page document that hadpeople's experiences from about,
I think, 1978 to up to thattime.
So I don't, I think I just Idon't think I was random, but I
wanted to pick the stories.
That kind of gave a variety,different locations and
(32:22):
different types of experiences.
But there were still a lot ofother stories in there that I
didn't choose, not just becausethey were not as good as the
other ones, it's just room.
But the second book I wroteSpirited Queen Mary.
That's where I really go intodetail spanning a lot of my
experiences and the evidenceI've captured, as well as other
(32:44):
people, and just a little bitmore on the hotspot locations,
like what to expect, claims andtheories with those, as well as
more information on a little bitof a background with some of
the spirits on board and theirpersonalities.
Of course we can't really knowexactly who they are, but you
know, when you're spending somany years on board you get an
(33:04):
idea of who they may be.
Speaker 2 (33:05):
So that was fun to write that was a fun book to
write my copy of your book thatI read for our episode.
I have things flagged in therebecause I don't like to like dog
your pages and stuff like that.
Speaker 3 (33:20):
Oh, I like that too.
That's funny.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
I have so many from that section and I really had to
.
I only talked about a few, butI had a lot covered in there.
There was a lot of good stuffin there.
Speaker 3 (33:34):
Yeah, and there's a lot of books written about the
Queen Mary.
It's crazy.
I can't believe I've done threeso far.
It's like nuts, but yeah, it'sdefinitely a fun location to
write on and there's so muchhistory to try to condense it.
It's crazy.
Yeah, it's impossible, itreally is you want to do it
justice, but at the same time,you don't want to write a
(33:55):
2,000-page book either.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
Right.
Speaker 3 (33:58):
I can't wait for you guys to come out and go on board
and take some tours.
Yeah, I think you'll reallyenjoy it.
Long Beach is fun, that wholearea of Long Beach and even
across the way with ShorelineVillage.
They have all these littleshops and restaurants.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
It's a lot of fun.
Yeah, village, they have allthese little shops and
restaurants.
It's a lot of fun.
Yeah, I wanted to ask youbecause I saw that you have it's
a paranormal research society,and it sounds like you just do
broader work in this space.
I would actually just love tohear to you more about, like,
how you got into that and whatyour work is like.
Speaker 3 (34:29):
So I've been one of these ever since childhood, just
to be interested in theparanormal, ghost, spirit,
spirit communication, theafterlife, whatnot.
And so I've had experiencesgoing back as far as like four
or five Maybe I did earlier andI just don't remember them, but
that interest in the unknownstayed with me.
So I would read everything Icould on it or watch
(34:51):
documentaries, TV, and so when Iwas at the University of
Arizona, my maternal grandmotherpassed away and she called me
the night before she passed.
I had a discussion with her andthen I found out the next
morning that she passed away andI was very close with her.
So then when I went back out toSan Diego for a few days just
to be with family, I was there.
(35:11):
And then when I came back outto Tucson, I started having odd
experiences in my apartment thatI didn't ever have prior.
So I thought, oh, I justchalked them away as neighbors
noise, what have you?
But these were doorknobs movingby themselves, a disembodied
hand caressing my face, to meactually seeing the apparition
of my grandmother, and again Ithought is this grief doing this
(35:35):
?
Am I causing this?
But I think she visited me soever since then.
That's when I wanted to reallyget out in the field and
investigate.
So I worked with different teamsin Southern California and
that's when I founded the SanDiego Paranormal Research
Society in 2009.
And so we specialize mainly inSan Diego, Southern California.
We've investigated privatehomes, historical sites, many of
them in San Diego, SouthernCalifornia.
(35:55):
We've investigated privatehomes, historical sites, many of
them in San Diego businesses.
I present on the topic a lot,so I have about 15 different
topics that I talk about relatedto the paranormal.
So investigation classes aswell that we do for people that
want to learn how to investigatethe paranormal.
We're not that active right nowin terms of investigating ever
(36:18):
since COVID.
We'll probably start maybe morein the spring.
But that's kind of how it allcame out for me in terms of
getting the team up and runningand we enjoy it.
We also for 10 years I don'tknow if you've heard of a
location that's in Vista andit's called the Rancho Buena
Vista Adobe, so it's an oldAdobe from 1850.
And we actually did tours therefor about 10 years private
(36:43):
investigations as well.
So it's a really nice location,but that's kind of how it all
started for me.
And then books three on theQueen Mary.
I have one on the Adobe.
Let's see what else.
I just co-authored one withMarie D Jones and Denise Agnew.
That's Women on the Fringe andit talks about different women
in the paranormal, the AfterlifeChronicle.
(37:04):
So it's a book on life afterdeath and the afterlife.
Let's see San Diego's MostWanted it's kind of a take off
of America's Most Wanted, Iguess, I don't know.
So I talk about historicalspots in San Diego in that book.
And then let's see what else Idid.
Oh, so the Queen Mary ones.
And then in my very first book,which I took out of print, I
might, because I want to redo,it was field guide to Southern
(37:25):
California hauntings, and then,yeah, that's about it.
So I have several more in thequeue.
I just have been lazy and Ihaven't started them yet, but
someday I will.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
I will like you have your hands full already.
Speaker 3 (37:39):
I know, I know.
Well, don't we all?
Speaker 1 (37:41):
it's called adulting right, yeah, not enough time.
Speaker 3 (37:45):
It's not enough time.
No, I gotta sleep somewhere,but this was so much fun, thank
you so much for having me on andyeah, we'll meet up one of
these days.
Speaker 1 (37:56):
Nicole, if our listeners want to explore more
of your work or follow you onsocial media, where's the best
place to find you?
Speaker 3 (38:03):
My website is NicoleDStricklandcom, so
N-I-C-O-L-E.
I don't have an H in there, soNicoleDStricklandcom.
And then Facebook.
My main page is same at NicoleD Strickland.
I'm on X but I'm not on therethat much and that's at S D P?
R S, nicole.
And then Instagram is.
Author Nicole Strickland.
Speaker 1 (38:22):
We'll link it in the show notes too.
Speaker 3 (38:24):
Sounds good, sounds like a plan, thanks ladies, this
was fun.
Speaker 2 (38:27):
Yeah, yeah, this was great, thank you.
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I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy And Charlamagne Tha God!
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.