WEIRD AFTER DARK: Haunted Queen Mary, Spies, Beards, and Ouija Boards

EPISODE BEING DISCUSSED: https://weirddarkness.com/queenmary/

We’re diving into Darren Marlar’s latest episode where 150 spirits haunt the luxury liner Queen Mary—including an 18-year-old crushed by door 13 who still follows visitors through the engine room, and a little girl murdered in room B-474 who cries for her mother in the cargo hold. But the real story that blew our minds? A Massachusetts war veteran was violently attacked with scissors and razors in the 1830s, arrested for defending himself, and spent fifteen months in jail—all because he refused to shave his beard.

Listen to “Haunted Queen Mary, Spies, Beards, and Ouija Boards” on Spreaker.

SYNOPSIS: Darren Marlar explores haunted maritime history and tales of persecution in this episode of Weird Darkness. The main feature examines the RMS Queen Mary, a 1936 luxury liner that carried celebrities like Bob Hope, Elizabeth Taylor, and the Kennedys before being drafted as the “Grey Ghost” troop transport during WWII. Now permanently docked in Long Beach, California as a hotel and museum, the ship is considered one of the most haunted structures in America, with up to 150 spirits reported aboard. Notable ghosts include “Half Hatch Harry” (18-year-old crew member John Pedder, crushed by door 13 in 1966), a young girl named “Dana” who allegedly died in a murder-suicide in room B-474 and haunts the cargo hold crying for her mother, a woman in white dancing alone in luxury suites, and numerous spirits in 1930s garb near the pools. The episode details specific paranormal encounters including disembodied voices, temperature drops, phantom figures, and the ship’s collision with the HMS Curacoa during WWII that killed 239 sailors. Weirdo family member John Parrish shares a cautionary tale about using a Ouija board in his apartment, which brought three entities into his home: a helpful spirit named Dennis, a prankster named Neela, and a malevolent Shadow Man who terrorized his family until he performed a binding spell after his wife’s death. The episode concludes with the remarkable story of Joseph Palmer, a Massachusetts farmer and War of 1812 veteran who was violently attacked in the 1830s by four men with scissors and razors for wearing a full beard—unfashionable at the time. When Palmer defended himself with a knife, he was arrested for “unprovoked assault,” fined, and jailed for fifteen months when he refused to pay the $700 bond (nearly $20,000 today). Palmer documented prison abuses, eventually gained release, and spent his remaining decades advocating for prison reform and abolition, living to see beards return to fashion before his death in 1873. His tombstone reads “Persecuted for wearing the beard.”