‘Shipwrecked’ ghosts haunt Queen Mary decks

With its own haunted history, the Queen Mary is the best place to have a fright fest that will keep people screaming.
    Shipwreck features six mazes, three on the ship and three outside. While all the mazes give chills in their own way, the ones inside had the advantage of a naturally creepy setting.
    There’s something unnerving about seeing an empty pool on an old ship. I couldn’t tell you exactly why that particular scene sends shivers down people’s spines, but the monsters in that maze didn’t have to work for their shrieks.
    For man-made screeches, the best maze was the Hall of Hallucinations. Those brave enough to enter are given a pair of 3D glasses at the start of the maze. Once inside the colors and lights confuse people and it becomes difficult to distinguish between paintings on the wall and monsters in the maze — until the monsters are in your face.
    Walking around Shipwreck can be just as scary, especially when you’re a target. Three of the actors, who have been doing shipwreck for years, said they love to scare people who are walking by. They’ve been doing this so long they know exactly who in the group is going to have the biggest most terrified reaction.
    Want to avoid being the object of monster attention? Here are some tell-tale signs that you’re a screamer: Avoiding eye contact — if you don’t look directly at the monster, it will give him more reason to get in your face and scare you; walking quickly past — if you try to run, you will be chased; holding on to or hiding behind a friend — that’s a sure sign of fear and you never know if that friend will sell you out or not; and of course crying — if the maze makes you cry, you don’t want to come across the monsters who roam freely.
    If touring mazes full of people who get their jollies on hearing you scream isn’t your idea of a fun night, you can try one of the dance floors Shipwreck hosts. But don’t go expecting a first-rate club. Good songs are few and far between and you end up dancing next to some high school kids whose parents are sitting at the tables watching. If that doesn’t creep you out I don’t know what will.
    Not brave enough for mazes or the dance floor? There’s always Purgatory Park, which features an actual freak show and a band performance.
    The Freak Show Deluxe from Hollywood performs two shows at night on the Purgatory Park stage. The acts include blade swallowing, machete latter climbing and balloon swallowing — have fun visualizing that one, let me just say a long balloon, like ones you can make animals out of, was used.
    The band that performed between the freak shows was mediocre. Stolen Babies performs at Shipwreck every year, but there wasn’t much stellar about their show. The lead singer did play an accordion, and that was pretty neat. You just don’t see enough accordions in rock music today.
    If you’re a jumpy person by nature, who screams when things pop out, you can expect to lose your voice by going through all the mazes. The actors time their spooks well, not always jumping out right when you turn a corner but sometimes waiting until you’ve passed then they sneak up behind you.
    If you’re a classic monster movie fan, you might not scream as much as you’d like to. Personally I love the feeling of being afraid to walk through a dark hallway, wondering when and where someone is going to get in your face. Sadly because I’ve seen so many horror movies, I knew where everyone was going to be hiding. I started the night slightly under the influence — which of course impaired my senses — and was spooked in the first two mazes I went through. But as the night went on and sobriety set in, I was able to anticipate each scare tactic. It was hard even pretending to be scared.
    As a whole, the Queen Mary Shipwreck is a great, local alternative to Knott’s Scary Farm or Universal Horror Nights. There’s something to be said for the designated driver that is public transportation.