Aiden Sinclair’s Illusions of the Passed: 2019 Review

The Queen Mary, Long Beach, CA

Happy pumpkin spiced everything season, everyone! Yes, the time when we now, as a country come together to declare out loud that we… um… like pumpkins or something. I’m just glad the trend hasn’t caught on with kombucha. But that’s not why we’re here.

Aiden Sinclair has been enjoying a run at the Queen Mary for a little over a year now with his Illusions of The Passed show… and now, they’ve changed things up a little bit! In addition to the illusions and mentalism, they’re now offering an intimate opportunity to do some real live ghost hunting.

The Renevant room also has a great lounge with craft cocktails only available for guests of Illusions of The Passed.

Aiden starts the experience with the illusion portion of the show

Illusions of The Passed is a show that Aiden had run previously at a hotel up north that had a very successful run and has seen great success at the Queen Mary. The show itself is a 90 minute experience and deals with direct stories from the history of the Queen Mary itself. There are examples from all over, and our experience last week had particular importance since it was set on the 77th anniversary of the tragic accident when the Queen Mary (operating as a troop transport during World War 2) sliced the HMS Curacoa in half, killing 337 crew, some almost instantly.

There are references to the various people who have died onboard. Including one very sad story of a military officer who died while walking off the ship and fell to his death when arriving back in New York.

Attempting to make contact with the spirits beyond…

The various illusions (are they illusions) are some parts mentalism, traditional magic and even some divination and they make for a very entertaining show in the very intimate Renevant Room. Some guests have even reported their own ghost sightings during the show. Some ladies have even reported seeing sailors hanging out in the wings of the small theater… something that is most definitely not a part of the show!

The ghost hunting equipment.

Once the Illusions of The Passed show concludes, they offer a very exclusive opportunity to do some ghost hunting using some modern equipment. Electro-magnetic detectors, temperature / humidity / pressure detectors and an interesting form of EVP-like rig using a radio scanner and noise isolating headphones that I personally hadn’t witnessed before.

Aiden scanning…

Basically what happens is Becca, Aiden’s assistant, and the 10 guests in the room ask questions of any spirits that might be around. While this is happening, Aiden, and whoever might be wearing the headphones listens to the radio as it scans and zones out, basically listening for things that might pop out as relevant answers. What happens is occasionally gibberish, and sometimes, once a connection is made, the weirdest thing happens. The answers and words that appear on the radio become very, very specific. Several times, Becca asks a question, and whoever is holding the radio and the wire attached to it… who, I can attest to, cannot hear what is being said in the room, and they’ll come back with specific answers. You might get a name, you get things like answers about how many fingers someone is holding up… one person was called out in the room by name. All seemingly random and very, very freaky!

One of the guests scanning…
Photo credit Matthew Martinez

At one point my wife was scanning… Becca asked “Can you tell us your name” and immediately my wife responds “I could…” but we never got to know what the ghost’s name was. As things wound down and we got some very interesting responses, Becca began calling my wife’s name, trying to get her attention that it was time to tap out (after about 20 minutes of questions and answers). She couldn’t hear Becca so it got to a point where Becca was yelling my wife’s name and she blurts out “Stop screaming!” Not knowing what was going on at all.

One of the tools used to detect ghosts… it’s lit up indicating a presence near the device of a non-human nature.
Photo credit Matthew Martinez

I’ve done some ghost hunting both at the Queen Mary and some other locations and I have to say, as hit and miss as they can be, this was definitely one of the more compelling experiences I’ve ever had. While Illusions of The Passed is definitely a magic show, the ghost hunting portion is a pretty above board experience. Whether or not you’re a skeptic or not (my wife definitely is), it’s pretty interesting to see how things can happen that bring you around to be a bit of a believer (she is now after watching video back of her experience). I cannot recommend this experience enough… first, you get to spend time on the historic Queen Mary… a ship that has seen one of the most storied histories of any ocean liner to ever exist. And you get to see a great show in a small theater followed by a ghost hunting experience in what is also one of the most haunted places on earth.

The rope room on the Queen Mary.
Photo credit Matthew Martinez

After our experience was over, sadly we had to leave, but a few folks went up to the Rope Room in the forward section of the ship. It sits directly over the forward cargo hold which is one of the scariest places I’ve ever personally stepped foot in. During World War 2 this was the area that they would put the POWs being returned… in short, it was not a happy scene. Of all the deaths that happened on the ship, this place never had exact records kept of how many people died down there. Not from mistreatment… no. From violence… they killed each other. Germans and Italians brawled and killed. I’ve heard people say more than 50 deaths, I’ve heard over 200 deaths… but with no records, nobody can be sure. I was taken down there once and it was hands down the scariest experience I’ve ever personally had. There is an oppressive presence in that space. Both sadly and thankfully, it’s not available to the public and is the place on the ship that has seen some very, very freaky experiences for those lucky enough to go down there.

So the rope room is as close as you can get, and during the exclusive ghost hunting experience with Aiden and Becca, you might be able to tap into that energy and get some very interesting results!

Illusions of The Passed runs on select nights at the Queen Mary and tickets start at $45 for the show alone and go up to $200 for the 10 person show + ghost hunting experience (well worth it if you ask me). You can find more information and buy your tickets by visiting http://www.queenmary.com

And with that… I’m done… GOO BAH!