Hotel del Coronado
On November 25, 1892, Kate Morgan checked into the Hotel del Coronado. She never checked out, and by the many ghostly reports coming from the hotel over the decades, she’s never left.
Built in 1888 by Elisha Babcock and H.L. Story, their vision for the resort was for it to be the “talk of the Western world.” A luxurious hotel overlooking the sparkling waters of the Pacific Ocean was built—it’s a place that has accommodated dignitaries and celebrities from all over the world. Today, the resort and spa still lives up to its opulent reputation, and the ghost of Kate Morgan is still experienced and seen to this day.
Kate was an attractive woman in her mid-20s when she checked into the hotel by herself on Thanksgiving evening, 1892. Many of the hotel staff who interacted with her during her stay reported she seemed ill or unhappy. She claimed she was waiting for her brother to join her at the hotel— though he never showed. On November 30, 1892, Kate’s lifeless body was found on the exterior staircase leading to the beach. She had a gunshot wound to her head, which the local authorities determined to be self-inflicted.
Inside her room there were no personal belongings and nothing to identify her except the name she checked in with: “Lottie A. Bernard.” After sending sketches of this woman around the country, she was eventually identified as Kate Morgan from Iowa. Apparently, she and her husband had an argument on the train while en route to San Diego. Her husband got off at an earlier stop, and Kate went on to the Hotel del Coronado expecting her husband to show up, but he never did.
Kate has been blamed for televisions and lights going on and off by themselves, for mysterious cold spots, perfume smells that seem to have no source, and for making an appearance as a semi-translucent woman in the hotel as well as on the staircase where she took her own life.
Written by — Jeff Belanger Founder, Ghostvillage.com
HOTEL DEL CORONADO
1500 ORANGE AVENUE
CORONADO, CALIFORNIA 92118
TEL: 1 (619) 435-6611
WEBSITE: www.hoteldel.com
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SOURCE:
Encyclopedia of Haunted Places -Ghostly Locales from around the World – Compiled & Edited by Jeff Belanger – Copyright 2005 by Jeff Belanger