Legend Of Kate Morgan Essay, Research Paper

Have you ever had the feeling you weren’t alone? Have you ever felt a cold breeze in a room with no windows? Have you ever heard voices or footsteps when you thought you were alone?

What would be the cause of these mysterious situations? Would it be your imagination, a hallucination, a ghost?

According to thus study xx% of people believe in ghosts and the paranormal

The paranormal has been a fascination of mine every since I was a little girl and believed that a witch lived in my closet. The room was very cold and I always had nightmares in there, and it was much colder than the rest of the house. Ever since then I had been interested in finding out if hauntings and ghosts do occur.

In my search for knowledge on the subject I came across a very interesting story, The Legend of Kate Morgan. I would like to share with you the story of Kate Morgan in association with the haunting of the Hotel Dell Coronado and the mysteries surrounding her death.

On November 24th, 1892 a young woman checked into room 302 of Hotel Del Coronado under the name of Lottie Anderson Bernard. Five days later she was found dead on the exterior stairs of the hotel leading to the beach. She had a gun wound to her head and a pistol was found at her side. What happened to this young woman? Well, that’s where the legend begins.

Lottie Anderson Bernard was an alias for Kate Morgan who was 24 years

old and married to Tom Morgan. The two were said to be con artists who told people they were brother and sister as part of their scam. Kate was a very beautiful woman and would use her charms to attract men, then she would tell them they had to gain her brother’s approval by playing a hand of cards with him, this is how Kate and Tom made their money as they rode the trains and conned people.

Now one day Tom and Kate had a fight on the train from Los Angeles to San Diego, and Tom disembarked the train while Kate continued on to San Diego where she proceeded to Hotel Del Coronado.

During her stay in room 302, which is room 3312 today, the hotel employees reported that she looked very ill and pale. Kate told the employees she had stomach cancer and was waiting for her brother who was a doctor to come.

Some people believe that the reason that Tom and Kate argued on the train was because she became pregnant and wanted to settle down while Tom did not want to change their gambling lifestyle. Tom ran off and was supposed to return to the hotel some time after Thanksgiving. People believe Kate was sick because she was taking quinine pills, which would cause a woman to miscarry…because these quinine pills were reportedly found in her room after her death.

When Tom did not return to the hotel, Kate went into town and bought a gun. Shortly there after she was found dead. The San Diego Coroner said that Kate Morgan died of a self-inflicted gun shot to the head, and that Kate Morgan committed suicide. Many people believe this is what happened, Kate Morgan (pregnant or not) suffered from a broken heart and killed herself.

Still others believe that Tom Morgan did come back to the hotel and he killed Kate Morgan. Some such as Alan May in his published book The Legend of Kate Morgan: The Search for the Ghost of the Hotel Del Coronado conclude that the bullet found in Kate’s head is not the same caliber of the gun that she purchased.

Nobody can say for sure what happened to Kate Morgan. Was she pregant or not? Did she committ suicide or was she murdered? Nobody really knows which of these mysterious circumstances are true..but this is not where the story ends.

The Hotel Del Coronado is said to behaunted by Kate Morgan’s ghost. Room 3312 is said to be haunted with Kate’s spirit and the guests in room 3312 oftern find the belongings have been moved, they hear murmurings, and footsteps, and cool breezes seem to come from no where. One employee said the was escorting a guest to room 3312 and when he opened the door to the room he noticed that the bed comforter had an indentation on it like someone was laying on the bed, he tried to smooth the bed cover out but the indentation remains. Others report seeing the actual ghost of Kate Morgan roaming down the halls or walking down the stairs. According the Alan May the electrician says the lights on the stairs where Kate died will not stay lit, the bulbs always burn out.

Yet room 3312 is not the only haunted room in Hotel Del Coronado, room 2502 is also said to be haunted. It is believed that the maid that attended to Kate lived in this room, and she disappeared the day after Kate’s funeral. Some believe she may have witnessed Kate’s death or knew the circumstances surrounding her death.

Many people come to Hotel Del Coronado just to stay in room 3312 to see if they can come in contact with Kate Morgan. The mystery of Kate’s death is just as mysterious as her hauntings at the Hotel Del Coronado. So if you are one of the ghost believers here or not, next time you are in Sand Diego stop by the Hotel Del Coronado and see if you can see what it is that fascinated many people to the Legend of Kate Morgan.

1. Hargrove, Thomas, Stempel, Guido. “Ghosts, ghouls and goblins haunt americans’

imagination.” Scripps Howard News Service. [http://www.inside

naples.com/today/neapoliton/d331920a.htm]

2. Herbert, james. “Local Haunts: A guide to prominent places where things go bump in

the night.” The Sand Diego Union-Tribune 28 Oct. 1999.

3. May, Alan. The Legend of Kate Morgan: The search for the ghost of the Hotel del

Coronado.