San Diago Ca
Tom and Kate Morgan were a married couple who rode the trains in the late 1800s. Their occupation: con artists. Kate was apparently very attractive, and would lure men into a game of cards with her "brother" Tom, so that they could prove their worth. Tom would swindle them out of whatever money they were willing to part with, and this is how the Morgans made their living.
In November of 1892, however, Kate discovered she was pregnant and wanted to stop the train racket and settle down. While the two were riding towards San Diago, they had an argument because Tom did not want to change his life style. Tom disembarked at either Los Angeles or Orange county. He was suppoesed to meet Kate in San Diago for Thanksgiving.
Kate continued on to San Diago and checked into the Hotel Del Coronado under the name "Lottie Anderson Bernard". There she waited for Tom, but Thnaksgiving came and went with no sign of him. She checked other hotels in the area but could not find him anywhere. During this time, Kate complained to variouse staff members of feeling ill and reports of the time indicate that she was looking pale. It is suspected that she performed an abortion on herself.
It is known that while Kate was waiting for her missing "husband", she ventured into San Diago and bought a gun. It was shorlt after this Kate was found shot in the head on some steps leading down to the beach, an apparent suicide.
For years everyone accepted that the death was a suicide, untile 1990, when Alan May (a lawer who specializes in murder cases) published the book "The legend of Kate Morgan" "THe search for the ghost of the Hotel Del Coronado". Mat pored through old records from the time of Kate's death. He came to the eventual conclusion that Kate did not kill herself, but was murdered by Tom. There are several peices of evidence supporting this theory, the most compelling of which is the fact that the bullet in Kate's head was of a different caliber than the ones in the gun she bought. Also, the position her body was found in was not consistent with a suicide.
The ghost
The room Kate checked into was 302, which is now room 3312. That is not the only haunted room. Room 3502, which was once a maid's room, is also considered haunted. Both rooms have experienced oddly functioning electrical equipment (lights turning on and off, etc) and cold musty breezes. Maids report that objects are moved around by unseen hands. Guests in the room (those who were brave enough to stay the night!) have experienced oppressive feelings and curtains that move even though the windows are closed. Other people swear they have heard murmurings coming from somewhere in the room. Kate's ghost has been seen walking down the hallways of the hotel and standing at windows. According to alan May, an electrician told him that the light over the steps where Kate died will not stay lit. The bulb is replaced constantly, but the light always winks out. May also claims that while he was staying in one of the haunted rooms, he saw a face on the television ( which was turned off at the time). The sighting was supposedly verified by one or two hotel employees.
Room 3502 has a history of its own. Apparently, the maid who was living there during Kate's stay may have become friends with Kate. What is known is that the day after Kate's funeral, the maid dissapeared. There is some speculation that Tom Morgan may have killed the maid as well as Kate. One story even theorizes that when hotel staff found the maid's body. They surreptitiously removed it so as not to further upset the guests!
