FREE ESSAY ON LEGEND OF KATE MORGAN

LEGEND OF KATE MORGAN

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.
Bibliography
WORKS CITED:
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.