The Legend of Kate Morgan's Ghost

November 28, 1892 - For over 100 years, guests at San Diego's Hotel del Coronado have reported spooky encounters with the ghost of Kate Morgan. This was the day the legend began, with Morgan's mysterious death at the Victorian beach resort.

The story goes that Morgan and her boyfriend were small-time con artists who had been working the rails between Los Angeles and San Diego. Together they cheated their victims with shady card games and various trickery.

Apparently Morgan and her man got into a fight and parted ways. She checked into the Hotel del Coronado alone, and over the course of her visit she complained about headaches and other pains. At the end of 5 days her body was found on the steps leading to the beach with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot to the right temple. The coroner ruled it a suicide, but some believe her boyfriend was the murderer. 

The Morgan story became a hot scandal that made its way around the country. Newspapers fanned the flames with sensationalized tales of Morgan's notorious rise and fall.

And so the haunting begins. During her doomed stay at the hotel, Morgan was in room 302, which after countless renovations has become room 3327. It's here that most of the ghostly action happens. Visitors report seeing swinging lamps, flashing lights and dark figures yanking the covers off the bed. Every so often someone will see the ghost of Morgan herself, dressed in turn-of-the-century clothes as she unlocks her door or primps before a mirror.

All this spookiness hasn't hurt business. According to the hotel management, the room is usually booked months in advance as thrill seekers hope for a glimpse of the "beautiful stranger."