| Kate Morgan | |
|---|---|
Photograph of Kate Morgan taken circa 1886 |
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| Born | Kate Farmer c. 1865 Fremont County, Iowa |
| Died | November 28, 1892 (aged 26-27) Coronado, CA |
| Nationality | American |
| Other names | Lottie A. Bernard |
| Known for | Ghost of the Hotel del Coronado |
Kate Morgan (1865–1892) is an American who died under mysterious circumstances, and is thought by locals to be a ghost at the Hotel del Coronado in Coronado, CA. She was buried at nearby Mount Hope Cemetery in Division 5 Section 1.
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Kate Farmer was born in Fremont County, Iowa about 1864. Kate's mother died in 1865, and at the age of two, she was sent to live with her maternal grandfather, Joe Chandler.
In 1870, Kate's father, George Washington Farmer, was appointed to be the Postmaster of Hamburg, Iowa. He remarried in 1871, fathered two more daughters and then moved to Texas, where he died in 1876.
On December 30, 1885 Kate married Thomas Edwin Morgan and they had one child, a boy, born on October 31, 1886; he only lived two days.
According to a note written on the back of Kate's photograph by Tom's daughter, around 1890 Kate ran off with Albert Allen, a stepson of Tom's stepmother, Emily Dennison Allen Morgan.
Kate was hired as a housemaid by the Grant family in Los Angeles and told her co-workers she was married to a gambler. From this statement, Tom Morgan was assumed to be the gambler in question, but in fact, he was a rural mail carrier in Burchard, Nebraska at the time of Kate's death on November 28, 1892.
She was found dead on November 29, 1892, of what was believed to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. This was five days after checking into the Hotel del Coronado in Coronado. A San Francisco lawyer, the late Alan May, speculated in the 1980s that her death involved foul play. Evidence for the alleged suicide was a passing statement (or misstatement), during the coroner's inquest, that the bullet found in her head did not match that of her own gun.[1]. Nevertheless, whatever the merits of his book, he did revive interest in the subject by causing a stir with his murder theory. Officials reviewing the case, however, reviewed his speculations and chose not to reopen the case. Kate shot herself in the head on the steps from Hotel Del Coronado onto the beach and it is still considered a suicide.
There have been many putative ghost sightings, and other potential paranormal events at Hotel del Coronado since then. The official Hotel del Coronado website [2] mentions the ghost.
The hotel's Heritage Department has published an official book on this subject, written by the hotel's professional historian, titled The Beautiful Stranger: The Ghost of Kate Morgan and The Hotel del Coronado [3]. It avoids speculation in its research of historical documents available in local public libraries, historical societies, and university libraries as well as city hall and police files. The Heritage Department's book leans toward the official suicide verdict.
In late 2008, the Hotel del Coronado removed its book from circulation in all outside bookstores and other venues, including Amazon and other online sellers. It now only sells the book in its own giftshop. Even the Coronado Historical Association is not permitted to carry their book any longer.
There are three other books available now.
John T. Cullen has written two: his first, updated in 2008 is Dead Move: Kate Morgan and the Haunting Mystery of Coronado, Second Edition, is a non-fiction account of the mystery. His second is Lethal Journey, a novel published in August 2009.
The third book is "The Ghost of the Hotel del Coronado, The TRUE Story of Kate Morgan", by Terry Girardot. Kate's husband, Tom Morgan, was the half-brother of his maternal grandmother, and his book contains full versions of all articles from the San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco newspapers from that period, along with documents from his genealogy research including the original telegram sent to Tom advising him of Kate's suicide. Tom's granddaughter provided him with the photograph of Kate seen on this page.