The story of Kate Morgan is a fascinating blend of documented history and lingering legend. Her life and untimely death in 1892 are not just a window into the social dynamics of her time but also the foundation of one of Southern California’s most enduring ghost stories. At the Hotel del Coronado, where her tragic end occurred, the boundary between fact and folklore has blurred, transforming Kate Morgan into both a historical figure and a spectral icon. Let’s take a deep dive into this classic tale together.
Early Life: Roots of Tragedy
Born Kate Farmer in the post-Civil War years, her early life reflected the instability faced by many in 19th-century America. Her father, George Farmer, a Missouri-born saddler and Civil War veteran, settled the family in Iowa. Kate’s childhood was marked by profound loss—her mother passed away in 1868 when Kate was just three years old, followed by her father’s death in 1876. These events left her orphaned at ten, placing her under the care of her maternal grandfather Joseph Chandler.
Kate’s experiences mirrored those of many women of her era, who often faced limited opportunities and relied on marriage for social and economic stability. Her life, however, would veer sharply from this expected path.
A Marriage Marked by Sorrow
On December 30th, 1886 Kate married Thomas Edwin Morgan, which would have been expected for a woman of her age and background. Yet their life together was overshadowed by tragedy. Their son, Thomas Jr., died just two days after his birth in 1886. This loss marked a turning point in Kate’s life. By 1890, records indicate she had left her husband and eloped with Albert Allen, her husband’s stepmother’s stepson. This act—scandalous even by modern standards—carried significant social consequences in the late Victorian era, similar to a doctor having a relationship with a patient today.
She arrived in L.A. from Omaha in October of 1892, and told people that her parents lived near Omaha, and her husband was a gambler, but she didn’t know what happened to him. The women she would later work with said she was very secretive about her past.
The Final Days
Kate’s final days are meticulously documented, hinting at a deliberate and somber end. The following timeline was constructed using almost entirely primary sources:
On Wednesday, November 23rd, 1892 Kate left her position as a domestic servant for L.A. Grant at 917 South Hill Street in Los Angeles. Kate told Mr Grant that she would be back the next day. She only took a satchel, leaving her trunk full of clothing and other personal effects behind. There are also contemporary reports stating she was anxious to get some papers signed and seemed to be really worried about something, but no one knew what.
The following day, which was Thanksgiving, Kate arrived at the Hotel del Coronado and registered under the alias “Mrs Lottie A Bernard, Detroit.” She carried no luggage except for a small handbag and was later described as being reserved and ladylike.
According to staff of the hotel on Friday the 25th Kate spent almost the entire day in her room. While she didn’t go into any sort of detail regarding her life, she freely told the hotel staff that she was very ill, suffering from stomach cancer and also some type of vague heart problem. Staff said she was incredibly despondent and that she mentioned her medical prognosis was hopeless.
The next morning Kate visited the drug store inside the hotel and proceeded to pace up and down the store and appeared to be suffering according to the clerk. She asked if they had anything for her pain and the store manager told her she needed to see a doctor. Kate replied that her brother is a physician and he would arrive at any time.
On Sunday, November 27th, Kate sent a bellboy, Harry West to fetch an empty pint bottle and a sponge from the drug store. She spent most of the day in her room, reportedly groaning and appearing very ill. Around noon she asked hotel staff to draw a bath for her and reportedly spent the next two hours in the bath. She would later tell the bellboy she was wet because she was too weak to properly stand up and had fallen into the tub while trying to get out. She then asked him to rub her head, which he did. (I’m thinking he was helping her dry her hair) She was later seen on the second-floor veranda by the same bellboy at around 6:30 pm. She continues to ask if her brother has arrived.
When Kate asked the bellboy to get her a whiskey cocktail the clerk of the hotel became concerned about Kate’s condition. After staff had repeatedly tried to get her to see the hotel physician and being unsuccessful, the clerk R. Gomer went up to Kate’s room to speak to her. He found Kate in bed with no fire going and suggested starting one because it might make her more comfortable. She replied that it was unnecessary, she was as comfortable as she could expect and was “totally opposed to calling the physician.” Mr Gomer tried unsuccessfully to find out something about her identity and said that Kate told him the doctors had given up on her, that she had stomach cancer and her case was hopeless. When he pushed Kate about sending a telegraph to her brother she replied that she didn’t know whether he was in Los Angeles, Orange, or Frisco. When he asked if there was anyone else she could telegraph for funds she suggested the name of G.L. Allen of Hamburg, Iowa.
The next morning began with Kate asking the housekeeper and other staff if her brother has arrived. When she was again told that he had not she appeared despondent and said “Oh, no one comes to me anymore.” She mentioned to hotel staff that she needs to go to San Diego to identify her baggage personally. Kate left the hotel around noon and asked the conductor where she could find a hardware store and she was given directions. The conductor would later state that he had to lift her off of the car as she was very weak. At around 3pm Kate first went to the Ship Chandlery Store at 624 5th Street looking to purchase a gun. The clerk told her they didn’t sell weapons and directed her to go to Mr Chick’s gun store at 641 5th Street. Kate made her way to Mr Chick’s gun store in San Diego and purchased a .44 American Bulldog revolver and bullets, and was shown how to load the weapon. She told him the gun was to be a Christmas present to a friend of hers.
Kate would later be seen walking south on Fifth Street, “slow-moving and somber”, carrying the revolver. When she got back to the hotel she asked the bellboy for a box of matches and he gave her the few matches he had in his pocket. She told him that she wanted to burn some papers. The last time Kate would be seen alive by hotel staff was between 7 and 8 PM when she went to the hotel office to check for letters or telegrams. None had arrived. It appears that at some point between 9 – 10 PM Kate stepped out onto the hotel veranda during a storm, dressed in black with a lace shawl over her head. She headed towards the stairs at the north corner of the hotel near the beach.
Early the next morning around 7:30 on Tuesday, the 29th of November, the hotel electrician David Cone, discovered her body on the stone steps leading to the beach. A revolver was found near her outstretched hand. Her body was soaking wet, stiff and cold, suggesting she had died house earlier. The coroner was notified and Kate’s body was taken to Johnson & Co.’s undertakers in San Diego.
A Legacy of Mystery
Kate’s life and death were riddled with unanswered questions. She operated under multiple aliases, including Lottie Bernard, Josie Brown, and Louise Anderson. The reasons for her deception remain unknown. Adding to the mystery, contemporary accounts suggested she suffered from terminal stomach cancer, but an autopsy was never performed. Speculation about a possible pregnancy and attempted termination, though never proven, added another layer of intrigue to her story.
Witnesses reported that Kate argued with a male companion during her journey to California, but his identity remains unknown. Could he have been a lover? A confidant? Or simply a passerby entangled in the tragedy?
On the 9th of December a trunk marked “Mrs Kate Morgan” was taken to the central police station from the house of L.A. Grant. Mr. Grant said that Kate had been employed in his house as a servant. He had reported her missing when she failed to return on Thanksgiving but no clues had been found.
The following items were found in her trunk:
- Tin Box Marked Louise Anderson
- Several photographs:
- A man aged about 50 years with a full beard, tinged with gray
- A man approximately 35 years of age, black mustache, black hair, thick skull, “looked something like a sporting character.”
- Photographs of two boys aged about 9 and 10
- Photograph of a girl who appeared to be about 2 years old
- Photograph of an infant
- Several photographs:
- Lock of blonde hair found carefully inside a piece of paper. On the paper was written: Elizabeth A Morgan’s hair.” (Kate had been carrying her dead mother’s hair around with her for all of this time.)
- A marriage certificate for Thomas E. Morgan and Kate K. Farmer on December 30th, 1885 at Hamburg, Iowa.
- A letter recommending Kate as an “honorable and trustworthy” woman and signed by W.J. Farmer in Hanford, California.
- A cabinet size photograph of Kate.
On Dec 11th, 1892 the undertaker sent a telegraph to Thomas Morgan that read:
”Lady suicided here identical with Mrs Kate Morgan nee Farmer. Body unburied. What shall we do”
Kate’s body lay at Johnson’s undertaking parlor and the number of visitors to view her body was “as large as ever.” Interestingly, most of the visitors were ladies. Kate’s story served as a mirror reflecting the fears, constraints, and desires of Victorian women. Whether driven by curiosity, compassion, or fascination with her scandal, women’s interest in Kate’s death highlights how her story tapped into the broader anxieties and intrigues of her time.
On December 12th, Kate’s grandfather J.W. Chandler replied to a telegram from the coroner of San Diego county. It read:
“Your telegram received regarding Kate Morgan, nee Farmer. Bury her and send me statement. J.W. Chandler”
That same day the Chief of Police of San Diego finally got a response from W.F. Farmer who lived in Hanford, California and where Kate Morgan previously lived. He replied stating that he was “more than surprised” to hear of the tragedy, and that if it was Kate he was certain she would not have committed suicide because she would’ve had no reason to do so. He went on to say that her people well-to-do and her husband, Thomas Morgan, has been traveling in the interest of some manufacturing company, and his home is in Hamburg, Iowa.
Her uncle continued saying that when she left his house she had “quite a sum of money”, one large, flat-top trunk, two leather satchels, and a lady’s gold watch. When Kate’s body was found, only $16.50 were found on her body. What happened to all of her money?
On December 13th, the funeral of Mrs Kate Morgan took place in the parlors of Johnson & Co undertakers. Her funeral was well attended by not only the public but several members of the Brotherhood of St Andrew and some ladies from the Episcopal church.
After the service, Kate’s casket was taken to Mount Hope Cemetery for burial. Her unmarked grave remained for 98 years until an attorney named Alan May, obsessed with uncovering her story after seeing her ghost, donated a headstone. He was known to visit her grave regularly until his own death in 1991.
A Haunting at the Hotel del Coronado
Over the years following Kate’s tragic death both staff and guests alike have reported strange incidents that seemed to focus on the room that Kate stayed in.
The earliest mention in the newspapers that I could find is a May 19th, 1983 article by the Coronado Eagle and Journal. The hotel spokesperson at the time said:
We’ve had people booked into that room, and in the middle of the night they call and say, ‘Get me out of here.
A Times-Advocate story from October 25th 1987 reported that guests and staff reported lights flickering on / off, doors and windows that mysteriously open and close, and guests reported seeing the figure of a woman with long dark hair and antique dress in the room. Kate’s ghost would often scare the staff. There’s a report from the 1970s that a room service attendant brought a bottle of wine to a woman wearing Victorian dress in room 502.1 He later learned that wing of the hotel had no guests and room 502 had not been occupied in months.
A housekeeper named Irma DeAnda who worked in the department for more than 10 years told reporters that most of the housekeepers dreaded cleaning room 502. They stopped cleaning the room alone mostly because they hear strange noises and feel like they’re being watched while inside the room. Irma herself had an experience where she cleaned 502, had just finished dusting and went into the bathroom to replace the soap. When she returned she found a pile of dirt on top of the dresser.
This newspaper article also said that a housekeeper died from a heart attack in the 1960s in room 502 but I have been unable to verify this. Housekeepers have said after they’ve entirely cleaned the room lamp shades and hangers will be moved.
These incidents have cemented her reputation as the “Beautiful Stranger,” a ghost whose story is now woven into the fabric of the hotel’s identity.
The Evolution of the Legend
Let’s talk about how Kate’s story has managed to still be talked about over 130 years later. In this case it’s all about location and mystery. At the time of Kate’s death the Hotel del Coronado was already a glamorous and iconic location. And like in many ghost stories, the weather on the night of Kate’s death was stormy, adding a gothic element to her story, isolated in despair.
After the inquest locals and visitors speculated about Kate’s reason for choosing the hotel for her final act, often adding embellishments. Rumors swirled about her strange behavior, her illness and the lack of clear family connections. In the decades after her death guests claimed to hear unexplained footsteps, see shadowy figures, or feel unexplainable cold drafts in the areas near where Kate stayed. Soon stories were emerging about Kate’s spirit lingering in her room, Room 3327 (originally Room 302).
Kate’s death in 1892 was during the height of spiritualism and belief in the afterlife and communication with ghosts was widespread. Additionally, Kate’s story perfectly fits the “tragic female ghost” archetype who dies young and under mysterious or sorrowful circumstances.
Kate Morgan’s Cultural Impact
Kate’s life and death illuminate the constraints and contradictions of her era, especially regarding women’s autonomy and the harsh social judgment faced by those who stepped outside traditional roles. Her transformation from a forgotten figure to a cultural legend underscores how historical tragedies evolve into folklore.
The death of Kate Morgan is a perfect storm of mystery, tragedy, and the supernatural, which has kept her story alive for over 130 years. Her story became the central haunting narrative of the Hotel del Coronado because it had all of the ingredients of a classic ghost story: an atmospheric setting, unanswered (and unanswerable) questions, a tragic and relatable figure, and early reports of paranormal activity.
Share Your Thoughts on Kate Morgan’s Haunting Legacy!
Kate Morgan’s tragic story has captivated people for over a century, sparking questions, theories, and ghostly tales. Now, we want to hear from you:
- What do you think really happened to Kate Morgan at the Hotel del Coronado? Was it a case of tragic despair, or is there more to the story than meets the eye?
- Do you believe the ghostly encounters reported at the hotel are tied to Kate, or could they be something—or someone—else entirely?
- Have you ever visited the Hotel del Coronado or experienced anything paranormal there? Share your story!
Join the conversation in the comments and let’s unravel this enduring mystery together.
Sources:
Primary Sources:
1. Newspaper Archives
- San Francisco Examiner
- San Francisco Chronicle
- Los Angeles Herald
- San Diego Union and Daily Bee
- Fresno Morning Republican
2. Public Records
- Death certificates and coroner’s inquest reports for Kate Morgan (aliases included).
- Marriage and birth records for Kate Farmer and Thomas Edwin Morgan.
3. Hotel del Coronado Historical Records
- Guest registries from 1892.
- Correspondence and photographs from the hotel archives.
Paranormal Research and Media Coverage:
4. Eyewitness Accounts
- Anecdotes collected from Hotel del Coronado staff and guests over the years.
15. Folklore Studies
- Papers or books addressing how historical events evolve into cultural myths.
- (502 was originally numbered 302 and later 3502, and 3327) ↩︎