The beautiful stranger

This week, I want to share a creepy Thanksgiving ghost story with you. It takes place in a California hotel that has been around for over a century. For many of us, Thanksgiving is an amazing day of celebration. It’s one of the few days that we can break bread with family and friends over a classic dinner. And if you’re an NFL fan, there are usually three games played on Thanksgiving. I don’t consider it a holiday meant for anyone to be alone.

But on November 24, 1892, a young dark-haired woman in her twenties checked into the Hotel del Coronado in Coronado, California by herself. The attractive pregnant woman signed in as Lottie A. Bernard from Detroit. She was expecting someone to join her. However, many people think she has never checked out.

I have seen different accounts of who she was expecting to arrive. One possibility is an unknown lover. Perhaps it was the father of her unborn child? Regardless, no one ever showed up to meet her. Five days later, the sound of a single gunshot rang through the hotel. A hotel electrician found Lottie near an entrance leading to the beach. She was dead from a single gunshot wound to the head. A local coroner ruled Lottie’s death a suicide. However, not everyone believes she committed suicide.

Mysterious and beautiful

Authorities investigated her room (currently room 3327). They discovered her name wasn’t Lottie Bernard. So who was she? The press called her “the beautiful stranger.”

After sending out many telegraphs, authorities identified her as Kate Morgan from Iowa. She had been born during the early 1860s and married a man named Thomas Morgan. The couple had a child who only lived for two days. Her marriage to Thomas Morgan ended after she left him for another man. The relationship with the other man didn’t last either.

During the police investigation, a witness saw Morgan arguing with an unidentified man. Someone else saw her buy the pistol she used to kill herself. During her five-day hotel stay, Kate kept to herself. She only communicated with the housekeeper who cleaned her room. She told the housekeeper she had stomach cancer. Kate must have been distraught, because she has stayed at the hotel permanently.

Kate’s room is the most requested by guests. From what I understand, she doesn’t disappoint. Guests who stayed in the room have mentioned flickering lights, strange temperature changes, and a possessed television that turns itself off and on. With a ghost like Kate, who needs a remote control? Others reports include doors opening and closing, footsteps and strange voices that don’t belong to anyone living.

Furthermore, Kate doesn’t always stay in her room. Her spirit wanders through the hotel and along the beach. The hotel’s gift shop has also experienced weird events. Merchandise has flown off the shelves, but Kate doesn’t break anything. She ensures the merchandise lands upright. Ghost hunters have stayed in the room to capture her ghost. According to the book, “Beautiful Stranger: The Ghost of Kate Morgan and the Hotel del Coronado, Kate is more known for being a prankster than malicious.

Although Kate’s death was ruled a suicide, an attorney who researched Kate’s death during the 1980s learned the bullet hole in her head didn’t match the gun she allegedly used to kill herself. So did she commit suicide? If she had cancer, perhaps she wanted to spend her last moments near the ocean. I also wonder why she hasn’t moved on. Unfortunately, we will never know because the mystery ended with Kate’s death over one hundred years ago. But Kate has never remained far from the hotel. She is buried in a cemetery near the hotel that’s in perfect range for a haunting.