The Hotel del Coronado is a National Historic Landmark Victorian beach resort that opened in 1888 on Coronado Island, across the bay from San Diego. Designed by architects James and Merritt Reid, it remains one of the largest wooden structures of its era still in continuous use as a hotel. On 24 November 1892 a young woman registered alone under the name “Lottie A. Bernard” of Detroit. Five days later, on the morning of 29 November, her body was found on an exterior staircase leading to the beach with a single gunshot wound to the head and a revolver nearby. The coroner’s inquest ruled the death a suicide. She was later identified as Kate Morgan (approximately 24), estranged wife of a traveling gambler; she was several months pregnant at the time. The original room number (302) was later renumbered to 3327 in the Victorian building. The hotel has long acknowledged the documented death and offers haunted-history tours.
Reported Hauntings and Folklore
Kate Morgan is the central figure in the hotel’s ghost tradition. Guests who stay in Room 3327 (the most-requested room associated with her stay) report cold drafts in closed rooms, televisions or lights turning on or off without explanation, the scent of lilac, moving objects, and the occasional figure of a woman in a long dark or Victorian dress. Staff and visitors have also described activity in the gift shop (items shifting or a figure in black searching counters), residual sounds of children on upper floors, and occasional figures elsewhere in the Victorian wings. The hotel markets the room and its history and appears on Historic Hotels of America “most haunted” lists. These accounts are consistent across guest reports and regional literature but rest on anecdote rather than independent verification beyond the documented 1892 death. Some later writers have questioned the suicide ruling on the basis of ballistics details; the official inquest remains suicide.
Relevant links
Atlas Obscura: Night in the Del’s haunted room
Hotel del Coronado official site / haunted history
Hotel del Coronado: The Del’s True Ghost Story
Coronado Times: Haunted tour coverage
Want to visit The Hotel Del Coronado? Visit the official site.
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