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Coronado's Haunted Mansion...

By Karen Wamhoff

Inside the Ocean Boulevard home, it is said, 23-year-old Anna has been making her presence known for over half a century.

Many Coronado residents might think that the traffic situation is the scariest story they have heard of late, yet the island has other frightening tales to share. Legend surrounds many homes in Coronado that are brimming with history and these homes are often associated with things-that-go-bump-in-the-night. The sound of footsteps pacing empty hallways, a flash of light dancing on the ceiling and peculiar creaking on a flight of stairs. Apparitions, overly active imaginations or simply annual Halloween shenanigans?

Coronado’s most famous ghost is Kate Morgan, a spirit who has been running amok in room #3327 at the Hotel Del Coronado since 1894. Kate, known more for her pranks than any evil intent, seems in no hurry to depart. Numerous sightings have occurred in the last 109 years, making the room a popular request. “The most recent antic transpired when a maid was cleaning the infamous suite,” according to 19-year-old Erika Gadsden, a hotel reservation clerk. “She had just finished making the bed and was about to leave when she noticed a human-form impression on the bedspread. The housekeeper proceeded to remake the bed but no amount of effort could release the indentation.”

Apparently, Miss Morgan is quite content to never check out of her $300-a-night suite; not bad accommodation for this wisp of a lady. Gadsden also mentioned that another, less-prominent spirit roams the corridors. It seems that Kate Morgan’s extremely loyal maid also considers the Del her home and has been seen taking evening strolls through the hallways of the second floor!

The hotel is not the only place in town where “ghosts” have made themselves known. Ask Joe Ditler, a resident who has called Coronado home for the last 35 years. Ditler, who owns Schooner or Later Productions, related the story of a ghost lurking at the Boathouse 1887 restaurant for a number of years.
She was named “Ms. Glorietta” by restaurant employees who have experienced her friendly encounters. The sound of glass shattering where there is none to be found, doors that refuse to open and items falling off shelves for no apparent reason have been witnessed by many. Painters working at night on the restaurant’s recent renovation reported restroom signs being moved by a woman. They left the building and refused to reenter until daylight. Ms. Glorietta?

“In July of 2003 a waitress was confronted with a very sad woman in an antique wedding gown, slumped over her table at the upstairs bar,” Ditler said. “When the waitress asked if she could be of help, the woman perked up, smiled, and said ‘No thank you, but I’m grateful for you caring enough to ask.’ Afterward the wait-ress went downstairs, but when she returned the woman was gone. She reported this to the manager and when they inspected the table area, a cold breeze could be felt where the woman had been sitting.”

Another longtime Coronado resident had such frequent visits from a spirit who loved to keep late hours that she was roused from her sleep on a regular basis. Doors opened and shut on their own and faint melodies were heard from unknown places. And there were evenings when she felt a light touch on her cheek while she was reading or lying in bed. Even the family dog had acted strangely, staring at the door all night. “No matter how tired our dog got he wouldn’t shut his eyes,” the anonymous resident confided. “The next day he slept like a log!” Other guests have been privy to this apparition.

A friend who was renting a room in the house was aware of eerie occurrences, but it wasn’t until she was in the home alone one night that a specter appeared in the form of a young woman in a long dress reminiscent of the 1930s. The homeowner could not say she was an actual ghost, but her tenant did procure other lodgings the next day! Fortified with ghost stories and with curiosity piqued, the homeowner called in an expert. Enter Connie Russert, M.S., a spiritual channeler and former professor in the San Diego community college district. “Channels are vehicles for unseen energies who speak to you directly using our voices,” Russert explained. “I discovered, quite by happenstance, that I have the gift of channeling. That was 1983. I voluntarily slip into an altered state of consciousness beyond my intellectual understanding. My spirit journeys into a parallel universe to contact and then merge with the energies.”

On a recent visit to this Ocean Boulevard residence Russert offered her expertise to a cluster of giddy and slightly nervous guests, enlightening the group on spiritual awareness and channeling. Then, she gradually entered into a trance-like state and, with help from a spirit guide, related that the particular spirit who was wandering this house was doing so because she had “loved her life and surroundings so much that she had no desire to venture elsewhere.” Russert told the guests that the specter had passed away sometime in the 1940s, was approximately 23 years old and that her name was Anna.

Russert assured the homeowner that “Anna” had no intention of doing any harm, and her only wish was that the resident take time to enjoy and relish every day of her life. Fact or fiction? Does it matter? These ghost stories will make great fodder for the imagination while sitting around your next bonfire.


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Reprinted with permission from Coronado Lifestyle, "the little magazine with the BIG impact."
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