Kate Morgan

Kate Morgan was born in 1864/65 and died 1892, she was an American woman who died under mysterious circumstances and is believed to haunt the Hotel del Coronado in Coronado, California. She is buried in nearby Mount Hope Cemetery, listed as being in Division 5, Section 1.  She has been tied up to the Hotel del Coronado and suspected hauntings there, most of the time people concur that her death seems to be more like that of suicide and support the official verdict. Some of the legends say that Kate never checked out and had been waiting for a man to show up there, she was lovesick and lonely and this may have led to her death/suicide.

Kate’s mother died in 1865 and she was sent to stay with her maternal grandfather, and then in 1870 her father was appointed to be the Postmaster of Hamburg, Iowa. He remarried in 1871 with two more daughters in his life and died in Texas, 1876.

Kate married Thomas Edwin Morgan, they had one child together on 31st October, 1886 but sadly the boy only lasted two days. Around 1890 she ran off with Albert Allen, a stepson of Tom’s mother. She was then hired as a housemaid in by the Grant Family in Los Angeles and she told her co-workers that she was married to a gambler and Tom Morgan was incorrectly assumed to be the gambler. When she died 28th November, 1892, he was a rural mail carrier out in Nebraska.

Kate was found dead on the exterior staircase leading to the beach, it looked like a self-inflicted gunshot to the head and this was five days after she had checked out from Hotel del Coronado, Coronado. A San Francisco lawyer (the late Alan May) suggested that there was foul play involved and evidence for this was a passing statement during the coroner’s inquest that the bullet from her head did not match the gun that she owned. Officials never reopened the case because to them it seemed to be more speculation than fact.

In respect to the ghostly tales, she seems to haunt the hotel room where she was a guest, but is not solely limited to this area. Most the activity seems to be fleeting glimpses of the pretty woman, cold spots or the televisions turnings off or on without explanation.  A couple reported that during their romantic Valentine stay they were interrupted with sleep when the covers were taken away from them in the middle of the night by a ghostly apparition.

The gift shop was established in 1888 with the lower lobby being part of it being a vintage display for the hotel, it has been active with events such as things coming from the shelves and walls. They moved the lobby and displays when they updated it and thought it might cause them to cease but it seems that the ghost does not like this. Marilyn Munroe’s 1958 filming was there for the film Some Like It Hot and anything related to that seems to tumble or falter when on display, maybe the ghost does not enjoy sharing the limelight.

A psychic gave their input in 1912 (ish) and stated that they had a vision of men (not unlike miners) who were digging a tunnel near the hotel and had a lingering presence. There is in fact a tunnel that connects the remote infrastructure to the main hotel so perhaps they had picked up on that?

Yukito Syndrome

Right this does contain the subject of suicide so be warned! If this is likely to upset you then I would recommend that you do not read this article.

Okada Yukito was born 22nd August 1967 and was the second daughter, she really wanted to become a singer and was accepted on to a TV program called Star Tanjo, she won the competition in 1983. 21st April 1984 and Yukito released her debut single “First Date” and was set to have a successful career. By the time she died she had released 10 singles and 6 albums.

Before her death it is possible that she was suffering from depression or a related mental illness that was deteriorating. She had left notes around her home and some suggested there was a possibility of parts of suicide notes in there too. One of the notes ended with “my heart has nowhere else to go”.

8th April, 1986 Yukito was found with slashed wrists in her gas-filled apartment. She was crouching in a closet and crying. For some unknown reason the suffering woman was then left alone! Two hours later this talented young woman leapt to her death from the seven-story Sun Music Agency building.

Her manager was the one that found her, perhaps he thought it was a cry for attention but does that mean no one had been listening for a while? Yukito carried out the act of suicide without any intervention and seemingly she may have felt there was no one that was listening.

1986 was the year with the biggest suicide rate in Japan’s history and copycat suicides came from her death, one was from the same building. Numbers collected suggest that 31 teens killed themselves, 19 jumped off buildings and the strange spate was labelled “Yukito Syndrome”.

Cornwall Jail

Cornwall Jail, Ontario, the jail had it’s last official prisoner in 2002, before the war of 1812 the original courthouse was used as barracks, the courts were held in St John church and local taverns. 14 years later it burnt down, the new jailhouse was completed in 1834. It has a plan for 50-60 prisoners but was often over capacity with around 100.

Only 3 guards were on duty at any time and exercises in the courtyard for example, could not be controlled. It’s possible this led to some of the suicides in the jail. One of the suicides took place in the building, belts and shoelaces had been removed but he still found a way to hang himself from the bars, after his suicide Plexiglas was installed. The second was a suicide that took place overnight in a busy prison, and it seems strange that even with it being overcrowded it took a while for anyone to find them, did they have a cell mate I wonder?

Ten inmates were hung at the gallows before executions ended in the courtyard in 1954. Peter Balcombe, a 24 year old man, was the last hanging at the jail on the 25^th May 1954, he had been found guilty of murder. Many of those executed were buried in the courtyard, a new section was added in the 1960’s, three ‘cells’ were laid in the ground, supposedly they were used for punishment but there appears to be no record of their existence.

In 2005 the jail opened as a tourist attraction for Ontario, whilst it is there for a historic purpose there are also those who are interested in the paranormal side too. Reports have included hearing the sounds of trolley movement, cell doors that were closed the night before would be found open the next day; or vice versa. Numerous orbs have been caught on photography or film, staff have reported hearing a humming from a male, some believe that woman and children also haunt the jail. TAPS investigated and aired a show from the site.

Ricárdo López – Björk Stalker

TRIGGER WARNING

A quick search online will give you plenty of information but to give you a summary and because it is probably flitting to the nature of my blog, I am going to summaries this one.

López was born in Uruguay and the family moved to the USA where the seemingly easy, good-natured López grew up. He was regarded as a fairly nice person who had a dew male friends but never had a girlfriend or seemed to hold friendships with women. López dropped out of high school but didn’t pursue any of his artistic talents due to fears of being rejected by any schools and fearing that he was inadequate.

By 18 years of age he was a social recluse, he seemingly found a better place in fantasy and became enthralled by celebrities. In 1993 he became obsessed by Icelandic singer, Björk, following her career and learning everything he could about her.

At the beginning it seemed quite positive, she was a muse for him and overtime, during his 803 page diary, it showed he was losing connection with reality. His main motivation seemed to be a way to find for her to accept him as a friend nothing really suggested it was sexually motivated either. He spoke of a way to go back to the 1970’s and find her to be her friend…

Overall his diary is really an account of a terribly lonely man, he felt inadequate, ugly and unsuccessful. López’s diary referenced suicide and had fourteen mentions of murder. In it he had mentioned other celebrities but an overwhelming 408 references were made about Björk.

All-in-all up until this point I was seemingly a lonely man, obsessed with a woman he could not meet, but the story does not end there; hence me including it on the blog.

In 1996 he was living alone in Hollywood, Florida, and found an article in Entertainment Weekly about her romantic involvement with Goldie (Clifford Joseph Prince). He avidly disliked the relationship because he was a black man and felt betrayed at her having Goldie as a lover. He decides he needs to harm her because of this relationship and the feeling of betrayal.

14th January 1996 and López stopped writing his diaries, instead he moved to making video diaries instead. He made eleven tapes in total, each lasting around two hours. They were filmed within his apartment, a squalid place hat he referred to as his pigsty, he would also record the videos in various states of undress.

By the end of his series he had decided Björk must die and in his diary he states that he’s going to kill her by sending a package, he wanted to send her to hell. His intention was a letter bomb loaded with needles of HIV infected blood gained from a prostitute and abandoned his plan when he realised he could not do it, it was unfeasible.

López changed tactics, in June he began to construct a bomb in a book that was to be sent to her home, he wanted it to look like it had been posted by her record label. It was devised to spray acid in her face, to leave her disfigured.

12th September 1996 and López makes his last entry, he films his preparation of going to the post office. He is nervous but if he aroused suspicion he was going to commit suicide if they tried to detain him. He returns from the post office and resumes the entry, he has Björk’s music playing in the background and is naked in the video.

López then shaves his head and paints it with red and green paint, he colours his lips black and tells that camera that he is now nervous. Declaring that he is not depressed, or drunk, he then shoots himself with a .38 caliber pistol and slumps forwards. It looks like he was hoping that the blood would splatter on the sign behind him, “The best of me. Sept 12”, but the bullet did not exit his skill and he fell forwards.

You can find this on YouTube and other sites, I haven’t posted the link here, I don’t think it’s necessary. Watching the video, which I did, I felt quite upset because this was a man who was clearly very ill and ultimately he killed himself. You can hear the noises of his blood falling down and exiting and yes it’s real… but it’s not nice. Don’t go trying to watch it unless you know you can cope. I have warned you and accept no blame if you do.

López’s death was discovered by a maintenance worker (poor thing) on 16th September, the smell was terrible and the blood was seeping through the ceiling. The worker called the police who gained entry and found him decomposing once they gained entry. They also found a further message above the wall in black letters, “The 8mm Tapes Are A Documentation Of A Crime Terrorist Material. They Are For The F.B.I”, the apartment was then evacuated and searched for devices.

There was only one that had been constructed and it was the one he had posted, police contacted Scotland Yard and after viewing the last tape the Metropolitan Police managed to intercept the package from a South London post office. It was safely detonated.

López died not knowing that only a few days before he had shot himself Björk and Goldie has ended their relationship. Björk herself was affected by the event and did eventually respond, no doubt relieved that the thing had not been delivered and put her and her child at risk. No one that knew López had considered him dangerous either, and overall it seems that this was a man who’s mental health had degraded and was not as likely to be noticed as he had always been very secluded and kept away from people.

By Raph_PH – APEVicPark270518-97, CC BY 2.0, Link

 

Palazzo Cá Dario

It is one of the most beautiful buildings over-looking the Grand Canal, Venice, Italy and it seems, according to some, that the building is cursed and leaves its owners on the streets, or worse still dead. The building is tilted to the left adding to the effects of the story and its beauty caught men such as Claude Monet and John Ruskin.

Pietro Lombardo built it in 1479 for Giovanni Dario, secretary of the Senate of the Republic of Venice. His daughter, Marietta, married into the Barbaro family and the building stayed in their hands until the 19^th Century. Before they sold it, back in that period, Dario lost power and suffered a financial collapse. Mariette fell into disgrace, rumours say she may have died from a broken heard or possibly committed suicide. Her father and husband died not long after she did.

Seemingly the curse came with the building and not the family, in the 19^th Century an Armenian diamond-dealer took ownership. Arbit Abdoll went bankrupt and died in disgrace. In 1832 a British Scientist, Rawdon Brown, took ownership and by 1842 was on the streets, committed suicide and so did his lover.

Sometime after Charles Briggs brought it and was forced to flee to Venice. He was charged with homosexuality, which as then a crime. After him was Henry De Reigner who fell ill two years after the purchase and went back to France. In the 1970’s Giordano delle Lanze was killed by this lover in one of the palace rooms.

Christopher (Kit) Lambert, the manger of The Who, brought it and died soon after in London of cerebral hemorrhage when he fell down the stairs at his mothers house. There are more but I will just surmise that it seems some unlucky folks have owned that house, or you can believe it is the curse. Today it is privately owned and not open to the public. 

You would also think I had a picture of this, considering I took a lot of random pictures there but no… turns out I could be the one person that went down the Grand Canal and snapped anything but haha!

Top picture is from Wikipedia the bottom ones are just some random bits I took on my travels.

Iain99 [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)