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CORONADO MYSTERY

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Famous Ghost & True Crime

A great San Diego/Coronado mystery solved at last by John T. Cullen

Based on a true 1892 national crime sensation

Here At Last Is the Truth. For over 125, we have heard a muddled and half-true yarn about an alleged ghost named Kate Morgan at the Hotel del Coronado. Several spurious books are out there, alleging various untrue stories like Tom Morgan (her husband) was a gambler, and she helped him fleece men on the Transcontinental Railroad system. The real story is far more amazing. In these volumes, let John T. Cullen tell you about the plot to blackmail billionare John Spreckels, owner of the Hotel Del, and a whole lot more from standard history books that helps us unravel an 1892 coverup by Pinkerton operatives protecting the reputation of Spreckels while he was in the White House with President Benjamin Harrison, desperately negotiating a failed plan to save the Hawai'ian monarchy...and a lot else reaching across world capitals from Honolulu to London.

She Still Haunts the Hotel Today Visiting San Diego? The Beautiful Stranger at the Hotel del Coronado (a U.S. National Landmark) is part of San Diego, U.S., and global history. Through hotel owner John Spreckels, target of an 1892 blackmail plot gone horribly wrong, her story has amazing connections to the doomed monarchy of Hawaii, political power struggles in Washington D.C., and the court of Queen Victoria. The ghost and crime stories are two enirely separate matters. The ghost story is good for thrills & chills. The author has solved a 120 year old true crime enigma long mired in legend—truth is stranger than fiction.

Author John T. Cullen-nonfiction (Dead Move) and fictional dramatization (Lethal Journey)John T. Cullen. John T. Cullen, BA, BBA, MSBA (Boston University) is a San Diego novelist, poet, essayist, and history/science writer. He worked at the Hotel del Coronado years ago, where he picked up first-hand knowledge of the world-famous resort. More info at the About page on this website. Note: author has several websites linked together about this topic, the main one (see top of this page) being Coronado Mystery, which is the title of his two-in-one book that includes Dead Move and Lethal Journey under in economical volume.

The really touching part of the story is a universal and human one: of a beautiful and innocent young woman—a Victorian fallen angel—brought low by a cruel world. It's a classic theme celebrated by the greatest artists of her age, like Thomas Hardy's Tess D'Urberville. In a real Victorian sense, she was an angel come to earth. Her tragic passing was a powerful drama. Lizzie's humanity is as fresh today as over a century ago.

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A great San Diego/Coronado mystery solved at last by John T. Cullen

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