TOP TEN LISTS, 'round about the month of October, are typically given over to the Top Ten Best Trick-or-Treat Candies or the Top Ten Best Couple Costumes or the Top Ten Places to Bed Down Near a Ghost. That last roster can be a bit tricky, because one person's haunted hotel may be another person's atmospheric but spirit-free stay. Either way, you know you're in for a velvety, history-long experience when you land at one of the spots on the list, a list that always includes a particular San Diego landmark, whether the rundown is fully focused on California destinations or not. It's the Hotel del Coronado, a building that's way, way past even its centennial, which can only mean that all of those decades, which stretch back to the opening date of 1887, have seen a lot of people pass through, an important element in the whole "energy and spirits being felt" realm. The most famous of The Del's forever guests is a young woman named Kate Morgan, a name you're apt to see or hear at some point during your stay on Coronado Island. And you'll definitely hear it at the Hallo-wine & Spirits Party, the hotel's annual Halloween shindig that's about costumes, cocktails, and hoping Ms. Morgan puts in an appearance.
EVEN IF SHE STAYS COY... you can still enjoy a dinner reception and wine tasting and dancing and dessert in the elegant Crown Room and dancing, too (so make sure your ghostly costume has a bit of move-ability). This shindig is for the grown-ups, do note, but also note there's a Kid's Party for guests ages 4 to 12 (lucky them, their party has trick-or-treating). All of this goes down on Halloween Eve, so Oct. 30, so if you have stuff to do on Halloween proper you can get your haunted hotel in and whatever your Oct. 31 plans might be. If you've looked at those Top Ten lists, year after year, wishing you could try out a haunted hotel on Halloween weekend, is this your year? We're just saying to keep an eye out for Kate as you walk down those long, long hotel hallways after the party goes lights out.
