Samara Morgan was born to a single mother, identified only as Evelyn, at Saint Mary Magdalen Women's Shelter in Washington state. Evelyn was aware early on that Samara was no ordinary baby, as she had been born mentally unstable and would never sleep, but only complained if she was near water. Evelyn tried to drown Samara in a decorative pool at the shelter, later claiming that Samara telepathically told her to drown her. After that, shelter administrators put Samara up for adoption, and Evelyn was sent to a psychiatric hospital.

Samara was adopted by horse ranchers Richard and Anna Morgan from Moesko Island, who had tried and failed to have a child of her own. Soon after, Anna began to go insane, disturbed by horrifying visions Samara was somehow feeding into her mind. Shortly afterward, Samara was placed in a psychiatric hospital, where medical studies showed the girl possessed a rare psychic ability known as projected thermography, allowing her to psychically "burn" images from her mind onto surfaces, or even into the minds of others. She never slept and was completely insensitive to pain. She also apparently didn't know how to control her abilities.

Eventually, she was released from the hospital at Richard's request (despite doctors' objections) and subsequently forced to live in the barn in the hope that the distance would alleviate Anna's visions. The visions continued, however, and most of the horses living in the barn also went insane, driving themselves off a cliff to be away from Samara. Unable to deal with the continuing torment, Anna murdered Samara. She suffocated her with a black garbage bag before dropping her into a watery grave at the bottom of a well on remote, mountainous land the Morgans owned and later sold. Samara survived the suffocation attempt and the fall however, and lived in the well for seven days, tearing her own fingernails off trying to get out by climbing up the sides. The only visible light came from the edge of the well covering, forming a faint ring. Anna committed suicide soon thereafter by jumping off a nearby cliff on the Washington coastline.

However, Samara's spirit lived on. Eventually a camping resort was built on the site, with a log cabin built over the well. Samara's spirit created a curse in the form of a blank, home-made VHS tape, which contained a series of grainy, disturbing black and white images that were inspired by her life and death. Those who watched the tape would immediately receive a phone call; when they answered they would hear Samara whisper "Seven days." After seven days they would die. After journalist Rachel Keller's niece fell victim to the curse, she investigated and discovered the tape and its origins. (The Ring).

Towards the end of the first film, Rachel discovered Samara's corpse at the bottom of the well and gave her a proper burial, presumably putting her spirit to rest. Samara was not appeased, however, and killed the last person to have watched the tape -- Rachel's ex-boyfriend, Noah. The way in which people die from watching the tape was revealed. Samara's body, a waterlogged corpse, passed into the real world from the video as it played on the VCR, and passed upon them, paralyzing them with fear. While it was apparent that people died of fear at the idea that the television would come on and show the deaths, this aspect is new, and was is the fear of Samara coming to them in person which killed them, possibly in combination with something she does. Rachel and her son Aidan realized that the only way to escape the curse was to copy the tape and show it to someone else....