6.28.2008

A Baby's Cry

Informant: Male/18 Years Old/Mixed Ancestry
Location: Richardson's Beach Park, Big Island

One evening, around 2 a.m. my friend and I decided that we should go to the beach and try crab fishing. We were bored and nothing else to do, and thought that it would be fun if we tried it.

We ended up going to Richardson's beach. When we got there it was an extremely clear night. You could see everything because of how bright the moon and stars were that night. The tide was abnormally low.

After a walking along the beach to look for a spot to look for crabs, I spotted the perfect spot.

"Hey, let's go over there," I pointed to my friend. As if it was on cue, the wind picked up and we heard a single, but loud, baby's cry. It was so loud, my friend and I were convinced that the baby it had come from needed to have been on the beach with us. We combed that beach completely, looking for the baby. We didn't find anything.

After searching for quite some time, we decided to leave. There was just something eerie about the baby's cry and the wind. We didn't feel comfortable staying there any longer than we had to.

6.27.2008

The Old Japanese Man

Informant: Male/Age Unknown/Ancestry Unknown
Location: Pearl City Heights, Oahu

This happened back in the mid-eighties, around 1985. My friend's house was built on a grave of a Japanese man. At first it was just odd noises. Then lights would come on, and then the showers. These disturbances would happen whenever everyone was together in another room. We would always make sure everything was off when we left the house, but sometimes we would get a call saying that we left the water running and the lights on. The disturbances graduated to doors slamming real loud, and what sounded like really heavy footsteps. Almost like someone was stomping on purpose.

My friend's parents finally decided to call some kind of holy man. I wasn't there at that time since they only wanted the family to be present, but the holy man walked through the house with some kind of pendant. It started going in circles until it was straight out. Then he started talking in a very different voice that was not his own. My friend said that it was the voice of the old Japanese man that was buried on the property.

The holy man told the family what to do and besides an odd noise every now and then, all was good. But the spirit of the Japanese man was really pissed and he let the family know it.

6.19.2008

Believing



Informant: Female/23/Chinese, Hawaiian ancestry
Location: Chaminade University, Oahu


I had never put much faith in ghosts, haunts, poltergeists or other floaty white transparent beings. I believed in God and while he did have spiritual phenomena, many of the scary tales bobbing around were just that; scary tales to keep children in line, or to impress, or to make your loved one's skin crawl and want to jump into your arms. They were good to listen to and occasionally gave me nightmares, but I never started looking over my shoulder for them or keeping my ears pricked for strange bumps in the night. If there were any, those were usually my neighbors having sex or the people above me stomping on the floor, somehow believing that this would oil the afore mentioned neighbors bedsprings or pad their headboard.

I wish we had headboards to bang in our dorm rooms in college; that way we would have been able to tell without knocking that we shouldn't interrupt. I wish that night that I had someone to sleep with and to reassure me that what happened was a dream, that I had my eyes closed the whole time and I was muttering crazy things. But as it was, I was alone and exposed.

How do I know it wasn't a dream? Because you don't dream about trying to go back to sleep. And I swear as I felt the pressure settle on my chest, I saw the blankets and covers flatten. It was as if someone had just settled down and sat on my chest, but slowly increased how much weight they were putting on me.

My mind whirled. I had heard of these. Most describe this kind of experience as a brush with the sitting ghost, an old woman with scraggly gray hair that slowly tries to crush the breath out of you but never succeeds. I also heard of these beings as demons with tails, similar to succubae. (Although, whoever would be seduced by a being like this must be a freak who's into asphyxiation).

My eyes rolled to the side and saw my roommate sleeping peacefully in her own bed, I tried to yell to tell her to help me, but nothing came out. In fact the weight pressure quickened, almost as if the being on me was incensed by my mouth uselessly moving. I felt the thing get heavier and heavier and I went from having a hard time breathing, to having difficulty taking in any air at all. I looked down at my own body and saw nothing but an indentation.

It became painful and I started to see purple and green spots dancing in front of my eyes. I remembered a conversation a long time ago that I must have faith that God would keep me from these creatures; that I should pray and then laugh. Malevolent spirits supposedly hate being laughed at.

I gathered my remaining energy and breath and started praying for His protection. A surge of confidence rushed through me and I said aloud, "Begone evil spirit. I am not frightened; I am a child of God." A small laugh of contempt for this poor creature that had nothing better to do pressed through my lips. I pushed my shoulder, chest and stomach upwards, trying to turn on my side and upset the ghost's balance.

Sure enough I felt a weight start sliding off my body. As it did so I heard an old woman's low cackle before the heaviness completely lifted. It was a little chilling, but the knowledge that such a ghost had never killed anyone and that I had the protection of the Lord made me secure. I also knew that if it ever happened again I knew exactly what to do.

Of course I still stared at the upper frame of my door shaken by my experience. Who knew that those ghouls were real? I held fast to my newfound confidence, but still could not manage to sleep.
This is probably why I mostly sleep on my side today, to make it harder for any spirits to balance on my body and make it harder for them to obstruct my breathing.


6.15.2008

It Knew My Name

Informant: Male/unknown age/unknown ancestry
Location: Ahae'ho'omalu, Big Island

The following is true and I was not on any kind of drug or alcohol, nor was I dreaming. I lived on Kauai for about 15 years spending my high school years there. I had heard many bizarre and spooky stories, including stories about the Night Marchers. I had no idea that one day I would encounter them up close!
In May of 1995 I went to the Big Island for a job interview. I didn't get the job and I was "marooned" on the island, as I was broke and didn't know anybody. I pitched a tent in Anae'ho'omalu, on the Kona side of the Big Island, far enough away from the resort area where I would not be easily found. This would be my "base camp" until I could get myself on my feet again.


My tent was well hidden in the Ke'awe and you could not see it unless you knew it was there. I pitched the tent on the only flat ground as the area is all lava fields. I saw many petroglyphs and a partially collapsed wall where I pitched my tent next to, utilizing the flat ground.

One night, during the later part of the month when the moon was waning and crescent-shaped, I bedded down. It was about 10:15pm and I was just nodding off to sleep when quickly I came to my senses because I heard someone walking past my tent on the beach trail.

It sounded like plastic buckets "clunking" together, so I figured the sounds was just someone out for a night dive. I laid still and waited for them to pass. I thought it odd that whoever they were had no lights. However, my single-man tent was covered completely with a canopy and I could not see out.

Then suddenly, someone came to my well-hidden tent and called my name, in a clear and unmistakable deep, masculine, guttural voice. I knew instantly that this was a voice not of this world!

I could "sense" that this "entity" was enjoying scaring me and it knew that I knew it was a ghost. It had almost a hint mischief in it's voice. It knew I was freaking out, and it knew my name to top it all off! Nobody knew me on the Big Island at that time. I certainly didn't tell the job interviewer that I was camped on the beach.

I could also sense that this being "had to go" as if it had more important things to do. I laid still, petrified with fear for about 20 minutes until I felt I was clear to go. I grabbed my blanket and ran as fast as I could along the beach to the lighted resort area about a 1/4 mile away.

I later overheard one of the employees of the resort not too long after the experience who saw "The Night Marchers" as she was driving home through the lava fields after completing her night shift. I believe it to be the same night that I had my weird encounter.

I looked up the date and the phase of the moon in a book of the Hawaiian Moon Calendar. One of the things it said was it was the time that The Night Marchers are seen! Another book explained the "clunking" sounds as calabashes suspended from a pole in which provisions were carried when on a journey in the days of old. This experience remains to this day, the most inexplicable event of my life.

6.13.2008

College Experience

Informant: Male/19 years old/Portuguese Ancestry
Location: University of Hawaii at Hilo Dorms, Big Island


During high school, I spent my summers in an academic college prep program at the University of Hawaii at Hilo. Part of the programs goals was to simulate life in college, and so this included living in the dorms for about six weeks.


My first summer in the program, I was a little apprehensive about living in the dorms. The day I moved in, I felt uncomfortable in my dorm room. However, I just chalked it up to being away from home and shyness. As soon as I came out of my shell and got to make friends, I didn't feel uncomfortable in my room anymore.

Since my first day in the dorms, there has always been ghost stories surrounding the particular dorm we lived in. Students would often spread rumors of ghostly children playing the halls or that the dorm was in the path of a Night Marchers' trail. I was very skeptical about it.

Then one day, I experienced something that I cannot find an explanation for.

I was lying in my bed, alone in my dorm room, just relaxing from studying. I was just lying down, and listening to some music, nothing else. Then, I began to feel a hand behind my head. I was scared, because the door was closed and I knew that I was alone. Then the hand began to move around, underneath my head, as if it was playing with my hair. I tried my best to remain calm, I didn't want to make any sudden movements. I slowly began to move away from my bed. As soon I moved my head, my pillow which my head had been on, went flying across the room and hit the wall across from my bed with tremendous force. At the moment, I felt like I was threatened, and I just ran like the building was on fire.

I found the program director, and of course I brought it up with her. She just laughed at me and blamed the whole experience on me being scared about living away from home for so long. However, she did let me move into another room, and since then I've never been into that room again.

After that summer, I've spent later summers in that dorm, and have never experienced anything like that in the dorms again.

6.10.2008

The Hole in the bedroom

Informant: Female/23/Korean ancestry
Location: Kaimuki, Oahu

I have a friend that can see spirits. I know what you’re thinking, but just go with it. Since the strange goings-ons in my apartment had graduated to actual physical displeasure, I decided to enlist his help in figuring out what the hell was going on.

First let me give you a little more background. Ever since the shadow man, my spare bedroom had turned into this creepy room that nobody wanted to go into. Every time my friends came over, they always steered clear from that room. It’s nothing we really talked about, just something we all mutually concurred on. That room was creepy.

Case in point: a friend of mine came over. He had only been in my apartment living room before briefly, for about 5 minutes. He never saw the rest of my apartment. But he walked into my apartment and immediately turned the corner into the hallway. I thought he had to use the bathroom, but I didn’t hear the door close so I followed him. I found him standing in the middle of that spare bedroom. He turned around, rubbing his arms, and said “This is a creepy room,” to which I said “Funny you should mention that…”

Back to the psychic friend. He asked me to draw him a map of my apartment labeling just the windows and the doors. So the crude picture I drew him (that didn’t showcase my spectacular artistic ability at all, I might add) looked something along the lines of this:




He looked at the picture for a little while, and started pointing out where my furniture and everything was (keep in mind he's never seen my apartment in his life, not even in pictures). He located my couch, and he also located my computer desk (“I feel a strong electrical disturbance here. Is this where you have a computer or something?”). Then he looked at the spare bedroom and said “There’s a hole here.” A hole? What did he mean?

“There’s a hole here where spirits can come in and out of. There is a man in your apartment who walks the line between malicious and harmless. He walks a path from your spare bedroom, into your bedroom, and into your bathroom.” This would explain why I felt like someone was looking over my shoulder sometimes. And it definitely explains why nobody liked going in that room.

My friend suggested moving my bed further away from the door to stop him from pressing me (it had happened about 3 times). I seemed to be in his way or something. But luckily not too long after that I moved out of that apartment. Not because it was haunted or anything, but because someone purchased it. I often wonder if the new tenants ever experience anything out of the ordinary.


6.06.2008

A Wrinkled Hand

Informant: Female/50’s/Filipino ancestry
Location: Lihue, Kauai


Back in 1982 when my mother was 32, she lived by herself in a motel in Niumalu. One night at around 3 am, she awoke to someone holding down her left hand and pressing their other hand against her mouth. She couldn’t see anyone since it was so dark, but she could feel the skin of the hand. Judging by the size of the hand she guessed it was the hand of an old woman. She then started to pray and the sensation let off.

Niumalu is close to the historical Menehune Fishpond. It's a very ancient place where many Hawaiians used to live.

6.05.2008

From the Doorway

Informant: Female/23/Korean ancestry
Location: Kaimuki, Oahu


My apartment was never the same after the shadow man experience. Every now and then, it would feel like someone was standing behind me, looking over my shoulder. Or I would hear a knock at the door, but nobody would be there when I looked out of the peephole. I could deal with those things, but there were some things that I couldn’t deal with in a logical way.

One day my boyfriend (at the time) sister came for the day. She had the key to get into the apartment for that day and was coming back in the afternoon. I decided to take a nap. I fell asleep on my bed in the middle of the afternoon, probably around 2pm. I woke up because I thought I heard the sound of the door open, and keys jingling. I thought, “She’s back, I better get up!” But for some reason, I couldn’t move. But I was able to see the doorway, and it looked like she was peeking through the doorway at me. I could just see a head.

I thought, “Oh my goodness, how embarrassing! I have to get up!” But I couldn’t move. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t move. It felt like all my muscles were dead; like they were suffocating, if that makes any sense. The whole time I struggled to move, someone was looking at me from the doorway.

Finally I decided that I should just stop trying to fight it. The moment I did, I was able to move. I got up, went into the living room expecting her to be there, but she wasn’t. Nobody was there.

Night Time Intruder

Informant: Female/73 years old/Portuguese Ancestry
Location: Hilo, Big Island

It was still the early years of my marriage and my husband and I had just started living in our house. At this time, we owned a dog and kept it in the backyard.

One night, during the middle of the night, the dog starts barking like crazy and won't shut up. My husband and I begin to suspect the possibility of someone trying to break into the house.

So my husband turns on the all the lights and begins searching around the house for any signs of the intruder. He can't find anything. He gives up and turns around to head back into the house.

My husband told me that at the moment he turned around, he felt like someone punched the back of his head. My husband flips around, ready to lay a beatdown on his attacker, but is surprised to find no one there. He runs around the house and cannot find any sign of any person besides himself.

Wedding Plans

Informant: Female/73 years old/Portuguese Ancestry
Location: Hilo, Big Island

One day I'm sitting down with my daughter and discussing plans for her upcoming marriage. Everything is going great and nothing seems out of the ordinary.

Suddenly we heard something rattle. My daughter and I look up to see this picture of my parents on the wall directly in front of us shake. Then, without warning, the picture suddenly comes flying at us.

Just as it is about to hit us, the picture zings off to the right and hits the wall.

My daughter, being a bit scared, decided it's time to take a break from wedding planning and decides to go home.

As soon as my daughter is gone from the house, all of the music boxes in the houses (a total of two or three) begin to play at the same time.

The Mango Tree in the Cemetary

Informant: Female/73 years old/Portuguese Ancestry
Location: Hilo, Big Island

Growing up during the 40's and 50's, we used to roam the neighborhood as children. During that time, one of the popular things to do in the neighborhood was picking fruit.

There used to be this mango tree in the middle of the cemetery right next door to my house that had the biggest mangoes that I can remember.

Being small children, the only way we could attempt to get those mangoes was to climb onto this nearby headstone, and then climb onto the mango tree.

However, no one could ever get the mangoes. Everybody that I know that has climbed that tree to pick the mangoes, fell off trying to do so. But they wouldn't just fall off. Victims of the mango tree have described it more as being pushed or flown off. Many times, this would result in a broken bone or some other serious injury.

I remember there was this one day I went with one of my friends to try and get the mangoes. She climbed onto the headstone, and then onto the tree. The way that she was on the tree, she should have fallen straight down. Instead, it seemed like she flew a good distance away from the tree and she broke her arm.

After that, the tree was cut down. To this day, I cannot remember anyone ever being able to get the mangoes by climbing on to the tree, only by using a fruit picker.

6.04.2008

The Shadow Man

Informant: Female/23/Korean ancestry
Location: Kaimuki, Oahu

Nothing strange ever happened to me. I had always secretly wished that I could experience something paranormal, but you know what they say. It won’t happen if you expect it. My second year of college was a blur of parties and gatherings in my apartment. But one night sticks out in my mind as clear as day.

My experience actually started a few parties before this particular one. It started with my inviting an acquaintance and his cousin to a party. He accepted, and asked “Can I bring one more person?” I said sure, you know. The more the merrier. He said “Okay. But you can’t see him.” I was like, excuse me? This particular friend was able to see spirits. I must admit I didn’t entirely believe him at all, so I said “Sure, just make sure you take him with you before you leave.”

He didn’t take him with him.

The night in question was (appropriately) a Halloween party. A bunch of my friends and I were dressed in costume, drinking beers and having a good time. About five people were sitting at my dining table, so I was standing nearby talking to them. From the dining table there was a clear view of my bedroom at the end of the hallway. There was a light on, so it was dimly lit. Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a man standing in the middle of the doorway. He was solid black, standing there ominously. The second I turned to get a better look, he was gone.

Slightly spooked, I turned to my friends and said “Okay. I’ve had a few beers, but did anyone else see the man in my doorway just now?” Everyone was silent. Some scoffed a bit, probably thinking I was just trying to scare them. Then my friend, who was dead sober, quietly said, “I saw him.”

Everyone went silent. We decided that it was probably someone from the party who was in my room. My friend and I got up and went into my room expecting to find someone there, but everyone who was at my party was in the living room. Nobody was in my room.

6.03.2008

Fear at the City of Refuge


Informant: Male/24/mixed ancestry 
Location: City of Refuge, Big Island


My Boy Scout troop went on a camping trip to the City of Refuge, an old native Hawaiian temple which in the native days, when there were many Hawaiian tribes on the Big Island, prisoners of war could run away from their captors. If they made it in the city walls they couldn’t be killed. So my Boy Scout troop decided to camp about a mile out from this place. We arrive at this campsite, a nice, small place. Not much of a beach, but it’s perfect for camping: quiet, no wind, no rain.

The next day, we wake up to a beautiful, sunny day. We decided to walk to the City of Refuge. About two miles down a trail we saw some altars along the way and some petroglyphs. It was a really scenic, historical area with lots of native religious history. There were altars and walls where native villages used to be, some overtaken by the Kiawe trees that now inhabit the area.

We saw this large, flat rock along the trail, and everyone stopped to look at it. One of our leaders told us all not to climb on it, as boy scouts often like to do. We listened, given the amount of possibly sacrificial altars we’ve passed, and the types of stories told. The leader walked up to it and inspected it. He touched it, then backed away and said "lets go." We turned back and head toward the campsite. We were moving pretty quickly now. It’s obvious that our leader was pretty spooked. Everyone was mostly silent during the trip.

When we got back to camp, two friends and I set out exploring. We come across a long, flat path and decided to walk down it. When we reached the end of the path we saw a sign that read "Warning: Hawaiian rock slides! Do not enter!" Apparently it was a rock slide used in a native village for recreation. At this point darkness seemed to fall unusually early, within an hour’s time of us noticing what we had done. The wind picked up, and rain began to pour. Throughout the night, the wind and rain both picked up speed. At one point we were all soaking wet under the large tarp we brought. The scout leader who took us out on the hike, practically screaming at the top of his lungs, tells us this:
When we were out and got to that large, flat rock,

something seemed wrong. Everyone seemed to agree. We all felt it. Something told him to touch the rock, as if it called to him. He couldn’t resist. He touched it, and said he felt the pain of the people who traveled this same trail, being chased by their enemies; the enemies who would surely kill them if they were caught. He felt the pain of those who died in the area. It all came to him in an instant, that’s when everyone was silent. We all felt something, as if something was telling us to leave this place.


Well, the wind and the rain picked up to such a point that no one could sleep. The tents began to soak and it was impossible to stay dry with the wind creating near horizontal rain torrents. So at 6 am, before the sun even peaked out over the mountains, we packed it all up and drove back to Hilo, tired. Most of us hadn’t slept because of the deafening howl of the wind and the cold of the rain.

And that was the end of the trip.

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6.02.2008

Sinister Nightmares

Informant: Male/24/mixed ancestry 
Location: Hilo, Big Island


My grandmother was always around. My father rarely liked this...sometimes he thought she was more of an annoyance than a help. My grandmother is very talkative. She always tends to be the type to get caught in a "sewing circle" type of rumor forwarding fairly easy, and always wants to add you to the circle.

One day my grandmother came over, and after the usual small talk about who in the family is spoiled, who needs help in school etc., she says "Roland has been having strange dreams, you know?" My mom obviously didn't know, so she replied "Whatchumean ma, weird dreams?" "Well, he says there’s this couple, and dey keep telling him 'Come. Come with us.' Not like mean kind, but they keep telling him. And he says he cannot make them stop! And he no like go, you know, but they keep trying to make him, yeah?" So my mom tells her "Maybe he should see somebody, then,” suggesting she take him to a Kahuna, or one of my grandmothers "psychic" friends.

So one night, we're all sitting around in the living room. I think my mom and grandmother must have been making leis or something, cause the TV wasn’t on. My uncle was there. I think he was about 15 at the time, and I was 7. My grandmother was saying how she was thinking about taking him to a kahuna. My uncle says something in response. I'm not paying much attention, I'm doing some homework. About 30 minutes pass, and in a particularly quiet moment, my uncle falls onto the living room floor and grabs his head and screams.


It looked as if he was having some sort of strange screaming seizure. He was convulsing. He was grabbing at his chest and his head, like he’s trying to rip something out from under his skin with his fingers. Everything seems to slow at this point. My mom is shouting "Get him up!" My grandma is shouting "No, leave him alone!" About two minutes pass. Every second felt like an hour. Finally, he stopped. He rolled over and picked himself up off the floor and looked around, squinty-eyed. He didn’t say anything.

My grandmother decided this was a good time to leave, and went home. Later we found out that he saw the couple again, and they were saying to him "Come. Come," and gesturing. He said he saw a yard, and a path. He described the place to my mother’s sister, and somehow she knew where it was. They went to the place, which was in someone’s yard. According to my uncle, it looked like it did as showed to him in his dreams. They asked the owners for permission to dig in the spot where he was taken to in the dream. Nothing was found. But the dreams never came again, and he never saw those people after that. I guess they were satisfied that what they were looking for just wasn’t there to be found.

The Scent of Roses

Informant: Female/23/Korean ancestry
Location: Lihue, Kauai


When my grandma was dying, we would spend a lot of time in her hospital room. I remember one day, toward the end of her life, all the women were around her bed praying the rosary: my mom, two aunties, and a family friend. Me and the daughter of our family friend were sitting nearby just watching.


All the women were crying and sniffling, you could hear it in between prayers. Then, all of a sudden, all of them gasped and said "Oh my God, do you smell that?" I desperately sniffed the air, hard, but smelled nothing. But all four women, plus the daughter, smelled it.

It was roses. The unmistakable scent of roses. They said it filled the whole room. So they thought, are there any flowers around? There were no flowers in the room. One of the women went outside to look too, but there were no flowers. The smell went away, but a few minutes later it came back again. This time only the four women smelled it.

I don't know how they smelled anything at all. Their noses were all completely stuffed. But I'll never forget how they all gasped at the same time and yelled, "Do you smell that? Roses!"