5.30.2010

Strange Things in The Cabin

Informant: Male/27/Hawaiian-Korean mixed ancestry
Location: Koke'e, Kauai


One of our family friends owned a cabin up in Koke'e and invited me and my family for the weekend. This cabin was huge: it had three bedrooms on top of a living room, bathroom and kitchen. The decor in this cabin was pretty off the wall. There was a bear skin rug, taxidermied foxes and deer heads on the wall.


I had a room all to myself. I was maybe 13 at the time. Across my bed there was a mirror and a picture of this Victorian lady spanking a kid over her knee. I thought it was really weird, so I took it down and put it on the floor. And just because I'm not comfortable being able to see myself lying in bed, I took the mirror down too and put it on the floor by the painting. Another weird thing in this room was an extra door. It was like a door that led to another room, meaning there were two ways into that room at one point. This door was boarded shut. You just couldn't open it.

The weather was pretty crazy that night. It wasn't raining, but it was windy like crazy. As I lay in bed trying to sleep, I start to hear a scratching on the wall; the wall that faced the outside. I tried to shrug it off, but after a while I went to my parent’s room. I told my mom that there was scratching noises, but she was grumpy and tired and told me it was the trees outside and to go back to sleep.

So I return to my room and try to sleep again. The scratching noise persisted, and then suddenly...knocking started. Along with the scratching noise, there was now knocking keeping me awake. I tried to suck it up, but I ran back to my parent’s room and told my mom about the banging. She told me it was probably just the lantern by the front door banging the wall and to go back to sleep.

So once again, I return to my room. The scratching and the knocking still persisted, and then suddenly the boarded up door in my room started shaking. It started shaking violently. Then out of the corner of my eye I see a glint...and the mirror and picture I took down earlier that day were both hanging on my wall. I ran back to my parent’s room and decided to sleep on the floor.

As I was laying on the floor trying to wrap myself in what little blanket I could get, I had a perfect view of the kitchen outside the door. All of a sudden there was a stream of light shining onto the floor. It was a skinny beam, and it moved slowly through the kitchen, and then disappeared.

Needless to say I didn't get any sleep that night.

The next morning, with my mom in a better mood, we decided to investigate what could have been making all the ruckus the night before. On the side of my room there were indeed trees...about 50 feet away. The only thing near the wall was ginger plants, and that certainly couldn't make a scratching or banging noise. Then we checked the lantern in the front. There was indeed a lantern, but it was cast iron and did not move. That could not have been banging in the wind.

Next we went into my room to check out the door. My mom took the knob and tried to shake the door, but it would not budge. She and I both tried with all our might at the same time, but that door would not budge even using all our strength. It was boarded up tight.

Finally in the kitchen, the window was facing in a way that the light I saw was in no way coming in the direction of the one and only window of the kitchen. The only thing directly across the bedroom door was a pantry.

As for the painting and the mirror getting back on the wall, well, I know it wasn't my brother because he was far too small to reach that high. I know it wasn't my dad messing with me because he was snoring away all night next to my mom. I know it wasn't the owner of the cabin, because his wife confirmed that he was passed out snoring next to her all night as well.

I don’t know who owns the cabin now, but I would like to go back and see if those strange things still happen.

5.24.2010

Footprints in Koke'e

Informant: Male/27/Hawaiian-Korean mixed ancestry
Location: Koke'e, Kaua'i

Me and a bunch of my friends were staying up in a cabin in Koke'e for a weekend. When we went to sleep, we stretched out or sleeping bags on the floor, feet facing each other in two rows. This night was cold. Koke'e is usually cold, but this night was unusually cold. It was freezing.

I woke up in the middle of the night because I had to pee. The moon was full and light was streaming in through the window. I could see the room lighted up. I sat up to head to the bathroom when I saw something unusual.

You know how when you walk on sleeping bags you can see the indentation of the feet? Well I saw footprint indentations...but in motion. Someone was walking across the feet of our sleeping bags and I could see the footprints as it was moving. It walked in a circle into the center of the sleeping bag feet, and suddenly I saw the fabric indent, as if a body had just laid down. And as soon as I saw it, the fabric lifted. Whatever was there was gone.

Nobody else saw what I saw, and I don't think anyone believed me either.

5.16.2010

The Gliding Woman on The Bridge

Informant: Male/25/Filipino ancestry
Location: Hanama'ulu, Kauai

My friend and I were driving another friend back home. We were crossing the Hanama'ulu bridge right after the stoplight when we all see a woman walking on the side of the road across the bridge. She was in a mu'umu'u, jacket and hat. It's not strange to see someone walking on the side of the road at night, but this woman wasn't walking the way that a normal person walks.

You know how when you walk you have a natural bounce? This woman didn't have that. She didn't bounce. She glided. It was almost like she was floating.

We passed by her in the car and nobody said anything. Finally my friend in the backseat broke the silence."Wow did you guys see that lady?" We had all seen the way she glided. Weird.

5.09.2010

The Vanishing Road

Informant: Male/25/Filipino ancestry
Location: Koloa, Kauai

My neighbor across the street had recently gotten into a car accident near the Hyatt hotel in Poipu. Me and some friends decided that we wanted to go see the site of the accident, so we decided to drive through the Koloa bypass. The way we decided to go normally only takes like five minutes. From my house in Koloa to the Sheraton only takes about five minutes. It's a route we all drive all the time.

My friend was driving, and he lives right around the corner from me. Somehow what should have taken five minutes turned into 45 minutes. We didn't know where the hell we were, or why it was taking so long. What you have to understand is that we were raised on the South side. We know all the back roads like the back of our hands. But we had no idea where we were. Nothing looked familiar.

Finally we found our way out and ended up by the fire station. On the way back home we even tried to find the strange road that we had driven on, but we couldn't find it ever again.