Menehune of Mililani Mauka

Informant: Male/Age unknown/ Japanese Ancestry

Location: Mililani Mauka, Oahu

I am hoping by sharing this story, other folks in Mililani Mauka will share their stories.  There is definitely something going on up here but I can’t seem to find any history, tales, fact or fiction supporting my experiences up here.

My family and I moved into a brand new home in Kapanoe, a subdivision at the top of Mililani Mauka, about six years ago.  My son, now eight, was two at the time.  Many nights at around 2 am, he would call out for me and I would wearily go to his room, hop in bed with him where we would both fall asleep.  One night, after calling for me, he pointed to a corner of his room and asked, “Daddy, who’s that?”  I am actually blind but, needless to say, the hair on my arms and the back of my neck stood straight up.  The next night, I permanently moved into his bedroom.

Over the next month or so, my son would regularly awaken around 2 am, sit up, and stare at this particular corner of his room.  He described what he saw to me as a boy that looked like a little man.  One night, I asked my son if the little man-boy was telling him anything.  My son replied, “Yeah, he’s putting his finger to his lips and telling me ‘Shhh.’”  That was it – I called a kahu to bless the house, which he did, and planted a couple dozen ti leaves all around the house. 

Over the years, my son gradually saw less and less of this little man-boy but would still occasionally wake up at around 2 am and jump into bed with  me as I was, and still am, sleeping in his room.  Although these appearances diminished, I couldn’t help but notice that, even with our windows closed, shutters would open and doors would slam.  Could this little man-boy be a menehune just trying to befriend my son and play pranks on me?  For the longest time, I didn’t bring this up with anyone except for a few family members and friends who I knew wouldn’t laugh at me. 

One day this past Summer, for some reason, while talking to a former neighbor who was visiting, I mentioned this little man-boy spirit or ghost to him and I could tell from his reaction that he knew exactly what I was talking about.  He shared how, when he lived in the neighborhood and had a sleep-over birthday party for his son, one of the boys was woken and startled by this very same little man-boy, got freaked out, and insisted his parents pick him up right then and there … at 2 am.

Then, just a few weeks ago, a neighbor across the street mentioned how his young son woke up one night at around 2 am and saw something little walking up the stairs toward his room.  And to top all of these encounters off, the day after Halloween, I bumped into my new next door neighbors who embarrassingly laughed and asked if I knew about any ghosts or menehune in the neighborhood.  I froze, dropped my jaw, got chicken skin up and down both arms and on the back of my neck … “Why?” I asked.  The husband replied, "because our two-year old was talking to someone last night and when we asked who it was, she said a little boy. … and when we asked if the little boy said anything, our two-year old simply put her finger to her lips and said, ‘hush’”.