10.31.2016

Who's Driving the Lift?

Informant: Male/43/Ethnicity undisclosed
Location: Mapunapuna, Oahu

I work the night shift in a warehouse in Mapunapuna, and on Fridays I work non-stop into Saturday just to get things done. So this happened today, October 29, 2016, and the weird part is it was a little after 7:00 a.m. 

On Saturdays, there's usually three of us working, but one guy called out sick for Friday and Saturday, so there was just two of us doing our usual. Around 7:00 a.m. I could hear my coworker still on the stand up lift instead of taking his break, so I wanted to see what he was doing and saw that he just wanted to set things up to make it easier after his 10 minute break. So I walked past him and went towards my desk and saw that I had forgotten to put all of my trash into a bigger bag to be taken out. So from where my desk is, there's a big machine that blocks my view of where my coworker was using the stand up lift, but I could see things below, like legs, and the lower part of the stand up lift. So I grabbed my trash and started putting it into a bigger bag and noticed my coworker came behind and stood by the machine looking at me. I just kept picking up my trash one by one and kept looking back at him, wondering why he was just staring at me instead of helping.

As I started to tie the bag I could still see him standing there out of the corner of my eye, and I started getting irritated. All of a sudden I hear, "beep beep beep," and right as I was done I looked straight in front of me, and I was still able to see my coworker standing on the side. I was about to turn my head towards him to say something like, "Yes, can I help you?" but thought again and asked myself , "If he's standing here staring at me, then who the hell is driving the stand up lift?" So I turned and looked, but nothing was there. I know I saw him turn the corner, stop, and just stand there. And I know I'm not seeing things or imagining things either because our warehouse has good lighting and no dark or shady areas, and I've been doing this for eight years with nothing weird ever happening until today, in the morning, of all times. 

I remember growing up hearing similar stories that happen often in Samoa where people see their family member walking past the house, but they just came from inside the house and know their family member is sleeping inside, so they go back inside only to find them still asleep. It happens quite often in Samoa, and they know its a ghost because the family member they see walking past doesn't even acknowledge them, but just looks straight and keeps on walking.

Do Your Parents Feed the Frogs?

Informant: Male/26/Filipino
Location: Wainaku, Big Island

I have a bunch of family that live in this small, tight-knit community: Wainaku, Big Island. Grandparents, numerous aunts, and relatives live around the block. While playing video games in a relatives home, my brother and I got a phone call from my mother saying it's getting late and we should head to another aunty's home for dinner.

My brother and I picked up our kick scooters and headed up the road. At the fork of the road, a tall, barefoot old lady wearing a long white out-of-style dress, danced in the middle of the road holding a tray of food. I told my brother to ignore the lady as our aunty's home was at the immediate left of the fork. The old lady faced me and asked, "Do your parents feed the frogs?" That ridiculous question made me stop to answer her no, and I was curious why she asked that question. She said she will feed the frogs what was on her tray: guacamole and tortilla chips. Dumbfounded, I said yes when she offered me and my brother to taste her guac, which was delicious. She then ran into the middle of the fork, into the dark, yelling, "Frogs, this is for you!"

I told this story the next day to relatives and people in my Aunts street. Not one person said that an old lady of that description lived in the neighborhood.

The fork on the road? It was actually a bridge over a river that conjoins two streets. Some say a church used to be next to that bridge...