12.14.2020

"I need to lie down."

Informant: Male/30's/Hawaiian, Native American, Asian, European, Hispanic ancestry 
Location: Lihue, Kauai

It was the Spring of 2007. I was 18 going on 19 that summer, and I was in my first semester at Kauai Community College. I was lying in bed asleep one night, nice and snug in my blankets. It was a cool spring night, nothing out of the ordinary...or so I thought.

I lay in my bed sleeping until I was woken up by a woman’s voice whispering, “I need to lie down.” I thought it was my mom and so I was about to reply, “Yeah, of course.” But for some reason, I was unable to open my mouth. I couldn’t part my lips or anything. All of a sudden I heard the woman’s voice repeatedly saying, “I need to lie down. I need to lie down. I need to lie down.” The woman sounded young, maybe in her 30's. It was even more strange given that the whole time I was hearing her voice it sounded as though she was saying it over a radio frequency. The whole time I heard her voice I was completely unable to move any part of my body. I was unable to move my fingers, my legs, nothing. I wasn’t even able to take deep breaths of air! It was as though someone was on top of me keeping me from making any sort of movement and restricting my breathing!

This strange feeling lasted for what seemed like an eternity, but after what must’ve been a couple of minutes I once again heard the woman’s voice repeatedly saying, “I need to lie down. I need to lie down. I need to lie down.” And just like that, I was able to move and breathe again. The minute I realized I was able to move again I bolted out of my bed, burst into my parent's bedroom, and screamed, “Mom! Dad! The lady was in my room! The lady was in my room!” My parents woke up startled and asked, “What lady?!” My mom thought someone had broken into the house. I said, “No there was a lady in my room and she climbed into bed with me! I couldn’t move or breathe!”

My dad calmed me down and went into the kitchen. He grabbed a small Ziploc bag and filled it with Hawaiian salt and told me to keep it next to my bed. He said it would protect me from spirits. I did just as he instructed me to do. We all returned to bed and at first I was unable to fall back asleep. But after about a half hour I was asleep again. I woke up in the morning wondering if I dreamt it all, but I knew that it really happened. 

I did indeed have a supernatural visitor in the middle of the night.

11.06.2020

A Ghostly Carriage in Anahola

Informant: Female/50's/European ancestry 
Location: Anahola, Kauai, HI 

It was around 8:00 p.m. one night and I had just gotten home from canoe paddling practice. My two sons weren't home, so I decided to sit down on the porch and relax before going inside. My porch overlooks the street. On the far right end was the one streetlight, and the rest of the street across of me and all the way down was pitch black. 

I was playing around on my phone when suddenly I saw a light flicker out of the corner of my eye. I looked up and looked toward the streetlight and for a split second saw something that looked like a shadow. But it was such a slight flicker I thought my eyes were just adjusting or something. I looked back down at my phone, and a little while later, I heard a crash. 

I couldn't tell you what it sounded like. It sounded like a shelf with lots of things on it crashing to the floor. It sounded like it came from grandma's house next door, and I thought for sure my boys were fighting. I looked up and again saw a flash in the corner of my eye, coming from the direction of the streetlight, and I saw something. 

Horses. Horses' heads, four of them. And a woman, with her hair flowing behind her, coming down the road. In my mind I describe it as a carriage even though I couldn't make out the shape of one. The woman was behind the horses as if she was holding their reigns and in an area that would make sense if she was the driver of a carriage. I couldn't make out any legs of the horses or the woman, I just saw their heads. The rest of them just blended into one white, smoky mass. It looked like white flames, and ended in a tail of smoke. Everything was white. 

I looked at this for what seemed like a forever, but in reality it was probably no more than a split second before it vanished. Not being a very superstitious or scardey cat of a person, I went down my driveway to the road to see if I could see anything. Of course I didn't see anything there. 

The boys came home shortly after that. I never told them what I saw. I've never told anyone what I saw. at that point I lived in Anahola for nearly 20 years and never experienced anything like that before, or since. 

10.23.2020

Mom's Dog

Informant: Male/52/Japanese ancestry
Location: Hilo, Hawaii 

My brother used to play with my mom's dog, a sharpei-pitbull, every day when he came home from work. He would come home, play with the dog in the yard for a bit, and then go in the house. 

My brother died suddenly. 

Afterwards, every day, for a few weeks, we would see the dog get excited and start barking and grab his toy, as if someone was playing with him. But nobody was there. These play sessions tapered off after a few weeks, and then stopped. 

I don't think there's any other explanation for this except that my brother continued to play with my mom's dog after he was gone. 

10.09.2020

A Smiling Face

Informant: Female/36/Korean ancestry
Location: Kapaa, Kauai 

I was scrolling through social media the other day and saw a post from my friend wishing his sister a happy birthday. She would have been 30; she passed away a few years ago. When I saw that, I suddenly remembered a dream I had the night before. 

Me, my friend, and all our friends got to travel back in time. I don't remember what point in time we traveled to or where we were, but I remember that his sister was there, and she was still healthy. In the dream, we all knew that we were from the future, but to her, we were just our normal selves. Nothing was out of the ordinary for her. I remember we all hugged her, one by one, and we were all happy to see her. I could see her happy, smiling face. 

When I woke up, tears were streaming down my face.

I didn't realize it was her birthday. Nothing I had seen recently reminded me of her. It could have been some sort of subconscious thing, or just a coincidence, but I feel that it was something more than that. Either way, it was really nice to see her. 

9.24.2020

Backseat Surprise in Kalihi

Informant: Male/64/Japanese-American
Location: H1 E off-ramp to Kalihi Street mauka

In 1976 I was a drummer in a blues-rock band, returning home to Kalihi from a gig in Haleiwa, around midnight on a Thursday. I took the Eastbound H-1 off-ramp onto Kalihi Street going mauka, which passes in front of the Kalihi Library near the Bishop Museum. 

 As I looked over my right shoulder to merge to my right, I was shocked to see in my back seat a young woman of high school age, casually looking out the window. She was wearing a 60's era aloha print tunic-type dress, her face illuminated by the older pre-mercury arc streetlights of the decade. As the ramp curved onto Kalihi Street, she turned toward me, showed a look of surprise, and vanished! 

I can say that I had nothing to drink that night (the gig was at a church) and I was not sleepy (my normal sleep time was past 1:00 a.m.). Has anyone had similar experiences in the area?