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 2:00 a.m. 

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’”.

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Ghost Laughter

Informant: Male/36/Ancestry unknown 

Location: Mililani Mauka, a small gully behind our house

There are dogs barking suddenly in the night.

Every now and then, at very odd moments in the early morning (like at 2 or 3 AM), there is a voice coming out across the valley behind our house, the voice of a man laughing. It's not a particularly scary sound, it just sounds like someone at a party having a good time. But it's odd, because it comes out of the silence and the darkness, there are no lights across the way signaling a late night party, there is no voice preceding or following it, making conversation or telling a joke. There is just the laugh.

And I lie awake, wondering at the strangeness of that laugh. Sometimes, I peer through the dust laden screen into the night, trying to pierce the shadow and the ever present haze of cricket noises. But there is nothing. Did I dream the voice?

I ask Lynn if she heard it. She is usually too sleepy to respond to my stupid questions. But she says, "Yeah, I was wondering about that too." And suddenly she shivers, even though she is bundled in covers, and the night is far from cold.

There are dogs barking in the night.

Sometimes, all of a sudden, the dogs do this. First, the barking is far off. Then, there is a tumult somewhere down our street, there are dogs baying restlessly. Then, it seems, the neighbors' dogs, the dogs closest to us, are upset about something. This often happens late into the night, when even the dead should sleep... A wave of dogs barking, disturbing, like wind through grass... getting closer and closer. At the end, my heart beats thunderously, and I strain my ears to hear shuffling in my yard, or some unexpected click just outside my window.

Things move in the night, shifting, trying to find sleep, or rest, or balance...something is always off. A laugh, dogs barking...

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