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. 

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Voices on the wind on the slopes of Mauna Loa

Informant: Female/35/Caucasian

Location: Ka'u, Big Island (slopes of Mauna Loa, up above Pahala)

I used to work for a wilderness therapy outlet for troubled teenagers in remote Ka'u, up at about 1800 feet elevation above Pahala town. The land was about 10 acres, surrounded by active farm/pasture land (former cane fields) and we had what appeared to be a nearby burial site -- lava rock cairns, three of them, in a beautiful bamboo stand (we would actually send kids there for their final mission, a three day solo camp with fasting -- heavy). On that edge of camp kids reported seeing lights, "aliens", etc. Probably just old ghosts. Many of these kids were in different groups, had never talked to one another, but had similar reports. The kids who occupied the little hale along the edge of the land there didn't like it - chicken skin - they had to face the camp and I think they often felt serious mana behind them on the path that went along the fence behind their hale.

Most of the property was covered with permaculture garden beds with little open-sided hales sprinkled throughout. We were totally off grid. Pitch black at night. We had one main bunkhouse on the Kona side of the land, and a big open-sided elevated hale in the middle. Our typical routine was to sleep two staff up in the big hale (for one kine break, not to be around farting teenagers) and two staff in the bunkhouse.

One night was really stormy, AND we had a kid coming in who was a serious flight/violence risk -- they often came in at night, if they were being escorted here against their will, which was often. The staff decided three staff in the bunkhouse would be safer, and that the remaining single staff person would sleep alone on the elevated platform hale. I drew the short straw on that one. 

I managed to fall asleep buried deep in my sleeping bag despite sideways Kona winds and heavy rain. In the middle of the night, I was awoken to what sounded like someone loudly barking "HEY YOU!" at me, maybe a foot or two away from my ear. I woke up with a crystal clear vision in my head of an angry heavy-set Hawaiian man, long hair tied back, only wearing a loincloth or small skirt of some kind of tapa-like material. I scrambled in the dark for my headlamp but no one was there. My heart was pounding out of my chest. As I sat bolt upright there in the dark, freaking out but justifying in my head that it was a vivid dream, I began to hear voices coming in from the west on the wind. The rain had stopped but the Kona winds were still blowing. It was women's voices speaking Hawaiian. Again, I had a crystal clear vision in my head as I heard this - two or three Hawaiian women sitting on a hala mat, pounding poi or something, chatting. The bunkhouse nearby was locked and silent.

I had never before experienced something like this, and never have since. Though I didn't "see" a ghost, per se, it was the closest thing I have had to a supernatural experience. A co-worker who had been there for years told me to carry some turmeric in my pocket (to ward off spirits?) and told me she had seen plenty of lights and weird things on the property. The land had been used for centuries by kanaka and maybe they just wanted to let us haoles know this was still their space. I have a deep respect and love for Hawaiian culture and the mana on the Big Island is the most powerful thing I have ever felt.

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Pele saves a life at Kilauea

Informant: Male/59/Caucasian

Location: Past Pahala on Highway 11 on the Big Island

Aloha. With it being Mother’s Day as I write this, and with all the stories of Hawaii in the news these days, I was reminded of a trip I took to the islands in which I had a couple of very strange paranormal encounters. I have been, in the past ten years, a paranormal investigator and have had many encounters with spirits and entities over my lifetime which is how I came to formally investigate these phenomena. Being half Scottish and the other half Viking with psychic skills, I can reliably say there is much more going on in the unseen world than most people will ever know. This story is one of my favorite encounters and I hope you enjoy it.

In the early 1990's, I took a series of trips to the Hawaiian islands. One of my favorite island visits was my trip to the Big Island where I spent a week exploring the island and taking in the sights. For several days, I made the 80 mile drive from Kona to the Kilauea and explored the volcanic vents, even witnessing the lava flowing across an old section of road at one point in my explorations.

I spent one day hiking across a significant portion of the upper crater area near Kilauea’s volcanic vent and saw the lake of lava for myself and decided to do as the Hawaiian people do and to leave a small offering of a candle and a prayer to Pele as a sign of respect.

Not being native to the islands, I was simply giving a tip of the hat to a force of Nature whose presence one can feel just by looking around at the living landscape that makes up the islands. Never did I imagine that this force and spirit might give me a tip of the hat in return -- twice.

After I left my offering at the summit of Kilauea, I hiked down into Kilauea Iki, a smaller volcanic cone next to the big lava lake and was standing at the actual vent where  Kilauea Iki last erupted in 1959. There was a sign there to be careful not to get too close which I, unfortunately, did not heed. I was trying to get a look into the vent and ventured just a little too close. My footing gave way and I began to slide straight down the hill into the chasm leading down into the vent. I had nothing to grab onto and was literally in the first moment of falling in.

The strangest thing happened at that very instant. I was literally shoved back by a very strong gust of wind, almost as if I had been snatched back. I fell on my back and held my camera in my hand and was a little shocked at what had happened. I slowly backed out and got to a safe spot and gave a silent prayer of thanks for still being alive. If I had fallen into that vent, I have no idea what would have happened… badly injured at the least and if I had fallen into the vent hole, I would never have been found. I had the strange thought at the time that  I had been saved by Pele and made sure to take no more chances at the volcano from then on.

I stayed that evening at the volcano well into the night to witness the lava glowing next to the sea and it was a sight I will never forget.  The eruption flowing downhill was spectacular in the sunset twilight and I was transfixed as forests burned away as the lava made it’s way down the mountain and drained into underground lava tubes and poured into the sea. You can’t imagine such a sight… It has to be experienced in person to fully appreciate the sheer spectacle of seeing these great forces at work.

The USGS/ranger/geologist who I happened to run into was very nice and she took me in to witness the flow from a short distance away. The heat and fumes were intense and we stayed for about 10 minutes before being warned to get out before lava encircled us. We were more than glad to exit, but got some amazing photographs of the activity.

The lava flowed across the road in slow motion, crackling and pouring out bubbling asphalt smoke as the road literally burned from the intense heat. I have never seen such a sight since and feel very privileged to have witnessed this amazing sight in person.  The USGS geologist/ranger who happened to be there was taking folks in to the lava flows was very informative and smiled when I asked her about Pele. She said she believed in The Goddess and had a number of strange stories of her own from her time on the island. She also made sure to impress on me how lucky I was to get this close to the lava flowing and said very few of the many visitors to the island get this kind of a chance. I did feel very lucky to have seen it with my own eyes. If I remember right, she said that one in every 5,000 visitors to the island gets to see what we saw.

After witnessing the lava at night and having given my offering to Pele up on the main volcano earlier that day, I slowly made my way back to the main road, Highway 11, and drove my convertible rental back to where I was staying in Kona.  Not long after I passed the area where Pahala is now, I had the music playing and was just enjoying my night drive back to the bed and breakfast I was staying at when I spotted a woman on the side of the road in the distance with my high beams on. There was no traffic that night and I was the only car on the road.

The woman kept walking up the grade next to the road. She was older with grayish hair and slightly stooped, moving slowly on the right side of the road, making a little room for me to pass her. I slowed and saw she wore a green and blue muumuu which covered her frail form. It was nearly 10:30 p.m. or so and the stretch of road I was on was such that we were far from any human habitation I could spot, other than the occasional macadamia farm. I continued to slow and became concerned for this woman being so far from any help in the dead of night. So I found a wide spot on the right just ahead of her and pulled off to see if I could offer this lady a ride.

As I passed her, I looked right at her and she looked at me and slightly smiled. She had very piercing eyes. I couldn’t see features of her face because there was only ambient light from my car side illumination as the evening was pitch black, save for the car and the barest sliver of a moon that was still up. Still, there was a brief moment of communication between us as I slowly passed her and look directly at her. I can’t imagine how I looked to her, but I think surprised was the emotion I was feeling. So imagine my amazement as I got out of the car after parking only twenty or so feet ahead of her and turned and said “Ma’am can I help you?” and was looking at empty space. No one was there.

I scrambled around and looked at both sides of the road and circled the car to see if she was hiding near it. There was NO ONE there! And there was no place she could have gone! No trees, hills or brush to hide behind. Just a wide flat spot and a field to the right that was wide open with a hill up on the right. And behind me was open space heading out some distance to the seashore. She literally had up and disappeared on me!

I stood feeling rather spooked and perplexed and realized that this was likely some kind of ghost sighting. It was early in my life where I hadn’t yet dealt with paranormal matters as an investigator, but had dealt with ghosts and spirits on a number of occasions due to my family history of living in some very haunted places.

I had that odd feeling of being laughed at and the sensation of being watched and yet was not scared. In truth, I hoped I hadn’t missed seeing the old woman and had left a real flesh and blood lady in the lurch out on that lonely stretch of Hawaiian road. In my heart, I knew she had never been there as a mortal woman. She was something else. I got back in the car and pulled away, feeling a mixture of emotions, but mostly being confused and a little spooked at what had looked like a real flesh and blood woman one second and then empty space the next.

Pele is the Hawaiian goddess of fire, lightning, wind, and volcanoes as well as the creator of the Hawaiian islands. Pele also carries a staff, which she uses to test if the ground is dry.  I did not see a staff, but it was night and she did appear to be hunched over when I saw her.  And she is well known to appear to we mortal folks as either a young woman or an older woman. I had briefly heard some of these tales of how she appears to people on my trips to the islands, but had never given them much thought beyond my respectful offering up at the volcano summit.

Having mentioned that Pele is the goddess of not only fire, but of lightning and wind, I cannot help but think that the wind that shoved me back from a nasty fall at Kilauea Iki was of her doing.

The next morning at breakfast, I mentioned my unusual sighting of the prior night and my near fall into the volcanic vent to my hosts at the bed and breakfast. They were an older retired couple and they looked at me in astonishment. I asked what was wrong.

“You’ve never heard about Pele on the road?” the husband asked. I shook my head. He smiled and said “Well…you must have done something right, because Pele herself appeared to you. Many people here have had that experience and the fact you stopped to help her was pleasing to her.”

I told him about my offering on the summit of the volcano and he and his wife plus the other guests smiled. We all agreed it was a really nice experience and I was left with a beautiful memory of the island, a mystical experience I shall never forget and and paranormal experience that I am but one of many to have had.

My only advice to those traveling to the Big Island is this: If you see a young woman or old woman along Highway 11 in Hawaii, all alone and needing a ride, stop and be nice to her. You may well be in the presence of a powerful Goddess who will likely give you amazing blessings if your heart and mind are in the right place.

And if you are at the Volcano National Park, leave an offering for Pele in the form of a bottle of gin, flowers or fruits. You’ll be creating good karma and giving Pele the respect She deserves.

I will return to Hawaii one day, now that I have retired. The people are amazing and the energy there is amazing. Mahalo!

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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...

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Spooning

Informant: Female/30/Hawaiian mixed ancestry

Location: Pahoa, Big Island

I'm afraid to go to sleep tonight. 

I kept waking up with the feeling last night that someone was in the room with me. At one point during my rest, I swore I felt a body press up right up against me to cuddle. It even did that snuggling motion when someone is trying to get as close as possible. I smiled with my eyes closed, thinking it was my dog, who sometimes sneaks into my room at night, and felt immediately reassured… 

And then I reached out to embrace my dog and pull him closer. It felt larger than my dog. I freaked and opened my eyes, and I saw nothing. I reached out again and felt...nothing.

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Paperweight

Male / 47 /Filipino-Japanese

Location: Big Island/ Oahu, Hawaii

Over 20 years ago, four of us went to the Big Island for a two week melee of fishing, camping and just having a good old time before going back to school.

We landed in Hilo in the early morning hours, had breakfast at Mcdonald's and picked up our Beach Boy Camper which was a Toyota truck with a over-sized camper mounted to the back. Our trip consisted of stopping and camping at as much sites as we could, playing tourist in a foreign land that we'd never been before. We headed to Kalapana Black Sand Beach where we camped out for some days and then we headed for Kilauea via the Chain of Crater Road. We stopped up at Volcano House to admire the sights and then proceeded to the many lava tubes and craters that make up Kilauea.

Well we stopped at this one spot along the crater and had lunch and beer. We were, I guess, fortunate to have along with us a University of Hawaii Hawaiiana major with us (I won't mention his name). My friend Paul and I decided to get a closer look at the inside of the crater and noticed the a'a lava and the pahoehoe lava littered around the crater. I noticed this one pahoehoe lava rock that would look cool on my desk at home as a paperweight. My friend Paul had the same idea. Before this trip my dad, who was a wise old man, told me not to bring back any rock from the volcano or anywhere; in fact he threatened me not to take any thing at all. So Paul and I talked amongst ourselves and decided to ask our UH major about his opinion on taking the volcano souvenirs. Our Hawaiiana major tells us that if we were sincere about it we should ask Madame Pele if we could have the rocks. So like naive fools, we stood there at the edge of the the crater and yelled out if we could have the rocks. There was no answer from Madame Pele. we took that as a "yes." We packed up our precious cargo and left for the great frontier. Through the remainder of our trip, it was nothing but choke fish to eat, starry nights and sunny skies and there basically couldn't have been a more awesome vacation.

We got home to Honolulu, everyone went on their merry way. High school started up for fall season and life went on. About six months since our trip to the Big Island, Paul's and my household experienced an all too weird change.

I got a call one day from Paul. He told me that while he was working at the Gibson Dept. Store in Mapunapuna one night, he finished his grocery job and went to his car. When he got to where his car is usually parked he noticed it was missing, stolen as what HPD later explains. Paul never found his car but later it was found in Waianae. Right after his car got stolen, my house got burglarized and our second car got stolen too because they got a hold of our extra keys. We never linked what happened to Paul and my dad's car and our house. Maybe it was all coincidental.

Another time, I was cruising at home one afternoon when my parents burst through the door arguing about missing money. I asked my mom what happened. She explained that they withdrew $600 dollars from the bank and placed the envelope of money in my moms bag. She went on to say that while they were driving home, she opened the handbag to check on the money and found it missing. They scoured the parking lot right after and even checked with the teller if she had seen the envelope of money. No money was ever found.

One day my mom was cleaning the house and she came across the rock in my room. She called for my dad and my dad hit the roof. He blamed all the misfortune on the rock in my room and he mentioned the same for Paul's car getting stolen. All my dad wanted to do was to get rid of the rock even though it meant me swimming back to the Big Island. Things got weirder. One day I noticed that there was like some kind of object in me eyes. It first felt like there was dust or dirt in my eye but as weeks went by, it felt like there was a piece of rock inside. I would go through bottles of eye wash but to my dismay it still felt the same. I finally went to an eye doctor and after the test he said my vision was 20/20. I still complained about the sensation in my eye, so the doctor gave me some extra strength eye wash and sent me home. My vision got worse over time. I just lived with the discomfort. As for Paul, I hadn't heard anything about any more problems. By this time my mom and dad made plans to fly us all up the Big Island for some vacation and to return the rock. My dad booked our flight for one weekend, and he told me to call Paul and bring his rock because my dad wanted all rocks off this island and the bachi to end.

It was now the Thursday before our trip. Paul brought his rock and I placed both rocks in a shoebox and waited for our big trip. We flew out on Aloha Airlines and made it safely on the Big Island. We grabbed our bag and my dad and I went to grab our rental car. As we were leaving, my mom who was watching the bags called out hysterically for us to come. She had this mouth open, bug-eyed look on her face. My dad asked her what the yelling was all about. So she stuck her hand in the bag and showed us the $600.00 that was missing. It was still in the envelope that the teller gave them. My dad had his doubts. He told her she didn't look good in her bag before she left the bank the first time and that it was probably in one of the pockets. But my mom told him that the bag she had was totally different from the one she had that day at the bank. Coincidental?

We packed up our rental car and arrived at the Hukilau Hotel in Hilo. I was too tired to go anywhere so I sat on the lanai while my parents got a bite to eat. It was a nice cool night, and the stars and the full moon were out. Our room overlooked a canal right across the street, and I stared at the waters and noticed the reflection of the stars and the full moon. Then I realized that my vision was cleared up and I could see clearly. I told my mom that I could see better again. She never said anything back.

Early the next day we headed up to Kilauea Crater and my dad asked me where we got the rocks. I couldn't remember anything, so we decided to find a nice spot to put the rocks and leave an offering of laulau and a bottle of beer. Maybe Pele would like a quick lunch and a beer. I don't know why it was a laulau and beer combo. I then stood by the rim of the crater and apologized for taking the rocks, sincerely. As we were standing around and admiring the scenery, a park ranger showed up to check on us. My dad told him what I did and what had happened. The pleasant Japanese ranger chuckled and then told us that we weren't the only ones that had problems. He went to tell us that his department has to go down to the post office at the airport once a month to empty out one of the many carts designated for the park service and bring the load of rocks and other items up the volcano to deposit them back inside the park area. Each package has it's own reason and story, but everyone just wants to return the rocks to there rightful home. The stories are the same: bad luck had come to them.

Since we returned the rocks to their rightful home there have been  no other strange things.Well, we hope.

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Spirit Alarm Clock

Informant: Female/24/Irish American ancestry

Location: Hilo, Hawaii

My boyfriend is a Hilo local of Hawaiian heritage who works for a security company. He had to go to Kona to start work by 6:00am, so he woke up at 3:00am and left by 3:15am. We live downtown in a huge, very safe building with a lot of empty rooms across from Central fire station, but today for some  reason I locked the door as soon as he walked out. I lay back down and put on my eye mask and headphones on to help me fall back asleep.

As soon as I laid down, I felt that I was not alone. Since they weren't earplugs I could still hear everything, just slightly muffled. I could hear noises like someone was moving around the room, but I tend to sometimes have an over-active mind and didn't want to believe there was a presence with me. Somehow I drifted into a very light sleep. I rolled over onto my side facing the door when all of a sudden something slid into the bed.

It got on top of me perpendicularly and started jumping up and down on top of me crushing in between my ribcage and my hip! Three times this happened before I could speak, I was so startled. I somehow managed to yell, "Get Out of here! Get out of here!" And the pressure disappeared. I just laid still with my eye mask on waiting. I could tell it was still in the bed and it felt like it was caressing the side of my face. As soon as it stopped I lunged towards my phone, ripped off my eye mask and turned on some worship music.

I could see nothing in our tiny studio that looked out of the ordinary. I know that I wasn't dreaming because when I rolled over in bed I woke up. I told my boyfriend what happened and he said that the evening before he had been lockig up the rooms after open house and had been whistling when he felt a chill on his neck. He apologized because he probably called the spirit with his whistling!

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The Bloody Girl at the Golf Course

Informant: Male/early 20's at time of incident/European ancestry

Location: Kona, Big Island

Many, many years ago, I worked as a busboy at the Keauhou Golf Course Country Club and Lounge. I worked the night shift. After work one night I hopped on my moped and headed down the golf cart path to the nearby scenic lookout where we would all gather after closing and talk stink about the customers, management, make plans for the next day, and just generally hang out.

Around the second hole this huge white shape swooped out of the sky into my headlight and nearly took my head off. Scared me so bad I nearly fell off. It was the biggest white owl I have ever seen. I didn't even know there were white owls in Hawaii. So anyway, I made it to the lookout and was telling the guys about the owl when all of a sudden we heard loud tire squeals coming down the road. This car was doing about 90mph and skidded around the corner and zoomed off down the road.

Right after that this girl, who looked about 18, covered in blood from head to toe, walks up to us out of the blackness and asks for a cigarette like there's nothing the matter at all. She tells us that she just jumped out of the car that sped by. Weird. We say, “Hey, let us take you to the hospital or something.” But she just wants a cigarette and a ride to this club in town. A couple guys who shared a ride to work volunteered and all three got into the car and took off.

The next day at work I asked about what happened. They said they took her to the club and let her out and watched her walk in. They took off but decided to go back to the club for a beer. They looked around for the girl but they didn't see her. One of the guys was friends with the doorman, so he asked him what happened to the bloody girl. The doorman said he never saw her, and nobody they talked to that night saw her either.

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Treasures From The Rock

Informant: Male/40s/European ancestry

Location: Big Island

“Why would you take that home with you? Are you crazy?”

It might not be the wisest idea to verbally berate your doctor, but at the sight of his slightly-swollen hand, I felt the need to further drive the point home that taking home strange objects found in lava rock is never a good idea.

While on vacation to the Big Island, my doctor and his family decided to visit the volcano. While they were there, he happened to notice a gold ring sitting in a crack in the lava. He decided to take a stick and fish it out, and took it home with him.

“It’s probably just coincidence, “he said as he showed me his now-healing broken hand. But that wasn’t the only unfortunate accident that had befallen him and his family since he had taken the ring home. His daughter, while on a camping trip in the mountains, ended up breaking her leg in a freak accident.

Still, he seems content with the reasoning that it was all just an unfortunate coincidence, but I could sense a bit of wavering in his voice. Nevertheless, on 8/8/08 he decided to go back to the Big Island and return the ring to the spot that it was found. There have been no accidents since then.

But that in itself might be short-lived, since recently he decided to take the tusks from a boar carcass that he found. Maybe the next time I see him, he’ll have a new story to tell.

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Kamapua'a at The Merrie Monarch

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Informant: 14 years old/female

Location: Hilo Hawaiian Hotel, Big Island

For the past 30 years my grandma's hula halau, has been in the Merrie Monarch hula competition in Hilo on the Big Island. One night, my cousin and I went walking around the Hilo Hawaiian Hotel at three or four in the morning. We walked out to the beach and we sat on the dock just talking.

We looked out to the ocean saw this small cat-like figure on the rock wall in Hilo bay. My cousin and I started freaking out. We decided to walk down the road to the gardens at hotel and we looked back and saw a black pig following us. We started to get scared. We go back to the dock and the pig was there again. My cousin and I were wondering what the heck a pig was doing following us.

After this, a young but older lady came up behind us and she started chanting in Hawaiian. Her presence was very warm, but my cousin and I were still scared as ever. I speak fluent Hawaiian; the lady chanting was saying, "Kamapua'a leave these girls alone. You are a pig, and a pig you will be."

My cousin and I looked at the pig and it just disappeared. We turned to the lady and she told us our grandma was looking for us and we should go back upstairs. We got back upstairs and told our grandma about what we saw. She told us that around Merrie Monarch time, Kamapua'a comes around Hilo in search of Pele. Legend says they had a thing going on. 

Every year since that incident my grandma has made sure that my cousin and I stay in our rooms. But every Merrie Monarch since that night, my cousin and I go outside to go look at the dock and we see that same lady we saw from 2003, making sure that we are safe. My grandma said it's Kapo, Pele's best friend keeping us safe from harm.

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Billowing Curtains

Informant: Male/25/Portuguese – mixed ancestry

Location: Hilo, Hawaii

One day my cousin, my brother and I were in my room getting ready to go to bed. It was about 12 pm, all the lights were out, and it was completely silent. This was Hilo before all the coqui frogs invaded, so really, it was just about completely silent. Suddenly I get this feeling, like something is watching us. You know that feeling? Like something is just standing there and watching you? All of a sudden the curtains on one of the windows starts flapping in the breeze. But there was no breeze, no sound even. They just started billowing like something was strolling under them to take a look out the window. A few seconds later they fell back down, and I realized….the windows were closed. The door was closed.

How did that happen? Pressure change? Maybe. But no one was awake in the house except us, and there was definitely no opening of doors or anything anywhere. So I said to my brother and cousin, "Hey, did you guys see that?" They were both awake, and had seen it too -- by chance maybe. After a few minutes I got the courage to recheck the windows -- and yep, they were closed. Really though, I’ve never understood how curtains could flap back and forth for a few seconds like there was something under them, even if you take in to account the possibility of pressure change in the house.

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A Faceless Woman at St. Joseph High?

Informant: Male/40/Portuguese ancestry

Location: St. Joseph High School, Big Island

This was a story that the upperclassmen would tell the incoming freshman each year at St. Joseph High School.

The story goes that during 70's, two girls were in the restroom getting ready for school to start. While they were applying their makeup, there was a woman in the restroom with them, brushing her hair over her face. The girls just assumed that the woman was one of the sisters. After the girls were done with their makeup, one of them turned to the woman to ask to borrow her brush. The woman turned to them, revealing her missing face.

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Ghoul School

Informant: Male/20/Mixed ancestry

Location: Hilo High School, Big Island

Every school has its collection of ghost stories. Hilo High School is no different. Every fall, seniors are trying their best to scare the freshmen with tales about suicides in the bathrooms, nightmarcher trails that lead through the gym, and moving desks in the classrooms.

When I was a freshman, I dismissed many of the stories the upperclassmen told me as, "lame attempts to humiliate harmless 14 year olds." Many of the stories seemed cliche or just too ridiculous to be true.

Then one night, a group of friends and myself decided to go and knock on the door of the chorus building for a good laugh.

We all were in band and we had just finished playing a concert in the auditorium. There wasn't school the next day, so we had decided that we'd all hang around and explore the school. We all heard the ghost stories, so we thought it would be funny to go and see if any of them were true. The first thing we decided was to knock on the door of the chorus building.

The chorus building is a small one room building behind of the gym. At that time, our English teacher had told us stories about how sometimes late at night she'd be grading our assignments and the chairs would be thrown across the room or she would hear knocking in one of the closets. She also told us about how she found a giant wooden cross under the building a couple of years before that year.

So we marched up to the chorus building and gathered at the base of the stairs. We were all laughing and having a good time up until that point. Then we decided that one of us should knock on the door. After a series of jun ken po (rock, paper, scissors) it was decided that I would be the one to knock on the door.

I went up to the door and quickly knocked on it and then quickly ran back down the stairs. We all laughed at how we were scaring ourselves.

And then the door violently knocked back. It was as if something had thrown a door at the desk. We could hear things crashing inside of the classroom. It was if someone had unleashed a raging bull into that building.

All of us were terrified. We ran to our cars and just drove off, with no plan other than just getting as far away from the chorus building as possible.

We all met up later that night after everybody had calmed down. We all came to the agreement that nobody could have been in that classroom. All of the lights inside of the classroom had been off and showed no sign of anybody being there prior to when I knocked on the door. That Monday, we asked our English teacher if she had been there that night grading papers. She laughed at us and told us that she was never on the school on Friday nights. We asked her if her classroom had been a mess when she came in that morning. She looked at us suspiciously, but told us that her classroom was the way she left it before on Friday afternoon.

So what had made all those noises and banging?

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The Eyes in the Closet

Informant: Male/19 years old/mixed ancestry

Location: Hilo High School, Big Island

During my junior year of high school, my English teacher was pretty weird. She was a hippy-for lack of a better word- and would often describe having "weird psychic feelings" to the class.

So one day, we are all sitting in class doing our work when the teacher suddenly stands up and says, "Someone is watching me in that closet."

Everybody laughs, thinking this is another one of her not-so-psychic episodes, but the teacher is dead serious.

"I'm not kidding guys, I feel like there is something in that closet, watching us and wanting to cause harm," she continues.

So everybody is pretty nervous now. We know that our teacher is pretty crazy: she walks everywhere barefoot and thinks she has psychic intuitions, yet there was no denying the fear in her voice. Something was scaring our teacher, and that was scaring us.

And so of course, of all people, I'm asked to open the closet.

I open the closet, and there is nobody in there. But, somebody had drawn a big pair of eyes with a sharpie on the back wall of the closet. The eyes were very menacing, and it just didn't seem right that someone would draw eyes in a closet that was locked a majority of class time. Honestly, it was very creepy and it gave me chicken skin.

Maybe it was all an elaborate hoax that our teacher played on us; an attempt to freak us out after all those times we made fun of her. But after that, that closet always bothered me. I always felt as if someone was watching me from that closet. Other people also complained about similar feelings of being watched from the closet.

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Maybe a Bit More Than Dreaming...

Informant: Male/19 years old/Mixed Ancestry

Location:University of Hawaii at Hilo dorms, Big Island

I have had some pretty strange dreams. Not too long ago, I had one that I thought was pretty bizarre and featured it in this blog. However, this dream takes the cake. This is not only the single most strangest dream of my life, but it also maybe one of the most inexplicable occurrence of my life.

In my dream, I get out of my bed, and walk down the hall to the community bathroom for my dorm. In the bathroom, I turn on all the faucets and showers. The water is scalding hot and steam is beginning to fill the bathroom. After the temperature has risen a considerable amount, I undress myself, walk into the showers, and sit under the water.

The water is extremely hot and I'm literally cooking myself to death. I feel the burning sensation and I'm screaming in pain. I look at my arms and I see that blisters and burns are beginning to form. However, I continue to sit under the water.

At this moment in my dream, I lose consciousness and I wake up from my sleep. I'm soaked with sweat and I'm having a bit of trouble of breathing. I look down at my at my arms and there are no marks or blisters of any kind. At this moment I have to use the restroom.

As I'm walking down the hall, I can hear water running. I just figure it's one of the students taking an early morning shower. However, I get into the bathroom, and it is filled with steam. All of the faucets and showers are on, the water extremely hot. I go to turn off the showers, but the water is so hot that the pipes are hot too. I had to take off my shirt and wrap it around my hand so that I wouldn't burn myself turning off the faucets and showers.

The next morning, I talked to each of the students living in my wing and asked them about turning on the water in the bathrooms. All of them told me that they were completely asleep at the time of the incident.

I may have been sleepwalking, however, my door is locked at all times, I do not know how I would've been able to get back into my dorm after I turned on all the faucets and showers. This is an incident I'm afraid will never have a logical explanation.

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Paralyzed

Informant: Female/18 years old/Caucasian Ancestry

Location: Hilo, by the side of the Wailuku River, Big Island

When I was about fourteen, I woke up in the middle of the night suddenly. There was no noise, I was just suddenly awake. However, I couldn't move a muscle. My legs, hands, arms, toes, eyelids, everything, felt like it was paralyzed. I started to freak out, thinking something was wrong. I strained and strained but I couldn't move anything.

Suddenly, out of the dark, I heard someone whisper my name. "Julia!" it whispered. The voice was that of an older male, and I heard it right next to my ear. Now I was really freaked out, I honestly felt someone was there.

A few seconds later (that seemed like hours) I snapped out of it and could move normally. I checked everywhere in my room and there was no one there. My brother was sleeping soundly across the hall and I couldn't figure it out.

I laid awake for the rest of the night, wondering if the voice would come back. It never has.

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Wrong Number

Informant: Male/ 15 years old/ Filipino Ancestry

Location: University of Hawaii at Hilo dorms, Big Island

This story actually comes from my uncle.

He was attending the university during the 70's and had just moved into the dorms. As a gift, his parents bought him a phone that he could plug into the phone jacks so he could keep in touch with family.

Within minutes of plugging his telephone into the jack, he got his first phone call.

"Hello? Is Jim there?" sobbed the woman on the other end of the line.

"No, sorry, you got the wrong number," my uncle replied. The woman cried for a bit, then hung up the phone.

Later on that night, my uncle got a phone call from that same woman. A woman crying and asking for Jim. The phone calls continued for at least once a day for the rest of the semester. My uncle pitied the woman, so he didn't really do anything about it. He would just pick up the phone and listen to her ask for Jim and then weep. He would then say "wrong number" and wait for her to hang up. A couple of times, he tried to talk to the woman and see if he could help her find the right number, but it was as if she didn't care for what he had to say. She only wanted to know if Jim was there.

Finally at the end of the semester, my uncle started to move out of the dorms. As he was emptying out the drawers from his desk, he noticed something was carved into the bottom of one them.

It was a big heart with words in the middle saying: "R.I.P Jim."

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A Baby's Cry

Informant: Male/18 Years Old/Mixed Ancestry
Location: Richardson's Beach Park, Big Island

One evening, around 2 a.m. my friend and I decided that we should go to the beach and try crab fishing. We were bored and nothing else to do, and thought that it would be fun if we tried it.

We ended up going to Richardson's beach. When we got there it was an extremely clear night. You could see everything because of how bright the moon and stars were that night. The tide was abnormally low.

After a walking along the beach to look for a spot to look for crabs, I spotted the perfect spot.

"Hey, let's go over there," I pointed to my friend. As if it was on cue, the wind picked up and we heard a single, but loud, baby's cry. It was so loud, my friend and I were convinced that the baby it had come from needed to have been on the beach with us. We combed that beach completely, looking for the baby. We didn't find anything.

After searching for quite some time, we decided to leave. There was just something eerie about the baby's cry and the wind. We didn't feel comfortable staying there any longer than we had to.

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It Knew My Name

Informant: Male/unknown age/unknown ancestry
Location: Ahae'ho'omalu, Big Island

The following is true and I was not on any kind of drug or alcohol, nor was I dreaming. I lived on Kauai for about 15 years spending my high school years there. I had heard many bizarre and spooky stories, including stories about the Night Marchers. I had no idea that one day I would encounter them up close!

In May of 1995 I went to the Big Island for a job interview. I didn't get the job and I was "marooned" on the island, as I was broke and didn't know anybody. I pitched a tent in Anae'ho'omalu, on the Kona side of the Big Island, far enough away from the resort area where I would not be easily found. This would be my "base camp" until I could get myself on my feet again.

My tent was well hidden in the Ke'awe and you could not see it unless you knew it was there. I pitched the tent on the only flat ground as the area is all lava fields. I saw many petroglyphs and a partially collapsed wall where I pitched my tent next to, utilizing the flat ground.

One night, during the later part of the month when the moon was waning and crescent-shaped, I bedded down. It was about 10:15pm and I was just nodding off to sleep when quickly I came to my senses because I heard someone walking past my tent on the beach trail.

It sounded like plastic buckets "clunking" together, so I figured the sounds was just someone out for a night dive. I laid still and waited for them to pass. I thought it odd that whoever they were had no lights. However, my single-man tent was covered completely with a canopy and I could not see out.

Then suddenly, someone came to my well-hidden tent and called my name, in a clear and unmistakable deep, masculine, guttural voice. I knew instantly that this was a voice not of this world!

I could "sense" that this "entity" was enjoying scaring me and it knew that I knew it was a ghost. It had almost a hint mischief in it's voice. It knew I was freaking out, and it knew my name to top it all off! Nobody knew me on the Big Island at that time. I certainly didn't tell the job interviewer that I was camped on the beach.

I could also sense that this being "had to go" as if it had more important things to do. I laid still, petrified with fear for about 20 minutes until I felt I was clear to go. I grabbed my blanket and ran as fast as I could along the beach to the lighted resort area about a 1/4 mile away.

I later overheard one of the employees of the resort not too long after the experience who saw "The Night Marchers" as she was driving home through the lava fields after completing her night shift. I believe it to be the same night that I had my weird encounter.

I looked up the date and the phase of the moon in a book of the Hawaiian Moon Calendar. One of the things it said was it was the time that The Night Marchers are seen! Another book explained the "clunking" sounds as calabashes suspended from a pole in which provisions were carried when on a journey in the days of old. This experience remains to this day, the most inexplicable event of my life.

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College Experience

Informant: Male/19 years old/Portuguese Ancestry

Location: University of Hawaii at Hilo Dorms, Big Island

During high school, I spent my summers in an academic college prep program at the University of Hawaii at Hilo. Part of the programs goals was to simulate life in college, and so this included living in the dorms for about six weeks.

My first summer in the program, I was a little apprehensive about living in the dorms. The day I moved in, I felt uncomfortable in my dorm room. However, I just chalked it up to being away from home and shyness. As soon as I came out of my shell and got to make friends, I didn't feel uncomfortable in my room anymore.

Since my first day in the dorms, there has always been ghost stories surrounding the particular dorm we lived in. Students would often spread rumors of ghostly children playing the halls or that the dorm was in the path of a Night Marchers' trail. I was very skeptical about it.

Then one day, I experienced something that I cannot find an explanation for.

I was lying in my bed, alone in my dorm room, just relaxing from studying. I was just lying down, and listening to some music, nothing else. Then, I began to feel a hand behind my head. I was scared, because the door was closed and I knew that I was alone. Then the hand began to move around, underneath my head, as if it was playing with my hair. I tried my best to remain calm, I didn't want to make any sudden movements. I slowly began to move away from my bed. As soon I moved my head, my pillow which my head had been on, went flying across the room and hit the wall across from my bed with tremendous force. At the moment, I felt like I was threatened, and I just ran like the building was on fire.

I found the program director, and of course I brought it up with her. She just laughed at me and blamed the whole experience on me being scared about living away from home for so long. However, she did let me move into another room, and since then I've never been into that room again.

After that summer, I've spent later summers in that dorm, and have never experienced anything like that in the dorms again.

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