A Vanishing Hitchhiker in Puhi

Informant: Female/38/Korean ancestry

Location: Puhi, HI

My father told me that my great-grandfather worked for the sugar mill in the early 1900's, but at one point was laid off. Not knowing how he was going to support his family, my great-grandmother told him not to worry: she had been saving money, and gave it to him, telling him to buy a car to carry fares as a taxi driver.

One night my great-grandfather was driving southbound past Puhi in an area that is now near Kaua`i Nursery and Landscaping. Just before approaching the dip in the road, he saw a woman on the side of the road. It was dark, so my grandfather pulled over and offered her a ride. The woman accepted and got into the back of the car. Looking in the rear view mirror, my great-grandfather could see that she was an old Hawaiian woman. She said she was going to Koloa, and my great-grandfather took off in that direction. After passing through Puhi, he looked in his rearview mirror to speak to the woman, and was shocked to see that she was gone. There was nobody in the backseat of his car. My great-grandfather was sure that it was Pele. 

My dad told me that you're not supposed to bring pork through that area, and I was shocked to hear that because I had never heard it before. I heard that you're not supposed to bring pork through the tunnel of trees, but I had never known about that area. But then I remembered something that happened a few y ears ago. 

My coworkers and I were driving back to the office in Lihue from Koloa. Right when we were passing by Kaua`i Nursery and Landscaping, our car died. We pulled over on the side of the highway right next to the nursery, right after the dip in the road...right about where my great-grandfather's passenger would have vanished from his backseat. 

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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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She Crawled Across the Floor

Informant: Female/45/Japanese ancestry
Location: Waipouli, Kapa'a

One night a while ago my husband and I were on our way home to Lihue from fishing down Hanalei. I needed to use the restroom, and since my husband's mother's house is on our way home in Kapa'a, we might as well stop by there.

It was around 12:45 a.m. and the light was still on, so we knew that she was still up. I was knocking on the front door and trying to look through the side glass that is next to the door with sheer curtains. While I was knocking and calling "grandma," I noticed this lady sitting on the floor leaning against the coffee table watching TV. I thought it was my husband's mother, so I told him, "You go and knock harder and call you mom!" which he did while I was looking through the glass.

Well when that lady heard him knock and yell harder, she jumped up and started to crawl towards the front door where we were. I couldn't see her face because she was looking down, only her body, salt and pepper hair and kind of faded, old -fashioned style clothes. Weird! I told my husband, "Hey, you scared somebody now she is right here by the door! Try call and knock again..." So he did, and I was straining to look through the window right down by the front door where we were, to see her get up to open the door...

Then grandma came in opening the kitchen door on the other side and walked across the living room and unlocked the front door.

I was shocked to see her coming from the kitchen and not notice the lady hiding right by the front door where I just saw her crawl to! When I walked into the house I looked behind, and nothing. Weird!

Later in the weeks to come, we were looking at some old photos and I noticed a picture of that lady because of her hair style and color and her old faded clothes. I told my husband, this is who I seen that night crawling towards the door. They said that it was their grandmother that passed away a long time ago, their dad's mother... Wow! I actually saw her spirit inside their house where she use to live. Maybe that is why his sister's kids don't like to sleep in their own room. I guess she does came back to visit!

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Grandma's House

Informant: Male/32/Filipino, Caucasian

Location: Ele’ele, Kauai

I was raised by my grandparents since I was five years old. Since their house was built, it seemed to always have supernatural activity. Their house is located at the end of a dead end street and has a cement walkway on the right side for pedestrians to cut through. My grandma told me that when they bought the land she had a dream that on the right side of the yard was a pathway for Hawaiians.

A lot of weird things happened there. There seemed to be a white lady that appeared ever so often that everyone who lived in the house had seen. My first experience was when I was six or seven years old. I was about to sleep on the top bed of a bunk bed that I shared with my two sisters when I heard a growl. I looked up to see this grayish-white lady at the top part of my bed. I threw my blanket over my head and forced myself to go to sleep.

Throughout my years living there, other things I have experienced consisted of glass cups shattering for no reason while looking at it, knocking on the door at night with nobody there, hearing the door open and close even though it was locked with a dead bolt that has no key, and the chain on the top of the door attached. I've seen a bright light appear at 4:00 a.m. coming out of the ground ten feet away.

The craziest encounter happened when I was playing video games in the living room at about 1:00 a.m. I was playing with the lights off when, from the corner of my eye, I saw this grayish-white figure coming down the hallway. In my mind I thought it was my grandma coming to tell me that it's late and to go sleep. When it reached the living room, I turned to look at it, thinking it was my grandma. It was like a scene from a Hollywood movie. It moved in a slow gliding manner. It was an older lady with a mad looking face. She didn't look at me; she just glided toward the front door, which was about three feet away from me, and vaporized into thin air. After that, I was like, “It's time to go to sleep.”

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The Ghost of Aircraft 75

Informant: Male/39/Japanese-German-Scott ancestry

Location: Oahu, Maui

I used to work for an airline (that shall not be named) in the 50th state. We had Douglas DC-8's, DC-9's, Lockheed L1011's and DeHavilland DHC-7's (so you can pretty much gather what airline it was.) Anyway, we had a Dash 7 known as aircraft #75 - and it was well known within the airline that it was "haunted"!

The story has been told for years within the airline and some of the names have changed - but for those who were working at the time of the "incidents" - we knew exactly who was affected and how the real story went. I was one of the few who know exactly what happened.

In the summer of 1992, a flight from Kapalua West Maui was flown by aircraft #75 to HNL. During the flight, there was an old woman, who was in her late 80's to early 90's. She was a very nice lady who loved to chat with the flight attendants (there were two on board) and with whomever would listen to her. She just so happened to be sitting in the last row, nearest the entry door at the aft left hand side of the plane. After landing into HNL and after all (well, most) of the passengers exited the plane, the flight attendants noticed that the old woman was still sitting in her seat, seemingly asleep. Unfortunately, she passed away during the flight and I guess no one really noticed.

Some months later, a good friend of mine -- let's call him "John" -- was performing his pre-flight (overnight check) on aircraft 75. It was almost lunch time, so he had powered down the aircraft: disarmed the emergency lights, disconnected the external power and turned off the battery. After the aircraft was completely cold and dark, he proceeded towards the rear of the plane to exit. He noticed that there was someone sitting in the last row of the plane near the exit. So he yelled out thinking that it was one of us messing with him or waiting for him to go to lunch. The figure stood up and walked out the exit - and in the light from the outside ramp he noticed that it was an old woman!

He ran out of the airplane thinking that it was a passenger who got on the wrong aircraft or something, but when he got outside she was gone! He closed the door and got on his ramp tractor to get to the cafeteria, but not before glancing at the cockpit and noticing that there were lights on! John then re-opened the door, walked to the flight deck and noticed that the battery was on. He knew that it was turned off previously, but somehow it had flicked itself on!

Later at lunch he told us about what had happened, and we all laughed! "Someone's screwin' with ya," we told him, but none of us admitted to any wrong doing. He asked if any of us would come with him to help finish his pre-flight, but we couldn't. I was working on an APU change on a DC-9 and our other friends had their own pre-flights to take care of.

After lunch, John continued his pre-flight. Just as he was finishing his external check, someone tapped him on the shoulder and whispered "excuse me." He turned around - and NO ONE WAS THERE! He freaked out and ran to my airplane which was a good 100 yards away. John told me what had happened and I came over to aircraft 75 with him. Nothing happened again that night - but John was very well shaken.

I have heard from a few different Flight Attendants that they have had similar "experiences": tapping on the shoulder and whispers of "excuse me". I guess it had gotten bad enough that the higher-ups decided to bring in a Hawaiian Priest to "bless" the aircraft, but disturbances continued to happen, especially to my friend John. Apparently the "Ghost of Aircraft 75" really was attracted to him, because he would get tapped and whispered to even if he was on another aircraft! He had gotten so rattled he quit and moved to Reno, CA where he became employed with an airline that operated MD-80's and got bought out by American Airlines.

The DHC-7's had since been retired from the fleet of the airline that shall not be named, but I wonder if the ghost continues to try to strike up conversations with anyone who works on aircraft 75.

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The Woman Next Door

Informant: Male/40/Hawaiian-mixed ancestry

Location: Aliomanu, Kauai

Our family owned a beach house on the north-east side of Kaua'i. Our whole family, cousins and aunty's and uncles, would spend the summer there. The lone occupant of the small house next to us was a woman whom my family was friendly with. We would see her all the time, and it seemed she always wore the same clothes every day, with a big hat. Then one day, we found out she had died.

One night me and 3 of my cousins went down to the beach house to have a bon fire and some drinks. We were talking story and having a good time, talking about ghosts and things like that. When 2am rolled around, we had all passed out right there on the beach in front of the house. All of a sudden we were awoken by a soft tap on our shoulders.

I opened my eyes, and the woman from next door was standing in front of me, wearing the same clothes and the big hat she always wore. She said to us, "You boys better get in the house."

We ran into the house. We had all seen her, and we all knew she was the dead woman from next door.

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The Raincoat

Informant: Female/20/Mixed ancestry

Location: Mililani, Oahu

This happened again recently. I thought it was just a trick of the eye, but it can't be if I've seen it twice.

I was driving home one evening and it was raining. Not super hard, but enough to make me slightly more cautious on the road. I turn the corner to go home when out of the corner of my eye I see an older woman walking in the rain at a distance. She was pale, like a washed out black and white photograph, but her raincoat was a light lavender. I didn't get to see her face because her small black umbrella was covering it, but I knew she was older because of her long white hair. She was walking toward a tree and I didn't see her appear on the other side. I brushed it off and continued driving down the road when I see her a little closer again, out of no where. But just a glimpse this time and then she is gone. I looked in my rear view mirror and didn't see anyone. I chucked it up to me being really tired and a trick of the headlights on the rain.

It rained again today in the late afternoon. The sky was dark and I was driving home on the same road. Then I see her again. Just a flash of lavender and it's gone. I checked in my rear view mirror and, again, did not see anyone. I don't know if this is a ghost or someone who is really good at vanishing tricks, but it gave me the heebie-jeebies.

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