Pork in The Tunnel of Trees

Informant: Male/27/Hawaiian-Korean mixed ancestry

Location: Tunnel of Trees, Kauai

A while ago, when my parents were just married, they were coming back from a party with my uncle and his wife around 2am. Being local, they had a bunch of food with them from the party which included kalua pig among other things.

To get back home, they had to drive through the tunnel of trees. When they entered the tunnel, their car started acting funny. They thought that my uncle was messing around with everyone, but when they looked at his face, he was pale. They realized he wasn't messing around. His foot was on the gas, gunning it, the car still running but not moving.

Finally someone realized why they weren't moving and yelled, "The pork! Get rid of the pork!" So they threw the pork from the car and the car shot forward at full speed since my uncles foot was still on the gas. They moved so quickly they almost flew over the side of the road.

Read More

Strange Things in The Cabin

Informant: Male/27/Hawaiian-Korean mixed ancestry
Location: Koke'e, Kauai

One of our family friends owned a cabin up in Koke'e and invited me and my family for the weekend. This cabin was huge: it had three bedrooms on top of a living room, bathroom and kitchen. The decor in this cabin was pretty off the wall. There was a bear skin rug, taxidermied foxes and deer heads on the wall.

I had a room all to myself. I was maybe 13 at the time. Across my bed there was a mirror and a picture of this Victorian lady spanking a kid over her knee. I thought it was really weird, so I took it down and put it on the floor. And just because I'm not comfortable being able to see myself lying in bed, I took the mirror down too and put it on the floor by the painting. Another weird thing in this room was an extra door. It was like a door that led to another room, meaning there were two ways into that room at one point. This door was boarded shut. You just couldn't open it.

The weather was pretty crazy that night. It wasn't raining, but it was windy like crazy. As I lay in bed trying to sleep, I start to hear a scratching on the wall; the wall that faced the outside. I tried to shrug it off, but after a while I went to my parent’s room. I told my mom that there was scratching noises, but she was grumpy and tired and told me it was the trees outside and to go back to sleep.

So I return to my room and try to sleep again. The scratching noise persisted, and then suddenly...knocking started. Along with the scratching noise, there was now knocking keeping me awake. I tried to suck it up, but I ran back to my parent’s room and told my mom about the banging. She told me it was probably just the lantern by the front door banging the wall and to go back to sleep.

So once again, I return to my room. The scratching and the knocking still persisted, and then suddenly the boarded up door in my room started shaking. It started shaking violently. Then out of the corner of my eye I see a glint...and the mirror and picture I took down earlier that day were both hanging on my wall. I ran back to my parent’s room and decided to sleep on the floor.

As I was laying on the floor trying to wrap myself in what little blanket I could get, I had a perfect view of the kitchen outside the door. All of a sudden there was a stream of light shining onto the floor. It was a skinny beam, and it moved slowly through the kitchen, and then disappeared.

Needless to say I didn't get any sleep that night.

The next morning, with my mom in a better mood, we decided to investigate what could have been making all the ruckus the night before. On the side of my room there were indeed trees...about 50 feet away. The only thing near the wall was ginger plants, and that certainly couldn't make a scratching or banging noise. Then we checked the lantern in the front. There was indeed a lantern, but it was cast iron and did not move. That could not have been banging in the wind.

Next we went into my room to check out the door. My mom took the knob and tried to shake the door, but it would not budge. She and I both tried with all our might at the same time, but that door would not budge even using all our strength. It was boarded up tight.

Finally in the kitchen, the window was facing in a way that the light I saw was in no way coming in the direction of the one and only window of the kitchen. The only thing directly across the bedroom door was a pantry.

As for the painting and the mirror getting back on the wall, well, I know it wasn't my brother because he was far too small to reach that high. I know it wasn't my dad messing with me because he was snoring away all night next to my mom. I know it wasn't the owner of the cabin, because his wife confirmed that he was passed out snoring next to her all night as well.

I don’t know who owns the cabin now, but I would like to go back and see if those strange things still happen.

Read More

Footprints in Koke'e

Informant: Male/27/Hawaiian-Korean mixed ancestry

Location: Koke'e, Kaua'i

Me and a bunch of my friends were staying up in a cabin in Koke'e for a weekend. When we went to sleep, we stretched out or sleeping bags on the floor, feet facing each other in two rows. This night was cold. Koke'e is usually cold, but this night was unusually cold. It was freezing.

I woke up in the middle of the night because I had to pee. The moon was full and light was streaming in through the window. I could see the room lighted up. I sat up to head to the bathroom when I saw something unusual.

You know how when you walk on sleeping bags you can see the indentation of the feet? Well I saw footprint indentations...but in motion. Someone was walking across the feet of our sleeping bags and I could see the footprints as it was moving. It walked in a circle into the center of the sleeping bag feet, and suddenly I saw the fabric indent, as if a body had just laid down. And as soon as I saw it, the fabric lifted. Whatever was there was gone.

Nobody else saw what I saw, and I don't think anyone believed me either.

Read More

The Gliding Woman on The Bridge

Informant: Male/25/Filipino ancestry

Location: Hanama'ulu, Kauai

My friend and I were driving another friend back home. We were crossing the Hanama'ulu bridge right after the stoplight when we all see a woman walking on the side of the road across the bridge. She was in a mu'umu'u, jacket and hat. It's not strange to see someone walking on the side of the road at night, but this woman wasn't walking the way that a normal person walks.

You know how when you walk you have a natural bounce? This woman didn't have that. She didn't bounce. She glided. It was almost like she was floating.

We passed by her in the car and nobody said anything. Finally my friend in the backseat broke the silence."Wow did you guys see that lady?" We had all seen the way she glided. Weird.

Read More

The Vanishing Road

Informant: Male/25/Filipino ancestry

Location: Koloa, Kauai

My neighbor across the street had recently gotten into a car accident near the Hyatt hotel in Poipu. Me and some friends decided that we wanted to go see the site of the accident, so we decided to drive through the Koloa bypass. The way we decided to go normally only takes like five minutes. From my house in Koloa to the Sheraton only takes about five minutes. It's a route we all drive all the time.

My friend was driving, and he lives right around the corner from me. Somehow what should have taken five minutes turned into 45 minutes. We didn't know where the hell we were, or why it was taking so long. What you have to understand is that we were raised on the South side. We know all the back roads like the back of our hands. But we had no idea where we were. Nothing looked familiar.

Finally we found our way out and ended up by the fire station. On the way back home we even tried to find the strange road that we had driven on, but we couldn't find it ever again.

Read More

The Haunted Arcade

Informant: Male/40’s/European Ancestry

Location: Kapa’a, Kauai

A friend of mine worked at Fun Factory in Waipouli for a few years. In the time that she worked there, she had experienced some pretty strange things.

A new game had come in one day, but it was too big to get through the doors without having to unhinge them. They couldn’t leave the game sitting outside, so a small group of them camped out in the store to make sure the game wasn’t stolen.

My friend had set up a tent inside the store, and within view she could see her other friend asleep. In the middle of the night, she heard what sounded like someone hitting the game machines. She said it sounded like someone walking passed all the games with their hand out. She sat up and looked through the mesh to see if it was her friend, but he was sleeping in the same spot. There’s no way anyone else was in the store.

Another strange occurrence happened in the storage room. My friend saw that it was closed, but heard all kinds of noises coming from inside. Underneath the door she could see that someone was moving around in there. Thinking it was her coworker, who often used the store room to change his clothes, she didn’t think much of it. She walked over and knocked on the door, but nobody answered. She tried to open the door, but the door wouldn’t open. She thought a pole had fallen and was blocking the door, or that her coworker was messing with her. But just then he walked in the front door, wondering what she was doing.

My friend explained that the door wouldn’t open but there was someone in there. When her coworker tried, the door opened easily for him. Nobody was in there.

Now, a family friend has a daughter who works at Fun Factory. Recently the nighttime janitor told them all something strange: “I don’t wanna freak anyone out,” he said, “but I see strange things here at night. I saw a man hanging in the back.”

According to legend, there was a true report of a man having committed suicide in that area before Fun Factory existed. Maybe it was him causing all the mischief?

Read More

A Sister's Guiding Hand

Informant: Female/25/Korean ancestry

Location: Apia, Samoa

I work at one of the local schools, and one of the people I work with had recently lost his daughter in the tragic tsunami in Samoa. He came to the classroom to raise awareness about the relief fund in Samoa. But he also came to share the story about his granddaughter, which he read to us from an email sent by his son.

She was only nine years old when she died. Her body was found in her parent’s truck washed out onto the reef. Her younger sister, who was only three or four, was also washed away with the waves, but managed to survive when a boy clinging to a coconut tree grabbed her and pulled her up. But before that, something miraculous happened, which she told to her family.

She was being swept away with the water, and she was completely submerged. Then, suddenly, a hand reached down and grabbed her. When her head breached the water, she saw her older sister holding on to her saying “Don’t worry, I got you.”

By that time, her sister had already drowned.

Read More