Fly Like an Eagle

Informant: Male/25/Hawaiian-Mixed Ancestry

Location: Kapaa, Kauai

In the late 1990's I read in the newspaper that a boy that lived down the road from us had accidentally hanged himself while he was playing in his yard. I later found out that he was one of my brother's basketball rivals; they had recently competed against each other in a three-point shootout tournament which my brother won. I asked my brother about him and he didn't have much to say other than he knew the boy's favorite song was "Fly Like An Eagle" because it was recently featured in Space Jam and Michael Jordan was his favorite basketball player.

A few nights later, our neighbors came over to play video games and spend the night. The Christmas before, I received an Electronic Hot Shot Basketball game and we were playing with that, seeing who could get the highest score. We got bored, put the game away and moved on to the new Playstation my brothers and I also got for Christmas. 

We were playing video games and listening to music when the song "Fly Like An Eagle" started playing on the stereo. A minute or so into the song, all the electricity goes out including the Playstation, TV, and lights, so we're in complete darkness. Everything went off except for the stereo; the song was still playing. We were already terrified from the dark and everything turning off except for the stereo when we heard another noise. 

The Hot Shot Basketball game had turned on on its own and basketballs were being shot, but all of us were hiding on the other side of the room. We all ran upstairs to find that the electricity was working fine upstairs.

After taking a few minutes to calm down, we all went downstairs together to find that the lights were back on, but the stereo was off and the Hot Shot Basketball had been moved and was used. Till this day, we all swear that we didn't turn the game on and have yet to figure out exactly what happened. Maybe it was my brother's friend paying us a visit to show that the basketball rivalry is still on.

Read More

From the Reservoir

Informant: Male/29/Mixed ancestry

Location: Wailua Houselots, Kauai 

This happened about 10 years ago. 

A really close friend of mine was out drinking late one night and on his way home, drove off the road and drowned in the reservoir. A few days later, I experienced what I have come to know as sleep paralysis. 

I woke up in the middle of the night and saw a shadowy figure on top of me. I couldn't breathe and I couldn't move. But because I was aware of what was happening, I just relaxed and it all went away after a few seconds. Thinking nothing of it, I went back to sleep. However, when I woke up the next morning I realized that it wasn't a normal sleep paralysis... 

I was very confused when I found grass all over me. I looked around to try to figure out where the grass came from and noticed a giant puddle of muddy water and grass next to my bed... like water from a reservoir.

Read More

Vanishing Hitchiker in Kailua

Informant: Male/42/ethnicity unknown

Location: Oahu

Back in 2004 I had been at a bar in Kailua playing pool, and I was heading home to Kaneohe just after midnight. It was raining heavy, and I was at the traffic light in front of Castle Medical Center with no cars behind me. I noticed someone standing at the bus stop, just standing there in the rain instead of under the shelter thing for the bus stop. I thought to myself, what kind of idiot stands in the rain like that with no jacket and no buses running? 

So as I was passing the bus stop I was trying to see who the idiot was and I saw it was a young local girl, probably mid 20's. She was looking at me as I passed so I pulled over to the side and reversed a bit to ask if she was going to Kaneohe, but instead she just jumped in the car. I asked if she was going to Kaneohe and she said no, "I have to go to K-Mart on Nimitz," and I thought to myself, freakin'-a, man. So on we went without talking. I noticed that she had a few scratches on her arms and face so I thought maybe she was in a fight or something. When we reached town I finally asked if she had missed the last bus and she said no, she was in an accident and she smashed her car. 

After she said that all the hair on my neck and head felt tingly, like it was standing, because it dawned on me that this girl was dead at the hospital and her spirit was here in my car determined to get to K-Mart. On I went trying hard not to be scared. Finally I parked the car at K-Mart and she didn't get out until I said, "We're here." Then she just jumped out of the car and never said thanks or anything and I noticed that she had no shoes and I thought to myself, "Nah cannot be." So I watched her walk to the K-Mart entrance and before she even got close to the door, she faded away, and my eyes just widened without blinking. 

I took a few deep breaths to calm down before heading home. I never looked at the passenger seat the whole drive home, turned up the music and turned the rear view mirror upwards.

Read More

Spirit Lights Over the Sleeping Giant

Informant: Male/25/Mixed Ancestry

Location: Wailua Houselots, Kauai

It was just before sunrise. The cool night air still lingered and a few bright stars struggled to maintain their presence in the fading night sky. I had just finished working the overnight shift and was on my way home. I looked up to admire the stars and noticed two bright, white lights above the head of the Sleeping Giant that didn't seem to belong. 

I pulled off to the side of the road to get a better view -- I wasn't sure if my eyes were playing tricks on me after being awake all night. The lights were still there, like two tiny moons, almost as bright as a full moon, but about half the size and no more than 100 feet above the mountain. One light glided slowly and steadily north toward its destination while the other followed, circling and bouncing around the steady light. The scene was reminiscent of a child eagerly wanting to venture off and explore, yet knows not to stray too far from the parent. They traveled from the head of the Sleeping Giant and out over the bypass until they hid behind the clouds over Kapa'a.

Read More

The Lychee Tree in the Back Yard

Informant: Female/68/Hawaiian

Location: Wailua Houselots, Kauai

I've always been afraid of my backyard.

The leaves from the huge lychee trees blocks out the sunlight and deafens the noise from the outside. It's dark with just the sudden rustling of the leaves around you to keep you company. The only ray of sunlight exists between the trees. The only area in my backyard that I feel safe - at least, I used to feel safe.

Although I've never felt comfortable in my backyard, we chose to have a clothesline in between the lychee trees. I went into the backyard a couple times a week to hang our clothes to dry and that's it. One day, while heading to the backyard to hang my clothes, I had a very bad feeling about going back there. It was worse than the normal fear I get going back there; I felt like something bad was going to happen. I had only managed to hang a few shirts when I felt someone from behind me grab my shoulder. I looked to my right and saw a slender hand with blood-red skin and pointy black nails squeezing my shoulder. I didn't want to take the time time to fully turn around and see who it was. I sprinted into the house and immediately called my husband to tell him what happened. He returned home from work a few hours later and we went to the clothesline together. All the clothes had been ripped and thrown all over the place - there were clothes in the trees, dirt, and even on the roof.

Till this day, I refuse to go into my backyard in fear that I won't be so lucky if the hand grabs me again.

Read More

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.

Read More

Dad's Recliner

Informant: Female/16/Ethnicity unknown

Location of Incident: Oahu

I was going out with my friends, without permission from my dad, one Friday night. I was able to sneak out of the house after he went to his room to sleep. After leaving my home as quietly as possible, I met my best friend a few houses down and got into the car.

As we began to drive away I pulled my purse up to my lap, and realized I didn't have my wallet... no money or I.D. means no fun. I convinced my friend to turn around and pull up to my house while I quickly retrieved my wallet. As we came up to my house, my friend had a very bad feeling. She said something didn't feel right. She's kinda special in that she often has feelings before strange or weird things happen.I told her not to be scared and I'd be back super fast.

As I got to my front door, I could see light coming from the living room window. Thinking my dad woke up to watch T.V., I was getting ready for a tongue lashing. I opened the door already formulating an excuse as to where I went when I noticed my dad sitting in the recliner crashed out. I thought that maybe his bedroom was too hot and he decided to come outside to rest. I went quickly to my room to grab my things and past in front of my father's room, whose door was wide open, when I heard a noise coming from within.

I didn't think, but after retrieving my money I realized that I heard snoring coming out of his room. As I walked back over to pass his doorway I peered into his door and the hair on my entire body shot straight up as I witnessed my dad, lying in his bed deep in slumber! My body began to shake uncontrollably and a sense of fear over took me. I struggled to return to the front door, to what felt like freedom.

As I came upon the living room I could see the red glow of the television dancing across the walls of the kitchen. No sound, no noise, just a chill. It got colder and colder as I came around the corner to the living room. 

I looked in and saw my father sitting on the recliner, his deep black eyes now looking in my direction. I suddenly heard a voice. I turned to look towards the sound and could hear my friend calling for me frantically from behind the front door. When I turned to look back at my dad I could see a slight grin breaking through his hard clay face. My heart sank, and I didn't know what to do.

My friend finally came through the front door and yelled to get away from it. At that moment, the television turned off and the room went black. We made it out of the house safely, but not without fear. My friend told me that she heard a voice say to her, "Go and get Lea out!". She said it sounded like my dad.

After everything started to calm down, and my friend and I gained courage to reenter the house. The entire home felt different. Back to normal. I believe that because I had bad intentions to deceive my dad, I was shown what it could be like to be deceived myself. I no longer keep things from my friends or family. I have a strange feeling of gratitude to whatever was there that night. I learned a very valuable lesson.

Read More