Haunted

Metro-102914-FEATURE-GHOSTS

Two Saturdays ago, a group of about 15 people braved the wind and rain from Hurricane Ana to board a bus to an unknown location. As the bus headed out of town, winded around dark, quiet roads and finally came to a stop at a cave on the West side, they listened to Lopaka Kapanui tell stories — about a faceless woman who is said to haunt the Kahala area, about the Nightmarchers that you’d better not look in the eye and about a hideous murder that happened right there in that cave.

As the group stood in a tight circle at the far end of the cave listening to these stories, a few looked around nervously. A couple people even began to feel so uncomfortable that they headed back toward the entrance.

They all, however, signed up (and paid $40) for this.

There are many situations in which people — like the individuals on this Mysteries of Hawaii tour — willingly participate with the expectation and the desire to be afraid, especially in the weeks leading up to Halloween. We go to haunted houses. We watch horror movies. We tell scary stories. We pay for tours that whisk us off to undisclosed locations in the dark. On some level, it seems, we enjoy that fear.

A Kapu sign leading into the Pohukaina burial site at Iolani Palace PHOTOS COURTESY SARAH PORTER, SPIRIT EXPEDITIONS

A Kapu sign leading into the Pohukaina burial site at Iolani Palace PHOTOS COURTESY SARAH PORTER, SPIRIT EXPEDITIONS

“We need fear,” explains University of Hawaii at Manoa professor Michael Salzman, a cultural psychologist. “Just in terms of evolution, it’s a vital response to physical, and perhaps emotional, danger … If we didn’t feel fear, we couldn’t protect ourselves from legitimate threats.”

Then there also is the fact, he explains, that humans live with the constant, grating knowledge that we are going to die. One day, somehow, it’s going to happen. But if we spent too much time thinking about that, who would ever leave their house? So we suppress these thoughts.

“But underneath this kind of calm is this rumbling awareness that never really goes away,” Salzman says. “Why do we produce these scary things and go to these scary things — it’s almost like an externalization of these internal fears and demons that gives us a chance to cope with it.”

As part of research, the Metro staff set out to a few supposedly haunted sites. At first, we didn't notice anything significant in this photo. But upon enhancement, this seemingly ordinary photo revealed an unknown figure standing in the background PHOTO BY RUSSELL KAYA

As part of research, the Metro staff set out to a few supposedly haunted sites. At first, we didn’t notice anything significant in this photo. But upon enhancement, this seemingly ordinary photo revealed an unknown figure standing in the background PHOTO BY RUSSELL KAYA

So if you’re looking for real scares this Halloween, here are a few local sites that are said to be haunted and the legends that surround them.

Morgan’s Corner

Nuuanu Pali Road is a quiet residential area that runs parallel with the Pali Highway. The road’s second hairpin turn is where Morgan’s Corner is said to be located — named after a Dr. James Morgan who once lived there.

While there are a few things that are rumored to have happened at this site, some of these are urban legends that also circulate at various places throughout the country — like the one about the young couple whose car breaks down under a tree. As the story goes, when the boy doesn’t return after leaving to get help, the girl finds him dead the next morning, hanging upside down from the tree

But there are a few tragic things that have happened here.

According to Kapanui, who studied under Obake Files author Glen Grant, Dr. Morgan committed suicide in that house on the corner.

“Shortly thereafter,” Kapanui says, “the Wilder family moves in, and Mrs. Wilder is home one night by herself when two men break in. They rob the house and tie her up. The stories vary, but one report says that she was raped and murdered.”

Since then, the locale has had a reputation of being a spot where terrible things happen. Today, the spot where the Morgan/Wilder house used to stand is inside a gated community.

16th Avenue Bridge in Kaimuki

The story goes that 20 or so years ago, an 8-year-old girl was walking along the right side of the bridge on her way home. As she crossed the street, she was struck and killed in a hit-and-run accident.

“After that, people started to say that when they were walking across the bridge, a little girl would suddenly appear and hold their hand,” Kapanui says. “And then she would ask them, ‘Can you help me get home?’

“But the second they cross the bridge, she would disappear,” he says.

Old Pali Road

Nuuanu Pali was the site of the bloody battle led by Kamehameha I in an effort to unify the islands.

Kapanui explains that during the battle, warriors were throwing each other off of the cliff. Others tried to escape the battle by going down what is now Old Pali Road, the trail that juts off of the Pali Lookout.

“There were too many people, and the trail began to bottleneck,” he says. “So people were actually pushing each other over the cliff just in an attempt to get out of there.”

Everyone has heard the one about not bringing pork over the Pali. Legend has it that it’s because of a relationship between Pele and Kamapuaa, a god who was half man and half pig. Things ended badly, and they agreed to never see each other again. Bringing pork over the Pali symbolizes Kamapuaa making the forbidden journey — and Pele still doesn’t want to see him.

That’s why your car is supposed to stop until you empty the pork out. In some versions of the story, a dog will appear and not let you pass until you give it the pork as an offering.

While the legend initially was in reference to the Old Pali Road, it also has extended to include the Pali Highway.

Iolani Palace

Iolani Palace

Iolani Palace

In the course of doing research for his Hawaii’s Best Spooky Tales series, author Rick Carroll spent some time at the palace investigating claims he had heard about it being haunted.

One evening he came alone and, as dusk neared, he began to hear chanting. Carroll expected that it was some type of protest nearby, which he had witnessed a few times during his visits. But when he looked around, no one was there.

“Then the voices disappeared,” he recalls. “They were just gone. And I didn’t stick around myself.”

Employees of the palace also have reported seeing the spirit of Queen Liliuokalani.

According to Spirit Expeditions tour guide Sarah Porter, one of the former nighttime security guards at the palace had many run-ins with the Queen during his 12-year tenure.

“He’d hear footsteps on the stairs,” Porter says. “And when he was in the basement, he felt a cold hand on his shoulder.”

Sightings of the Queen also have been reported in the bed chamber where she was imprisoned during the overthrow of the kingdom.

“That definitely had to be a huge time of heightened emotion for her,” Porter says, “so that is probably why she is still seen there.”

According to Porter, that’s the way it is with hauntings: They tend to occur at places that “had an emotional impact on the people while they were living.

“It’s like the place held onto those people’s emotions, or a little bit of their spirit.”