Ghosts Next Door

Ghosts Next Door
by Lopaka Kapanui

Dec 18, 2019

"Run Away"

1


I've always respected my mother's privacy. I knew well enough not to barge into their room. It was my parent's private space, like a sanctuary. I knocked before I entered most times; other times, I was not let in for whatever reason, and I accepted that. It still carried over after my father died.

Nov 2, 2019

Never over it, but putting it to rest

I want to thank all of you for being kind enough to listen to this story I shared on Snap Judgement Presents: Spooked. My wife was important to this process in that she was there when I needed to talk about how this recording affected me both psychologically and emotionally.

Oct 31, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #1

KALA

WAHI: MAUNAWILI


She'd done everything for me; some of it served me well, most of it crippled me in the way that I grew up not knowing how to do the common everyday basic things for myself. She did teach me about the value of prayer and faith. As a child, when I was close to death on many occasions, she was a constant presence at my bedside. Her prayers never ceased until I was better. It would have a long-reaching effect well into my adult years. Overall, I survived.

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #2

KAIAULU


WAHI: MAILI

It was 1972 that much I remember.  We were living in Waimalu, and it was Halloween. A bunch of us gathered in front of Robbie Ralston's house, all dressed in our costumes. Armed with paper bags, rice sacks, and plastic fishing buckets, we excitedly trick or treated as many houses as we could for as much candy that we could get.

Oct 30, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #3

LUA KŪPAPAʻU KOʻIKOʻI

WAHI: KAUPE'A


It was precisely where she said it would be, and I prayed the whole way over that she was wrong, but she wasnʻt. The body was buried in a hole dug six feet in depth and facing due east.

Oct 29, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #4

HUHUHUNE

WAHI: LANAKILA



No one liked Uncle Theodore, not even my father, and they were brothers. However, he had all the money. The rest of the adults did not.

Oct 28, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #5

NALOWALE

WAHI: KAPOLEI

(FICTION)


The empty parking lot at what used to be the K-Mart in Kapolei was the pick-up spot. That's where the big yellow school bus gathered up the fifty-five people who paid for their spooky bus ride to a haunted house in the area.

Oct 27, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #6

KULU WAI/HINA MOE

WAHI: MAUNA LANI UKA

A single drop of water in a deeply carved bowl holding the same liquid leaves a sound of such bottomless reverence that the immediate silence which follows moves one to bow their head in deference to the awe of nature.

Oct 26, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #7

KAUA 'EKOLU

WAHI: MAILI

MAKAHIKI: 1971

'EONO MAHINA MA MUA


Randy hiked to the back of Makha valley in search of somewhere to sit and forget the war. However, it wasn't as easy as he had hoped.

Oct 25, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #8

KAUA 'ELUA

WAHI: MAILI, WAI'ANAE

MAKAHIKI: 1971


"Wake up, gook," I opened my eyes from a dead sleep and saw Randy's face right in front of me.

Oct 24, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #9

KAUA 

WAHI: MAILI, WAI'ANAE

MAKAHIKI: 1971


This is about that time in my life when my oldest brother Randy came back from Vietnam after a four-year tour.

Oct 23, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #10



WAHI: WAIPAHŪ MA PUPUKAHI


The woman appeared every night outside my bedroom window. Only I could see her, but that was no one elseʻs fault.

Oct 22, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #11

MAMINA


WAHI: WAIʻALAE


Iʻd been busy for most of the month, mostly with work, and then running back and forth to the community center where I volunteered.

Oct 21, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #12

KA MEA

WAHI: KE ALA NUI 'O PUNCHBOWL


People like me have a healthy life, or we try to, even though we have the thing. Other people like me have the thing and make millions of dollars off of it, or at least they claim they do; have the thing that is.

Oct 20, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #13

I KE KAKAHIAKA 'ELUA

WAHI: KAIMUKI


3



My head felt as if my brain were going to throb right out of my skull. Everything ached my joints, my back, and my soul. Something was wrong, it wasn't something a doctor could fix because it felt off-kilter. I willed myself to sit up on the side of the bed but slowly, not in one swift motion.

Oct 19, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #14

I KE KAKAHIAKA


WAHI: I KE ALA NUI HOKELE


1


As a kid, I used to ride past here with my father. Even back then, it seemed seedy and antiquated as if all the dirty parts of its past cluttered itself in this one part of town.

Oct 18, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #15

PAEPAE PUKA


WAHI: MŌʻILIʻILI


Iʻm, the only person that lives in this cramped studio right off of Date street. No one else but me, a few roaches now and again but mainly myself in this confined space.

Oct 17, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #16

ʻANO

WAHI: AIHUALMA

I used to think that color had everything to do with it. Wait, I mean, the color of the clothes you wore, like that. I felt that color had an effect on a person's mood on their overall state of being.  

Oct 16, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #17

HE MEA 'EKOLU 'O LIKEKE


WAHI: KĀNEʻOHE

 The wailing and screaming nearly drowned out the sound of the torrential rains as it flooded the green grass and the red earth of the Hawaiian Memorial Cemetery. The large canopy was supposed to shield Jodi Kalilikāne and her family from the deluge while the pastor gave his last rites.

Oct 15, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #18

KŪLANA


For a man my age, it seems funny to have a first name like "Kerry" but yes, thatʻs my name. Iʻm a Hanlan; weʻre Hawaiian on my motherʻs side and Caucasian-Vietnamese on my fatherʻs side.

Oct 14, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #19

MAKAHIAPO

WAHI: WAILUPE


Makahiapo could not fight back the tears at the sight of the almost ethereal beauty of Summer as she nervously checked herself time and time again while she stood in front of the full-sized mirror in the adjacent room of the old Wailupe mansion.

Oct 13, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #20

NOHO'ANA

WAHI: KALIHI

They couldn't wait, they were overcome by the moment, and it was still another 45-minute drive home. The couple took the North King street exit and took the first right turn that made sense; it happened to be Gulick.

Oct 12, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #21

KAHU PUKE

WAHI: Waialua

Remy is one of the younger librarians, if not the youngest. She doesn't see the need for the shelves and shelves of tomes that have been handled by homeless ne'er do wells and those stricken with mental illness.

Oct 11, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #22

PALAPALA ʻAELIKE

WAHI: MĀNOA


At the end of a cul, de sac is a two-level five-bedroom home nestled up against a lush forest at the very back of Mānoa Valley. The wind of legend, Kahaukani regularly lends its light breeze to the branches of the trees which hover above the home, making the leaves above sound as if it were a light, gentle rainfall.

Oct 10, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #23

'AI

There are those randy moments that strike you even when you're crusty eyed, and you haven't brushed your teeth yet. Your hair is a clump of a mess, all bunched up on one side of your head, and your eyes are puffy.

Oct 9, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #24

LUA


NICOLE KAHO‘OHULI WAS MURDERED one night, while on her way to attend a class at the University of Hawai‘i.  Her assailants, Gary Catao, Fowler McGuire, and Jermel Evans, took her by surprise as she was exiting her car in the parking structure above Cooke Field. 

Oct 8, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #25

I LAILA

I was iffy about my son's relationship with his girlfriend. Lucas is my only child, so any parent can understand me being overprotective. Lucas was a kid who led with his heart, and he decided things based on that. Sometimes it worked for him, sometimes it didn't, but that's what happens when you're a being who lives a life based on love.

Oct 7, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #26

HELE HO'OKAHI


I never assume anything. Like, I never expect that people can read my mind or that they can anticipate my actions or needs. Doing things for myself in the way I want things done is more manageable and less stressful. This is why past relationships have complicated situations, and that's why I don't get involved anymore.

Oct 6, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #27

KAHE


My father and I spent long Sunday mornings hiking along the river behind our home in Kalihi valley. He'd bring water in his work thermos along with some sandwiches, and we'd walk until we got high enough to where the river started from a large waterfall.

Oct 5, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #28

KE KOHO

Kehau was surprised to see just how many young girls there were at the clinic, some as young as thirteen. Many of them were accompanied by their mothers and grandmothers, other girls had no one, like herself. They were all like her by the fact that each girl was afraid. 

Oct 4, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #29

'IKE


Your body clock just knows when it has run its course, and it either lets you know just a little at a time until you get the hint, or it just gives up on you whether you like it or not. My body was trying to be kind to me, but once I felt it in the most unthinkable area of my lower regions, I knew.

Oct 3, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #30

KĪKANU



Being up there in age, and by that, I mean in our mid-to-late fifties, we start our walks right at sunset. We used to walk the breadth of the mall in Kahala, but after a while, it gets monotonous, and you feel like a rat in a cage.

Oct 2, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #31




The police questioned me the second I was well enough to be interrogated. I told the officers everything; my story matched what they found on Gwenʻs phone as far as the time she called me and right on down to the texts she sent to her boyfriend Frank, even though she promised not to text him while in my car. You know, out of respect?

Oct 1, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #32

E ALA


It was such a long night at work. I didn't get home until 3:30 in the morning, so you can imagine my resistance when my wife kept nudging me to get up and go make her a cup of coffee. I finally stumbled out of bed and saw that the clock read 7:30 am.  My face felt swollen and ugly, and my joints ached.

Sep 30, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #33

KALAIWA


"...Who's gonna plug their ears when you scream?..."


This isn't one of those stories where my ex and I are making a last-ditch effort to salvage whatever is left of our broken marriage. Gwen and I hate each other, no question about it, but today she finished work late.

Sep 29, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #34

KAPUA


"The kids are doing really good in school," William Enos explained to his mother. "They're getting good marks and performing well in sports."

"That's wonderful to hear Bill, you must tell them how proud I am. You won't forget, will you?" Barbara Enos asked.

"I won't forget mom," William promised her.

Sep 28, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #35

WAIHO


In the days of old, whenever our people traveled, be it from one village to another, they were sure to bring those necessary items with them that would provide for their basic needs for sustenance and comfort.  Whether it was a water gourd or a sleeping mat or even a pillow made of lauhala, these items were a personal, everyday part of the ordinary Hawaiian person's life.

Sep 27, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #36

KEIKI KĀNE


The energy wheel consists of a small square of florist’s planter block, a sewing needle, and a piece of paper that is measured at two inches square. Two opposite corners of the paper are almost folded so that they are touching, forming a triangle.

Sep 26, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #37

KĀKAU


Equipped with the money Iʻd only dreamed of having while growing up,  I found that the feeling was surprisingly sober. I suppose I was meant to be rich much later in life rather than during my stupid, arrogant, and careless youth.

Sep 25, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #38

LAKO HALE


Amelia Baroga could not get her furniture to fit the living room of the Kaimuki house. It seemed that no matter how she tried to position the two love seats, and her China hutch, they would not match the architecture of the simple four-cornered main room. What was it that made the living room so unusual?

Sep 24, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #39

HOLOHOLO KA'A


"....I've got to run to keep from hidin',
and I'm bound to keep on ridin'...."


Ted and Nancy were touristing from San Marino located in northern California just across the golden gate bridge. They wanted to go to see Pearl Harbor but they decided to cheap it, well, Ted did. Nancy thought it was better and quicker to drive there in the rent-a-car. Ted insisted on catching the city bus from the Hilton. Needless to say, they got turned around and somehow ended up in the depths of Manoa valley. Nancy figured out that they were going in the wrong direction the second the city bus passed the Shriner's hospital.

Sep 22, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #41

'HELUEHLU


Whenever new groups show up on the paranormal scene they all go through the same growth process. The first is coming up with a cool name, the second is getting all the latest ʻparanormalʻ equipment and the third is that they emulate whatever they see on reality television. The fourth is that they compare themselves to other existing groups as better than the established ones. Great way to make friends guys.

Sep 21, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #42

HA'AWIPIO


The bus kicked up red dirt and gravel when it pulled up in front of my house. Some of it got into the vehicle when the hydraulics hissed the double doors open. I showed the driver my all-day pass and took a seat in the back. Brandy was already sitting there dressed in her opened blue flannel shirt, white Ojisan shirt underneath, a pair of black jeans, and white tennis shoes.

Sep 20, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #43

KANAKA 'Ē


"Jon, I donʻt wanna be here, itʻs a Sunday and Iʻm at home watching the game and the contractor calls and tells me that you owe him $4,000 and you keep saying youʻre going to meet him but you never show. Jon, just tell me that you have $4,000 on you right now, otherwise, I have to do something and thatʻs really gonna fuck up my Sunday."

Sep 19, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #44

LANA MĀLIE

Her best days were long past, the memories of the spotlight on the stage with a capacity crowd standing on their feet was now white noise in the most distant of yesterdays. The adoration and wonder of her otherworldly performances could be found in any video archive if one cared to search for it today. She could no longer wear the outfits and dresses which framed her once svelte figure but wearing the loose-fitting muʻumuʻu was much more merciful.

Sep 18, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #45

KĀKAUʻILI

Case File: 2794986-001

Keʻeaumoku Street


James was the go-to guy for my tattoos. His artwork was great and very imaginative, so I never had to pick out a design. He always did my tattoos freehand and he always did the talking, well, it was more like an interview except that James knew the right questions to ask.

Sep 17, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #46

HO'OPA'I


FILE CASE: #10081-23-512

'EWA 1978


I hadn't done well during my Sophmore year in high school I was part of a dance group and I was so caught up in it that nothing else mattered to me. My grades suffered, and so I had to go to summer school. I had no choice, my father told me that I wasn't going to be held back, I was going to finish the 10th grade because he'd only gone that far in high school so he didn't want the same for me. The summer school wasn't the punishment, it was placing poles in the acreage we had behind our house. That was the punishment. My father told me that I would also have to dig the holes as well, I wanted to cry but my father whispered into my ear, "You cry, and I'm going to beat your ass."

Sep 16, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #47

KAULEINA


CASE FILE #383-6617.02

KUAOKALĀ TRAIL 2007


Before

I know what deep-seated insecurity feels like and I know what it does to a person over the long term. Someone would have to have a very thick layer of skin to not be bothered by the negative thoughts and feelings that are put upon them day in and day out by other people.

Sep 15, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #48

KEIKI KĀNE


When we first moved to our home, the neighbors who lived behind us noticed our grand-children exploring and playing in the backyard. Imagine the surprise when our grand-children came in the house to let us know that they'd just made a brand new friend and that he was on his way over.

Sep 14, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #49

HUI ELEMAKULE KEPANI

FILE CASE #1082-38340

The Stranger: Palolo


It was early and my stomach was growling so I washed my face and brushed my teeth, fixed up my hair a bit, and then headed out to the drive-thru for breakfast. I was still wearing my shirt and shorts from the night before, I also had my socks on because when it gets cold in Palolo, it chills you right down to your feet. I walked out to the van and backed it out of the driveway and soon I was off. Dammit, it was low on gas.

Sep 13, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #50

INOA


Dealing with evil is not always a matter of being a heroic paranormal investigator or a clergy person who specializes in demonology and exorcisms. Evil doesn't necessarily show itself on a grandiose scale and neither does it parade itself about, daring even the holiest of men to cast it out if they can. Evil can be found in the school teacher who sees his student being bullied but does nothing about it. Evil can be found in the pharmacist who purposely ups the dosage to a patient thereby endearing death to partake of his bounty. Evil lurks within the grocery store clerk - no one knows he beats his elder mother and takes her social security checks.

Sep 12, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #51

AKAHELE


It's 12:35 in the afternoon. The end is near, any minute now to be frank. It's because time is short that I'll get to the point. I'll say this, the first thing is my name is Deone and paranormal investigations is my thing, it had been for a while. Everybody knows that after you do things for a certain amount of time you begin to think you're an expert on the subject.

Sep 11, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #52

HAUMIA


It lives and thrives in the mold and mildew of long-standing homes whose occupants were caught up in the despair of broken relationships and generational abuse. It's the kind of mold and mildew that can't be cleaned and cleansed away by a good sponge, dust mop, and some elbow grease. Its collective festering is the result of an inner seething self-hate left over by its previous tenants that flakes away from the layers of the meticulously painted walls of the house.

Sep 10, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #53

HELE AKU


On the morning that Rae Anne Tanaka took her own life, a simple breeze skimmed over the waters of Māmala at Honolulu harbor and made its way into a parking lot where it lifted a small pile of faded orange and pink shower tree petals with such sublime grace that it became as one with the wind. Carrying the petals in a long swooping pattern back toward the Aloha Tower, Rae Anne couldn’t help but notice that the combination of wind and petals seemed to be gathering around her. It gave her an odd sense of comfort and support as if those few hundred petals was a place where she could lay her head to rest.

Sep 9, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #54

IKE PĀPĀLUA

Grant Society Case File: #0000006

Manoa

The ring from Raymond’s phone bounced off of the walls of his small office and startled him from his project, which he was not certain was even correct. The trustees of the old Church Choir were antiquated, aristocratic descendants of the old missionary families whose ideals had worn out their relevance to modern times. The choir suffered due to the lack of investors who saw no use in floating an artistic entity that recycled the same formula for the past six seasons. It was frustrating for young Raymond who, himself, was a music teacher and an opera singer. Now, he sat in front of his work computer looking at yet another version of a letter that he hoped would change the mind of his employers once and for all.

Sep 8, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #55

KA WAIHONA

Grant Society Case File #1130320-10

Jade Street, Makaha


In my nightmare, the ice-cold hands held my ankles firmly in its grip and yanked me down into the dark abyss off of the sandy shores of Keawaʻula. It toyed with me and let me resurface long enough to catch my breath then it would jerk me back down just under the surface of the water where it kept me a second longer each time. I prayed for those hands to loosen their grip just long enough so that I could get away but to no avail, it had already been fifteen minutes.

Sep 7, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #56

KINIPOPO


It was a muggy Saturday morning and Devon’s team was down by two points.  The baseball field was slick and wet from the early morning rain and several of Devon’s teammates slipped, slid and tumbled on their way to home plate. 

Sep 6, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #57

I KELA ME KEIA MAKAHIKI

Grant Society Case File: #33101-15

16th Avenue Bridge Kaimuki

Evelyn Gemma asked me to meet her at two ‘o clock in the morning at the sixteenth avenue overpass in Kaimuki. She needed help; her daughter’s ghost was going to appear at that exact hour as she had done for nearly two years. It was where she was killed when a speeding car hit her and took her life as she was running across the bridge to get into her boyfriend’s waiting car. The car that killed her, and she never saw it coming.

Sep 5, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #58

KA HALE MEHAMEHA


Kalihi


No one who lived in the house could stay for too long. In less than a month of residing in the humble one-bedroom abode, the occupants ran from the domicile screaming for their life, but would never speak of their reason for fleeing.

Sep 4, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #59

E KALA MAI IA MAKOU E MIKA RILEY


Grant Society File #18317-04 Kaimuki. 2nd Avenue


“There’s been speculation over the years about your house being haunted,” I said.

Sep 3, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #60

KEALIA


(Disclaimer: This story is pure fiction. It never happened.)


What was I supposed to say? Was I supposed to lie and tell him that I was capable of doing something that I really couldn't do? Of course not, he'd already been through that with a fake con man psychic named Elias Morrow who promised Ken Watase's late wife that he could completely cure her of her cancer; the stipulation being that it would cost her thirty thousand dollars.

Sep 2, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #61

ME-LO

I called him Me-Lo when he was a puppy because it just seemed like it was his name. It was a rare occasion where the Hawaiian Humane Society had a litter of German Shepard pups which they found abandoned and left in a huge box at their door.

Sep 1, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #62

LAUNA 'OLELO


Even as I sit here, I question myself as to why I agreed to have dinner with a man that I have nothing but contempt for, and yet here I am. He makes a great spaghetti sauce, and his noodles are boiled to perfection, just tender, not overdone. It’s just too bad that I hate him so much.

Aug 31, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #63

PULIKI

For the past ten years, my friends and family have told me that it’s a morbid habit for me to visit the place where my daughter died but I do it because I wasn’t there when it happened. I left her with her teacher and her classmates. Even though she had asked me for one more hug before I left, I had a pressing meeting and I left without giving her that last hug.

Aug 30, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #64

MEA KOLO

It was one of those all-night parties at a large home in Manoa, filled to the walls and perhaps even the rafters by college-aged kids who were drinking and smoking their way into wild abandon. The police were called several times by anal-retentive neighbors whose lives were so drab and uneventful that they felt everyone else should suffer the same.

Aug 29, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #65

MAKANA


It was mid-day at Halema'uma'u crater and many hula halau were offering ho'okupu to the goddess Pele. They came in droves, all dressed in their finery and their colorful kahiko costumes. The various kumu hula presented their best drums and ipu heke and allowed only their best dancers to perform. The dances themselves were bombastic and required persons of great athletic precision and endurance.

Aug 28, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #66

ME'E

A dark and terrible storm raged only in the evening. It drenched the Kapolei neighborhood with its deluge, soaking all things in its wake. Sitting in his bedroom while gazing out into the pitch black of the sudden storm, young Kawika thought it strange that the storm only appeared at night.

Aug 27, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #67

NOHU MA'O

Settling into your new home is a wonderful experience especially when it’s not a rental but a home that you own. It’s an even greater feeling of freedom when you’re a single parent, many single parents struggle but they do their best to provide for their child and give them the best life possible.

Aug 26, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #68

KEKELE

I haven't got much life left in my phone battery so I'll make this as quick and as comprehensible as possible. Fifteen minutes ago this plane was illuminated by a light.....and it still is....that is so bright it looks like daylight. Sort of impossible because it's approximately 8:10 pm.

Aug 25, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #69

WAI KU WAI OLA


I became stagnant water, tepid, unmoving, collecting dust, microbes, and other things which would eventually cause me to give off the unpleasant odor of apathy.

Aug 24, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #70

HO 'A'O


Valerie, can't shake herself out of her depression. She sits there at the table for most of the day until she has to use the bathroom or shower. Eating she never did, picking at snacks she did do. Mostly, she nurses a full cup of whiskey until she eventually polishes it off and refills it and sits there and repeats the cycle.

Aug 23, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #71

HALE

From the window of her upstairs bedroom, Rita saw Boy emerge from the back seat of his car with a wooden gourd in his hand. Kealoha stepped out of his employer's way as he made a beeline for the front door. Aunty Rita hurried down the stairs and stopped Boy in the foyer.

Aug 22, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #72

MA KELA 'AO'AO I KA MOANA


The shores are pristine and the sands are as white as the sun will allow the colors to be. The blue ocean in all her majesty caresses the shore as if to release it of some unknown tension. The waters ebb away and the sands sigh in great comfort.

Aug 21, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #73

KA WAHINE I KUNAWAI

He was small for his age and puberty had not yet blossomed him to what would be his fullest height and strength. The heart of a thousand warriors beat in his soul and his bravery could not be matched. Unfortunately, his physical stature could not carry him far, and so he was mercilessly bullied by his much larger peers. His name was Kalaukoa but his classmates teased him, "Laulau." He could only stand it for so long until he would ball up his little fists and let the punches fly.

Aug 20, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #74

KA MELE I MAKIKI


June 20, 1982

Larson,

You'll be glad to know that I've finally saved enough money from my two jobs that I could move out from Aniani place. I'm living on Liholiho Street in town. The parking lot is downstairs and you have to walk up to get to my apartment. It's like I live on the second floor. There are banana and ti leaf plants all around the building with a few red ginger plants here and there. After bills, I always have enough to eat out or to go see a movie. I'm glad I work during the day because in the evenings I meet some of my old classmates to dance the night away in the Waikiki clubs. Everyone tells me that my parents are sad that I moved out but by the way they act in person......I strongly doubt it. I feel bad in but not enough to move back. I'm writing because I want to know if you personally know of anyone who could come and bless my apartment? In the dead of night, I'll hear the records playing on the phonograph from the living room. It's an old song and the words go this way.

'On a little street in Singapore, we'd meet beside a lotus covered door.
A veil of moonlight on her lovely face, how pale the hands that held me
in embrace....'

It's an odd melodic song and I've never heard it before because I don't have it in my record collection. You know my collection, it's a mix of everything but not a song like that. Every night I leave my bedroom to see who broke in through my lanai door and invaded my privacy by playing that kind of music. The living room is always empty and quiet and the phonograph is off. I place my hands on the sides of it to feel if it was recently playing but it's cold. This has gone on for several nights now so I think it's a ghost. Let me know of someone that you can think of?

Mahalo

Allan

..........................................

June 28, 1982

Allan,

I figured you don't have a phone cause you haven't given me your number and your return address is a P.O Box. I figured you get your mail from the post office down the street. I have my uncle who can go and bless your place but you have to let me know where the heck it is?

Best

Larson

......................

Larson finally received a letter from Allan with a phone number and an address. The address was correct. Larson parked in front of the humble building and took a walk up to Liholiho and Wilder where he found a payphone and gave Allan a call. A woman answered and Larson asked if he could speak to Allan? The woman replied there wasn't an Allan that lived there. The woman on the phone identified herself as Aragon Sheila. Larson apologized and hung up. Walking back down Liholiho street, Larson got to his car and lo and behold, there was Allan coming down the stairs of his apartment. Larson recalls that Allan was dressed in his favorite pair of slacks and aloha shirt. His shoes were also his favorite ones he wore to prom in high school. The only strange thing is that Allan wore women's makeup on his face. Eyebrows, eyelashes, eyeliner, foundation, and lip gloss shining over a mess of caked-on lipstick. His fingernails were blood-red press on, a stark contrast to Allan's dark skin.

"Allan?" Larson called out, a bit unsure.

Allan stopped and regarded Larson with a smile. "Are you the gentleman that called earlier? I'm Aragon Shiela," he said as he extended his hand. Larson took it and gave a tentative greeting.

"Hi....um Allan is this........what are you doing?" Larson could feel his facial expression of confusion and concern.

"Allan is in here somewhere, I let him out from time to time. My god, it's so tough being a murdered ghost in that old apartment of mine! I just HAD to get out and get some air!" Allan smiled but spoke in the female voice that Larson heard over the phone earlier. "Coming?"

"Uh..........no..no.....you go on," Larson was still trying to take in what he saw in front of him. Did Allan's guilt finally get the best of him? Larson would find out later on that the previous tenant was a Torch singer at the old Glade's nightclub who was murdered in the same apartment where Allan lived. The murderer was a married man who became insanely jealous when he found out that Aragon Sheila had been seeing someone else. He climbed in through the lanai door and waited until Aragon Sheila came home, and killed her in the living room.

Allan walked away as if he were floating on air, and to himself, Larson could hear Allan singing a tune,

'On a little street in Singapore, we'd meet beside a lotus covered door.
A veil of moonlight on her lovely face, how pale the hands that held me
in embrace....'

.................................................................................................................................


Come listen to Lopaka's storytelling LIVE - Friday, August 23rd, 7:30pm, at the Honolulu Museum of Art Doris Duke Theater


In Hawaii, one of the most common questions when meeting someone new is, "What school did you grad from?" In Lopaka's world, the question has become, "Is your old school haunted?" Come hear about which schools are most haunted, which neighborhoods are most haunted, and which shopping centers are most haunted on our island of O‘ahu. Could it be yours? Join us, you might just be surprised.

Please note: This is not a scientific study; the "most haunted" stories are purely based on the number of ghost stories and haunted tales shared with our storyteller about each place.

7:30pm, Friday, August 23rd

$15 per person/ $12 museum members

Get your tickets HERE




Aug 19, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #75

WAHINE I KE KAHAWAI

For a short while in the 70's we lived on Ponohana Loop in Waimalu. Until this day, I could never figure out why. At the end of our block was the intersection of Ponohana, Pono, and Ponohale St. My neighbors and I would take the right turn at that intersection and ride along the canal of Waimalu stream until we found its source.

Aug 18, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #76

KA LIMA I KA LEPO

It's very therapeutic. Most look at it as unsightly and beneath them and yes even though it is, it's probably the best thing you can do for yourself. There are healthy minerals in it and it has good overall benefits physically and spiritually. This earth, this Hawaiian earth which gave birth to man himself and the many things that sustain him is what my people call, "Lepo."

Aug 17, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #77

HO'OMAIKA' I


The 'Ohana who lived in Liliha heights had a legitimate claim. Indeed, their house was haunted and indeed there was an apparition flitting about. Everyone saw it, every communicated and interacted with it in some capacity big and small. It wasn't anyone they knew, the family had only recently purchased the property and had not yet lived there a full two months before the apparition manifested.

Aug 16, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #78

HELE HO'OKAHI


So that Jose could feel a bit more relaxed Boy suggested that they drive using Jose's Cadillac rather than the Imperial Crown. Kealoha drove the three Rizal brother's and Tabby in Boy's car and Tiny and Rita rode with Ivan.

Aug 15, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #79

GET BACK TO WHERE YOU ONCE BELONGED


Jose and Manny fashioned the wrought iron dome combining both their welding and hydraulics skills. Oscar was the muscle who carried the pieces in. In the Cadillac parked just across the street from the old abandoned Makiki house is where Junior sat and tested the security cameras on three of his laptops.

Aug 14, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #80

YOUNG MURAMATSU


I don't know what made me want to own and run a little convenience store in Kapahulu, but it was just something I fell into because I had nothing and no one but myself. It used to be owned by old man Muramatsu and his family from the time when the Chinese merchants migrated from Chinatown after the big fire. As old man Muramatsu told me, it was a good clean family business with good neighbors who came to shop.

Aug 13, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #81

HUI PU


The Rizal brothers arrived directly from Kauai with two whole boxes of homemade Kulolo and five large jars of Pa'akai from Hanapepe. Kealoha brought up the rear with a bigger can of poi from Makaweli. After setting the items down on the table, the Rizals gave me a nod to let me know that the more critical thing from Kipu was downstairs in the trunk of the car.

Aug 12, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #82

MANAWA KUPONO


2010

If anyone of you ever has the cause or the opportunity to be in Boy Napualawa's office, I promise you that it is something you'll never forget. That is, of course, if Boy allows you to remember you were ever there. To save you and me a lengthy description of his office, I will simply tell you that it is as modern an office as can be, except that there is a strong sense of something ancient within the confines of the four walls.

Aug 11, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #83

BE YOU, NOT ME


They're standing there in the middle of a dirt parking lot in Makiki. They're screaming at each other, the woman who called me about her haunted house and her two grown-up adult children. They're screaming at each other. Siblings, male and female. She's screaming at her brother for making things worse; he knows the house is haunted, and he provokes the ghosts to come out and do more. The spirits comply and harass the sister.

Aug 10, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #84

CADILLAC COMES BACK


It's because of the adrenalin born out of my own fear that I climbed the wrong telephone pole. I'd meant to climb the newer concrete pole, which was more massive, dug deep, and practically unmovable. But no, the 1966 Cadillac Hearse Fleetwood was hot on my heels, and the wooden telephone pole was the closest, so I climbed up on it because my mortality was at stake.

Aug 9, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #85

WAIALUA


The woman was buying two cases of Heineken for a party going on in a Waikiki hotel room. She stumbled to the cashiers counter and produced her ID and paid for the beer. She was less graceful, walking out to her car in the parking lot. Through the opened passenger side window, she placed the cases of beer on the seat. Making her way around her vehicle to the driver's side, she hopped in and started up the engine. Just then, someone reached in and pulled the keys out of the ignition.

Aug 8, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #86

MRS. KLEMMER


1975

I remember my sixth-grade year in school when our teacher Mrs. Klemmerʻs husband, passed away from a sudden heart attack in his sleep. She was devastated needless to say, and we didnʻt see her until the end of May. She wasnʻt her old lively self, the one who told us that the world was ours to embrace, to change, to conquer, and to love. That person was gone. All we had then was a shell of someone who was just going through the motions.

Aug 7, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #87

KOHU LIKE


I'm very passionate about specific issues political and otherwise. So, when I am called to bless or cleanse a home or business or what have you, the last thing I ask about is someone's religious or political affiliation. That sort of thing is none of my business.

Aug 6, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #88

FOCUS


I wasn't doing myself or anyone sitting in the small space at the social security office any favors by being there. It wouldn't be long before security noticed that I hadn't taken a number by which my case would be called on the overhead speaker. Quite an odd pair the security guards, one six foot four Samoan girl and one five foot six Hispanic young man.

Aug 5, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #89

MOE


My sleep was fitful and restless. I tossed and turned throughout the night with no relief. When waking up to use the bathroom, my eyes were crusted over and half-opened. I moaned and ached as I made the fifteen step journey to the toilet. I must have made this trek three different times during the evening. Each time I was more tired and weary than the last time. Finally, an hour before dawn, I was fast asleep, my body was utterly relaxed, and I felt as if I’d slumbered on a bed of feathers.

Aug 4, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #90

POPPY


Our little baby granddaughter Charm couldn't say the name 'Puppy' to describe her dog, so she called him 'Poppy.' That was his name, and they were inseparable. They ate played and slept together, and the house was empty and lifeless if not for the sound of Poppy's name being called by our little one.

Aug 3, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #91

ENTER


In our ancient culture, it is a tradition that permission is asked to pass through a place or home of a person or persons. The entrance is usually granted after a lengthy protocol ceremony where a chant is offered, and then a chant returned. Sometimes gifts are exchanged, and in cases where a visitor may have nothing to offer other than his own presence, an ornate chant or song is provided instead.

Aug 2, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #92

HELPLESS


It's painful to see you this way, curled up by the hurt that wounds you so severely that you can only cry tears and not utter a syllable of your suffering. When you were a little girl, you cried because you wanted macaroni and cheese for dinner and not ravioli.

Aug 1, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #93

AS TOLD BY ROGER HAMPTON


Ever heard someone say that things will only get worse before they get better? I lived through that experience during my senior year at Kailua High School. It started out with my mother having a massive heart attack and a significant stroke while she took her afternoon nap.

Jul 31, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #94

PELE IN WAIKIKI


In the 1970s and 1980s, Waikiki was not run amok by sidewalk circus acts and designer outlets that today are out of place in what used to be such a pristine paradise. Waikiki, at that time, was where one could go to listen to Hawaiian music. If you were lucky, you could catch the Cazimeros at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel's monarch room or Booga Booga at The Canoe House at the 'Ilikai.

Jul 30, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2018 #95

WALKING WAILUA


My family always traveled somewhere every summer. It was never to an expensive resort or a hotel but usually to an affordable beach house on the north or south shore, and that's where we'd stay the whole time. It was our one and only yearly family vacation.

Jul 29, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #96

EMMET


I hadn't noticed the length of the line to the cashier's counter at the grocery store. I was still in a daze, still suffering the after-effects of a case I had worked not less than three hours previously. I was still reeling, so the numbing sensation from the package of frozen sausage in my hands didn't bother me. I only moved whenever I half noticed the person in front of me taking a step forward. To be honest, I think I was in shock, really.

Jul 28, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #97

THE HEIAU WILL DECIDE


The stewardship of Sam La'akea's land was a Kuleana (responsibility) handed down from generation to generation for as long as anyone could remember. The tract of land in Sam's family came from the peak of the highest mountain from the back of the valley to the flatlands and five hundred feet out into the ocean.

Jul 26, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #98

RECORD PLAYER MAN


1:30 in the morning and the emergency room is quiet. Everyone is sitting, reading a book, or catching up on paperwork. Even the security guards amble slowly during their routine patrols. Otherwise, there's nothing to do. 

Jul 25, 2019

Is She a Spirit?

How can you tell if a person is actually a Hawaiian spirit? Listen in and I'll explain...

For the last 3 years, I've done 100 ghost stories counting down to Halloween on our blog so, this year, I'm going to attempt the same thing with video added (oh boy).

Anyhow... here goes. Enjoy!


Apr 23, 2019

Palapala 'Aina

Years ago, before my daughter was dragged all the way across the US to the shore of another ocean, before I met my current wife, before all of this really took off, I was just another guy struggling with the stresses of life to make ends meet when I got a call that would change everything.

Apr 9, 2019

Na'u

AFTER LIVING A FULL LIFE, Emma Kanehekili, at the age of 86, was now near the end of her time on our earthly plane. 

Mar 28, 2019

Lu

It's the bathrooms between those two fast food eateries at the food court. Down that hallway, you will often find a single rose taped to the wall just before the entrance to the men's restroom.

Jan 9, 2019

Sister's Sacrifice


Too bad this drive is taking so long; here I am heading in a pointless direction where I do not care to go. Yet, as a result of the badgering and nagging of my older sister, I have to be there. Do you know what sucks even more? This is my sister’s idea but she’s not going, how’s that for shit?