Ghosts Next Door

Ghosts Next Door
by Lopaka Kapanui

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.
It began as a dormant clump of bacteria that hitched a ride on a nothing clump of an asteroid that crashed on a newly-formed island in the middle of the Pacific ocean. Until 400 C.E., it lived off of the simplest of creatures, a bird here, an insect there. But when man arrived, he became perfect for what it needed. Not the intelligent man, however, but the man that lived closer to his base animal instincts. It was that kind of man who planted the seeds of discord and disharmony, who planted the seeds of war against his own brother and coveted his wife. That man was perfect. It was that kind of man who killed his own wife and children or murdered his own parents that were the opportune subject. It was simple to feed him and then feed off of him; in his dwelling is where it could be found in the corners and crevices colored in dark blackish green. That is how it lives and thrives.

Blessing the house right off of Barrett road in Kapolei was difficult because I could not get the family to tell me why they thought their house was haunted. They were too busy disagreeing on the facts, to begin with. Then they began to accuse one another of treachery and lies. The volume of their shouting voices reached a maniacal din until I accidentally glanced at the very corner of where their large couch sat with a space of a foot away from the edge of the living room wall. Its dark smudge was right there where both corners of the living room meet. It began right above the floorboard and crept up the crevice and right up to the ceiling. Rather than shout over them to quiet the argument, I removed a handful of Hanapepe salt and dashed it at the dark mold and mildew. It screamed and scrambled about as its texture began to smoke and sizzle. It dissolved slowly until it became as nothing. Thankfully, the family was too busy pointing fingers at one another to notice. When I was finally able to quiet them, I insisted we join hands and pray. I offered a prayer in Hawaiian, and after, everyone was at peace and unable to recall why they were cross with one another in the first place.  No one was the wiser, which is as it should be.

Be watchful of your emotions, but more so, be careful of dark splotches in your homes, which are unaccounted for. Where did it come from? How did it get there?


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