When it comes to haunts, scares and eerie stories during Halloween time, Kauai definitely has its fair share of scary tales — some so good they’ll send a person running in fright.
Perhaps the most intriguing are the accounts that are told and retold by numerous witnesses to a ghastly experience, again and again, becoming more and more convincing each time it is repeated.
One such tale is the appearance of small but nonetheless intimidating apparitions, ones that are said to be seen in Wailua by inmates at Kauai Community Correctional Center. A psychiatric physician who once worked with the inmates heard many bizarre and startling stories about these small ghosts.
Jimmy Fry lives on the North Shore and spoke with the physician.
“KCCC inmates had over the years, different times and different people, seen small people, children or Menehune who were ghosts who were thought to have traveled from the mountain of Sleeping Giant,” Fry said. “They would be seen holding candles and this would happen during the full moon.”
Even more frightening, the physician had said that certain inmates recalled the ghosts appearing before them in their cells and sitting on their beds beside them.
“The question is, are they Menehune or children?” Fry said. “And why are they coming here, and where are they going?”
Ghosts are often thought to be spirits who are seeking some kind of closure, a way to resolve unfinished business, or find answers. Others simply are lost.
Fry pondered aloud, “I have heard folklore that spirits leave the islands through Polihale, so I wonder, are the spirits lost, on their way to Polihale?”
Another woman told of a former boss, a Hawaiian woman, who said she saw Night Marchers at her home on the darkest of nights.
As a way to allow them to pass through peacefully without causing troubles, she would leave a clear path for them by opening the front and back doors of her home. As a precaution, she would hide her children when she thought they were approaching and lock the doors to their rooms.
Legend says Night Marchers are the ghosts of ancient Hawaiian warriors. It is thought that if a person looks at a Night Marcher they will die horrifically. Some telltale signs that they are near, according to legend, include the detection of a foul odor, the sound of conch shells and war drums.
They typically are seen suspended in the air holding spears and clubs, are dressed for battle, and have no feet though the sound of marching can be heard as they approach.
Kauai is not only a beautiful island paradise — it is also a mysterious place where the next spooky and unexplained happening could be lurking just around the corner.
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Monique Rowan is a North Shore native who lives in Wainiha and writes occasionally for The Garden Island.
