LEGENDS OF HAWAI'I: Night Marchers (with Lopaka Kapanui)

The legendary Night Marchers of Hawai'i still roam under the moonlight—and crossing their path could cost you everything. Yvette and Rasha return home to Honolulu with master storyteller Lopaka Kapanui to uncover the true history, hauntings, and powerful mana behind Hawai'i’s most feared spirits.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 0:39Rasha Pecoraro?

  Eh, koumou mai. Welcome back to So Supernatural. I am Rasha Marie Kahuma Lama O Kanani Honua Pekare.

• 0:49Yvette Gentile?

  And I am her big sister, Yvette Patrice Kanani Gentile. The next two episodes are near and dear to our hearts because we finally are taking you home with us to our Hawaii nei.

• 1:04Rasha Pecoraro?

  But we are not doing it alone. Today, we are joined by native Hawaiian Kanaka Maoli master storyteller, Lopaka Kapanui. Best known as Hawaii's Ghost Guy, Lopaka learned about his family's history, customs, and protocol, which were passed down to him in the traditional Hawaiian way, through moolelo, from mouth to ear. As a master storyteller, Lopaka has received a special citation from the Hawaii State Legislature in the year 2020 for perpetuating and celebrating local culture, history, language, and folklore through storytelling and knowledge

• 1:48Rasha Pecoraro?

  of the Hawaiian Islands' history and legends.

• 1:51Yvette Gentile?

  There are so many incredible legends that come from Hawaii. But to tell these stories properly, we couldn't just record from our home studios. We knew that we had to go back home to Honolulu to be surrounded by the land, the aina, the ocean, and the mana of our ancestors. Being there made these stories feel alive in a way that can't be captured anywhere else. We had the gift of attending Lopaka's Mysteries of Hawaii Night Marchers Ghost Tour. Some of the audio in this episode was recorded on location near the Kamehameha statue and Eolani Palace at night outside.

• 2:35Yvette Gentile?

  So it's a bit grainy at times. But with that being said, we feel like you need to witness it for yourself. So, without further ado, we are beyond honored to share this story with you and have Lopaka Kapanui tell us the true legends of the Night Marchers.

• 3:09Yvette Gentile?

  I should say, for me, growing up, you know, when I heard about the Night Marchers, it was normally after we had gone to a dance, like at St. Louis or somewhere, and we all lived in Pearl City. So we'd be driving back to Pearl City. We'd end up at a graveyard somewhere. And, you know, of course, there would be some pakalolo, probably some alcohol, even though I didn't do very much, but I was always kind of... Didn't do very much, you did anyhow? I did. Like, I probably tried it anyhow. That's a whole, that's a whole nother story. I never got into it after that, but just saying. But they would, you know, someone would always start by telling these stories. And of course, we'd start to get freaked out, you know, of hearing about the Night Marchers.

• 3:52Yvette Gentile?

  So can you tell us the legends of the Night Marchers? And how it all, the true legend of how it all began?

• 4:01Speaker 03

  So, um, the Night Marchers are actually referred to in the Kumulipo. And the Kumulipo chant is the chant of how everything began in the Hawaiian universe. From darkness to, to the muck, to, you know, things coming on land. So they're already in there. In ancient times, there are many, many processions. Uh, not only lawyers, but for um ceremonial things, for instance, like a procession going up to the forest to to fell a tree, to carve it out to be a canoe. There's a whole thing that happens with that. They're bringing a person with them who's going to be offered for sacrifice before they chop the tree down.

• 4:38Rasha Pecoraro?

  Ooh.

• 4:39Speaker 03

  Uh, if they happen upon somebody who broke the couple, they take that guy too. And there's all the prayers, make sure it's the right tree, uh, you know, chop the tree down. And the way that the the ko trees are are grown is they keep pruning the branches. So by the time they chop it down, you can basically carve out what you need of the canoe and then bring it down to the shore and then carve out the rest. And so there's blood sacrifices for that. So there's those processions that people see. Uh, there's also menehune processions. There's processions for pele hiaka, laka. And there's also a female procession that comes through the upper part of Kamaki where we live.

• 5:19Rasha Pecoraro?

  Oh, wow.

• 5:20Speaker 03

  And so this book happened because my wife was getting upset about all this misinformation about night marches.

• 5:26Rasha Pecoraro?

  There's a lot out there.

• 5:27Speaker 03

  And she was so upset, she sat on her desk and she's like, "Give me that book, give me that book." And she's putting it together, so I'm just providing all all the material. And we come across this thing about this female procession. And um, you know the fire station in Kamaki?

• 5:42Rasha Pecoraro?

  Yes.

• 5:43Speaker 03

  So across is this this hill with all these houses. So that was the compound of the Wahu Chiv Kalkui Hava. And so this female procession comes from there. And it marches on the the night of the hua moon phase. So hua is like a fruit. So the moon is shaped like like a hua, a fruit. The trouble that with that female procession is, you know, I hardly say this, but I'm very well connected. And so every piece of information, every source I looked for to explain who this female procession was, couldn't find anything. And I was starting to get upset. And while I'm looking for this online, behind me is my wife on her computer, and she's listening to the Roe vs. Wade thing.

• 6:25Rasha Pecoraro?

  Oh.

• 6:26Speaker 03

  And in between, you know, looking for my next source, I sort of heard that. And this voice, literally this voice in my head said, "You're a man. This is a female procession. It's not for you."

• 6:38Rasha Pecoraro?

  Wahine na kane.

• 6:40Speaker 03

  Yeah. So I thought to myself, okay, so, okay, this is for a woman to know. And the second I say this in my head, my wife goes, "I got it."

• 6:51Speaker 03

  Of course.

• 6:53Rasha Pecoraro?

  Get it, Auntie Tanya.

• 6:54Speaker 03

  Yeah. That's basically the purpose of this whole thing. You know, to straighten out all the misinformation that's on there, out there. There's a lot.

• 7:03Rasha Pecoraro?

  Yeah, the book that Lopaka is talking about is Hawaii's Night Marchers: A History of the Huakaipu.

• 7:10Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 7:11Rasha Pecoraro?

  And both Yvette and I have read it. But I, I, I was reading it. I, I mean, I've, I've had it for quite a while because I've been a fan of you forever. And we have so many people in common. But when I was reading it on the plane, on the way, I was, I came here to Honolulu this last trip going through Maui. And it just, every part of my body had chicken skin all over it, reading about it. But I know that Yvette had a similar experience.

• 7:47Yvette Gentile?

  Yeah, I mean, I was, you know, out on the North Shore in Kevela Bay, reading it at night, and I was just, and I wasn't scared. That's the thing. I wasn't scared. I felt like I was finally understanding truly what the Night Marchers were all about, you know, and are about.

• 8:05Rasha Pecoraro?

  And are about.

• 8:06Yvette Gentile?

  And that, that ancient history. And I think everybody should learn it and know the history behind it. But what I really loved, I am gonna read a passage. And this is about what you wrote about Oahu. And you said, "Someone asked me once, 'What is the most haunted island in Hawaii?'" And I had to say, hands down, it must be Oahu. And I still agree with this statement today. There are powerful, spiritual, and absolutely haunted places on every major island in our chain, of course. However, due to the sheer number of people here and such widespread activity,

• 8:48Yvette Gentile?

  there just seems to be many more instances of hauntings on this particular island where Rasha and I were raised. So, do share.

• 9:03Speaker 03

  So many people, the population has increased over the centuries. And with so many people becomes a lot of people's personal issues. And there's a lot, and people occupy spaces that end up being haunted for whatever reason. So because of the vast population, we don't just have people, but we also have spirits that are more active, more than we think. And so even in downtown Honolulu, if you're downtown for some business in broad daylight, if you can discern correctly, you'll see spirits walking among the living.

• 9:43Yvette Gentile?

  Let's have you take a listen to Lopaka telling his mo'olalo, his stories about the night marchers from the evening we took his tour.

• 9:52Speaker 04

  So one of the primary night marcher moons is a moon phase called Muku. Muku is from midnight to midnight. When the procession arrives through here, it's four o'clock in the morning. So even though I said Ala'ke, Bishop, and Nu'u'anu are three paths where night marchers go on those three streets, it's actually this entire section of downtown Honolulu. So if you're anywhere in that area at four o'clock in the morning, and they're coming, and it's too late, you're practically late, right here. If you're struck with such fear that you don't want to die, you have resolve and gumption that you want to live, if you possess the actual athleticism to run,

• 10:36Speaker 04

  if you can make it from any one of those three streets, and you go in there, you're scot-free. Night marchers cannot process through any places where there are known burials, unless the path was there first, unless those evey belonged to them. But in there, you're safe, but you have to stay there until the sun comes up.

• 10:56Speaker 04

  I want you to Google photographs of those Calvinist missionaries who first came here to do what they did. They don't look like happy people because they're not. But when they first came, they could only teach reading and writing. When they're finally allowed to teach religion, by that time, they already knew about our sacred places, particularly our hail and our night marchers paths. That's where they built their churches to nullify the beliefs of native Hawaiians. But churches in places like Makawau, Pukalani, Haleiwa, places on the big island, built on a night marcher path, once a month, wrecked. Headstones turned over because the path is still the path. Doesn't matter what you put in its way, they're still going to march.

• 11:38Speaker 04

  So if you decide to come back here at four o'clock in the morning and you can determine what moon phase that is on our Hawaiian lunar calendar, don't call me.

• 11:48Yvette Gentile?

  You said something so powerful. I mean, so many things you said last night were powerful. But you said, it's like these spirits are on a loop. And you're just, you know, you're just walking right in their path sometimes, right? Explain that to us.

• 12:05Speaker 03

  So this is what we call a residual energy. Like I was saying last night, it's like a recording that just repeats itself, same time, same place. Kind of like how Hamlet's father, his ghost appears during those hours to, you know, finally relay the message. So that's residual. What we need to be concerned about is something that's cognitive, like night marchers, which means they know they're dead. They also realize there's this point they can't move beyond. So because of those two things, they can also physically interact with the living. So not poltergeist, but cognitive spirits.

• 12:40Yvette Gentile?

  Cognitive spirits.

• 12:41Speaker 03

  Yeah. And those are also the kind of spirits who you have to be very careful with because of their, their capacity to interact physically.

• 12:50Yvette Gentile?

  Right.

• 12:51Speaker 03

  Yeah, like sitting on your leg.

• 12:56Yvette Gentile?

  Wait, was a night marcher with me or was it just a cognitive spirit last night?

• 13:00Speaker 03

  But what leg was it?

• 13:01Yvette Gentile?

  It was my left.

• 13:02Speaker 03

  Yeah, it's a woman.

• 13:04Yvette Gentile?

  Oh.

• 13:06Speaker 03

  Could have been your mother.

• 13:06Yvette Gentile?

  Could have been mom.

• 13:07Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 13:08Yvette Gentile?

  Really? Oh.

• 13:10Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 13:11Yvette Gentile?

  Oh, my goodness.

• 13:12Speaker 03

  It didn't feel harmful, did it?

• 13:15Rasha Pecoraro?

  It was weird. It didn't feel harmful. It just, it physically hurt. Like it physically, like it felt like I was being held.

• 13:23Speaker 03

  Oh, was your mom a big woman?

• 13:25Rasha Pecoraro?

  She wasn't, but she was curvy.

• 13:28Yvette Gentile?

  Yeah.

• 13:28Rasha Pecoraro?

  Yeah, she was.

• 13:29Speaker 03

  Big bone.

• 13:30Rasha Pecoraro?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah, I didn't even think that it could be long.

• 13:36Yvette Gentile?

  Well, cause you, you said it wasn't scary.

• 13:38Rasha Pecoraro?

  No, it wasn't scary, but I was just like, oh, that hurts. So it made me like get up to go to the luau, to go to the restroom in the middle of the night. And I, I could like, I was tiptoeing like, and I couldn't get rid of it. It was with me. And somehow I fell back asleep, even though I was like, this is a sitting ghost, like something is holding on to me. Cause it started like, oh, I have a leg cramp or something, but it didn't go away. And I can't walk on a leg cramp.

• 14:05Speaker 03

  Well, if it, it was actually a sitting ghost, it would have been sitting on your chest.

• 14:09Rasha Pecoraro?

  On the chest.

• 14:09Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 14:10Rasha Pecoraro?

  Not on the leg, so this was long.

• 14:12Speaker 03

  Something else. Pop your mom.

• 14:13Rasha Pecoraro?

  Yeah.

• 14:14Yvette Gentile?

  And I was telling her when she told me this, I was like, that's interesting because last night when we were all in the circle, I felt a heaviness in my legs right before we started walking. And I was like, oh, uh-oh. And as we started going, I felt it just kind of eased off.

• 14:32Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 14:33Rasha Pecoraro?

  You felt protected by you.

• 14:34Yvette Gentile?

  Felt protected.

• 14:35Rasha Pecoraro?

  And obviously we have audio from that recording and it's so amazing, but I would love to know if you yourself have ever experienced a visit from the Night Marchers.

• 14:52Speaker 03

  So this was when I was just um taking over the bus tour from Glenn Grant. And he was moving on to other things, which is why he um had me come in and take over the tours. We had thirty eight architects that we had to pick up from this architectural firm on Old Hill Street. And it took fifteen minutes to get them on the bus because they're scared out of their minds. And I said, we can't do the tour unless we get on the bus.

• 15:21Rasha Pecoraro?

  Step one.

• 15:22Speaker 03

  Yes. So they finally get off the bus and our first stop is the Monoa Chinese Cemetery. And so they thought we're gonna stay on the bus and I was gonna tell them the story. I said, no, you have to get off the bus. Walk through the cemetery.

• 15:34Rasha Pecoraro?

  Remind me, where is the cemetery?

• 15:36Speaker 03

  So, um.

• 15:38Rasha Pecoraro?

  It's right here.

• 15:38Speaker 03

  Right here.

• 15:39Rasha Pecoraro?

  The one in Manoa?

• 15:40Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 15:40Rasha Pecoraro?

  Oh, what point of that? Right before we were driving up. I lived a few blocks from there, on Puhalo Rise.

• 15:46Speaker 03

  Oh, okay. I know where that is. Oh, it's haunted.

• 15:49Rasha Pecoraro?

  Who are telling you?

• 15:51Speaker 03

  We go up to the top of the cemetery where the tree line is, like on, on the right side.

• 15:57Rasha Pecoraro?

  Mm-hmm.

• 15:57Speaker 03

  And that's where all the kids are buried.

• 15:59Rasha Pecoraro?

  Right.

• 15:59Speaker 03

  Together, because a lot of them died from smallpox and the plague. And the second we got up there and I turned around to face the group, this wind is tearing through the cemetery like, you know, the palms are like bending like this. And I can see it, you know, the people are going like this. And the problem is I can see the wind to it, but I can't hear it.

• 16:18Rasha Pecoraro?

  Hmm.

• 16:19Speaker 03

  And I can feel it, very hot. The people are looking at me like this now going.

• 16:24Rasha Pecoraro?

  You're right.

• 16:25Speaker 03

  And they turn around and they, they high tail it back to the bus. So the next day I called my cousin, uh, Kiyomi Nunes, and I told him what happened. He said, oh, whoa, when was this? I said, last night, because where? He said, Mano Chinese Cemetery. He said, oh, last night was Pukane. It was the first of the night march of moons. He said, there's a procession that comes through the cemetery.

• 16:46Speaker 03

  Like where you were standing. So I said, so how come I, how come I didn't die? Because it's just.

• 16:52Rasha Pecoraro?

  That's right.

• 16:53Speaker 03

  Yeah. So he said, that feeling of, of seeing everything but not hearing it or, or feeling it and feeling encapsulated.

• 17:00Rasha Pecoraro?

  Mm-hmm.

• 17:01Speaker 03

  He said, you probably had Ohana in that procession.

• 17:04Rasha Pecoraro?

  Protecting you.

• 17:04Speaker 03

  So they were protecting you.

• 17:06Rasha Pecoraro?

  Circle around you.

• 17:07Speaker 03

  Yeah. And he said, what happened to the people? I said, they ran back to the bus. He said, oh, good.

• 17:11Rasha Pecoraro?

  Oh. Because you were protected, but you can't protect them.

• 17:15Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 17:16Rasha Pecoraro?

  Wow.

• 17:17Speaker 03

  And I told him, I said, but I didn't do the muukua. Oh, he said, well, probably never need because, you know, they, they knew who you were.

• 17:23Rasha Pecoraro?

  Oh, so you didn't have to do the prayers?

• 17:25Speaker 03

  Yeah, so he said, and it was a good thing you had people who were, you know, scared because the first thing they did was run.

• 17:31Rasha Pecoraro?

  Right.

• 17:32Speaker 03

  So he said, that was smart. And I think the second time was, uh, at Kiawa Ula. So, you know, Yokes, Yokohama.

• 17:39Rasha Pecoraro?

  Mm-hmm.

• 17:40Speaker 03

  At the end, before Kaina Point.

• 17:42Rasha Pecoraro?

  Okay.

• 17:43Speaker 03

  But we saw torchlights coming down the ridge where the satellite tracking station is. And we're just, because Glenn used to do this Y and I ghost tour.

• 17:51Rasha Pecoraro?

  Oh, right.

• 17:52Speaker 03

  So we saw it coming down the ridge and we're like, oh, ha'alele. So we just took off.

• 17:57Rasha Pecoraro?

  Oh, my goodness.

• 17:59Yvette Gentile?

  But what time were you there?

• 18:01Speaker 03

  Um, by the time the bus got there, it was already like, I think eight o'clock. So it's pitch dark out there, but it also happened to be one of the night, March and nights.

• 18:10Rasha Pecoraro?

  Wow. And there's four nights of lunar month.

• 18:13Speaker 03

  The common moon phases are kane, lono, maoli, muku. So kane is the night of the warrior and chiefly processions. And then lono is the procession that, um, in life would strike and navigate the island, gathering tax and tribute. Uh, maoli is the night of spirits. And the night of muku, the night of no moon is, uh, when only the gods roam the earth.

• 18:37Rasha Pecoraro?

  Oh.

• 18:38Speaker 03

  So back in the day, people had to be indoors from midnight to midnight. And your children and your animals couldn't make any sound. So if somebody made a sound, then your kahali was found out and everybody was killed.

• 18:57Speaker 05

  Hi, I'm Ashley Flowers.

• 18:58Speaker 06

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• 19:04Speaker 05

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• 19:20Speaker 06

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• 19:28Speaker 05

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• 19:50Rasha Pecoraro?

  If you're wondering how you can protect yourself from the night marchers if you're in their path, here's Lopaka's advice to us from the ghost store.

• 19:59Speaker 04

  So today, they say if you know night marchers are coming to your house, you're building your school, whatever it is, plant tea leaf around the place, it will redirect the path of night marchers. But if you can't find those things, they also say find a good architect or a carpenter who can misalign one of the doors at least half an inch off. If you do that, the night marchers can't pass. The other thing you should do, a sidewalk like this, this were a house, I would line the sidewalk with ape leaves. So the ape leaf is like a giant elephant ear leaf, like a kalo leaf. It's a velvety on the, on the surface. You plant it along the sidewalk like this. You're doing two things.

• 20:41Speaker 04

  You're determining to see if night marchers march to your place because as the leaves overlap, if there's spirits coming through the place, the leaves are perfect, right? So when you see the spirits marching and the leaf does not rend, does not tear, that's how you know they're truly legitimate night marchers coming through your place. Then you know what to do. The simplest thing to do is feng shui, just align everything so it's out of their way, everyone's safe, no one's hurt.

• 21:11Rasha Pecoraro?

  You know, it's so, odd isn't even the right word, but I'm so proud that I'm from Hawaii and I've always found its beauty and its aloha, but I didn't realize how much violence has been on this aina, has been on this land. Like I'm learning so much now.

• 21:34Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 21:35Rasha Pecoraro?

  And how, like, when did that, do we think?

• 21:39Yvette Gentile?

  When did that stop?

• 21:40Speaker 03

  When Kama Maha stopped making war.

• 21:42Yvette Gentile?

  Hmm.

• 21:44Speaker 03

  Some Hawaiian activists say that's also when we began to become colonized.

• 21:49Yvette Gentile?

  Right, right.

• 21:51Speaker 03

  That's a whole other podcast.

• 21:52Yvette Gentile?

  This is true. This is so true.

• 21:57Speaker 03

  Yeah, so you read all these Hawaiian legends, there's a lot of violence in it.

• 22:01Yvette Gentile?

  Yeah.

• 22:01Speaker 03

  You know, a lot of them don't have happy endings.

• 22:04Yvette Gentile?

  Yeah.

• 22:05Speaker 03

  So, because we have a lot of material that my wife looks through her social, read a whole island, she's like, oh my god, like, everybody died.

• 22:11Yvette Gentile?

  Yeah.

• 22:13Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 22:14Yvette Gentile?

  I mean, and if you go back through history, right, and you think about the Romans or the Africans, like, in all of these cultures, there always has been a lot of violence, you know, in the very beginning, right?

• 22:27Speaker 03

  But then, you know, there's also a history of, you know, societies that are great, people get along, the life of the land is like verdant and producing, and some other culture comes along and just...

• 22:39Yvette Gentile?

  And that's why we have to preserve the Hawaiian culture.

• 22:43Speaker 03

  Absolutely.

• 22:43Yvette Gentile?

  Absolutely. And perpetuate the aloha that has always been here, even with all the violence. It always feels like everything was done in a pono way.

• 22:54Speaker 03

  As much as possible, yeah.

• 22:55Yvette Gentile?

  Yeah.

• 22:55Speaker 03

  I mean, you know, as a whole, we have to preserve humanity.

• 22:59Yvette Gentile?

  Right.

• 23:00Speaker 03

  And, you know, start treating each other like decent human beings.

• 23:04Yvette Gentile?

  I'm going back in my head, I'm just thinking about all the things that I read in the book, and I have such an affinity for Kapilani Park, because we used to live at the end of Diamond Head in the little gingerbread house there, with my grandmother, my mom's biological family, when we first came here. And so that park was like my sanctuary, you know, I would go there, I would sit under the banyan trees there, and I would feel like they were talking to me, like the trees were protecting me and talking to me. Can you tell us some of the history of Kapilani Park, and if the night marchers, you know, go through there, which I'm sure in your book I've read, I know they did.

• 23:46Speaker 03

  Yeah, they absolutely do. The park used to be a horse racetrack.

• 23:50Rasha Pecoraro?

  Oh.

• 23:51Speaker 03

  For uh, King Kalakaua, he liked going out there. But that area in Waikiki as a whole um has such a a history with the land. So Waikiki itself is a two and a half mile stretch of land.

• 24:07Rasha Pecoraro?

  It's only that big?

• 24:08Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 24:09Rasha Pecoraro?

  Wow.

• 24:09Speaker 03

  So when Ma'ili Kukahie, uh, Biwahu chief who lived in Waialua, sailing past Waikiki, he saw beautiful waters, fertile land, so that became the seat of power. And so during his time, only uh, the highest ranking chiefs could live there, so if you landed your canoe, you're not a certain rank like.

• 24:28Rasha Pecoraro?

  Couldn't be there.

• 24:29Speaker 03

  Kill you on the beach.

• 24:29Rasha Pecoraro?

  Woo.

• 24:31Speaker 03

  So the other reason Waikiki was chosen is because two and a half miles of sand, so sand preserves bones. So they build hail, uh, they have battles, they build the hail where um La Pietra now is.

• 24:48Rasha Pecoraro?

  Oh, the school for girls.

• 24:49Speaker 03

  School for girls, built it right on top of the hail.

• 24:51Rasha Pecoraro?

  Oh, right.

• 24:52Speaker 03

  Yeah, and so when Kamehameha comes, you know, for, you know, his Battle of N'Uanu.

• 24:59Rasha Pecoraro?

  Oh, yeah.

• 25:00Speaker 03

  Um, and he brings everybody, the people living in Waikiki now have to doubly produce more food, more fish, so it's already exhausting their resources for Kamehameha's army. And so by the time that's over, the people in Waikiki have, you know, practically nothing.

• 25:18Rasha Pecoraro?

  Hmm.

• 25:19Speaker 03

  And so when Kamehameha had to travel, he had to take everybody with him, so nobody could be left behind. That's because he felt if he'd even left like the lesser chief behind, there's a chance that chief might start a rebellion.

• 25:32Rasha Pecoraro?

  Right.

• 25:32Speaker 03

  So everybody had to go, so when, I think um. He was in Vancouver, came through Waikiki, and he said, there's only old people. And it looks like it's abandoned, there's nothing there. And so he asked the old Hawaiians, you know, what happened, where's the king? And they said, well, you know, a guy showed up, we had to, you know, provide everything. And like, now we have nothing.

• 25:53Yvette Gentile?

  Wow.

• 25:54Speaker 03

  Yeah. But there's a lot of special places in Waikiki that have hotels on top of, that they're not aware of, which is why those hotels are haunted.

• 26:03Yvette Gentile?

  Right.

• 26:04Speaker 03

  But it seems, you know, as we're doing this night marcher tour through Kapilani Park, the park itself appears to be, you know, the sanctuary in Waikiki where it's separate from everything else.

• 26:15Yvette Gentile?

  Hmm.

• 26:16Speaker 03

  Um, there's the zoo. The zoo used to be an island onto itself called Maquis Island.

• 26:21Yvette Gentile?

  Oh.

• 26:22Speaker 03

  And then there was the rest of Waikiki. I think it was the late 90s, early 2000s, when they're, um, expanding the intersection of Kapulu and Kalakaua. Bones on top of bones, you know, they found. So you go to Kapulu and Kalakaua, and you're turning left. Here is this mound with a wrought iron gate. So the remains that were found there are in that mound today.

• 26:47Yvette Gentile?

  I didn't know that.

• 26:48Speaker 03

  Yeah. So there's a lot in Waikiki that the hotels will never acknowledge because they don't want their guests to know that there's ghosts in the hotel. But um, people from Japan come specifically for that.

• 26:59Yvette Gentile?

  So they come for that specifically for that?

• 27:01Speaker 03

  Yeah, they're looking for it. But for some reason, hotels in Waikiki think, oh, if we tell the Japanese there's ghosts, they're not gonna stay. It's like, that's not true.

• 27:09Yvette Gentile?

  They want that.

• 27:11Rasha Pecoraro?

  In Japanese, obake, right?

• 27:13Speaker 03

  Obake, yurei, yokai, all of it.

• 27:16Yvette Gentile?

  When I was reading, you were talking about in the book how you were kind of like at a crossroads and you weren't sure where you were going. And then you met this man, I don't remember the man's exact name, but he offered you this map. And it was showing like, all of the places where the night marchers had been, like, specifically, like, passed down, right, from generation to generation, this map. But you refused it.

• 27:45Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 27:46Yvette Gentile?

  And that, again, head to toe, goosebumps here, chicken skin.

• 27:50Rasha Pecoraro?

  Chicken skin.

• 27:51Yvette Gentile?

  Yeah.

• 27:51Rasha Pecoraro?

  We're in Hawaii, you know, you have to say chicken skin.

• 27:53Yvette Gentile?

  We say this all the time on the podcast and they tell us, like, don't say that.

• 27:56Rasha Pecoraro?

  Chicken skin anymore. You guys say that all the time.

• 27:58Yvette Gentile?

  We are, chicken skin.

• 28:01Rasha Pecoraro?

  That touched me so deeply because that says so much about who you are as a human being. Tell us a little bit about that and why you didn't want it.

• 28:13Speaker 03

  It's like if you have a hundred year old recipe for chicken marsala and you want to give it to me, it's not my recipe. It's your mom's and her mom and her mom. So, an entire DNA of your family lineage is in that recipe for chicken marsala. So if I take it and try to sell it as my own, it's, it's wrong morally, it's wrong. And I'm also doing a great disservice to your ancestors. And so that map didn't belong to me, even though I looked at it, I was like.

• 28:45Rasha Pecoraro?

  Wow, blown away.

• 28:47Speaker 03

  Yeah, and when he offered it to me, I said, I can't take this. It's not my bloodline. It's not my kuliana. So if I take something that's not in my DNA, I said, it might hurt my family, but I'm also hurting, you know, your ancestors, your bloodline.

• 29:03Rasha Pecoraro?

  Yeah.

• 29:04Speaker 03

  And saying to them, well, I guess this wasn't good enough for you to have, so I'm gonna use it and exploit it, you know?

• 29:10Rasha Pecoraro?

  You wouldn't do that.

• 29:11Speaker 03

  Couldn't do that. And so I, I said, just hold on to it.

• 29:17Speaker 03

  As he said, nobody in his family was interested because, you know, they're all Protestant Mormon and they actually told them to burn it.

• 29:24Rasha Pecoraro?

  Does he still have it, you know?

• 29:26Speaker 03

  Still has it.

• 29:27Rasha Pecoraro?

  Well, good.

• 29:28Speaker 03

  So I said, whoever's supposed to receive it, you know, that's the person. But I said, it's, it's not me.

• 29:34Rasha Pecoraro?

  Yeah.

• 29:34Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 29:35Rasha Pecoraro?

  But your kuliana is telling visitors and Kama Aina and Hawaiians alike about the Night Marchers now. They do that now. And you give that gift to all of us. That's your kuliana, I believe.

• 29:54Speaker 03

  Like I said, you know, last night, you know, it's, it's a lot of it is, comes off as farfetched.

• 30:01Rasha Pecoraro?

  No, I don't think so. Yeah. Not to us, no. We believe in the supernatural, not only because we host a supernatural, but

• 30:08Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 30:09Rasha Pecoraro?

  but we're from this Aina. We know, we know.

• 30:12Speaker 03

  Yeah. That's why I say, you know, it might come off as farfetched, but this is who we are.

• 30:18Rasha Pecoraro?

  Yeah. And will forever be.

• 30:21Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 30:21Rasha Pecoraro?

  Truly, truly.

• 30:27Speaker 05

  Hi, I'm Ashley Flowers.

• 30:28Speaker 06

  And I'm Britt. And if you're on the edge of your seat, listening to this show, Crime Junkie needs to be your next listen.

• 30:34Speaker 05

  Every Monday, I dive into a new true crime case that our reporting team has been on the ground looking into. From lesser-known disappearances to the most chilling cases hitting the headlines. And I'm gonna walk you through it the way I tell my best friend. Because, well, that's what I'm doing.

• 30:50Speaker 06

  Yeah, that's me. And I'm right there with you as we listen together, react to every wild detail, and of course, I ask all the questions.

• 30:57Speaker 05

  And I'm gonna have the answers, because we have case files. We're talking to detectives and family members. And we're gonna stay focused on the facts.

• 31:05Speaker 06

  So if you're not already listening to Crime Junkie, what are you waiting for? There are over 300 episodes available right now.

• 31:11Speaker 05

  And you can listen to new episodes of Crime Junkie every Monday, wherever you get your podcasts.

• 31:20Yvette Gentile?

  Let's listen to Lopaka again from his tour, where he shares this supernatural story about our beloved Eolani Palace.

• 31:28Speaker 04

  This version of the palace was completed in 1882. The building began in 1879, commissioned by King David Kalakaua. Before that, it was called an old Chicago architectural-style bungalow. That's what it was. But by the time David Kalakaua was elected king, it was falling apart, termite eaten. King David Kalakaua won the election over the widowed Queen Emma. And Emma's followers were so upset that David Kalakaua became the king. They grabbed David Kalakaua's followers and bodily threw them off the second story of the courthouse. That was a high second story, so those guys died. So during his reign, up until the new palace was completed, King David Kalakaua gave the widowed Queen Emma,

• 32:13Speaker 04

  what the young people say are "all of her flowers." Every protocol, every honor, front-facing the public, that was hers, because she was a widowed queen. She deserved it. But the king knew behind his back that Emma's followers were sending curses to the palace to kill him. Now, this is one of the worst curses I've seen myself, because it's sent in the form of a spirit. When it's sent in the form of a spirit, it's there to cause dissension and disharmony to the point where people are trying to kill each other. So that's specifically to families, churches, MMA clubs, military organizations, anywhere there's a large group of people, that's the purpose of the spirit, to cause problems to the point where people are trying to kill each other. The problem with that spirit is when it shows up, you can't tell

• 32:57Speaker 04

  who it is, because it looks like everybody else. You can touch it, you can talk to it, doesn't bathe, it stinks. So, in ancient times, when a kauhale had this problem, they called the kuhuna po e uhane, the spirit catcher. That kuhuna shows up to the kauhale with a wooden bowl made of kowila. And kowila wood is so dense that when you strike it a certain way, it makes a spark, kowila. The water in the bowl can only be from the deepest part of the ocean. And that water in that bowl is turmeric, olenna, and red alay salt. All that kuhuna does is he has everyone in that kauhale gather together, and to each and every person, he goes like this with the bowl of water, under their face,

• 33:37Speaker 04

  one by one. People have said, he's looking to see if they cast a reflection. He's looking to see if they will drink the water in the bowl. He's actually waiting for you, because you stood there for so long, you finally go, "Ah!" Breath leaves your body, touches the water, surface of the bowl. If it forms a ripple, it's a human being. If nothing happens, the kuhuna slaps the water in the bowl, spirit dissipates. But during his reign, the king couldn't have his servants running around the palace grounds all day with bowls of water going up to every single person they see. He had to be covert. So, this is coming from Hawaiians today who come from that Emma bloodline. Can you see those two small lights on the top and bottom for him?

• 34:19Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 34:20Speaker 04

  Behind those are these oval-shaped mirrors. Outwardly, ornamentation and decoration, but really, they're there because purposely, the king is a party animal. Parties last a week. This left side of the palace, that's the throne room. So, dancing in the throne room, Victorian era Hawaii, heavy clothing, somebody comes out, breath of fresh air. And because intrinsically is human beings revane, the next thing we look for is reflective surface. Standing next to those mirrors is the palace guard like this, watching. Person leans in, fixes themselves, breathes on the mirror, film of breath, human being. Nothing happens, the guard is allowed to take his weapon, smash the mirror, spirit dissipates.

• 35:01Speaker 04

  The reason why this curse is so bad is because it is hardly solvable. Because you can't tell who it is. When you can't tell who it is, your next problem is tricking that thing into breeding onto reflective surface. That's the hard part, which is why it's hardly solvable.

• 35:20Rasha Pecoraro?

  I believe you're doing exactly what you're supposed to be doing and telling the world your oli, your story. And all of us get to enjoy that and respect it and embrace it.

• 35:36Yvette Gentile?

  Yeah, it's a beautiful thing, and that's the perfect word, embrace it, because it's so important, especially for people that are coming from the mainland, to be able to know where they're coming and why they're coming. History is so important, you know, it's not just to lounge on the beach.

• 35:56Rasha Pecoraro?

  And have a mai tai.

• 35:57Yvette Gentile?

  And have a mai tai. You need to know the Hawaiian history and to respect it. Respect its people, its culture, its land. And that resonates so deeply with us through you.

• 36:12Speaker 03

  That's my advice to most visitors is, you know, go to this place and keep your mouth shut and just sit there and take in everything. You know, it's as simple as that, because a lot of times we talk too much. A lot of people talk, they hear their own selves speak and they're missing everything.

• 36:32Yvette Gentile?

  Hear, hear.

• 36:33Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 36:34Yvette Gentile?

  Say it all the time.

• 36:35Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 36:36Yvette Gentile?

  She always tells me to listen more. Listen Linda. Listen Linda. Listen Linda. But it's very important because people are so in their head, they're thinking about what they need to say. And they're not truly hearing what someone else is saying. And you're missing the whole point. So I, um, I thank you for continuing to share your story. And the story of this beautiful island that we grew up on, you know?

• 37:06Speaker 03

  Yeah, it's, uh, it's not a job.

• 37:09Yvette Gentile?

  No, it's a calling, right? And that, and that we can tell.

• 37:13Speaker 03

  Well, absolutely. And, um, one of the things my mom said to me, um, because it was years of literally, literally sitting at her feet and learning everything, but the last thing she said to me was, "Everything you've learned up until now is not about you." I was still young and stupid. I said, "No, no, I get it." She goes, "No, you don't." She goes, "You'll, you get older, you'll, you know, you'll realize it," she says, "but everything up until now, I've told you, I've taught you is not about you." So, went home, because it was, it was in the morning by that point. Went home, walked into the house, the phone rang. And I answered it and it was my sister. She said, "Mom just passed away."

• 37:56Speaker 03

  So this was three years that mom asked for it and kind of find out mom only had three years. And so she was also going to dialysis at the same time. So my sister said, "All of a sudden she's too weak. She can't sit up at the table." So my late brother-in-law took her to Kuikini.

• 38:16Speaker 03

  And she was like, just couldn't sit up and weak. And then the second they got to Kuikini and the attendants, you know, came to get her and opened the door and grabbed her. My sister said, "Mom just started screaming."

• 38:30Speaker 03

  So do it myself, I'm going myself. And so they're like, no, no, you know, she's like, I said, don't touch me, leave me alone. And she made it, uh, two steps and then

• 38:43Rasha Pecoraro?

  Pow.

• 38:43Speaker 03

  Then she was gone.

• 38:44Rasha Pecoraro?

  I'm so sorry. I'm so happy that you had that time with her, though.

• 38:48Speaker 03

  Yeah, she She and my Aunt Ella and two other people had this Hawaiian music group. And all their last names were, uh, started with K.

• 38:57Rasha Pecoraro?

  Oh.

• 38:59Speaker 03

  So they were the four K's.

• 39:02Speaker 03

  One of those nights Aunt Ella and mom over there are just, you know, talking and playing ukulele. And my mom said, you know, we were known for our beautiful Hawaiian music. And Aunt Ella said, not only that, she says to me, you know, sometimes you're on the stage, you're playing music and get somebody in the audience, like, you know, they're drunk, they like made trouble to us. My mom goes, don't. And my auntie goes, so me and her jump off the stage, pow, like that.

• 39:29Rasha Pecoraro?

  Oh my, that mom was feisty.

• 39:31Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 39:31Rasha Pecoraro?

  And Auntie.

• 39:34Rasha Pecoraro?

  That's the Pele in her.

• 39:36Speaker 03

  It's a Pele in her.

• 39:39Speaker 03

  And so at my mom's services, Aunt Ella is like, she was, how dare you leave me here by myself? You know, we're supposed to go together.

• 39:47Speaker 03

  And then Aunt Ella died a month later.

• 39:49Rasha Pecoraro?

  Oh, really? She wanted to be with her?

• 39:52Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 39:53Rasha Pecoraro?

  Yeah.

• 39:53Speaker 03

  Aunt Ella was a Kahuna la'ola'apa'oa, she was very scary. So at her services, like the mona was like really, really heavy. Because apparently she died before she could pass on whatever she had. So a lot of that, um, huki huki, that, that hakaka, that fight within the family was at that funeral. Because she never appointed everybody. Everybody was like, oh, it was me, it was me. So they're fighting over her Kahuna stick.

• 40:20Rasha Pecoraro?

  Oh, my goodness. Who ended up getting it?

• 40:24Speaker 03

  I don't know.

• 40:25Rasha Pecoraro?

  You're like, that's not my kuleana.

• 40:26Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 40:29Speaker 03

  Yeah. Yeah, I literally said that at our services, like everybody's like, oh, you think you like them? I was like, no. Just don't start now, it won't be. Keep it over there.

• 40:39Rasha Pecoraro?

  Yeah. Well, as we're wrapping up, what is one thing

• 40:46Rasha Pecoraro?

  you would love to tell our listeners and tell the world?

• 40:52Rasha Pecoraro?

  In your own voice about anything at all.

• 40:55Speaker 03

  I was gonna say, in the immortal words of Buckaroo Banzai, wherever you go, there you are.

• 41:06Rasha Pecoraro?

  That's pretty epic.

• 41:08Yvette Gentile?

  There you have it.

• 41:11Speaker 03

  But really, really, what I want to say is this. Think about who it is in your circle, in your life, that needs to know from you, and only you, that you love them. Might not even be the person you think it is, you know? It might even be yourself. But whoever it is that needs to know from you that you love them, those three words might change their life. You know, change their trajectory, the thought of themselves. Soon as you figure out who that is, call that person. Tell them I love you.

• 41:45Rasha Pecoraro?

  Mahalo vao i o e.

• 41:46Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 41:49Rasha Pecoraro?

  Why, I love you.

• 41:49Yvette Gentile?

  We love you.

• 41:54Speaker 03

  And if you gotta say, "I effing love you," that's funny.

• 41:58Rasha Pecoraro?

  That's so funny coming out.

• 42:02Yvette Gentile?

  Take that.

• 42:04Speaker 03

  So I can imagine the world right now after this recording.

• 42:08Rasha Pecoraro?

  I know. That's beautiful.

• 42:11Yvette Gentile?

  That is, and that is a true gift. So, thank you. Mahalo nui loa lapaka. You have touched us in ways that you can't even imagine.

• 42:22Speaker 03

  We all need it, absolutely.

• 42:23Rasha Pecoraro?

  We do.

• 42:24Speaker 03

  But the honor is mine, thank you for considering me. Appreciate it.

• 42:28Rasha Pecoraro?

  Mahalo. Oh.

• 42:33Rasha Pecoraro?

  There's something wrong with my eyes.

• 42:45Rasha Pecoraro?

  This is So Supernatural, an Audiochuck original, produced by Crime House. You can connect with us on Instagram at So Supernatural Pod and visit our website at sosupernaturalpodcast.com. Join Yvette and me next Friday for an all-new episode.

• 43:05Rasha Pecoraro?

  I think Chuck would approve.

• 43:11Speaker 07

  When the nights grow longer, the shadows start to stir. And that can only mean one thing. Full Body Chills is back. This season, step inside original tales where every doorway leads somewhere darker, every stranger carries a secret, and nothing is ever quite what it seems. Each story takes you somewhere new, but be careful. You never know what might follow you home. So gather round, listen close, and stream Full Body Chills wherever you get your podcasts.