Ghosts and Night Marchers in Moanalua

Moanalua Valley

In its original inception, Hawaii’s Interstate H3 highway was set to pass through Moanalua Valley, with its tunnel being bored right through Maunakapu, where the burials of some of Oahu’s most sacred ali‘i were said to be located. The State Department of Transportation promised a “scenic highway” that would open up the previously closed private land and, at the same time, they would coordinate with the landowners to develop a historic and botanic park in the valley’s 3000 acres. Many people who claimed to be authorities on the subject said that Moanalua Valley held LITTLE archaeological or historical importance. The Damon family, who have lived in the valley since 1890, created the Moanalua Gardens Foundation and, using extensive oral histories collected by Gertrude McKinnon Damon as far back as 1902, enlisted help from conservationists, residents, cultural practitioners, and the general public in stopping the H3 from being built in the valley.

In 1972, Hawaii’s Living Treasure, Rubellite Johnson, described a tale of night marchers for a Star Bulletin editorial. In it, she says that, Rudolph Tai, a patriarch of the Mormon Church in Hawaii used to live in the old Damon Tract housing before it was demolished. One night, at midnight, he heard the sound of the ghost army approaching from the uppermost part of Moanalua Valley. As the procession moved closer, he could hear their chants and even heard the hiss of their burning torches as the night marchers made their way toward the sea.

The sounds became louder and louder, until Rudolph Tai could stand it no more and had to hold his hands to his ears to keep the noise out. Then, after two long hours, the chants and the marching slowly faded away.

But... at the same time...

The late watch on a small ship anchored in Pearl Harbor recorded in his log a most curious site. From midnight until 2am, the man saw a string of torches moving slowly from the top of Moanalua Valley, winding toward the sea, where they disappeared.

Leilono

Leilono is one of the most sacred wahi pana in Moanalua. Once located along the upper rim of the Āliamanu crater, Leilono was an entrance to Pō. The following is a translation of Samuel Kamakau’s writings from the Hawaiian newspaper, Kuokoa in 1899:

It was a place said to be the opening, on the island of Oahu, for mankind to enter eternal night. This place is on the northern side of the famous hill of Kapukaki (now Red Hill), at the boundary of Kona and Ewa, right in line with the burial hill of Āliamanu, on the upper side of the old road. It is said that this place is round, about two feet or more in circumference. This is the hole through which the ghosts of people slipped through to go down and this was the strata of Papaialaka.

The boundaries of this place, so the ancients said, were these: Papakolea which was guarded by the kolea, a golden plover; Koleana whose guard was a big caterpillar and Napeha, the western boundary which was guarded by a mo‘o. At Moanalua, directly in line with the burial mound of Aliamanu was the entrance to ka puka o Leilono. There, at the portal stood he 'ulu o Leilwalo, a breadfruit tree of Leiwalo. It had two branches, one on the east side and one on the west. These branches were deceiving. From one of them, the soul leaped into the po pau 'ole.

If a ghost who lacked an 'aumakua to save him climbed on a branch of the western side of the breadfruit tree, the branch withered at once and broke off, thus plunging the ghost down to the pit of darkness.

If he climbed the other, it would bring aid from helpful 'aumakua. From that branch, the soul would see the 'aumakua realm and the ancestors spoken of, Wakea and all the rest, and those of the entire world who had traveled on this same journey.

Battle of Kuali’i at Kauwalua

At a place called Kauwalua, there was a significant battle between the two Oahu chiefs, Kualiʻi and Kakūhihewa who fought for the right to rule all of Oʻahu. The warriors met, and a great battle took place on the field at Kauwalua in which the champion of Kuali‘i was killed.

A generation later, Kahahana was chief of Oahu, having been decided by public decree, deposing the High Chief, Kumahana, Kualii’s grandson. Eventually, the relationship between Kahahana and Kahekili of Maui had soured and Kahekili prepared to invade Oahu. For more than two years, Kahahana and his wife hid in the mountains, secretly aided by his supporters before finally being caught and killed by Kahekili’s warriors.

After Kahahana’s death, a plot was laid to kill all the chiefs of Maui on the same night. But someone warned the chiefs and the attack was unsuccessful. The Maui chiefs excaped to Waikiki except for one chief who was living in Wailua. When Kahekili learned that Kahahana’s father, Elani of ‘Ewa, took part in plotting against him, the districts of Ewa and Kona were attacked and men, women, and children were massacred. The streams of Makaho and Niuhelewai in the Kona district and Kahoa’ai’ai in the Ewa district were choked with the bodies of the dead. All the Oahu chiefs were killed and the chiefesses tortured.

A certain Maui chief named Kalaikoa, who lived at Moanalua built a long house and named it Kauwalua and, perhaps in order to make his name famous, had it filled with the bones of persons stripped, bound, and set up inside the house and all around the outside enclosure of the house. The house stood at Lapakea on the slope into Moanalua on the upper side of the old road.

Eyewitnesses said, “It was a terrible and gruesome sight. The bones were stripped, bundled together, and the skulls set upon each bundle so that, seen from a distance, it looked like a company of living men.”

A housing development has been built over this site, on a small plateau just below Tripler Army Hospital.

Moanalua High School

Moanalua High School is noted for its hauntings and the staff, students, and alumni have no fear of sharing their stories. During one construction project on the campus in 1995, there were rumors of a ghostly presence. Workers on the project frequently called in sick or had problems with machinery. In one incident, a bulldozer careened out of control into the student parking lot just moments before the school bell rang at the end of the day. The site was blessed twice before the alleged incidents stopped and the construction crew resumed work.

Just a few years later, in 1998, the school was set to begin work on a new multi-purpose room. When construction equipment began arriving at the school, the staff was eager to bless the site of the future building as soon as possible. The construction crew, having already heard the rumors, didn’t want to begin work until the area was blessed.

Some staff and students are convinced that the school has a resident ghost. Cafeteria and custodial staff call her “the lady” and she has been described as a young woman with long brown hair and wearing a white tunic, whirling about the cafeteria. She’s supposedly friendly and playful and often calls the staff our by name. The staff has also seen floating dish towels and powdery footprints and heard women’s voices laughing and crying.

Researchers have said that the campus is built near the former site of a heiau and is allegedly in the path of the night marchers.