Discover Hawaii's creepiest urban legends and ghost stories, from the terrifying Night Marchers to Pele’s Curse. Explore chilling tales of restless spirits and haunted sites across the islands.

At the southern end of Ali'i Drive, at Keauhou Bay, on the Big Island's Kona Coast, is an idyllic stretch of shore once home to the infamous Kona Lagoon Hotel. Opened in 1974, as a posh beachside resort, the hotel, according to all observers, never realized its full potential. Many locals believed the property was cursed from the beginning, for the land upon which the Kona Lagoon Hotel once stood is not just any land. It's a place marked by its former life as a ceremonial center. Construction of the hotel obliterated the legendary Keawehala Pond, once thought to be inhabited by twin sisters who wielded extraordinary powers. These superwomen were the fierce protectors of local fresh water, who could transform themselves into formidable 30-foot lizards known as mo'o. The giant edifice of concrete and glass also infringed on nearby heiaus, sacred Hawaiian temples. An extensive map of the site as it appeared before colonization illustrates the area in astounding detail.  One of these sacred Hawaiian temples, called a luakini, was specifically dedicated to human sacrifice. This ancient walled structure, built from native volcanic rocks, was 7-feet high. Providing a platform for carved wooden idols called ki'i, which represent Hawaiian gods, the fortress-like enclosure protected thatched huts that held drums and offerings. This luakini was named Ke'eku Heiau .

On the morning of December 7, 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service conducted a surprise attack against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii. The island chain was annexed as a territory of the United States in 1900 during the nationalistic fervor of the Spanish-American War, but even though it was a major naval center for the US, it wasn't a state yet. In the attack, almost 2,400 Americans were killed and 1,000 were wounded. The Japanese damaged or destroyed over 20 American naval vessels, including eight battleships, and over 300 airplanes. The attack was carried out in two waves. The first wave was detected by radar at 7:55 AM, but it was mistaken for an expected group of American planes. The bombing started a minute later. The second wave was more devastating than the first. It was launched at 8:40 AM. The USS Arizona was hit four times by a bomber and eventually sank, with a loss of 1,177 officers and crewmen.  Pearl Harbor was the deadliest attack on American territory up to that point. President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan in his famous "Infamy Speech” the very next day and led to the United States’ entry into the Second World War.

Near the north shore of Maui, tucked away in a former sugar plantation town called Hamakuapoko are the ruins of old Maui High School. Founded in 1913, this relic of a bygone era, served students for nearly 60 years as Maui’s first co-ed public high school. Pupils, many of whose families worked in local cane fields or sugar mills, jumped at the leg up offered by this free educational opportunity. They came by foot, horse, or rail until January of 1972, when shifts in the local economy forced the relocation of the school to the community of Kahului in central Maui.

There are many ghost stories from the haunted highways and byways of the Hawaiian Islands. The Pali Highway on Oahu, the Tunnel of Trees on Kauai, and the road to Hana on Maui are some of the most famous. As the biggest of the islands in the archipelago, the island of Hawaii has several hair-raising routes including the notorious Saddle Road. Saddle Road is a long, dark, lonely stretch of highway that straddles the no man’s land between the peaks of Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea, rambling on for over 50 miles. Instead of taking the long way along the coastal roads, those who favor the most direct route between Hilo and Kona, cross into the mysterious interior, the very heart of Hawaii. In the past, this roadway was harrowing for a number of reasons, some practical and some otherworldly. The first attempts to connect the east and west sides of the island by missionaries were foiled on either side by lava flows, what some consider decisive blows from the volcano goddess Pele. Saddle Road was finally built in 1942 by the U.S. Military. Just a dusty, single-lane track created by connecting ranch trails, it was later widened and paved to accommodate civilian traffic. Back in the day, it was not well-lit and included many steep inclines and drops, blindspots, and hairpin turns. Add to that the spooky legends of paranormal presences inhabiting the wilderness it crosses and you have the makings of quite an adventure. While some may dismiss the chicken skin tales of the Old Saddle Road without exploring for themselves on their own haunted roadtrip, consider these witness reports when planning yours. The following accounts come from people of all walks of life, who experienced terrifying, unexplained events like sightings of ghost lights and other strange occurrences, yet were brave enough to come forward publicly and tell their stories.

An homage to the Merrie Monarch in Hilo.

An ancient race of people, who built sacred structures, may still live among us playing mischievous tricks and cursing construction projects on sacred land they guard fiercely. Wait. Are we talking about fairies in Ireland? Elves in Iceland? Nope. We're talking about menehunes in Hawaii.  All of these vastly different cultures hold similar beliefs just as many native people of the Americas do as well. The little people in all of these cultures are guardians of nature and must be respected. Some even believe they are ancestors.

Why Hawaii? Besides the glorious spectacle of sun, sea, and sand, Hawaii may just be one of the most crucial destinations in the world for the advancement of paranormal knowledge. The Hawaiian Islands are among the most remote places on the planet geographically. They are not only remote in terms of mileage, but also genetic novelty. For a relatively small archipelago, Hawaii has the highest percentage of species that exist nowhere else on Earth. Given such unique status, you’d expect far more differences than similarities. However, when it comes to the expression of cryptozoological and paranormal phenomena, I’ve found just the opposite.  Although Hawaii is the only state where Bigfoot has not been reported, many other familiar wonders reprise their proverbial roles albeit with a whole, new cultural context. Such startling cross-cultural connections may be the key to uncovering the truth behind these extraordinary experiences. I examine just a few of these intriguing connections below. Investigating recurrent similarities across time and space may reveal that there is some reality to even the most curious of encounters.