On Kauai, there are a lot of stories about a white lady who roams the island ... sometimes she's in your backyard, sometimes she just walks and walks. My friends used to live near a cliff overlooking the river on one side and the ocean on the other. We had wash houses in the back of the house... some wash houses are pretty far from your house. In the evening, she would walk on the sidewalk to the wash house which was about 100' from the house. There was also a fence that separated our camp of houses from the haole camp. This was where all the Lunas for the commercial company that owned the houses we lived in. It was really spooky when it got dark !! Along side of the sidewalk to the wash house, clothes lines were posted all around a garden which was next to the sidewalk. Eh ... you follow me so far or what?? Ok then ...
Well, one evening my friend went to take a shower and there sitting on the clothesline post sat this lady all in white ... right away she knew who it was. We all knew about the white lady and from that time on. My friend wouldn't go to the wash house to take a shower by herself again Her brother used to always hear someone calling his name late at night when everyone was asleep. It used to go on and on and he became very afraid ... his mother told him that the ancient Hawaiians always said that when you hear your name called at night, NEVER answer or go to this voice because you may never come back. He always sang this Hawaiian verse: "... Haena Ea Mai Ana kapuanala ..." (if that's how you spell it) all the while making fun of the verse, which he didn't know what it meant anyway ... I think it means ... this is the end of my story or something or other ... but it seemed like he was always haunted by that ... he used to have bad dreams of someone standing at his bedside ... all in black with a big black hat ... sometimes he would feel this entity press against his chest while he was asleep like it was trying to get inside of him ... this went on for years that it got to the point he was talking to this thing and telling it that he wasn't afraid of it and that he will fight him all the time. He moved to the states and it continued ... I don't know if it's still happening but, he is still fighting it inside of himself.
Another incident happened to someone going up Kokee ... which is about 4,000' elevation. We used to go there to see the miniature grand canyon, the Waimea Canyon. There is a story about a man who drove up that winding road at night and saw this lady in white walking along side the road ... he stopped to ask her if she needed a ride, she politely said no and he was on his way ... about 5 miles up the road, there she was walking along side the road and he knew not to stop and ask because surely it was the white lady ... how could anyone walking be ahead of him 5 miles up the road ??
Another incident was when we played "masta" down at the beach at night, the guys used to hide all over the place, especially places we don't dare go find them. One night, Donald and Aka went in this cave along side the cliff next to the river and hid thinking no one was going to be able to find them ... as they crawled and hunched in the dark, they felt someone else in there as they nudged in closer and spoke saying, "eh, we going hide here too"... no answer came from this person ... well, no one found them for a long time so they decided to come out ... when they got to the campfire ... everyone was accounted for and suddenly it donned to them that there was someone else in that cave next to them. No one went in that cave from then on ... One night, as I lay in my bed with my husband fast asleep next to me ... I felt like he was struggling or had a bad nightmare. He seemed like he was choking and it woke me ... as I moved, I felt something very heavy get off the bed ... I thought he got off the bed but as I turned, he was trying to get his breath. I asked him what was the matter, he said, someone, or something was on this chest, choking him and he was fighting for his life ... he said luckily I felt him moving and when I got up, it got off and left ... and I actually felt the weight leave the bed. But ... this was not in Hawaii, this was here in California ... Do we all bring our dragons with us as we leave the islands because of our strong belief in the supernatural ?
There are so many stories like these. Growing up on Kauai, it became part of our culture and we all accept it as something that is part of the islands. It may be the blend of many cultures and beliefs of the Asian and Polynesian people that fostered these stories of the unknown. These stories made the islands mysterious, somewhat scary at times and definitely memorable ... It's probably true that everyone growing up in Hawaii has had a "chicken skin" experience. It's all part of the Island flavor ... part of our collective consciousness ... stories we tell and re-tell late at night ... when it's quiet ... and you thought you heard someone scratching on the sliding glass door ... that leads to the walkway to the outside shower ... next to the pool ... outside your house in the suburbs ... a white apparition ... could it be ... the White Lady ... on vacation ... visiting from Hawaii ?
About Author
Joyce Guzman was born on Kauai and graduated Waimea High in 1961. Residing in Dana Point, she works for JCP as a makeup artist and sales associate. Gave up working corporate level in 1991, enjoying life working with people who need consultation on skin care and makeup.
Mahalo. kc