The Black Lava Paths of the Dead

In many cultures, there is a belief that the dead walk ceaselessly along set paths. The practices attached to the belief vary widely, but there are a few consistent variables: the tracks are straight, they are maintained, and you don't build on top of them.

In Hawaii, there is a widely-reported phenomena which is passed down from legend and persists to this day that gives weight to this rather odd belief: the Huaka'i Po, or Night Marchers.



There are plenty of accounts online if you're interested, but I'll go ahead and relate what a couple of natives had to say to me on the subject.

On nights corresponding to certain lunar phases, dead chieftains and their equally dead retainers process along very well-established paths. Like clockwork. Spectral men and women in ornate head-dresses carrying torches which give off a blinding glow. They beat muffled drums as they walk, and you can see them coming from a distance.

Should you fail to GTFO their path in time, it is imperative to strip down and rub yourself with some sort of foul substance (poo, dead stuff, Roquefort, whatever's handy), and drop to the ground. Remain motionless, and DO NOT MAKE EYE-CONTACT.



They won't think you're really dead; but they'll find you so off-putting, that they'll pretend you're not there as they pass by.

Should you fail to get stinky in time, they will take you.

Remember that bit about not building on these paths? Well, the haole real-state moguls did just that. Consequently, there are frequent reports of ghost processions just marching right the heck through condos, hotel lobbies, and the like.

If any Hawaiians have a Night Marchers tale to contribute, that would be dandy.

reply to post by mistermonculous


This is an awesome post! Are there any eyewitness accounts of this occurring? Which lunar phases trigger this?

Wonderful! Are you sure that they are turned off by the smell, or just think the person a stark raving idiot for rolling in dung or whatnot when they come around? I like the idea of ghosts marching through some pretentious bastard's million dollar condo and scaring the wits out of everybody there.... thanks, this post made my day!

reply to post by EvanJP


Thanks! Yeah, man, there are a LOT of eye-witness accounts.

From here:

It was early one Sunday Morning, about 2 am to be exact, and my friends and I were just cruising around.....it just so happened we stopped by the Pali Lookout on O'ahu. It was a moonless night, and the stars were looking down upon us with an eerie gaze, as we walked from our cars to the lookout where so many years ago, King Kamehameha had defeated the Cheiftain of O'ahu in the great battle of the Nuuanu Pali....(he threw down the warriors of his enemy, hundreds of feet to where there now is a freeway.......lots more stories about that one), a fog had somehow surrounded us. There was a silence among my friends and I, and soon after, fear and suspicion ensued. "BOOM, BOOM...BOOM, BOOM" From the distance, a chant was heard. The language was unmistakenly Hawaiian, but there were only 6 of us here and no one else on the entire lookout. "BOOM, BOOM.....BOOM, BOOM" The drumming was coming closer. My friends and I could make out a procession of light, no, torches, coming towards us. Suddenly, I saw that my friends were nowhere to be seen, and I heard footsteps scattering into the fog filled area. They had ran to their cars. I looked around and saw that the procession was nearing. They were warriors, getting ready to face their enemy once again, to re-enact a battle they had so long ago lost. I noticed they had no legs, and from their gourd helmets, their was no sign of mercy, no sign of humanity, no sign of anything at all, except for eternal anger.....I found it fascinating, and I also found myself running as my friends had....Later I asked them what I just saw, and my friend who was Hawaiian turned pale. He told me that I was a lucky person, lucky that I had run, lucky that they did not notice me, lucky that I was still alive. "Those were the Night Marchers" he said in grim tones. "You lucky you run. Bumbye (later in pidgin english) you would have been dead, because your not Hawaiian, they see you as enemy and kill you there on the spot because you walk in front of Royalty!" The penalty for crossing their paths would have been death in Mystical Hawaii.

Also several here.



As for lunar phases, here's what I found:

There are a couple of notions on this," Hannah explains. "Sometimes we hear the term Po-kane, po being night, kane being one of the nights of the Hawaiian lunar calendar, a night when there is no moon. And we hear, especially when I was growing up in Territorial Hawai‘i, Pokane, those were the night marchers.

"But if we look to convention of the pre-contact era, on the night when the moon casts no shadow, the ali‘i and the kahuna might go out and do certain activities that, if done during daylight, caused them to cast a shadow, and there would be a whole set of protocols associated of that casting of the shadow. So Pokane becomes a night when the ali‘i and the kahuna might be out and about doing business particular to their station in life: refurbishing heiau, for example. When the term of Ku gives way to the term of Lono, and vice versa, for example.

"So the earliest traditions that I heard that were associated with Pokane, were associated with the chiefs and their entourages, who would be out and about on a night when there was no moon."

Originally posted by volafox
Wonderful! Are you sure that they are turned off by the smell, or just think the person a stark raving idiot for rolling in dung or whatnot when they come around? I like the idea of ghosts marching through some pretentious bastard's million dollar condo and scaring the wits out of everybody there.... thanks, this post made my day!

Yeah, I really love that image too: kicking back on your leather sofa with a nice scotch after a nice day on the courses, and then- *thump-thud-thumpiity-thump!* And a bunch of transparent dudes march through your tastefully painted walls and ruin your evening.

As for the stankify-yo'self tactic, I think it might have something to do with indignity, yeah; but moreso with impurity. I dunno, just the impression I got from what my friends relayed to me.

reply to post by mistermonculous


Thanks! I was hoping for a bit more in the lunar aspect, however, I think that is pretty clear of when this would be occurring!

Found an interesting account of a Viking variation on the processing dead theme.

Suddenly I see torches on top of the mountain... As I look further I see people walking from on top of the hill coming down in a like large zigzag winding march. It was dark so I could not see where they were coming from, but they were a lot of them walking slowly down the hill to the beach.

... Something about the moon that evening had something to do with it too, I believe...

...I can give you a description of the leaders. The ones that were in the front row. They were 3. The one in the middle is the one that came straight at me, and the two that were one either side of him kept walking with there torches leading the group away across the beach. The leader looked like a big muscular very dirty blond long haired viking warrior. He had a metallic shielded clothing and boots, but his stomach was exposed, and his arms and legs. He was moving like he was going to attack us.

T

And for a Star Wars variation, you can check out the Star Wars holiday special. They walk into the sun.

This is a great story and one of my favorites from childhood. I have had friends in the past from Hawaii and have heard some really good stories. Turns out that a lot of the taboo sites around the islands are treated much like we treat haunted houses in America and elsewhere; the teenagers love to go there for a scare.

One buddy of mine had a really good one. He said he and his friends went to a taboo spot to try their luck. He said it was a car load of friends. They got to the spot and nothing happened right away so he said they all sort of mellowed out and were talking when what sounded like a stone hit the roof of the car. They all got scared and tense and then another hit the car and then another and another until the car was being rained on by what he said sounded like rocks. They got the hell outta there and when they got to where they were going and calmed down they were surprised to find the car not damaged at all.

Something is up on islands all over because the craziest stories are from the Philippines; I have had loads of friends from there and they all seem to have a story.

The straight track thing is interesting too. I have a whole set of personal beliefs about those.

Here is the thread I started on them, if you haven't had a chance to look it over.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

“Feng-shui, the ancient Chinese art of landscape divination, has its ancient roots in ancestor worship and Taoism, which in turn derived from shamanism. One of Feng-shui's basic tenets is that houses and tombs should not be built on straight lines in the landscape. Such features include roads, ridges, river courses, lines of trees, fences and such like.

They all facilitated the passage of troublesome spirits, so if a tomb or building was on the course of such an "arrow" in the land, then preventative measures had to be taken. These included the erection of physical barriers to mask the entrance to the building, placing fearsome "door guardian" effigies either side of the door, or placing a special mirror at the entrance so that any horrible spirits would scare themselves off by their own reflections.

This basic idea of spirits traveling in straight lines is found all around the Pacific Rim, but the association of straight ways across the land with the passage of spirits is even wider. In Laos, for example, the Hmong peoples have a rule that a new house in a village should not be built directly in front or directly behind another house. This is because spirits travel in straight lines, and when corpses are moved from the house for burial they must go straight out of the house.

Similar invisible spirit lines occur throughout Europe, with features like fairy passes in Ireland, which link prehistoric earthworks (and on which one was not supposed to build, similar to Feng-shui ideas), and Geisterwege in Germany, linking medieval cemeteries.”

www.pauldevereux.co.uk...

My theory is that Human beings once spent quite a lot of their free time engaging in practices that were meant to 'manage the dead'. maybe the beaches of Hawaii are still a prime location for this due to their remoteness and the fact that there is not much obstructing a straight on march?

reply to post by Frater210


CRAP! Becker-Hagens! I should have thought about that man!

haha, so we need to pinpoint some of these accounts and see if any line up!!!!! Thanks for that article, it would have taken me awhile to connect those dots.

I, personally, wish to live upon a major ley line intersection..

reply to post by Frater210


Alright, it's slightly off topic, but as long as you've thrown down with Philippines and mondo-spookiness, I happen to have an anecdote.

My dad was a Mormon missionary assigned to Manila and the outlying areas. One hot afternoon, he and Brother Brad (pseudonym) were walking a dirt road way the hell out in the boonies. Around a bend appeared a house on stilts.

A very, very old man sat in a cane rocker on the porch. He looked effing ancient, long wispy beard, milky cataracts, funky skin disease. As they approached the house, the man called out to them.

In English.

With a mid-western accent.

Greeted Brother Brad by name.

And proceeded to quote perverted scripture at them.

Brother Brad went white, grabbed my pop by the elbow, and frog-marched him down the road; away from the old man who had meanwhile begun to screech garbled obscenities after them.

Once they were out of earshot, my dad asks "WTF?"

Brad replies, "That was my father's voice. He's been dead for seven years."

I had to badger my dad for HOURS before he told me that story, and he was pretty shaken up afterward.

reply to post by mistermonculous


i do love a good yarn. my family has heap of them

reply to post by mistermonculous


Ah hah! And there he was just around the bend on the path. That was a kick ass story, MM, thank you so much for that one. I can't remember the last time I heard a spookier one. Made my skin crawl a little.

The same friend that told me the 'rocks hitting the car' story also told me one concerning the Night Marchers. When he told me the story we were with another Hawaiian dude and I remember that when he began to tell this story the other guy glanced at him like, "Oh, yeah, those guys". It is really short and sweet but it follows the theme.

His Uncle had taken him fishing and as evening drew down they were deciding on whether or not to wrap it up when my friend said he heard drums, so did his Uncle, and very soon they heard 'people walking down the beach' a lot of them he said. Then he said his Uncle told him to close his eyes and to not open them again until the sounds had passed. My buddy said that he was so scared that he did not open his eyes at all but that it was as if many people pounding on drums had just passed right by him. They opened their eyes and split and then I remember him telling me that his Uncle shared the legend with him.

It was a long time ago but the story was so cut and dry that I don't think I messed it up.

Man some crazy stories The defiling of yourself seems to me as a way to make yourself "below" the royalty of the marchers. Very cool thread

Holy Moses how about this one...

Informant: Female/16/mixed ancestry
Location: Kamehameha School, Oahu campus

I was walking back to Kapuaiwa dormitory at Kamehameha one night around 9ish when my flower blew out of my hair. I chased it all the way to the bottom of the dorms. I made my way back up to Kapuaiwa but took a wrong turn and ended up walking to the cafeteria. When I got there it was real quiet and it started creeping me out, so I went the back way to get into the dorm when all of a sudden got to I started hearing the beats of the pahu.

I thought it was the hula team practicing, but they were all the way down at Keku, so I decided to follow the beat of the pahu. It led back down to the front door of Kapuaiwa.

I got to the bottom of Kapuaiwa and realized the sound got really loud at Lunalilo dorm, so I walked around a bit and noticed that the sound was coming out of nowhere. As I got closer to the lounge at Lunalilo, it started to get real hot (and it was a cool night) and the pahu was getting louder, so I freaked out and started to walk back up. I heard something, so I turned around and saw that a fire had started. I called campus security but by the time they came, the fire was gone and it seemed like there wasn't even a fire at all. Security told me go back to my dorm and just get some rest because they said I looked real tired.

I got back up to my dorm, took a shower, did my homework and stuff and then decided to go to bed. I woke up around 2am and was real thirsty, so I decided to go down to the lounge to get a drink of water. When I got there, I heard the beat of the pahu again and chanting. I remembered the article I read earlier that day about the night marchers and started to wonder if that’s what I was hearing.

I sat down on the couch to drink my water when I saw a torch coming down the hall outside. I thought I was seeing things so I just closed my eyes. When I opened them again and I could see night marchers walking down the hall and as they walked, the pahu and the chanting got louder. I ran back up to my room scared and hid under the covers. I looked out my window that over looks the whole dormitory and on the main road, there were the night marchers walking the campus.

Night marchers are so scary because they take people with them if they get in their path. I told my friend's about what I saw the next day, and they said that some of their roommates had to go to the nurse in the middle of the night because they we're sleep walking outside.

www.weirdhawaii.com...

This one has some of the earmarks of Lunacy. It sounds like the event did not just effect the one student telling the tale; it is really creepy when you imagine what it must have been like with the drumming and the chanting and the fire going on, students careening about in slow motion sleep walk, and this poor girl is watching the Marchers.

The story linked above with the guy and his friends at the lookout point is really cool, too, because I love that he mentions that the Marchers had no legs; those kind of details are hard to come by. Many of the stories I hear from the Phillipines involve beings that are missing limbs and heads.

Lunalilo dorm, huh?

This one has some of the earmarks of Lunacy. It sounds like the event did not just effect the one student telling the tale; it is really creepy when you imagine what it must have been like with the drumming and the chanting and the fire going on, students careening about in slow motion sleep walk, and this poor girl is watching the Marchers.

Allllll sorts of moon references peppered around this stuff. Maybe these things are penetrating through the soft places the moon makes more yielding.

The story linked above with the guy and his friends at the lookout point is really cool, too, because I love that he mentions that the Marchers had no legs; those kind of details are hard to come by.

That struck me as well. Chinese ghosts = no feet. And the Chinese really seem to be the experts on the mechanics of the walking (well, hovering, I guess) dead.

reply to post by mistermonculous


That is actually a really crazy story and it has real cinematic quality. I read it again. What a scene that must have been. These loa seem to be really strong too because they seem to regularly defy the right angle 'rule'. The description in the story is a little dream like and chaotic but it is beginning to seem like the apparition becomes most intense when they are out in the open and can walk straight. Like maybe the angles of the campus buildings and hotel lobbies and such just bounce the noise and light around until they hit open space where they can be seen.

Whew, I had no idea that it was such a highly documented thing. Very, very cool stuff.

...there were the night marchers walking the campus.

Oooohooooo, God that's creepy.

Something is up on islands all over because the craziest stories are from the Philippines; I have had loads of friends from there and they all seem to have a story.

You know, I have a notion that it may have something to do with proximity to the ocean. But I couldn't tell you why.

reply to post by mistermonculous


You know, it crossed my mind in a nebulous way as well; the noise part of it somehow made me think of it. A lot of the stories I have heard from PI have seemed to me at times to be connected to the cane fields.

Man that story from your father is really good too.