Ghost Army of Wailua Heiau Ruins

by M.P. Pellicer | Stranger Than Fiction Stories
Poliʻahu Heiau sits on a bluff on the north bank of the Wailua River near Opaekaʻa Falls. In 1930, Juliet Rice Wichman along with her husband Fred lived there.

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Juliet Rice Wichman

The Wichmans had moved only a few months before to their home Pihanakalani on their Wailua Ranch, which present day sits in the area of the Hindu Monastery off Kuamoo Road, Kauai. 

The following is her account of a ghostly visitation of Hawaiian ghost soldiers marching to the ruins of Wailua Heiau. A Japanese worker named Taka came to her with a report of the ghostly noises: 

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Less than a year ago, we moved into the home we had built on the Mauka bank of the Wailua River, and about four months later, our head cowboy came to us in a fever of excitement.
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That night, as he had been sitting by his window, after the family had gone to bed, he noticed the peculiar excitement of the dogs. They were listening to something. He listened too. Away in the distance, at the foot of the mountains he heard drums beating. Old Hawaiian drums — war drums.

The dogs became frantic as the sound drew nearer, and the cowboy more interested, for he had heard from his father that ‘ghost armies’ passed at night along old war trails.

As the sound came nearer, the dogs ran down the little valley in back of his house, and followed the sound up the hill, running in and barking as though beside a column of marching men.

The drums beat louder and he could hear the thud of marching feet, as they passed close to where he stood in the yard, and past him, until the sound died away in the distance toward Wailua.

Now this man is exceedingly steady and reliable and not given to drinking. The cowboy’s Portuguese brother-in-law admitted he had heard the drums too, but had put his head under the covers, and the Japanese stableman who had lived up there longer than any of the rest of us, said he had heard it before.

Although that was the first time we had heard of this ‘ghost army,’ I have twice since heard the drums beat and the passing footsteps, and watched the procession.

Hawaiian warrior as described by Captain Cook c.1784

The legend tells that Ghost Army were ancient Hawaiian warriors fated to march, seeking their next battle. They come forth on the nights honoring Hawaiian gods Kāne, Kū, Lono, or on the nights of Kanaloa.

Their wraiths are seen throughout the islands at the sites where war was made. They are seen carrying torches, chanting and playing drums, mostly at night, but have been seen during daylight hours, walking through buildings on an ancient path that does not exist anymore

If you witness a procession of Night Marchers it is advised you do not impede their progress or look them in the face. Just look away and let them pass. It is said the descendants of the Night Marchers will never be harmed by them.

Night Marchers, or Huakaʻi Pō, are said to protect sacred sites and royal descendants, appearing as torch-bearing figures with drums and conch shells, whose presence demands reverence, often requiring mortals to lie face down, play dead, or even strip naked to avoid their wrath. Looking at them or defying their path could mean death.

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Hawaiian Hula girl

According to legend planting living ti (cordyline sp.) around a home will keep away all evil spirits and will cause Night Marchers to avoid the area. Since they are known to walk in a straight line, back and front doors are not aligned.

After Juliet Rice Wichman told of this encounter, a Japanese worker named Taka came to her with his own ghostly encounter. ​

She described that he lived in a little cottage among "hau trees" at the edge of the river. He said that shortly after moving down to the river valley, he took his children to a neighbor's Christmas celebration. Friends returned with them to their home, and once they had settled in for the night they woke to the sound of drums and singing voices. Believing another celebration was in progress further up the valley, they set out with lanterns to find the celebrants.

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Hawaiian woman in a hut c.1915

As they got nearer the voices grew louder. They knew then it was Hawaiians because of the music and the timbre of the voices. They crossed the meadow until they came in sight of a great "male" stone. At the base there was a great gathering of Hawaiian women of all ages, dressed in native garb.

They thought it was a reenactment of an ancient ritual, so they just observed from the guava and hau bushes.

The older women sat and beat drums and calabashes, while young women in ti-leaf skirts with leis around their necks danced the hula. This went on for some time, and then like a mist they faded away.

It was then they realized the figures were ghosts.

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Juliet Rice Wichman c.1930

​The next year on Christmas Eve, Taka and his friends gathered to wait hoping the women would reappear. They were disappointed and at 2 a.m. they returned to Taka's home. When they reached there, they heard the splash of a paddle. They crept to the river's edge and saw a white canoe disappear around the bend of the river. 

The sound of drumming and singing coming from a distance reached their ears, and they quietly retraced their steps and witnessed the same ceremony.

Later Juliet learned from one of her uncles some information about the Wailua valley, as told by her grandfather who was a Hawaiian scholar. Where now the rice fields were cultivated, there was taro planting on a large scale. Near the old "male rock" a ceremony would be held every year. It was a fertility rite of great importance to the women. This ritual took place in the Makahiki season. She said that ancient Hawaiians had certain days of uneven length around the 23rd to the 28th of December, which were considered holy days. 

Did Maka and his friends witness a memory of the fertility ceremony at the taro patch?

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