[Intro Music]
JOLI: Aloha, spooky seekers! Welcome to another spine-chilling episode of Beyond the Unknown. I'm your host, Joli, and I’m Quinn, and today, we are lifting the veil into the mystical and haunting world of the Night Marchers on the beautiful islands of Hawaii. So, grab your flashlights and gather around because you're in for a ghostly treat!
[Transition Music]
JOLI: So, I was just in Hawaii, on the island of Maui and I want to go back haha. It was so beautiful. While I was away, I was looking into the true crime and spiritual scene of Hawaii and I’m so glad I stumbled upon this after our hiking trips or I would have been too spooked to do it.
Picture this - It’s a moonlit night, the air is hot and humid, and suddenly, in the distance, you see some flickering lights growing in numbers as these lights form a straight line moving down the side of a lush mountain. You start to hear distant drumming and chanting in unison, and you look around to see where that could possibly be coming from. When you return your gaze to the lights, you realize they’ve moved much faster than expected, because they’re only a few hundred feet away. The chanting grows louder, and you can see men adorned in traditional regalia, carrying fire lit torches, and spears and clubs hovering above the ground and they move in. You start to smell something rotting, like death itself and then you hear the horn of a conch shell announcing their approach. Shivers are sent down your spine as you realize it's The Night Marchers and it might be too late.
So, who are these marchers, and where did they come from?
The night marchers are said to appear on nights that honour the Hawaiian gods like Kane, Ku, and Lono and they’re typically marching towards burial grounds, or other Hawaiian sacred sites. Most reports account the Night Marchers walking down the mountains towards these sites but others have noted they've even seen them rise from the ocean.
The lore of the Night Marchers is deeply rooted in Hawaiian mythology, and they’re not particular to one specific island, as they’ve been reported on all majorly populated Hawaiian islands since at least 1883.
According to legend, Night Marchers are the spirits of warriors who fought bravely and honorably in battles of ancient Hawaii. Their duty is to protect sacred sites and ensure the spiritual well-being of the islands. Some say that these night marchers were transporters of the ali’i, or Hawaiian royalty like King Kamehameha, and would transport at night because it was forbidden to look at royalty because they considered them to have a god-like status.The groups would march to sacred sites, like temples or battlegrounds or even the chiefs final resting place.
If the common folk looked at the transported “goods” or individual, they were brutally beaten and killed. So, it’s said that the night marchers went at night to try and spare the common people and keep the person important person they were transporting as safe as possible.
With that being said, encountering Night Marcher spirits is said to be equally as dangerous. Looking at the night marchers, or their precious cargo, could result in immediate death.
QUINN: So, what the heck are you supposed to do then if they come around?
JOLI: It’s said that if you encounter a Night Marcher, or they’re approaching the area you’re in, you should lay down on the ground, face down, and pretend to be dead until they pass. Whatever you do, DO NOT LOOK DIRECTLY AT THEM. If you do this, the group should march past you without harm.
If you’re of Hawaiian decent, you could be fortunate enough to hear them yell out Na’u, which means “mine”, and was a way to refer to someone as their own, like they’re one of us. If Night Marchers think you’re apart of their group, they spare your life and walk on by.
Earlier I mentioned that the night marchers would kill anyone who looked at the people they were transporting, and that’s because Night Marchers are believed to be guardians of ancient traditions and are said to enforce kapu, the sacred laws of the Hawaiian people similar to a caste system.
So what were these sacred laws of the Hawaiian people? The Kapu system are set rules to govern the men and women of Hawaii as a form of protection and more harshly, correction. The systems beliefs were based on their beliefs about mana - a term for strength and power from the gods. Ancient Polynesian people of Hawaii believed that the gods made these rules and the ali’i (chiefs) and kahuna (wise men) interpreted these rules in English for the common folk.
Side note - did you know kahuna meant wise men? I always thought it was for a big ass surfing wave.
Back to Kapu, these godly laws interpreted by man governed the practices and daily lives of the Hawaiian people. If Kapu was broken, the punishment was often a brutal death… Some rules of Kapu include Ahi which was around eating, where women could not eat with men, and women were forbidden to eat pork, coconuts, bananas, tarot, and many other foods. Imagine that, many foods grown on Hawaii they can’t eat. They can even paddle a canoe. Luckily, the strict laws of Kapu that segregated women were abolished in 1819 when a new heir of the monarchy came into power.
Today, the term Kapu is still used but it’s much different than what it previously meant. If you go to Hawaii now, you might notice signs on buildings saying Kapu, typically blocking off private property or forbidden areas.
JOLI: Apparently these Night Marchers can walk through homes as well.
I was reading online and some people who lived more rurally on Hawaiian islands experienced Night Marchers walking through their home if their front and backdoor are in a straight line from one another. It’s said that the Night Marchers get angered by locked doors so it’s encouraged to keep them unlocked.
But to be honest, even in Hawaii, I wouldn’t want to do that. Yes, it’s a relaxed place but at least on Maui where I was recently, property crime accounted for over 90% of crime on the island. Many of the homes, even in more isolated places like Kaupo have crime stoppers or other signs at the foot of their property to ward off potential intruders.
[STORY ABOUT KAY BORLEIS running in Hawaiian forest in January 2019 for the 100-Mile endurance run aka Hurt 100. Run 20-mi loop in forest 5x. Friend Cassie took a Live Photo during the run to capture this major challenge and adventure. Major foot pain dropped out of race. Later image family member pointed out walking figure. To this day, no one recalls seeing it in person and no one really knows what it was]
Those who encounter the Night Marchers are said to witness a profound connection to the past, a time when Hawaii was a realm of gods and warriors.
JOLI: And that wraps up our journey into the mysterious world of the Night Marchers. Remember, when exploring the enchanting landscapes of Hawaii, keep your eyes and ears open—because you never know what spirits might be lurking in the moonlit shadows.
[Transition Music]
QUINN: Thank you for joining us for another episode of "Beyond the Unknown." If you have a story you’d like to share, please email us at moody.mediaprod@gmail.com or reach out on Instagram. Who knows, your story might be featured in our next episode!
JOLI: All of our sources for this episode can be found on our website: beyondtheunknownpod.com.
And don’t forget, if you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave us a review!
QUINN: Until next time, listeners. Stay curious and remember that the unknown is always just beyond the shadows.
BOTH: BYEEEE
