The islands obviously are a very different place today. There are more Baptists than animists. And you can sail into Kealakekua Bay, where Cook met his end, from any direction without undesirable consequences. But Hawai i remains rich with mysterious sites and rituals to which outsiders are not invited.
Sharks embody the spirits of long-dead but still fractious relatives.
And ancestral ghosts are prayed to, in hopes they'll halt construction projects, especially golf courses. Kaena Point on O ahu , where sleeping folks' souls are thought to wander, sometimes into endless night. The H-3, the most expensive road construction project in Hawaii history, pierces the Koolau mountains and trespasses over a woman s heiau in Halawa Valley, which is probably why it s been bedeviled by mishaps, including a recent instance in which a backhoe supposedly levitated before a crowd of terrified witnesses, including my neighbor Sam. A ti leaf on your rear-view mirror helps, too. Spooky Places 2, The Guide to Spooky Places.