The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1902-09-22
QUEER STORIES OF
THE HOUSE IN
NUUANU
WEIRD HAPPENINGS THAT HAVE
OCCURRED ALMOST CONTINU-
ALLY AS FAR BACK AS OLD
RESIDENTS CAN RECALL.

aDllty, II situated on the mainland,
come under the jurisdiction of the So
ciety for Psychical Research so numer-
Gus, so authenticated and so inexplca-
BILE are the tales of weired happenings
that have occurred almost continually,
as far back as the memory of the old
est inhabitant can carry.
The house might be called the House
of the FOOTBALLS" the echoing footsteps
of invisible persons being heard every
twilight evening and through the night
but for more vigorous manifestations
of apparently ghOstly visitants have
been Witnessed and felt by visitors to
the mansion, as witness the spook
mark of Major Seward. 1t is a verit-
able "Halelapu," a "ghosthall."
once Queen Emma inhabited the
| dwelling and even in those days stories
were current regarding the canniness
of the place. w. l.. Green, once inhaD-
| tied it and even he told strange stories.
| The old missionary families, when
| those who are now grown up men were
| children, knew that their families and
the native children eschewed the neigh
| borhood of the house. No mangoes
were even stolen from it's garden. Par
ties have been formed to investigate
the house and it's possible terrors over
night by the older and bOlder spirits
among the younger element Parents
sometimes forbade and sometimes went
the length of fetching away the ven
turesome youngsters before night ran,
but no one who remained was ever
disappointed. Something always hap
pened.
Haunted houses are not uncommon
in Hawaii There is the old Emerson
homestead at Waialua. There is the
old DR.. Hoffman residence on Nuuanu
street between the Along and Water
house properties. Both of these are
haunted and in the latter no one has
ever stayed for long. Judge Humph-
reys occupied the house for short
lease. An empty house with dusty VIM
dows like dead eyes, with untrimmed
gardens and yawning shutters seems
suggestive to the native mind OF lapus
(ghosO.
The race is superstitious. Theodore
Wores brings a story of a Samoan Gus
tom where after the death of warrior
or indeed of any one, four of the near
est relatives sit at the corners of a ia
pa and wait, wait through the hot day
until some living thing, tiny lizard,
cricket, or house beetle, comes on the
mat. 1t is bounced on and carried Off.
Then with ceremony it is killed ana
the soul of the departed metampsychO-
sized into the intruder, set free. w an
|
Stevenson. is the site of a big fight
during the last uprising and the ghosts
of the deaQ are still supposed to hover
over the battle field
Coming to more tangible times, the
spook house of Nuuanu valley does not
seem to have waned in reputation with
growing civilization. The ghosts are
well known personalities. When the
Duke of Edinburgh visited Hawai-
Queen Emma added to the house DIG
banquet hall. Two rooms adJoin thls
at the end of the building. For long
the house was untenanted, the govern
ment paying a man $40 a month to look
after the place. Windows and doors
disappeared under the depredations OF
house building natives and the building
was a wreck until taken over by James
Gordon Spencer, who took the place OIL
/ the hands of a grateful government
unable to find tenant.
The house was rehabilitated, WIN
dows and doors replaced. The big ban
Quoting hall has been turned into
dining room and billiard table stands
! in one corner. A screen stands between
the big hall and the one of the rooms
adjoining. The old hall and one of the
neighbOring rooms is haunted by mani
festations of the late Queen Emma,
and the young prince of Hawaii who
died young. Here are some of the
stories.
Major Seward, we'll known to all ka-
maainas, slept there one night. IN
the morning he told his story. lie
awoke and saw a native woman with
regal carriage who looked like Ruth. A
female attendant, yelled, was with her
The major attempted TO rise but Sc
rape was thrown over him from behind
and he was dragged back. He made
another attempt and the elder woman
thrust him back, grasping his thigh. A
third attempt resulted in the disap-
pearanCe of the figures The story was
laughed away as Indigestion pure and
simple.
The next day Seward went bathing.
John A. Cummins was in the party. On
Stewards thigh was a black stain, not
a bruise, not painful. 1t would not
wash off and the major showed it to
Cummins who asked him where he had
slept over night, then informing him it
was a spook mark and brought bad
luck. Two months later Major Seward
was arraigned for treason.
A young lady of a well known FAM
lily, sleeping in the room of the big
hall, woke in the night to see by moon
light the head, trunkless, of a young
Hawaiian boy, beside hers. Another
find himself in another room, wrapped
in his blanket. A vacation party of
teaching sisters with their charges,
heard trunks and chairs pulled about
in the big hall. The son of the present
owner was one day seated at the bill
lard table, cutting out some papers.
His mother passed him, as he thought,
and her skirt bruised him as she went
by. He called her back to show him
how to handle his work, once, twice,
then petulantly a third time, when his
mother appeared from an entirely diff
ferent part of the house.
Theodore Wores was a guest for the
night and slept in the small room with
the screen. In the middle of a perfect
ly calm night he was awakened by the
heavy screen falling with a smash
and rising, saw it dragged across the
floor There was not a breath of wind
stirring al the time
The present occupants are used to
the footballs in the big rooms and nave
long ago given up trying to trace them
to possible intruders. mo one" says