Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey
Speaker 1: brain Stuff, Lauren bogel Bomb. Here in Hawaii they call
Speaker 1: it chicken skin, the prickly, hair raising sensation that we
Speaker 1: humans experience when we feel creeped out. And no matter
Speaker 1: how courageous you might think yourself, you can bet the
Speaker 1: in the presence of Hawaii's ephemeral night marchers or Kaipo,
Speaker 1: your own personal chicken skin would be on full display.
Speaker 1: Long before you see the night marchers, you'll hear them.
Speaker 1: First comes the ominous, deep thudding of war drums. Then
Speaker 1: you hear the guttural chanting and spine tangling blares from
Speaker 1: a conk shell. A stench of death might as salt
Speaker 1: your nose. Finally, you may see a succession of torches
Speaker 1: winding their way towards you in the darkness. Flee now,
Speaker 1: or risk the wrath of the supernatural night marchers, which
Speaker 1: have for generations earned the respect of those who follow
Speaker 1: Hawaiian folklore. We spoke via email with Lopaka Kapanui, Hawaiian
Speaker 1: kuna or priest and cultural practitioner who is well acquainted
Speaker 1: with the island spooky folklore. He said the night marchers
Speaker 1: are known throughout the Hawaiian archipelago. It's ingrained in our culture.
Speaker 1: In most stories, they're ghostly warriors who stride through jungles
Speaker 1: and towns alike, adorned in brilliant costumes of ages past.
Speaker 1: In their former lives, they protected high ranking chiefs. Kind
Speaker 1: Of Polly said that particular leader in life was someone
Speaker 1: that was so sacred that, according to their status, no
Speaker 1: one could look at them and no one could be
Speaker 1: clothed in their presence. Innocent bystanders who stumble upon the
Speaker 1: procession and don't know the kupu or rules are under
Speaker 1: dire threat of death. In life, kindly chiefs supposedly took
Speaker 1: to traveling at night in order to avoid being spotted
Speaker 1: by commoners and leaving a subsequent blood bath everywhere they went.
Speaker 1: That tradition, according to legend, is carried out into afterlife
Speaker 1: as night marchers continue their eternal protective escort, continuing to
Speaker 1: beat their drums out of an extreme sense of duty.
Speaker 1: Kind Of Polly said, so as it was in life,
Speaker 1: so too is it in death. Sort Of like working
Speaker 1: for the state all your life, even after you're dead,
Speaker 1: you don't get an afterlife. You just go right back
Speaker 1: to work. If you understand the lunar cycles and history
Speaker 1: of the night Marchers, he says, you might be able
Speaker 1: to anticipate their arrival in certain areas. They tend to
Speaker 1: appear mostly during the last four Hawaiian moon phases as
Speaker 1: the moon wanes to blackness, and they seem to prefer
Speaker 1: sacred sites and notable cultural spots. But it's dangerous to
Speaker 1: seek out the marchers. Locals mostly no better, Kanapui said.
Speaker 1: Families who claim ancestral ties to these particular processions take
Speaker 1: the marchers very seriously. Others know well enough to at
Speaker 1: least respect it, and whatever you do, don't whistle in
Speaker 1: the dark. Some say you might inadvertently summon the night Marchers,
Speaker 1: and if they arrive, no walls can stop them. The
Speaker 1: only thing that's been said to cause them to veer
Speaker 1: from a path is presence of tea plants around a home.
Speaker 1: That's t I, not t e a. It's a colorful
Speaker 1: evergreen plant with cultural significance in Hawaii as a food stuff, medicine,
Speaker 1: and more. In some instances, you might not notice the
Speaker 1: marchers approaching. Perhaps a gael force wind drowns out the drums,
Speaker 1: or you're simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Speaker 1: No matter the scenario, you must hope that the ghost
Speaker 1: warriors will take mercy on you. If not, you'll hear
Speaker 1: a shriek and that will be the end of you.
Speaker 1: But the night Marchers respect bloodlines. If you're extremely fortunate,
Speaker 1: one of the long dead men will be your distant
Speaker 1: ancestor they'll shout out that you're one of theirs, indicating
Speaker 1: that the warrior has recognized you as a descendant. The
Speaker 1: procession will pass you by without causing you harm. If
Speaker 1: you don't share blood with any of the warriors, you'll
Speaker 1: be left with only a few resources. As the legend goes,
Speaker 1: you must strip off all your clothing, lay face down
Speaker 1: on the ground, close your eyes, and play dead. Also,
Speaker 1: for good measure, urinate uncontrollably. We did not make that
Speaker 1: part up. The idea is to convince the night Marchers
Speaker 1: that you have nothing but fearful respect in their presence.
Speaker 1: Kind of pool. He says that he once personally encountered
Speaker 1: the night Marchers. He said, I was in a Chinese
Speaker 1: cemetery one evening leading a ghost tour. The entire cemeteries
Speaker 1: built over a night Marchers trail unbeknownst to him, he
Speaker 1: just happened to be standing in the middle of their path.
Speaker 1: Their effect on him was immediate and overwhelming. He said,
Speaker 1: it was like being encapsulated. The sound was gone. I
Speaker 1: could see the wind moving the trees and the tall
Speaker 1: grass around me, but couldn't hear it or feel it.
Speaker 1: It became unbearably hot. Later he would learn from a
Speaker 1: cousin that ancestors and the other worldly procession must have
Speaker 1: recognized him and surrounded him to provide protection from the marchers.
Speaker 1: His professional advice if you happen to encounter the spirits
Speaker 1: quote the best thing for anyone to do if they
Speaker 1: hear the night marcher procession approach is to run. Get
Speaker 1: out of there. Make yourself very scarce. Don't, he says,
Speaker 1: stop to try to take selfies like some foolish people
Speaker 1: have done in the past. He said, just run. Don't
Speaker 1: be that person. In other words, if you're in Hawaii
Speaker 1: and your chicken skin warns you of an impending night
Speaker 1: marcher experience, make like a chicken and flee for your life,
Speaker 1: because that might be exactly what's at stake. Lapaca Cup
Speaker 1: of Newi diligently chronicles the many ghost stories of Hawaii.
Speaker 1: He's collected hundreds of stories on his blog Ghosts Next
Speaker 1: Store and adds more regularly. Today's episode was written by
Speaker 1: Nathan Chandler and produced by Tyler Clang. Brain Stuff is
Speaker 1: a production of iHeart Radios How Stuff Works. For more
Speaker 1: in this and lots of other topics, visit our home planet,
Speaker 1: how stuff Works dot com to learn more about the
Speaker 1: cultures of Hawaii. Check out my other podcast Saber. We
Speaker 1: took a field trip to Oahu and are doing episodes
Speaker 1: on the science, history, and culture of the food and
Speaker 1: drinks there, from coffee to passion, fruit to poi. And
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