HAWAII'S NIGHT MARCHERS: A History of the Huaka'i Pō

by Robert Kapanui, Robert Kapanui, Tanya Kapanui

The oral traditions of Hawaii’s Night Marchers were first passed down from mouth to ear by those who had witnessed the haunted procession. After Western contact and the influx of so many different cultures, hundreds of people have observed the ghostly army, Hawaiians and non-Hawaiians alike, all from different walks of life and the most common question is, who are they?

Lopaka Kapanui has been researching and collecting ghost stories, legends, and the history of Hawai‘i for over twenty-five years and has published several of them into four separate books. Now, together with his wife, Tanya, the Kapanuis have compiled more than four dozen eyewitness narratives along with the history of the night marchers and put them into one book. For the first time, an authoritative compendium of accounts has been published, providing a definitive history of the procession and answering the question of “Who are the night marchers?”

164 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 26, 2023

Reviews

[Vance Miguel Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I chose this book on a whim, while scrolling through the list of titles Ingram, the independent bookstore wholesaler, had available with “history” and “Hawaii” in the keyword search bar. After reading Hula by Jasmin Iolani Hakes I realized that I needed to learn more about Hawaii’s history if I was going to truly be anti-imperialist. Although I had my reservations about starting a study of the history of Hawaii from a ghost stories perspective, the cultural symbolism within how a group of people view their dead is a pivotal vantage point. I do think that this book was filled with the repetitive accounts, but I don’t fault Kapanui for it because the book was supposed to be a collection of stories about people seeing Night Marchers——almost anthological. One thing that I’m appreciative of is that this pseudo scholarly title included many academic/literary references to other sources. I will check them out. I’m also grateful to Robert and Tanya for making an analysis of Hawaiian culture from the perspective of Hawaiians available to someone like me. That’s exactly the way that I would like to learn. Bottom line: the inclusion of mythological accounts, historical dates, and events, and cultural references made this a worthwhile piece of media in pursuit of education.

[Lana · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you like ghost tours you’ll love this book

Ghost tours let you get to know a place, history, and people in a way that conveys a community’s values, fears, and beliefs. I really liked this book because it felt like a ghost tour — you are told about history and the supernatural phenomena linked to it. Kapanui’s writing style is clean and concise, and doesn’t give into theatrics or gimmicks to feel spooky. Hawaii’s Night Marchers is reminiscent of Glen Grant’s Obake Stories in the very best way, albeit with Kapanui’s personal storytelling style.

[James Crawford · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very unusual book in the paranormal field. It is about people marching information after they are dead and the results of someone not getting out of their way. Most of the book is about Hawaii but part of the book deals with similar things going on in other countries which is important to note.
The night marchers include sounds of drums, a foul musky odor and a line of torch bearers. There's also the use of a conch shell, nose flutes and the stamping of feet.

They also can move through buildings.
The book goes in to specific marching groups. One of the rather upsetting things is that people who get in the way could be killed. The book goes into the importance of prayer in Hawaiian history and the main point of advice about observing one of the night marches.
Stay out of their way. Stay hidden.
One question is why does this happen, decades or longer after the marcher's deaths? Also, why have there been no photos or videos made of one of the marches? They can occur unexpectedly but there are also some that are fairly regular.

The book also discusses the Wagon Train marchers, the demon marchers in Japan, the Procession of the Dead in Switzerland and The Holy Company in southwest Europe.

The book includes a glossary of Hawaiian words (which I think should have been put at the start of the book) and references.

One thing that particularly interested me is that although I've read a lot of books about paranormal things this is the first time I've read anything about this topic. Fascinating book.

[Eric Shaffer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun, entertaining, informative.