What Is the Legend of the Hawaiian Night Marchers?

Hawaiian folklore tells of the huaka'i pō, or night marchers -- ghostly warriors whose sense of duty has kept them on guard even after death. Learn the legend (and what to do if you hear them coming) in this episode of BrainStuff.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey
brain Stuff, Lauren bogel Bomb. Here in Hawaii they call
it chicken skin, the prickly, hair raising sensation that we
humans experience when we feel creeped out. And no matter
how courageous you might think yourself, you can bet the
in the presence of Hawaii's ephemeral night marchers or Kaipo,

(00:24):
your own personal chicken skin would be on full display.
Long before you see the night marchers, you'll hear them.
First comes the ominous, deep thudding of war drums. Then
you hear the guttural chanting and spine tangling blares from
a conk shell. A stench of death might as salt
your nose. Finally, you may see a succession of torches
winding their way towards you in the darkness. Flee now,

(00:47):
or risk the wrath of the supernatural night marchers, which
have for generations earned the respect of those who follow
Hawaiian folklore. We spoke via email with Lopaka Kapanui, Hawaiian
kuna or priest and cultural practitioner who is well acquainted
with the island spooky folklore. He said the night marchers
are known throughout the Hawaiian archipelago. It's ingrained in our culture.

(01:10):
In most stories, they're ghostly warriors who stride through jungles
and towns alike, adorned in brilliant costumes of ages past.
In their former lives, they protected high ranking chiefs. Kind
Of Polly said that particular leader in life was someone
that was so sacred that, according to their status, no
one could look at them and no one could be
clothed in their presence. Innocent bystanders who stumble upon the

(01:33):
procession and don't know the kupu or rules are under
dire threat of death. In life, kindly chiefs supposedly took
to traveling at night in order to avoid being spotted
by commoners and leaving a subsequent blood bath everywhere they went.
That tradition, according to legend, is carried out into afterlife
as night marchers continue their eternal protective escort, continuing to

(01:55):
beat their drums out of an extreme sense of duty.
Kind Of Polly said, so as it was in life,
so too is it in death. Sort Of like working
for the state all your life, even after you're dead,
you don't get an afterlife. You just go right back
to work. If you understand the lunar cycles and history
of the night Marchers, he says, you might be able
to anticipate their arrival in certain areas. They tend to

(02:18):
appear mostly during the last four Hawaiian moon phases as
the moon wanes to blackness, and they seem to prefer
sacred sites and notable cultural spots. But it's dangerous to
seek out the marchers. Locals mostly no better, Kanapui said.
Families who claim ancestral ties to these particular processions take
the marchers very seriously. Others know well enough to at

(02:40):
least respect it, and whatever you do, don't whistle in
the dark. Some say you might inadvertently summon the night Marchers,
and if they arrive, no walls can stop them. The
only thing that's been said to cause them to veer
from a path is presence of tea plants around a home.
That's t I, not t e a. It's a colorful

(03:01):
evergreen plant with cultural significance in Hawaii as a food stuff, medicine,
and more. In some instances, you might not notice the
marchers approaching. Perhaps a gael force wind drowns out the drums,
or you're simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
No matter the scenario, you must hope that the ghost
warriors will take mercy on you. If not, you'll hear

(03:22):
a shriek and that will be the end of you.
But the night Marchers respect bloodlines. If you're extremely fortunate,
one of the long dead men will be your distant
ancestor they'll shout out that you're one of theirs, indicating
that the warrior has recognized you as a descendant. The
procession will pass you by without causing you harm. If
you don't share blood with any of the warriors, you'll

(03:43):
be left with only a few resources. As the legend goes,
you must strip off all your clothing, lay face down
on the ground, close your eyes, and play dead. Also,
for good measure, urinate uncontrollably. We did not make that
part up. The idea is to convince the night Marchers
that you have nothing but fearful respect in their presence.
Kind of pool. He says that he once personally encountered

(04:04):
the night Marchers. He said, I was in a Chinese
cemetery one evening leading a ghost tour. The entire cemeteries
built over a night Marchers trail unbeknownst to him, he
just happened to be standing in the middle of their path.
Their effect on him was immediate and overwhelming. He said,
it was like being encapsulated. The sound was gone. I

(04:24):
could see the wind moving the trees and the tall
grass around me, but couldn't hear it or feel it.
It became unbearably hot. Later he would learn from a
cousin that ancestors and the other worldly procession must have
recognized him and surrounded him to provide protection from the marchers.
His professional advice if you happen to encounter the spirits
quote the best thing for anyone to do if they

(04:46):
hear the night marcher procession approach is to run. Get
out of there. Make yourself very scarce. Don't, he says,
stop to try to take selfies like some foolish people
have done in the past. He said, just run. Don't
be that person. In other words, if you're in Hawaii
and your chicken skin warns you of an impending night
marcher experience, make like a chicken and flee for your life,

(05:08):
because that might be exactly what's at stake. Lapaca Cup
of Newi diligently chronicles the many ghost stories of Hawaii.
He's collected hundreds of stories on his blog Ghosts Next
Store and adds more regularly. Today's episode was written by
Nathan Chandler and produced by Tyler Clang. Brain Stuff is

(05:29):
a production of iHeart Radios How Stuff Works. For more
in this and lots of other topics, visit our home planet,
how stuff Works dot com to learn more about the
cultures of Hawaii. Check out my other podcast Saber. We
took a field trip to Oahu and are doing episodes
on the science, history, and culture of the food and
drinks there, from coffee to passion, fruit to poi. And
For more podcasts from My Heart Radio, visit the iHeart
Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your

(05:51):
favorite shows. Two