Tag Archives: pali highway

“Handprints”

Nationality: Caucasian, Filipino, Puerto-Rican
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Hawaii Kai (O'ahu)
Performance Date: April 12th, 2013
Primary Language: English

When asked, “why don’t you drive on the Pali at night?” your response will be a sigh because the answer is obvious and comes in the form of various horror stories and unexplainable events. Long story short, no matter what story you’ve heard, driving on the Pali is always sketch. Anyway, this version starts like this:

So it was said that, a long time ago, there was a young couple that after a date, went up to the Pali lookout and (intake of breath) as they’re sitting there, looking out, they start hear something funny (like strange, not humorous)…

And so the guy’s like, “what is this?” and the girl’s freaking out a little bit…

His date was clearly really scared already and so of course he decided to be all “macho” and go outside and investigate. So he goes out and she can’t see him anymore… and then she hears him scream and then she hears the slap of hands on the car (gestures slapping)…

… and she freaks out even more, and then stupidly, also decides to go outside to find him/discover what the noise is… and of course she also disappears….

Then the next day, when people come looking for them, all they find is the car. They find a car on top of the Pali lookout, all covered in handprints (makes a wide gesture), and no one, to this day, knows where they were…

They were never found. And that’s why no one drives/stops at the Pali lookout at night. The End!

 

How did you come across this folklore: “this is something I think everyone in Hawaii has heard throughout life, especially in Hawaiiana class–but this version was one told more saliently/memorably at freshman sleepover by my paddling coach.”

Other information: “I’ve also heard versions where the car is found covered in bloody handprints, or something like that, but I find them less believable. This version, and the other horror stories from the Pali, are so believable that anyone from Hawaii will agree that driving on the Pali highway at night is a terrible idea.”

This legend, among the others forewarning those intending to drive on the Pali highway at night (which is passes through several areas than many would consider as “sacred” to the native Hawaiians), illustrates that belief really is contextual. One might not believe the story in broad daylight, in the comfort and safety of one’s home, but when obligated to or given the option to drive on the eerie Pali at night, all of these legends suddenly become a hundred times more plausible and a lot of people will go out of their way to avoid this.

 

 

 

 

“Lady in White”

Nationality: Caucasian, Filipino, Puerto-Rican
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Hawaii Kai (O'ahu)
Performance Date: April 12th, 2013
Primary Language: English

So he (my teacher’s friend) was driving on the Pali highway—middle of the day, nothing spooky about it—when he drove by a lady dressed all in white, with long white hair and… a white dog, walking down the Pali highway, hitchhiking. In his head he was thinking, oh my God, what an idiot, hitchhiking on the Pali, that’s so dangerous!

… and so he didn’t stop, just drove right past her…

Then, he was still thinking about it, so he looked in his rear view mirror to try to see behind him and check if they were still waiting there and… there they were, sitting in the back seat of the car.

(inhales deeply) Which is obviously how he ended up crashing the car… So, the lesson of the story is, if you ever see the lady in white, or the white dog—together or separate, you HAVE to pick them up. Otherwise bad things are going to happen to you…

 

How did you come across this folklore: “this is another one told by Hawaiiana teacher, but this time he was talking about an actual friend.”

Other information: “My teacher’s friend was in the hospital… so when he (my teacher) went to go visit his friend in the hospital, having heard that this friend had crashed his car, he asked him what happened. What the friend said in response is the story of the Lady in White…”

There are a lot of legends similar to this one, by no means limited to Hawai’i. This theme of a woman, usually in white, associated with some kind of macabre “aura,” returning dead for some purpose and somehow demanding respect, is found in a lot of places around the world… and these versions also reflect a similar relationship to belief that is contextual. You might not always believe in or expect the Lady in White to show up, but you wouldn’t rule out it happening, especially in a spiritual/”haunted” area like the Pali and much less at night.

For another version of this, see Glen Grant’s Chicken Skin Tales, which was also made into a TV show on a cable channel in Hawaii called “Chicken Skin,” where people tell/reenact various ghost stories from the islands written in the book. This story was featured on an episode, which began by interviewing a man in a hospital…

Grant, Glen. Glen Grant’s Chicken Skin Tales: 49 Favorite Ghost Stories from Hawaii.Honolulu, HI: Mutual Pub., 1998. Print.