Spooked - Lopaka

Episode Date: October 29, 2019

Lopaka and his adopted father don’t get along. That is, until forces from beyond the veil intervene. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Just because it's a good place. A nice place, a wonderful, loving place. Even then, there comes a time when you need to move on. You're listening to Spooked? Stay tuned. Okay, so when I was a kid, I liked to play with other kids. Sure. I like to play games.

I go seek, tag, race, bicycles, all that. but what I love most was just being alone talking to myself and my imaginary monagerey the adventures I had with Turtle with Al the Rock Monster with the spirit of the pond I remember these journeys as clearly as visits the grandma's house then my mother's shouting boy where were you? Where'd you go?

I don't know how to answer her then I still don't know how to answer her today besides to say Mama Mama if you love someone Sometimes Gallum go free My name is Glenn Washington

Spook starts Now you know that here is Spook We love the storytellers Folks who know how to weave a yarn into a beautiful tapestry And today We're taking you across the ocean To the land of magic

Beautiful Oahu Hawaii going to meet our dear friend and most talented teller of tales, Mr. Lopaka Kapanui. My favorite thing to draw was robots. Take either the blue or the green crayon and squeeze it really tight and press down hard on the page because I was so focused. And as soon as I was in that moment of full concentration, I would feel the bed shake and I would hear, Hey, let's go play. And I would look at Scotty with a big smile, big,

Coke bottle glasses. There's curly, blonde, dirty hair. And so I'd be excited. I'm like, oh, yeah. And, you know, just move the table out of the way, take off all the sheets and the blankets, and hop out of bed and go chase after him. And sometimes the nurse would yell at us, no running. I've been in there for a couple of months because I'm having my kidneys cleaned out. I got kidney problems. And I don't really know why Scotty's in there. But, you know, he never let being sick get him down. I mean, he was always fun and always positive and always wanted to do something. That sort of rubbed off on me. Every day after I ate a bunch of food, I would sleep. And then when I'd wake up, Grandma Lucy would be there, sitting in the left-hand corner of the room

in that chair. She has funny-looking cat-eye glasses with the string under the chin and this long black dress with these white flowers on top of it. And there's almost this glazed overlook in her eyes. That's when I know that, you know, in a few seconds, she's going to start sharing some stories with me. One day they were at a place called Wailuku River, and this is on the big island where the volcano is at. On that day, is strange because it's quiet. And the riverbed is dry. Normally, when the Wailuku River is at its full tilt, You know, that place is just unforgiving. It's heavy, it's powerful, it's bombastic.

And so to get caught in those waters means certain death, even if you're a highly skilled swimmer. Grandma Lucy is walking along with her friends, and there's this boy named Philip that she really likes a lot. And she says he's really handsome. Words, he's tall. He has this nice, brownish hair, and he's got almost gray.

green eyes. And they're all laughing and, you know, flirting. And they come upon a circle formation made of rocks. And she said the stones are like handset. She said it almost smells like mildew and makes you feel like throwing up. That's how bad the smell is. So they keep walking. They walk past the circular formation of rocks. They start to notice that all over the dry riverbed is different kinds of jewelry, watches, rings, necklaces, chains, earrings. So she said the first thing she grabbed were this pair of earrings, had some sort of blue stone in it. She said, they really like it.

And so I take it. And then she sees a pocket watch that she feels she can give to her dad. And if she starts looking around like everybody else for more things to grab onto, And that's when Philip starts yelling at everybody. Put it down. Leave it there. Grandma Lucy said everybody was asking, Philip, why are you so mad? It's just jewelry. It's stuff. We can take it. Philip told everybody, no. All these things belong to the people who died in this river.

Everybody who drowned, everybody who was killed, this belongs to them. Put it down. Grandma Lucy especially says she literally drops everything at her feet. She realized how practical of a person Philip was, and she admired that in him. They start to walk away. And they're not really talking. It's sort of silent.

Grandma Lucy said all of a sudden we hear this scream. It made her skin crawl, and she jumped, and she turned around, and she said one of her friends was facing. towards the circular rock formation. He said standing in the middle was a very tall Hawaiian woman. Her hair was long, black, it was wet. She had no clothes on, and she was pointing at somebody. Grandma Lucy says, everybody's looking around at each other to see who is she pointing at.

And finally they realized the woman is pointing at Philip. She said the Hawaiian woman's eyes rolled over black. And Grandma Lucy remembers hearing screams. High-pitched, shrill screams. She finally realizes it's actually her. She's screaming. Everybody else follows after her. The rest of the kids are looking at each other.

They start pointing back. And now there's this panic. They're starting to run into each other. That's when they all start taking off. There's no sense about helping somebody get up the side of the riverbed or looking to see if anybody's following. Everybody's just scattering on their own, trying to get out of there. I'm sitting there in my hospital bed listening to this,

and I can see it all in my head. I'm covered with chicken skin. You guys call it goosebumps, but in Hawaii it's called chicken skin. Grandma Lucy takes in a deep breath, and she lets out a sigh, and she sort of melts into the chair. and she's looking down at the floor. And she says not too long after that day. Grandma Lucy doesn't see Philip for a while.

It doesn't hear from him. The Wailuku River filled up again. And then she finds out from some of her neighbors. But they found his body miles downstream. With that boy Philip, he drowned. They were fingered to Bruce Mark. found around his ankles, that it might have been that Hawaiian woman

who they saw that day, pointing at them. Grandma Lucy sat there for a while, not really falling asleep, but just staring off. When she would get like that, when I would look in her eyes, I could see that even though her body was there, her mind was somewhere else.

And then eventually she'd come back and she'd be her old self and she would go on to another story. It's confusing when my parents come to visit. When I see my adopted mom come in, of course I'm glad to see her. The second I see her, I throw everything down, I'm bouncing up and down on the bed,

sitting up straight arms outstretched, practically squealing. She hugs me, I hug her. And she's got that mom smell it's that pancakes, but not after it's made and ready to serve when it's still batter. It's like home has come to the hospital. But of course, behind her is my adopted father. And his presence is always like a dark looming cloud.

So my father never really called me his real son. I was always his adopted son. And then my adopted father says, oh, and by the way, Freddie Coderreau, he comes to play basketball with me. And, you know, he's pretty good. he's pretty good. In fact, he's better than you, and I don't know if you're going to get better,

you know, because he always sick all the time. My mom looks at him. It's this look of, what the hell is wrong with you? So they walk off, and I can tell they're having an argument. It doesn't faze me at all, because it's normal.

I can't wait for them to leave because I really want to go play with Scotty, sort of wondering what was happening if he was okay. Because, you know, sometimes Scotty had to go see a doctor or take medication or leave the room. But this day was different. The nurses and the doctor were coming in to see him a lot. Eventually they took him away.

They put him on a gurney and they wheeled him out of the ward. And he was gone for a while. But after a little while, they wheel him into the ward and they put him on his bed. Round about sunset, his family shows up with the doctors. And his mom looks over at me and doesn't even smile, just grabs the curtain and closes it. Because of the way the lighting is in the ward, I can see their shadows. And I hear crying. After a while, I hear one side of the curtain open, the opposite side from me and everybody leaves.

I'm just thinking that maybe Scotty's a lot more sick than he's been before. You know, we didn't play that day. And then I see him sit up in his bed, you know, his shadow, his silhouette. I see him hop off his bed. So I'm thinking, okay, Scott, he's fine. He's fine. And he starts to say, friend, friend, let's go play, friend. Let's play.

And I swing my legs over on the side of the bed and get ready to jump. And from behind me, I hear Grandma Lucy's voice. Don't you get off that bed? Don't you move? And it sort of startles me. I said, why? It's just Scotty.

You know, he wants to go play. I want to go play with him. My grandma Lucy says, no. Don't you get off that bed? She said, weren't you paying attention? That's his ghost. You get off that bed right now

and you go play with him. You're not coming back. You step right where you are. You don't move. Scotty's silhouette is saying friend. Friend, let's go play, friend. Let's go play. And then it's gone.

I really don't know what to feel. I don't know if I'm scared or if I'm sad. I've had enough. Eventually, as the days go on, I get better. And then, before I know it, it's time to go home. I'm sitting at the kitchen table, and in front of me is a plate of raw corned beef, raw onion, and a bowl of poe.

The bowl of poe is my favorite because of the texture on it. the sweet and sour taste of it. And I'm enjoying it for the first time in a long time. My parents are coming down the hallway, and they sit with me at the kitchen table. And they began to ask me about how things were while I was in the hospital. Off the top, I tell them, most of my days were spent with Grandma Lucy.

And we would talk, and she would tell me things about her life. Like how she was in love with this boy, Philip. And he says, oh, nobody knows that story. How did you know that? You know, you must be making it up because nobody knows that story. And I said, Grandma Lucy told me. Grandma Lucy talked about Philip scolding everybody because they were taking the watches and the rings and everything from the river.

And, you know, Philip told Grandma Lucy that it belonged to the dead people who drowned. And so at this point, my adopted father is, you know, he's flabbergasted. He leaves the table, walks down the home. hallway goes into their room. I hear him rummaging around in his bedroom. Then he's walking down the hallway. He's holding something in his hands. And he sits at the table. And he holds up your framed picture of Grandma Lucy. He says to me, is this what she was wearing when she would come to visit you? And I say, yes, that's it. He and my adoptive mother look at each other and there's just this silence, but they're communicating with their eyes.

And finally, my mother says, while you're in the hospital, she passed the way. Other spirits, it is far from over. Spooksters. Thanks for listening to this episode

of our new season of spooked. We're very proud because we're making this in partnership of WNYC Studios and the new Luminary Podcast Network Be Afraid. 26, new episodes of spook dropped this season each week

through Halloween and into a spooky November. Listen to them all by downloading the Luminary mobile app or go to Luminarypodcast.com. When last we left, two closest friends are not actually alive. And he holds up your friend's picture of Grandma Lucy. My mother says, while you were in the hospital, she passed the way. Baby, we didn't want to tell you this because we know how close you are to Grandma, Lucy. We flew up to Hila for her services. In this picture, they let us bring this picture home

because it's the one from the funeral. My adoptive mother comes around the table and gives me a hug, and that's when it finally hit me. She did pass away. But then I lost it, not only because I was sad, because I loved Grandma Lucy so much, but I lost it because I was freaking scared. Ghosts are bad. I've been told they're bad. It's the work of the devil. Diablo. My parents are Portuguese Catholics. And when things like that

communicate to you and talk to you, it's going to take you to hell, that's what I've been told. And I'm conflicted because at the same time, it's Grandma Lucy. She loves me. And I love her. Why would she hurt me?

And at the same time, I'm sad because she's gone. Not too long after when I'm finally able to eat more than just raw corned beef and raw onions and poy. I'm able to eat Chinese food. I just love the telephone noodles. That's my favorite. So something weird happens when we're eating at the Chinese restaurant. A few friends from my adopted father's bowlingly walk by the table.

And they're all laughing and shaking hands and saying hello. And he stands up. And he gestures to my mom and says, this is my wife, Rosaline. And then he gestures to me, and at that point, I'm conditioned to not even pay attention because I know what's coming next.

And he says, and that's my son, Lopaka. After the people leave, I kind of look up. My adopted mother is kind of like smiling at him. And we lock eyes me and my adopted father, and he doesn't say anything. He just goes back to eating his chelfun noodles. I keep thinking the shoe's going to fall. that maybe it's only that one time.

And so rather than end up being disappointed, I choose not to feel anything, not to react. But after that, it happens a lot more often, being introduced as his son and not his adopted son. We're all sitting on the big wooden bench outside, under the big mango tree. And it's a great feeling being with all my quirky friends. We're talking about the movie we're going to go see.

It's the new Bert Reynolds movie where he's driving some black-colored Pontiac Trans Am. And for some reason, I start talking about how cool my adopted father is and how he comes to my caratee classes and how we sort of go out to eat sometimes after. I tell my friends, you know, he's a really great guy. I sort of figured him wrong, but he's actually very cool. And right at that point, I remember my mother, outside and she's got a tray of more sandwiches and more soda, you know, almost bouncing while she's walking. And she comes in on that part of the conversation. And she says, oh, well, the real

reason why he's been so nice is because of this. And then I find out. And she says, it's about close to 4 o'clock in the afternoon. And my adopted mother is home with the woman we call our aunts, on Ruby. Suddenly they hear a pounding on the front door. They're startled. And from outside, they hear Mommy. Mommy, it's me, Mommy. Open the door. Let me in.

Let me in, Mom. My mother panics. She hears my voice. She gets up from the table and starts a run toward the front door. Aunt Ruby says, no, no, what are you doing? Mother says, it's the boy. It's my son, my baby. He's home after. open the door. No. How is it possible? What do you mean? He's outside. No, how is it possible

that it's him pounding on the door? He's in the hospital. He's sick. He doesn't know anybody that can bring him home. And besides, in this neighborhood, front doors are always open so you don't have to knock. Why would he be knocking? My mother doesn't know what to do, my adopted mother. She starts crying. and starts praying the rosary. She's stuck. Aunt Ruby goes over there and grabs her by the shoulders and says, it's okay, it's okay, but it can't be him.

Suddenly there's a car coming down in the driveway. It's my adopted dad and his old Dodge Dart. He doesn't park where he usually parks. He stops in the middle of the driveway. He barges into the house through the living room, doesn't say hello to my adopted mother or Aunt Ruby and goes to the fridge and grabs a beer. It sits at the table.

My adopted mother and Aunt Ruby sit at the table and ask him what's wrong. He says, I punched out from work, and you know the bathroom at the warehouse, it's underneath these stairs, and I'm sitting on the toilet, and I'm doing my business. The door starts to shake,

the door non's turning, somebody's pounding on it, and pretty soon he's like, hey, I'm in here. And it stops just for a second, and then the knocking, starts again. He hears me outside the door saying, Daddy, Daddy, it's me and let me in, Daddy. Daddy, open the door. And he says, hey, whoever's doing this is not funny. And when I get out of here, I'm going to punch you out, but it doesn't stop. Daddy, open the door. Open the door, Daddy,

let me in. And he screams, no, no, I'm not letting you in. And he says, the pounding, all the activity stops and there's this moment of silence and then it's okay daddy i know why you don't want to let me in it's because i'm not your real son he says at that point he just breaks down crying he doesn't know what to make of what the hell is going on and when he finally works at the nerve to open a bathroom door nobody's there and the few people who were still in the warehouse he asked him did you see a little Hawaiian boy in this warehouse somewhere everybody looked at him like he was crazy. He said, no. There's no kids allowed in here. You know that. Afterwards, they get a hold of this woman. She's what they call the Fatsida, Portuguese witch doctor.

And she's very well known. And everybody calls her for whatever they need. She comes to the house and she's a very tall, big bone woman wears a plain brown looking dress with these little flowers all over it. And she has her daughter with her. She's got this big bag that she carries. and she walks in the house and she meets my adopted parents and she says to my mother, can you go and bring me the last shirt that your son wore? My adopted mother goes into my room, comes out with my pajama top, and the woman takes it,

presses it right up against her face and goes, and she says, okay, okay. She says, my daughter and I will go outside for a little while, and we'll be back. And they're outside for a while, maybe 10 minutes or more. But when they finally come back into the house, the Fatsera says to my adopted parents,

there are three Hawaiian people buried underneath this house. And then she looks at my adopted father, and she says, and they're very upset with you. They're upset because they have to be there every day, and they can hear you telling your son that he's adopted. He's not your real son. They have to listen to that, and it makes them really mad. but they're also very sad for the boy.

And so they feel that if they can take the boy with them, he doesn't have to suffer anymore. She says to my adopted father, if you don't want anything to happen to that boy, if you don't want that boy to maket, which means to die, you better start treating him like he's your real son. Otherwise, if you don't, there's three Hawaiian people under the house, they will take him.

It will all be your phone. So after hearing that, hearing why he stopped calling me his adopted son, the first word that comes to my mind is, bastard. You do it for that reason. You can't just do it because you want to. It takes an old Portuguese witch doctor to come to the house and tell you all these things for you to wake up and finally decide to treat me like a human being.

sometimes never mind oh never mind Wahinapu sometimes certain events that occur in our lives require our ancestors or deceased relatives to step in from the other side

and sometimes or a lot of times you know save us from other people or save us from ourselves. Thank you, Lopaka, for sharing your amazing story with us here at Spoot and Spooksters. If you want to hear more ghost stories from the Hawaiian Islands,

I have good news for you. Apaka has compiled hundreds of these stories on his website and his many, many books. We're going to have a link on our website, spootpodcast.org. The original score for that story was by Leon Morimoto It was produced by Annie Nguyen. And so it is.

Understand, this is part of a full season of Spook Storytelling, 26 episodes. And if you know people who like the stuff you like, tell them about spooks. Tell them to be afraid. And if you like your storytelling, while the sun shines, subscribe to our sister program the amazing Snap Judgment podcast.

It's storytelling. The world needs to hear. You know that you have such a story. So let us know this story. Spooked. It's Snap Judgment.org. Spook was brought to you by the team that can see in the dark. Burns and sage.

And say a prayer because they're in the distance, lurks. Mark Ristich. Alan Sussman, our chief spookster is Eliza Smith, Chris Hambry. Annie New End, Renzo Gorio, Leon Morimoto, Jacob Winnic Tenson Delisa, Ann Ford, Eric Ganya, Sanakhan, original score by Lauren Newsom, Marissa Dodge. The spook theme song is by Pat Massidi Miller.

My name is Clint Washington. People that get to traveling. They think the different rules apply. You want to go to Paris. You want to see the pyramids. You want to go swim the warm waters of Hawaii. That is fine. That's cool, but before you drink that last my time, remember what I am.

Never. Never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never.