Spooked - Pali Lookout

Episode Date: October 21, 2022

It’s March 1980, and best friends Lopaka and Sean decide to ditch class and head to the Pali Lookout, a tourist destination just outside of Honolulu on the island of Oahu. They’re hanging out, taking in the sights… but nothing can prepare them for what happens when they decide to venture off the beaten path. Thank you, Lopaka Kapanui, for lifting back the veil with Spooked! If you want more stories about spirits, legends, and the Mysteries of Hawaii, Lopaka’s got you covered. Produced by Zoë Ferrigno, original score by Renzo Gorrio, artwork by Teo Ducot Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Sing a song of sixpence and never tell a lie. Four and twenty mystics sentenced here to die. If they tell their secrets, the king might let them live. But if they have no answers, who knows what they may give? Even now, there is still such a thing as a keeper. I remember, one who collects the stories so the rest of us will not forget. Today, we have such a person. Spookstock.

Aatro is a once-in-a-lifetime experience who never encountered the other lens at all before select few. The veil between our world and the beyond is more negotiable. You've heard from our next storyteller, Lepaka, back in see. Season 5. And now he is back. He grew up in Honolulu, and as a child, his best friend was a kid named Sean. They were tight. Compadres, the family you make.

And they thought that nothing could ever mess with their bond. Sean and I actually met in junior high school. One day after classes, we were walking to lunch. I saw two kids knock him down and take his lunch. and I went after him. And we got into an altercation, and the three of us got sent to the office. The following day,

right before class, I was standing at the snack machine, and I was about to put in a quarter, and this hand comes over my shoulder and puts in a quarter. And I turned around, and it's done. He says, that's for yesterday. And that's how our friendship started. A lot of times we jumped on the bus, went to go see a cinema,

we would go to the shopping mall and just hang out, have fun, you know, be like brothers, or go to the same martial arts classes together and get scolding from her sensei for talking, you know, when we were actually supposed to be listening. It was a fun friendship, and when we had disagreements, it would always devolve into fits of laughter.

So it's March, 9th of 19. 1980. I'm 17. It's my senior year in high school. One day, on a whim, myself and Sean invited our other friend Ted to cut out of school. Ted picked us up in his father's old Ford Galaxy right in front of the school. The first place we go to is an old drive-in called diners. And we get more cheeseburgers than we need, more French fries than are necessary. And we made a pit stop at this other school to go and get Ted's girlfriend, Tracy. After we get Ted's girlfriend from the high school, we're heading out on the freeway.

We're going to go to a place called the Pully Lookout, just to go and hang out. In Hawaiian, the word Pully means cliff, and it's a historical place that divides the windward and leeward side of the island. As we take the cutoff to go to the Pully Lookout, We're heading up into the mountains And the further up we go The less there is of urbanization Old southern plantation type houses sprawling estates

Abandoned mansions Until finally It's just Verdant, green stunning You can see waterfalls coming down the mountain Until finally there's

The cutoff going to to the right, and you come out to this breathtaking lookout. The second we parked there, Tracy and Ted start making out heavily, and it's uncomfortable. So, Sean and I get out of the car, and we go walking toward the lookout. The lookout is sort of on a rise, and there's just blue ocean everywhere. mountains so high that the clouds practically rest right on top of it. The old Hawaiians say that clouds like that are sort of like flower lays around a person's neck. We're just taking it all in.

I look to my right and I see that there's a path going further down from the lookout. It's overgrown plants and grass. Sean and I decide to take that path. Just check it out, see where it goes, where it takes us. As we're heading down there, there is wind. And it's bringing the fragrance of the ginger plants toward us. And we inhale, and it's just beautiful. It's a very sweet, heady smell.

And it's strangely quiet. We're by ourselves. The wind's got stronger the further we walked. It actually mutes out the sound of traffic. It's like the place belongs to the wind, and nothing else outside that exists. And then all of a sudden, no noise. I could see the wind doing what it does, moving the tall grass and the tall ginger plants. But I couldn't hear it, and I couldn't feel it.

I'm confused. And then we hear girls' voice calling Sean. name. At first, Sean and I thought it was Ted, and that somehow Ted had actually followed us or snuck behind us as we're coming down this path. But the voice sounded like it was right in front of us. It couldn't have been Ted. As we're sort of looking at each other for confirmation, the voice continues. Then it began shouting his name in like rapid succession. The voice went crazy. The voice went crazy. It sounds like someone who's just absolutely unhinged. To make all the prickly hairs on my body stand up,

Sean is frozen to the spot. His shoulders are hunched up to his ears, and his eyes are rapidly moving back and forth. It was overwhelming. It was so ramped up that I wasn't sure what was going to happen. Was it going to faint? Was he going to cry? or was the thing associated with this voice going to show up and do something to us?

Kill us, maybe. But then the voice stops. It's just suddenly quiet, and I thought it was over. You know, it's done, and we can go. My intent was to tell Sean, let's go, let's just get the hell out of here. Then Sean and I hear... It just says it once, and it's like a knife piercing right through me. Except this is not pain.

This is fear. I'm standing with my back toward the freeway, and Sean is standing with his back toward the high ginger plants. We're facing each other. It's only a couple of seconds. and then without warning he puts his chin down to his chest shoulders up elbows out

and in a flash he tackled me knocks me to the ground and I remember my head hitting the pavement and he took off running he just took off and left me there

to the mercy of whatever this thing was that called our names fortunately I was too scared to be hurt. It's all that adrenaline going on now. Even though I was scraped up and bleeding, I just, I had to get out of there. I had to go because there's this boiling feeling in me that if I don't leave, I will die. No one will ever see me again. I get up and run after Sean. I'm angry. I'm pissed and I'm scared. When I catch up to Sean, I grabbed him,

By the collar of his shirt, I yanked him backwards, and I just started wailing on him. It wasn't that he tackled me. It was after everything we've been through, his best friends, he abandoned me. He left me. He ran. And he started to fight back. Ted saw it, and he had to come and break it up. He pushed me aside, and he pointed to this wall.

at the lookout. And he said, you sit there right now. Don't move. And he bought Sean to the car. And he came back and got me. And he didn't say it. Because we were leaving the lookout. But he gave us this look like,

you just ruined this day for me. This was supposed to be about us breaking out, getting away. The two of you just screwed it up. And then days after that, Sean and I would see each other at school. We just walked the other way. There were a couple of times where I actually picked up the phone

and started to dial his number and just hung up. And just thought to myself, why bother? We're just going to rehash this whole thing again. It'll become another argument. It wasn't worth it. I ran into Ted during the break between two classes near our hangout, which was the soda machine. And I started to explain to Ted about

what happened. Ted is a Puerto Rican kid from New York, highly, highly Catholic. And so as I'm explaining this to him, he looks at me, says, ah, get out of here, I don't want to hear that. You guys had a hallucination, or were you just going to make up this story to scare me? He didn't believe what we told him.

And that hurts. Sean and I don't talk after that. graduation, birthdays, all those things that Sean and I did, places we went to, movies we watched. None of that. There's no communication. The rest of my senior year, it was really difficult to sleep at night. The second it got dark, and the ambient sounds of life go away.

That's when it all comes back. I had this fear that whatever that was at the Polly Lookout was going to be waiting for me, was going to show up to finish the job. But it never happened. After high school, Sean and I lost touch. I'd also developed this thing we call in Hawaii rock fever. I had to get off the rock. I had to go travel, see the world, you know, do things, see things, meet you people.

Sean popped into my head every now and again, but the thought of ever picking up the phone never crosses my mind. As far as I feel, it's done. Eventually, I come back to Honolulu. It's March 2006. It's been 26 years since that day at the lookout. I'm at home, and the phone rings. And so I pick it up.

Hello. And the voice on the other side of the phone says. I said yes. And the reply is, This is Sean. When I hear his voice, I lied. I lied to him. And I said, dude, where have you been?

I tried contacting you years ago, but you just, you fell off the map. So what's up, man? He says, take down this address. and meet me there tomorrow for lunch. At noon. It's the address for his old house, where I hung out a lot more often than I did at my own house.

A place called Pupukupa in an area called Wai Pahu. And then click, he hangs up. I don't know what to think. I don't know if I actually really want to go. Or if I just want to blow it off and just not having it. anything to do with it. But the next day, I'm getting dressed, putting my shoes on, and I'm in the car, and I'm on my way. And I can't really say why I went. Maybe I needed closure. As I'm driving along, these memories just kept popping to my head about me and Sean and Ted hanging out and having these

greasy French fries, these great cheeseburgers, these soft drinks with the crushed dice. And just the excitement of, you know, trying to talk to the girl we like and stuff like that. And before I know it, I'm pulling up in front of Sean's place. Sean's house is just the way it looked way back in 1980. Almost as if it was stuck in time. This two-story matchbook house. It's one of those houses that has Christmas decorations.

all year long. Sean opens the door. He looks the same. The same body type, the same frame. Just little flex of gray hair on the side and on the top, but it was still Sean. There's no expression. No smile.

You didn't offer me, Hey, brother, how you've been? Long time, no C. No brother, brother, handshake, no hug. And for me, if it's not being offered, I in turn will not offer or initiate. Sean turned around and walked toward the patio. And I followed him. He turned on the interior lights. It's those neon lights that make that sound first, that buzzing sound before they actually go on.

They sort of crackle. And that's when he went and sat behind the table and gestured to the chair, which I sat in. There was no conversation, no words. Just complete silence. The patio is pretty big, very spacious. It's where we used to hang out a lot. Sean had a pool table. He had foosball.

The colors were bright. I remember that. But now it's just, it's glooming. And the only thing that's there is just the table between me and Sean. And there's nothing else. And then he said, Do you remember that day when we cut out of school? And we went to the Pully Lookout, and we walked down that road.

I said, yeah, I remember. Remember that time when we heard that voice calling my name? And then it called your name. And then he said, I knocked you down. I tackled you. Do you remember that? And I said, yes.

I remember, he said, After the voice called your name, this Hawaiian girl appeared behind you. She had long black hair. Her skin was very pale. She had no clothes on. Her fingers wrapped around your shoulder. And her face slowly emerges.

And her eyes roll over black. And a black forked tongue came out of her mouth. She was going to take you. So that's why I tackled you and pushed you out of the way. Sean tells me that the entire week after that thing happened at the Polly Lookout, that Hawaiian girl would appear outside his bedroom window every night.

And she'd knock on the glass. He'd open the curtain and she would point to the hook that held, the screen to the window sill, indicating every night that week that she wanted him to let her in. And each night, he would shake his head at her saying no. At the end of the week, finally, after refusing to let her in, she took her pointer finger, pressed it up against the screen, and rubbed it across the length of the screen. and as she did that, the hook that was holding the screens of the windowsill,

slowly, slowly came out. Then she pulled the screen back, lifted the glass, and climbed into his bedroom. And he said, I don't remember anything after she climbed in. But the next thing I know, it's morning.

I'm waking up. I'm having my coffee, but something is very, very off. It's just different. I haven't been the same. I was so pissed. I couldn't believe he bought me there to tell me this ridiculous story.

Then he asked me something really strange. He sort of glanced around with just his eyes, and he said, You notice how well-lit this patio is? And I said, yeah, it's kind of bright. And then he pointed to the right corner of the patio behind him. And he said, But have you also noticed that shadow in the corner?

And I look in the direction where he's pointing, and in that corner is a shadow. The outline is definitely human. But with no features, no detail in anything. And the bright neon lights in that patio is not penetrating that shadow. That shadow exists there in and of itself, despite or in spite of the light. I'm thinking, what is that? And he said, that's her.

Sean said, You're not the same person you were back then, not to look out. But I am. Something about me hasn't changed from that day. She's been with me ever since. He put his head down. He was crying and he didn't want me to see, I guess. I realize Sean isn't making it up.

I said, why tell me now? After all these years, why tell me now? But he's waving me off. He's just telling me that that's all there is. There's no more to talk about. He just wanted me to leave. So I get up. I walk out of the door and I leave.

Walking to the car, there's this huge knot in my stomach. It's like survivor's guilt. I started to feel like it should have been me, but it's also a relief, a great weight off my shoulders to know that in Sean's own words, he did not abandon me. but that he saved me. One day, I got a call for my mom,

and she says, there's some things that I want to pass on, that I want to teach. So all these things that I know that I've learned culturally and spiritually, and I want to pass it on. I'm sitting in her living room on the cold concrete floor.

She's sitting on the old Rattan chair, and next to her is her cousin, Auntie Ella. It's about 1 o'clock in the morning, and it's quiet, and there's soft light. The lesson is about, fixing spirits inside of a broken person.

And so the atmosphere while we're talking about this and while she's explaining what that was all about is very, very potent. And I decided to mention to her about the thing that happened with Sean and myself at the Polly Lookout. I didn't share it when I was younger with my mama because I wasn't sure she would understand. But the more she taught me,

the more things opened up. that seemed like the moment to talk about it. And I give her all the details. Right down to the fight, and there's a pause. And she says, just matter of fact, we... Oh, that was a mo'oahina. She is the guardian of that path at the lookout. Traditionally, a mo'oahehine takes a young man as a companion or as a meal.

But either way, the young man. loses his life. And the way in which she seduces him entices him is by calling out his name. But my mama said, never to the face does she call out, always from behind, or from a place where she cannot be seen.

When I hear that from my mama, I get goosebumps. And I start to tear up. It was very intense that, you know, a name was now attached to this thing that happened to us. And it wasn't just some random, malevolent force. It was there for a purpose.

I didn't cause it. I remember asking my mama after that, how come I survived? And she said to me, if it was your time to have been taken, you wouldn't be here. Even though I no longer keep in touch with Sean, I feel grateful.

is a guy who was my brother, who took one for me and sacrificed a part of himself so that I could go on. Because that proves to me that that is exactly what our friendship was all about. Lepaka Kapanui, from lifting back the veil was spooked. And if you want more stories about the spirits, the legends, the mysteries of Hawaii, the Paca has you covered. You can find out more about his work in our own. show notes, Apaka Kapanui.

The original score for this story was created by Renzo Gorio. It was produced by Zoe Frigno. Just as you will find creatures in the islands of Hawaii that live nowhere else in the world could also discover stories, detailing events that can only

occur on these islands. The area has long been known as one of the vortexes of supernatural power. Such places are not only rare, most of them remain unknown. There is so much we have to learn and so much more we have forgotten.

But maybe, perhaps, you know of a place, a grove, a cave that pulsates with power unheard of that houses creatures. The world is afraid of or is never even met yet. You have knowledge of such an area, we will keep the location secret.

I just want to know the story. I need to know the story. Hit me, spook at snapjudgment.org because there's nothing better than a spook story for a spooked listener. Know that spook gear is available right now at snapjudgment.org, and remember, if you need more stories right this moment,

if you like your storytelling under the bright light of day, our amazing, stupendious sister podcast. It's called Snap Judgment, but storytelling with a beat. Book was created by the team but has never found a watering hole they wouldn't jump in but naked. Except of course for Mark Ristich, he insists on a suit and tie for every occasion. There's Davey Kim, Chris Hamrick, Leon Morimoto, Tailed Akkad, Marissa Dodge, Zoe Virigno, Ann Ford, Eric Yannes, Cody Harjo, Lola Abrera, Miles Lassie, Yari Bundy, Doug Stewart. The Spook theme song is by Pat McSivney, Moll.

My name is from Washington. And please understand. The best way to learn hard truths is to do so vicariously. Let another person's experience inform you of your own life choices. And I'll be the first to tell you. I'm walking the dark path. I have made mistakes that cost me dearly. Sometimes so eager, so impetuous, so foolhardy,

that I've even dismissed the most basic principle of the same. discovery in the shadowlands. Please, my errors. My folly. Never, ever, never.