Haunted Kasha House of Kaimuki
The Hawaiian Islands are steeped in lore. Stories of shark gods and ancient ghost warriors are passed down from generation to generation, ensuring some fragment of the old ways is retained in the islander bloodlines. Some legends are pulled from mythology as old as recorded history, from a time when good and evil weren’t mere concepts of morality but physical manifestations locked in an eternal conflict.
In the Kaimuki neighborhood of Honolulu, southeast of Honolulu near the looming Diamond Head volcanic tuff cone, sat an ominous two-story home that, by sheer bad luck or the vicious intent of an unknown ne’er-do-well, became part of a horrifying Japanese folklore. All who entered it left shaken, their nerves stirred by the entity that claimed the property for its own.
The legend of the Kasha House goes well beyond a ghost story. It’s a warning, a cautionary tale for all those who think they’re brave enough to face the Japanese oni.
Is the Kasha House of Kaimuki the most haunted place in Hawaii?
There are many who would claim that the Kasha House of Kaimuki was the island’s most haunted location, and it’s quite possible they’re correct. Hauntings aren’t gauged by the number of spirits but by the power of their presence. Entities like the mythological Nightmarchers are residual apparitions, a memory threaded into our fabric of reality. The Kasha, though, is here in our plane, bound to the home in Kaimuki and eager to terrorize all who step inside.
The Kasha House of Kaimuki may be Hawaii’s most haunted location, but there are many spectral hangouts around the islands worth visiting. On the Island of Oahu, a Honolulu ghost tour is the best way to find the island’s most active spirits.
What Are Kasha?
In a traditional haunting, a specter may make itself known through knocks to break the silence or with mischievous but otherwise harmless acts. Kasha elevates the worst part of a haunting; their penchant for snatching human bodies is only a fraction of the true horrors they bring. According to Japanese folklore, Kasha present themselves as house cats or wandering strays. They’re deceptive, allowing no one to see through their disguise until they want to be seen for what they are.
Kasha translates to “fire cart” or “burning chariot,” which may reference the fiery cart they’re sometimes depicted using to drag the bodies of the damned to the underworld. For the unfortunate souls who come face-to-face with the Kasha, though, the fire isn’t a physical element but a metaphor for the hell inflicted upon them.
Though the Kasha is known for snatching bodies of the recently deceased, a grip from which there is no release, the devilish critter that terrorized the home on 8th and Harding Avenue for reasons unknown, set its sights on the living.
Terror Comes to Kaimuki
The most wicked and dangerous of spirits aren’t typically mere apparitions returning to oversee unfinished business or spirits attached to a relic of their past. Their existence is believed to be brought upon by tragedy and violence, murders and trauma, and all manner of acts that generate a charge of negative energy. The Kasha seems to break these rules, seemingly appearing randomly on a summer night in 1942.
Documented in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, police responded to a disturbance call in the early hours of August 13. Neighbors feared domestic violence due to the commotion and shrieking coming from the home. According to the news report, a young boy and his sisters were being terrorized by an unseen entity that attempted to strangle the two girls. The mother allegedly blamed her husband for the manifestation, stating, “My husband, who left me, is to blame.”
Did the then-absent husband summon the Kasha? Or did the couple inadvertently call it into existence through a tumultuous relationship? All that’s known is that it was normal until the son stated he “detected an odor of ghosts.”
The Incident of the Kasha House on Kaimuki
That August night in 1942 wasn’t the last the island of Honolulu would hear of the Kasha. All seemed quiet for several decades until a story emerged in a Halloween editorial in 1972. The piece follows a police officer patrolling the Kaimuki neighborhood when a call came in from girls staying in a house in the area, believed to be the home on Harding, about an unexplainable presence. Wanting to leave to stay with the mother of one girl, the trio requested that the officer follow them, fearing the voices they heard could be someone pursuing them.
The night quickly dissolved into chaos when the girls pulled into a parking lot shortly after leaving the creepy home, and the police officer witnessed one of them struggling with an unseen assailant. According to the officer, the girl was being strangled, and though he never saw who or what it was, he did claim to have felt a “strong, calloused hand” grab his arm.
The spectral fiend continued its assault as the officer struggled to help, even going so far as to kill the motor of the patrol car when he loaded the girl that was being strangled into it. It wasn’t until a police sergeant arrived and used Hawaiian salt and water to deter the spirit that the girls were finally free of its grasp.
The Horror House, Destroyed
The Kasha House of Kaimuki is a local legend in Honolulu, and if you ask any natives, chances are they’ll have their own story about the hellish beast that once tortured its residents. In 2016, many believe the eerie home was torn down and replaced by an unassuming contemporary build. Did that release the property from the Kasha’s grip? Or is it simply lying in wait for the next victim to catch its scent?
Why the Kasha first manifested remains a mystery. Some claim the home on 8th and Harding was the site of at least one murder, and there are even whispers that there was a tombstone in its backyard. Was the home bulldozed? Or was the decades-long haunting never actually attributed to the right home?
We may never know the true story behind the Kasha House of Kaimuki; its legend has been passed down for so long that its contents have surely altered. One thing is for sure, though. Something did terrorize the Kaimuki neighborhood, and it may be only a matter of time before it returns.
Haunted Honolulu
While the horrors of Kaimuki make for a great ghost story, there are so many around Oahu island. Book your Honolulu ghost tour to dig deep into the local lores and legends, and be sure to keep up with our blog and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok for even more Honolulu haunts.
Sources:
https://godsandmonsters.info/kasha/
https://the-line-up.com/hawaiis-most-haunted-house
https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/hawaii/most-haunted-house-hi/
https://theoverlyopinionated.com/2018/08/02/the-most-terrifying-haunted-house-in-hawaii/
https://www.honolulumagazine.com/spook-tacular-real-estate/
