Kaniakapupu Ruins
Posted: 09.24.2024 | Updated: 09.24.2024
Legends from the Hawaiian Islands seem endless. The islands are a lush, tropical paradise where the veil is thin, and its inhabitants have believed this to be so for hundreds of years. Its a place where protective spirits and mischievous gods often interfere in the lives of the living. However, certain sites across the islands have greater paranormal energy than others. The Kaniakapupu Ruins are one of these sites.
The Kaniakapupu Ruins, the former summer home of King Kamehameha III, are a place of great cultural significance. It is the very site where King Kamehameha I rested after defeating Maui Chief Kalanikupule at the Battle of Pali Lookout. The Nightmarchers keep a close watch over this sacred land, which is so holy that it is off-limits to outsiders. Located directly off the legendary Nu’uanu Pali Highway and Lookout, a place known as a supernatural hotspot, the ruins are part of a much larger tapestry.
Read on to hear about this site, which is now off-limits to anyone without a permit due to vandalism. Be sure to take a Honolulu Haunts walking ghost tour the next time you visit Oahu to hear all of the Island nations’ “chicken skin” (those are goosebumps for us mainlanders) inducing ghost stories.
Are The Kaniakapupu Ruins Haunted?
Many curious travelers visiting the Kaniakapupu Ruins at night have reported feeling watched. The ruins lie within the path of the Night Marchers. Their torches light up the night while their deadly drums echo in the distance, chasing away trespassers. Anyone who has stayed to witness them has not lived to tell the tale.
The Battle of Nu’uanu Pali Lookout
A great battle took place long before the palace of King Kamehameha III was built. The Battle of Nu’uanu Pali Lookout was a monumental battle between the forces of King Kamehameha I and Chief Kalanikupule of Maui in May 1795. The battle was part of Kamehameha’s campaign to unify the Hawaiian islands under one ruler, a war that had been raging since 1782.
With the aid of the British Captain George Vancouver, who had previously convinced the Hawaiian chief to cede the Island of Hawaii to the British in exchange for military assistance, Kamehameha cornered Kalanikupule and hundreds of his men on Nu’uanu Pali Lookout. Facing the great chief’s army on one side, Kalanikupule’s men were pushed off the 1000-foot cliff to their deaths. It is said that the rivers in the valley below were blocked and ran red with blood from the hundreds of bodies that filled them.
Kamehameha and his army rested at Kaniakapupu during and after this gorey battle. It then became known as the “Singing of the Land Shells” and has been a sacred site for Hawaiians ever since.
History of Kaniakapupu Palace
In 1845, Kamehameha’s grandson, King Kamehameha III, constructed his summer palace. Originally called Luakaha (Place of Relaxation), he used the grounds to escape the blazing summer heat where his grandfather once rested after uniting a nation. The palace was constructed from stone held together by melted coral and built upon volcanic basalt, a privilege reserved for the royal family.
King Kamehameha III, Hawaii’s longest-ruling King, used the palace to meet with foreign diplomats and nobles. As dictated by Hawaiian traditions, commoners were forbidden to enter the grounds except during celebrations or Luaus.
One glorious occasion celebrated the end of a short-lived British occupation of the islands in 1843. Although it only lasted five months and ended with the royal crown's intervention, it weighed heavy on the Hawaiian people. Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea, or Restoration Day, is still celebrated every July 31st in Hawaii. Restoration Day festivities in 1847 took place at Kaniakapupu and were grander in scale than any other.
Ten thousand people occupied the King’s summer palace. 271 hogs, 482 large calabashes of poi, 602 chickens, 3 whole oxen, 3,125 salt fish, 1,820 fresh fish, 12 barrels of cabbage, 80 bunches of bananas, 55 pineapples, 10 barrels of potatoes, 55 ducks, 82 turkeys, 2,245 coconuts, 4,000 heads of taro, 180 squid, and various fruits were used to feed the massive crowd.
It is uncertain when Luakaha was abandoned. However, Kamehameha III’s death in 1854 gives us a good idea. An 1874 map of Oahu referred to the area as the “old ruin.” It has since become a holy site for Hawaiians and a place of great interest for island visitors. But these two contrasting interests don’t sit well with the Nightmarchers.
Hauntings of The Kaniakapupu Ruins
In 1898, 800 skulls were found in the valley below Nu’uanu Pali. They are the remains of the Maui warriors who lost their lives to Kamehameha and his brutal conquest to unify Hawaii. Are they responsible for the many reports of hauntings at The Kaniakapupu Ruins?
The feeling of being watched is commonly reported by those trekking up Nu’uana Pali to the Kaniakapupu Ruins at night. Many have heard phantom drums near the ruins late at night. They have seen the flicker of the Nightmarcher’s torches in the distance. Few stick around to see them for themselves, and for good reason. Anyone who looks the Nightmarchers in the eye is struck down by these brute spirits and killed.
In the days of Ali’i (Hawaiian Royalty), it was kapu, or taboo, for any commoner to look a royal protector in the eye during royal burial marches and other ceremonies. This revered status continues even in the afterlife. If you are unlucky enough to be in their path, it is recommended that you strip naked and lay face down on the ground.
Local Hawaiians leave offerings at Kaniakapupu to appease these spiritual warriors. The palace was built with the Night Marchers in mind, proof of their long-standing legacy across the Islands. A small window in the ruins is built off-center. Many believe it was done so to avoid the view of the Night Marchers as they made their way through the ancient battle site.
Haunted Honolulu
Thanks to the deeds of a select few disrespectful tourists, visitors are not welcome to the Kaniakapupu Ruins. The ruins have been vandalized and are closed off to outsiders without a permit. But the Night Marchers continue to watch over the ruins of Hawaii’s royal family and the rest of Hawaii.
If you want to learn more about these unforgiven royal specters and the plethora of Hawaiian ghost stories told around Oahu, then take a Honolulu walking ghost tour with Honolulu Ghosts.
Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok for more spooky content from around the islands and across the mainland. Keep reading our blog for more tales about the Night Marchers, Nu’uana Pali Lookout, and other chicken skins stories.
Sources:
Hawaiian Hauntings Investigation
https://www.nps.gov/puhe/learn/historyculture/kamehameha.htm
https://www.hapahi.org/blog/lahoihoiea23
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