Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey brain Stuff, Lauren bogel Bomb. Here in Hawaii they call it chicken skin, the prickly, hair raising sensation that we humans experience when we feel creeped out. And no matter how courageous you might think yourself, you can bet the in the presence of Hawaii's ephemeral night marchers or Kaipo, your own personal chicken skin would be on full display. Long before you see the night marchers, you'll hear them.
First comes the ominous, deep thudding of war drums. Then you hear the guttural chanting and spine tangling blares from a conk shell. A stench of death might as salt your nose. Finally, you may see a succession of torches winding their way towards you in the darkness. Flee now, or risk the wrath of the supernatural night marchers, which have for generations earned the respect of those who follow
Hawaiian folklore. We spoke via email with Lopaka Kapanui, Hawaiian kuna or priest and cultural practitioner who is well acquainted with the island spooky folklore. He said the night marchers are known throughout the Hawaiian archipelago. It's ingrained in our culture. In most stories, they're ghostly warriors who stride through jungles and towns alike, adorned in brilliant costumes of ages past.
In their former lives, they protected high ranking chiefs. Kind Of Polly said that particular leader in life was someone that was so sacred that, according to their status, no one could look at them and no one could be clothed in their presence. Innocent bystanders who stumble upon the procession and don't know the kupu or rules are under
dire threat of death. In life, kindly chiefs supposedly took to traveling at night in order to avoid being spotted by commoners and leaving a subsequent blood bath everywhere they went. That tradition, according to legend, is carried out into afterlife as night marchers continue their eternal protective escort, continuing to beat their drums out of an extreme sense of duty. Kind Of Polly said, so as it was in life,
so too is it in death. Sort Of like working for the state all your life, even after you're dead, you don't get an afterlife. You just go right back to work. If you understand the lunar cycles and history of the night Marchers, he says, you might be able to anticipate their arrival in certain areas. They tend to appear mostly during the last four Hawaiian moon phases as the moon wanes to blackness, and they seem to prefer sacred sites and notable cultural spots. But it's dangerous to
seek out the marchers. Locals mostly no better, Kanapui said. Families who claim ancestral ties to these particular processions take the marchers very seriously. Others know well enough to at least respect it, and whatever you do, don't whistle in the dark. Some say you might inadvertently summon the night Marchers, and if they arrive, no walls can stop them. The only thing that's been said to cause them to veer from a path is presence of tea plants around a home.
That's t I, not t e a. It's a colorful evergreen plant with cultural significance in Hawaii as a food stuff, medicine, and more. In some instances, you might not notice the marchers approaching. Perhaps a gael force wind drowns out the drums, or you're simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. No matter the scenario, you must hope that the ghost warriors will take mercy on you. If not, you'll hear a shriek and that will be the end of you.
But the night Marchers respect bloodlines. If you're extremely fortunate, one of the long dead men will be your distant ancestor they'll shout out that you're one of theirs, indicating that the warrior has recognized you as a descendant. The procession will pass you by without causing you harm. If you don't share blood with any of the warriors, you'll be left with only a few resources. As the legend goes, you must strip off all your clothing, lay face down
on the ground, close your eyes, and play dead. Also, for good measure, urinate uncontrollably. We did not make that part up. The idea is to convince the night Marchers that you have nothing but fearful respect in their presence. Kind of pool. He says that he once personally encountered the night Marchers. He said, I was in a Chinese
cemetery one evening leading a ghost tour. The entire cemeteries built over a night Marchers trail unbeknownst to him, he just happened to be standing in the middle of their path. Their effect on him was immediate and overwhelming. He said, it was like being encapsulated. The sound was gone. I could see the wind moving the trees and the tall grass around me, but couldn't hear it or feel it.
It became unbearably hot. Later he would learn from a cousin that ancestors and the other worldly procession must have recognized him and surrounded him to provide protection from the marchers. His professional advice if you happen to encounter the spirits quote the best thing for anyone to do if they hear the night marcher procession approach is to run. Get out of there. Make yourself very scarce. Don't, he says, stop to try to take selfies like some foolish people
have done in the past. He said, just run. Don't be that person. In other words, if you're in Hawaii and your chicken skin warns you of an impending night marcher experience, make like a chicken and flee for your life, because that might be exactly what's at stake. Lapaca Cup of Newi diligently chronicles the many ghost stories of Hawaii. He's collected hundreds of stories on his blog Ghosts Next Store and adds more regularly. Today's episode was written by
Nathan Chandler and produced by Tyler Clang. Brain Stuff is a production of iHeart Radios How Stuff Works. For more in this and lots of other topics, visit our home planet, how stuff Works dot com to learn more about the cultures of Hawaii. Check out my other podcast Saber. We took a field trip to Oahu and are doing episodes on the science, history, and culture of the food and
drinks there, from coffee to passion, fruit to poi. And For more podcasts from My Heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Two