Stalking the lesson of ghost stories

Storyteller Lopaka Kapanui is on good terms with spirits

STORY SUMMARY »

THE Waialae Drive-In, where Kahala Zippy's now stands, was the home of the infamous Faceless Lady ghost. Teenage girls would trek to the restroom in groups, navigating the gravel grounds in darkness toward the lighted structure, which projected an eerie ambience that stamped her presence on impressionable minds. Some said she would appear behind your shoulder in the mirror if you ventured to the bathroom alone. And even if you never saw her, you knew about someone's cousin's best friend's sister who encountered her face to ... well, no face.

Obake Odyssey » On exhibit: Through Oct. 31 » Place: Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii » Hours: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays to Saturdays » Admission: Free » Call: 945-7633 Special events » Oct 21: "Kwaidan Kalabash: Ghost Stories from Hawaii and Beyond," 6 to 9 p.m., with storytelling and a performance by Tangentz » Oct. 27: "Obake Odyssey: Keiki Day," 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., with Halloween games and crafts

It's interesting to note that a similar lady was the subject of an old Japanese tale, "The Mujina of Akasaka Road." The story goes that a man traveling the road encounters a crying woman with long hair who hides her face. After he tries to comfort her and offers his help, she turns toward him -- and he is horrified to see she has no face. She is a "mujina," a faceless ghost.

The historical line of the mujina makes sense to local storyteller Lopaka Kapanui.

"Culturally, when people talk about plantation times, they talk about how all the ethnic groups brought their foods, their dances, their philosophies, their religions. But they also brought their supernatural stories," he says.

The Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii is sharing that cultural fusion with "Obake Odyssey," an exhibit that delves into the history of Japanese ghost tales and "their part in the larger narrative of Hawaii's obake stories," says Mandy Westfall, the center's programs director, who led research for the exhibit.

The show features artwork such as "oni" (demon) masks and woodblock prints depicting traditional obake stories, as well as a craft corner for children and a "confession booth" where visitors can record their own ghost stories to share.

Another corner of the exhibit honors the late storyteller Glen Grant, who led ghost tours islandwide and documented local ghost stories in several books. The center will also hold special storytelling and keiki events.

"It's an interactive exhibit," Westfall says. "We want people to take ownership of it; after all, this is our local heritage and culture."

About that heritage, here's a final thought to ponder, courtesy Kapanui: The dry science of these tales' historical origins is all fine and well. But if that's all you see in them, you're missing the point. Within these stories are "the belief systems and cultural methods with which to summon the spirits," he says. "Every culture has their own version of kahuna."

Got chicken skin yet?

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FULL STORY »

Be a good boy. It's the thought that counts. It's what's inside that matters. Good life lessons from Mom, yes? As it turns out, they might be good lessons for dealing with those beyond this life as well.

Lopaka Kapanui, a storyteller who leads ghost tours and will take part in a storytelling event at the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii's "Obake Odyssey" exhibit, says having good intentions and a positive attitude can get you far -- or at least keep you out of trouble -- when dealing with any spirits one might encounter on his tours.

"When I go to any site on my tour, I always say a chant to acknowledge the spirits with respect. After all, they've been here long before us," he says. "I always treat them with dignity. That means letting them know my intentions, that we mean no harm and that when my work is done, we'll leave quietly."

Once, while leading a tour of Makua Cave, reputed to be the home of the shark god, Kapanui and his group of about 40 people met up with three young men who were drinking. As Kapanui told his ghost tale, the men snickered and ridiculed him.

Kapanui ignored them and told his group to turn off the flashlights they were carrying. While in the pitch black of the cave, tour members later told Kapanui, "they felt as though they were surrounded by people -- like being in a crowded elevator." Many spirits were among them that night, which is not uncommon, he says.

As the group boarded the bus to leave, Kapanui saw the three men sitting on the side of the road, hysterical. They told him they had heard voices saying, "You going die."

All was quiet back in the bus. Kapanui's crowd had followed his instructions to behave with respect and left unscathed. It also didn't hurt that Kapanui had said a prayer as well.

"I feel physically and spiritually responsible for everyone on my tour," Kapanui says. Keeping them safe includes a prayer to spirits, both good and bad, requesting protection.

"Strangely enough, they must honor the request," he says.

But if someone behaves inappropriately, the request for that person's protection becomes null and void.

"That's not a good place for anyone to be in," Kapanui says matter-of-factly.

IT SEEMS that in discussing most anything, Kapanui will invariably delve into a story. So naturally, he found his calling when he met legendary local storyteller Glen Grant in 1994 at a Waianae ghost tour co-hosted by Kapanui's cousin.

Kapanui said Grant's tour included "all the stories and superstitions I had heard growing up, when I was hiding under the kitchen table listening to the grown-ups instead of sleeping in my bed. His tour immediately brought back everything I heard from childhood."

Kapanui felt unfulfilled driving a tour bus for a living, so he became Grant's apprentice.

"Glen would tell me stories, he'd give me stories to read. He had me do research. I literally studied the geography of the sites. I studied maps, history and legends of the locations."

Grant also taught his apprentice that a good storyteller had integrity.

"You must be respectful to the person who told you the story, and to whose story you're telling. Certainly sometimes you must use emphasis, because you're a storyteller, but it's not right to overdramatize," Kapanui says.

"Storytelling is not entertainment. You're a vehicle: The story lives through you."

Kapanui speaks of Grant with reverence, and "there's not a day that goes by that I don't acknowledge him," he says. Grant died in 2003 at age 55.

After his mentor's passing, "people had different ideas of how his legacy should be perpetuated," he said. Grant had not only led ghost tours, but was a teacher, historian and author as well. "But I felt, as a storyteller, that he should be perpetuated through storytelling. That's what he was known for."

Kapanui now runs the ghost tours Grant started. He's also followed in Grant's footsteps by publishing two ghost story books of his own.

But in probably the highest gesture of respect, Kapanui's remembrances of Grant are filled with tales of the ghostly encounters Grant himself had in his decades of work in Hawaii.

There's the story of Grant being summoned by a young woman possessed by a dog demon.

"The demon is called an 'inugami,' and it takes over someone who's been cursed," Kapanui begins. "The girl had basically taken on the characteristics of a dog. Her personal hygiene was really bad, and she had torn off all her fingernails."

When Grant came face to face with the woman, she attacked him. And while that's traumatic for anyone, it was especially horrific for Grant, who had a deep fear of dogs.

"Rin Tin Tin attacked him when he was 6 years old growing up in Hollywood," says Kapanui. "Then he comes to Hawaii and gets attacked by this demon."

Another time, Grant led a ghost tour through Moiliili. At Kuhio Elementary School, he was telling his group that a Hawaiian dog ghost haunted the Contessa building nearby.

"The second he said that, a big wind came, and everyone was surrounded by the smell of a wet dog. People started commenting about the smell, and Glen told them it was coming from the Hawaiian Humane Society across the road," says Kapanui. "'No,' one woman said. 'The wind was coming from the other way.' Then it happened again.

"Glen ended the tour abruptly and quickly walked off.

"There were all kinds of references to dogs for Glen through the years," says Kapanui. "Glen felt it was probably a karmic thing that was following him through his life."

CLEARLY, Kapanui takes pleasure in sharing these stories, and he believes there's a special enjoyment in hearing them told as opposed to settling in with a scary book.

"Reading a Stephen King novel is one thing, but when you're at a location where 'it happened,' that's something else," he says. "A good storyteller draws you in."

But Kapanui says the tales serve deeper purposes as well.

They serve as cautionary tales for what could happen if a person dies with regrets.

"I always tell the people on my tours to love and appreciate each other every day, especially family members, because sometimes we take them for granted," Kapanui says.

"Then, when you're going to die, you can go cleanly, without restraints. All issues are taken care of."

For the ghosts whose stories are being told, "the tales are a way of honoring those who lost their lives under tragic circumstances." And sometimes they provide a voice for spirits who desperately seek help.

"On the North Shore there was a girl who was murdered in the '70s, and her ghost still wanders there," Kapanui begins again. "She wants her story told because she's seeking justice. She keeps saying the wrong man was convicted."