Folklore in Hawaii in modern times is a mixture of various aspects of Hawaiian mythology

Hawaiian mythology

Hawaiian mythology refers to the legends, historical tales and sayings of the ancient Hawaiian people. It is considered a variant of a more general Polynesian mythology, developing its own unique character for several centuries before about 1800. It is associated with the Hawaiian religion...

 and various urban legend

Urban legend

An urban legend, urban myth, urban tale, or contemporary legend, is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories that may or may not have been believed by their tellers to be true...

s that have been passed on regarding various places in the Hawaiian islands. The following is a partial list of some of these legends.

Night marchers

According to Hawaiian legend, night marchers

Nightmarchers

In Hawaiian legend, Nightmarchers are the ghosts of ancient Hawaiian warriors. On the nights of Kane, Ku, Lono, Akua, or on the nights of Kaloa they are said to come forth from their burial sites to march out to past battles or to other sacred places. They march at sunset and just before the sun...

(huaka‘i po in Hawaiian

Hawaiian language

The Hawaiian language is a Polynesian language that takes its name from Hawaii, the largest island in the tropical North Pacific archipelago where it developed. Hawaiian, along with English, is an official language of the state of Hawaii...

) are ghosts of ancient warriors. They supposedly roam large sections of the island chain, and can be seen by groups of torches. They can usually be found in areas that were once large battlefields (the Nuuanu Pali

Nuuanu Pali

Nuuanu Pali is a section of the windward cliff of the Koolau mountain located at the head of Nuuanu Valley on the island of Oahu. It has a panoramic view of the windward coast of Oahu...

 on the island of Oahu

Oahu

Oahu or Oahu , known as "The Gathering Place", is the third largest of the Hawaiian Islands and most populous of the islands in the U.S. state of Hawaii. The state capital Honolulu is located on the southeast coast...

 is a good example.) Legend has it that if you look a night marcher straight in the eye, you will be forced to walk among them for eternity, but if you have a relative taken by them, you will be spared. Hawaiians say that in the presence of night marchers, one should lie down on their stomach, face down to avoid eye contact, stay quiet, breathe shallowly, and don’t move. Some say that they may nudge you to provoke a reaction so they can take you. Moanalua Gardens is one of the many places the Night Marchers are said to roam.

Carrying pork over the Nuuanu Pali

Local folklore on the island of Oahu

Oahu

Oahu or Oahu , known as "The Gathering Place", is the third largest of the Hawaiian Islands and most populous of the islands in the U.S. state of Hawaii. The state capital Honolulu is located on the southeast coast...

 says that one should never carry pork over the Pali Highway connecting Honolulu and Windward Oahu. The stories vary, but the classic legend is that if one carries pork of any kind over the old Pali road (not the modern pali highway) by automobile, the automobile would stop at a certain point on the way and not re-start until the pork is removed from the vehicle.

• Some versions of the story require the pork to be raw; other versions say that this happens after dark.
• In some versions, a white dog will appear at the time the automobile stalls, and you must feed the pork to the dog to proceed.

This legend has its roots in ancient Hawaiian mythology. According to legend, the Hawaiian volcano goddess Pele

Pele (mythology)

In the Hawaiian religion, Pele is the goddess of fire, lightning, wind, and volcanoes. She is a popular figure in many stories of ancient Hawaii known as Hawaiian mythology.-Legends:...

 and the demigod Kamapua‘a (a half-man-half-pig) had a turbulent relationship, and the two agreed not to visit each other. If one takes pork over the Pali, the legend goes, one is symbolically taking a piece of Kamapua‘a from one side to the other, and it is said that Pele would stop that from happening.

Morgan's Corner

Morgan's Corner refers to two places on Oahu

Oahu

Oahu or Oahu , known as "The Gathering Place", is the third largest of the Hawaiian Islands and most populous of the islands in the U.S. state of Hawaii. The state capital Honolulu is located on the southeast coast...

; one on the Nuuanu Pali Drive leading into Nuuanu valley above downtown Honolulu, and one in Windward Oahu below the Nuuanu Pali. It is said that the apparent spirit that haunts these places are in reference to the murder of Therese Wilder, whose residence was located on the Nuuanu Pali road in 1948. However, both of these places are connected to urban legends.

The story states that a girl named Brittani Lochmann from the Morgan's residence hanged herself on the tree at the end of the road. She was lost for a couple of days and by the time she was found, her head had severed itself from her body, leaving her head hanging by the rope alone. Her head and her body were never re-attached at burial, leaving her to forever roam the Nuuanu Pali Drive. It is said that fireballs can be seen behind boulders here, and it is also said that if you sit under the tree and look up you will see a girl hanging from the branches. If you're in a car you would see a big black figure sitting on the tree above you. The road is closed to cars but you can hike or ride a bike up the trail leading to the residence.

Seven Bridges of Manoa

Inside of Paradise Park in Manoa Valley is a trail for hiking. It has been said that when hiking into the valley on this trail, you will cross seven bridges. But, when you hike back out of the valley, you will only count six bridges. You can apparently hear a spectre/banshee

Banshee

The banshee , from the Irish bean sí is a feminine spirit in Irish mythology, usually seen as an omen of death and a messenger from the Otherworld....

 screaming while walking along the path.

Events in Waialae and Kahala

At one time, the land that is now subdivisions in Waialae

Waialae

Waialae or Waialae may refer to:*Waialae Country Club, a private country club in Honolulu, Hawaii*Waialae, Hawaii, a section of Honolulu, Hawaii alongside Kāhala*Waialae Stream, a small river on Hawaiʻi...

 and Kahala Mall

Kahala Mall

Kahala Mall is an enclosed shopping mall in Kāhala, Honolulu on the East Side of the island of Oahu. In addition to its service as a major shopping center, Kahala Mall also serves as a key stop on a number of TheBus routes...

 in eastern Honolulu were once the site of a graveyard. Since that time, two known events have occurred there.

The Graveyard Child

Across the street from Kahala Mall is a graveyard. It is said that if you drive past the remaining portion of this graveyard with your windows open, you will feel somebody else in the car, usually a child. But when you look at that somebody else in your back seat they are not there. Probably a take on the vanishing hitchhiker.
When you whistle at night and you passed the graveyard,the girl would come.

The Green Lady

The story of the green lady is that of a woman who would visit the gulch of Wahiawa, which also contains the botanical gardens of Wahiawa, with her children. One day while visiting one of her children became lost and was never found. The story goes that she still wanders the gulch looking for her child, or children, and will take any child that she comes across in the gulch. There have been several reports of seeing a green woman covered in moss or mold wandering the gulch. Others say that the green woman closely resembles that of a Japanese mythological creature called the kappa. This creature is said to resemble a turtle-like humanoid that steals children to feast upon. The last known sighting was said to have happened in the mid to late 1980s. In modern times, children and teenagers dare each other to run across the bridge that runs over the gulch at night. Most speculators say that this story was made up to keep children from wandering into the gulch by themselves.