Welcome to Haunted Road, a production of I Heart Radio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Minky listener Discretion is advised. Years ago, I was walking toward a cliff in Hawaii in the middle of the night. The cliff was on the island of Oahu and was rumored to be haunted. The road we were hiking up was very wooded, empty, and we could barely see our hands in front of our faces. We were being led by local tour guide and cultural practitioner Joe Espinda, or as we know him, Uncle Joe. As our small group walked in the darkness, Uncle Joe explained that some believed the night marchers would sometimes traverse this same path. In Hawaiian mythology, night marchers are the deadly ghosts of ancient Hawaiian warriors. They march in darkness after sunset and march as a group continuously until just before sunrise. Anyone living along their path may hear chanting sounds of blown conk shell tones and marching noises in the night. The following signs are a foul and musky, deathlike odor and torches getting brighter and brighter as the night marchers get closer ancient Hawaiian beliefs state that any mortal looking upon or being seen in defiance toward the marchers will die violently. As we stood, completely enamored by the legend of the night Marchers, something happened. We all heard steps on the road ahead. Everyone, including Uncle Joe, froze and went instantly silent. We listened as the wind picked up, and we could hear the soft scratch of leaves tumbling across the road. But there was something else, something ahead was moving, moving toward us. My entire body froze, and I was all at once strongly terrified, but also yearsly curious. What were we about to see? The air changed, it became almost static, and every hair on the back of my neck raised. Just then, out of the darkness trotted a dog, a large black dog. He stood before us for a moment before walking up to each of us. We pet him and let him lick our hands, and then he ran back into the woods. Uncle Joe told us that was a sign we were allowed to move forward. The dog had been sent to give us permission, so we followed his Uncle Joe chanted and saying, and we made our way to the cliff. It was In that moment, I knew and felt that hauntings of Hawaii are very different. They are looked at with respect and intense spirituality. I felt it to my bones that night. So with respect, let's visit one of the few places I've been able to investigate in Hawaii, the historic and very haunt did Hawaii's Plantation Village. I'm Amy Brunei, and welcome to Haunted Road. Captain James Cook, an Englishman with the British Royal Navy, came across the Hawaiian Islands on his third voyage into the Pacific and seventy eight. It seems like he was the first white person to really take note of sugarcane, and he spread the word throughout America and Europe. From this point onward, Westerners poured into the islands. They brought many new things with them, but unfortunately, one of those was disease. Although sugarcane has been present in Hawaii since its introduction in six d, it wasn't dominated by industrial processes until eighteen too, when an unknown man established the first sugar mill in the islands. About thirty years later, the first export was delivered to the US, and within a decade, sugarcane was a staple of Hawaiian agricultural production. A further catalyst for this intensive, protracted, and demanding production of sugarcane can be traced to the Great Mahela of eighty eight. This active governance opened the doors of Hawaii to foreigners who wanted to own land in the islands. Amplified by an ever increasing demand from the US for more sugar, and bolstered by the Pacific trade routes and settlements related to the gold rushing California, Hawaii sugarcane was a top priority. Sugarcane cultivation required a pool of cheap labor, and with native Hawaiians dying from measles, mumps, whooping cough, and other contagious diseases for which they lacked immunity, sugar planters searched worldwide for other workers. Within a hundred years, labors had arrived from mostly Asian countries China, the Philippines, Korea, and Japan, some European ones Germany, Norway, Portugal, Russia and Spain, and folks from the South Pacific islands in Puerto Rico, as well as African Americans all were called there to work sugarcane, and about half of them remained in Hawaii. Growing exceedingly powerful and influential plantation owners lobbied for and won the eventual passage of the Masters and Servants Act of eighteen fifty. The new law legalized in dentured service, the contract labor system, and the importation of foreign workers. The law also outlawed labor unions and workers strikes. In the following decades, tariffs on Hawaiian sugar were done away with In five years from eighteen seventy five to eighteen eighty, Hawaii went from having twenty sugar plantations to sixty three. Sugarcane has a history throughout the Hawaiian Islands, but the town of pa Who on owah Who was dedicated to sugarcane plantations from the late nineteenth century to nineteen forty. From eighteen fifty two until nineteen forty six, three hundred fifty five thousand immigrants came from China, Japan, Okinawa, the Philippines, Korea, Portugal, and Puerto Rico to work in the sugarcane fields and sugar plantations that occupied most of the leeward side of Oahu. The different cultures lived side by side in plantation housing in this valley. In eighteen ninety seven, the ohah Who Sugar Company was officially founded. The majority of the first workers were from Japan and China and somewhere from Portugal, and others were native Hawaiians. Ten of the latter were children. Employees apparently received a house equipped with domestic necessities. Garbage collection, street cleaning, and sewage disposal were also provided. There was a selection of stores from which employees could purchase a variety of goods, and as time wore on, more stores popped up that catered to nationality groups. There were also designated spaces for leisure and baseball numbered at the top of that activity list. But it most certainly wasn't all work fun in games. Bongo is a Japanese word for number, and in the heyday of sugar plantations, workers from numerous countries had their names replaced with bengo tags. The tags originated in the eighteen nineties as a pragmatic way to i d individuals. The shapes of bengo tags represented a different ethnic group. The numbers and tags were used to pay for goods, briefly illustrate who someone was, and keep track of goods, services, and transgressions. These tags dehumanized workers and reinforced the experience of indentured servitude. On pay days, no bongo tag, no pay was the policy. One worker was quoted in part as saying I wanted my name, not the number. In nineteen twenty, a hospital was erected on the grounds and it offered free services to the plethora of unskilled laborers employed by OSC. Over the years, o SC saw their share of tragedies. While I'm sure there were others, here's a small sampling of what I was able to find an old newspapers. I found one newspaper article from nineteen o two that indicated a man had taken his own life and his hanging body was found by a child who ventured into a storage shed. In the article, it also mentioned he was the fifth suicide there in that month alone. In nineteen sixteen, two workers were killed in an on site train accident, and in nineteen fifty five, a seven year old boy drowned in one of the streams that ran through the plantation. He and his nine year old sister had been visiting an aunt on the property. In addition to this, with the closure of o Wahu Sugar Company in nineteen tragedy was felt in an economic sense, a financial and cultural mainstay, even unintroduced by problematic figures out for money was replaced with tourism and other mass market entities. Many who were employed by the company were left in the lurch. For its part, Oahu Sugar Company took out an ad in the Honolulu Advertiser on April saying, the last farewell the people of Hawaii and our ancestors who have come and gone before us, salute you and send you countless mahallows to all of the hundreds of thousands of men, women and children who labored in the sugar plantation field and the sugar mills on the islands of Hawaii, Maui, Oahu and Kauai. The need for laborers brought you from all over the world, your purpose to seek a better life and a strange and unheard of place called Hawaii. Through the years, you have managed to endure the many hardships and struggles, and in times some of you brought your families from your respective homelands, and some of you started a family here in the islands. It goes on to say, the legacy of King sugar has breathed its last breath of life for the Oahu Sugar Company, and now your role with respect to sugar is no longer a part of your life, but a bitter sweet memory. You, as former sugar plantation workers and your families will now see your destinies going through a metamorphosis. God only knows what lies ahead for you and your families. Please understand that our prayers are with you and we wish the very best for you and your loved ones. So what exactly is Hawaii's Plantation Village? Set amid palms in a lush mountain side park and busy Waipahu and not far from the former site of the Oahu Sugar Company. Hawaii's Plantation Village covers about a century along period of Hawaiian history and seeks to represent the experiences of those four hundred thousand sugarcane workers throughout that time. As we've noted, they've performed backbreaking labor and lived regimented lives on the plantations. Among the buildings are camp homes, including a Hawaiian house, Japanese house, Okinawan House, Portuguese House, Puerto Rican House, Korean house, and Filipino house. It represents how plantations homes were organized and divided in such a way that each ethnic group was housed separately from others, which allowed plantation managers to control each immigrant group more effectively and help prevent inter ethnic cooperation and strikes. The museum has been in operation since nine and while it contains a mixture of original, refurbished, and replicated structures, it aims to provide a tangible glimpse of early twentieth century Hawaii and what that experience was like for tens of thousands of people who worked in the fields. The houses are lined in order of the immigration timeline of these major ethnic groups. To enhance the community camp feel, other buildings have been added in a barbershop, a community bath, a plantation store, infirmary, and a social union hall. They also have an Innari shrine that was formerly located outside of the old Honolulu Stadium that was destined for demolition. So what about the hauntings? The Haunted Plantation exhibit, operated by Noah Laporga every Halloween season, clearly has a haunted foundation upon which to work, although apparently their actors have had enough experiences to mandate two persons shifts that doubling up also isn't limited to seasonal workers. In fact, during the year, as a safety precaution, people aren't allowed to work alone in any of the houses. They always work in pairs. There are about twenty five structures on the property, of which about half are associated with hauntings. The Portuguese house is the first structure besides the temple that you see upon entering the village. A young girl spirit is said to reside here, and apparently she's quite playful. She's also the most commonly reported spirit in the village. Reverend Caju Silva, a Hawaiian high priest and spiritual practitioner, visited the home in order to determine more about this spirit. After three visits, he concluded that the young girl was not at all evil, but was in fact protecting the home, and she was very interested in one woman docent, in particular because, according to the priest, she has never had a mother. The girl disappeared for a few years, but since two thousand and fifteen and sixteen, it seems she has once again sought out maternal figures. The associated story claims that her father raised her after the mother took one look at the child and disowned her. Without daycare, the man tied his daughter to a table or chair when he went to work in the plantation field. There was supposedly a fire in the village one day and the house where the little girl was tied up hot on fire. Bitter and ashamed, the man went inside the house and realized he could either rescue his daughter or get rid of his problem. He decided on the ladder, and she died in the house. Of course, there is nothing his storyly to back up the story at all. I was able to find record of one fire in the nearby village, but no one was killed or injured. That's not to say it didn't happen, but like I said, I cannot verify it. Clearly, there is activity reported in the house, though I'd be hesitant to assign an identity to it. In addition to the little girl's spirit in the Portuguese house, there was also evidence of a heavy male spirit, although it too is considered benevolent. In the Okinawan house, people note feeling choked by an invisible presence. An actor in the haunted plantation exhibit once ran out of that structure with watery eyes, and she was gasping and holding her neck. She claimed that she couldn't breathe and then quit the job on the spot. I think we need to get to the bottom of these reports, so we will be talking to Noah Laporga, who heads up the on site haunted attraction at the village, and he's got some very real ghost stories to tell. That's coming up after the break. I am now joined by Noah Laporga, who is the organizer of a thing called the Haunted Plantation, which is a haunted attraction that takes place at the Plantation Village every October or Fall, I'm assuming, and what's interesting is that he's not the first person I've spoken with who has had paranormal activity happen around a haunted type attraction. And we can get into that a little bit further, but I definitely think it has something to do with the energy of people going into a place night after night and being completely terrified. So Noah, thanks so much for joining me. Thank you for having me. Now I have investigated the village now, well, we investigated for ghost Hunters years ago, and it was actually during that earthquake in Japan where there was a massive like tsunami warning on the island that happened while we were investigating. That was my first experience with the tsunami. We had a lot of really interesting experiences and it's just such an interesting layout there. Now. Can you just kind of explain what your capacity is at the village and how that came to be sure, So let's go back a little bit. Was raised in White pa Who where Hawai's plantation village is located right across the sugar mill well. On my mom's side, my grandma used to work up in the doul Canary on Maui, and then on my father's side, grew up in White pa Who his uncle's and I found on that side we're working on a sugar plantation fields. So we're all like we grew up in that area of White pa Who just growing up there, driving past the village and just always thinking wow, you know, it's just the s road. Stories of that road, whitepa street. Hearing stories from family people or just friends, I was like, oh, this road is haunted. They see all these things, you know at night, or stories from plantation time too, would always stick to my mind and my mind, you know, as a kid, like a sponge just so get up just driving down past, you know, through that road, and I was just like, man, I just didn't like looking into the windows of this place of the village. It's just a fence and you can kind of see some of the houses and stuff. But that was, you know, as a kid, and so fast forward. I was like, oh, I was like a promoter for certain things, and at that time, I was promoting a lot of different events and I wanted to take a crack at trying to find a location for what we do, which is a haunted plantation, and I got rejected multiple times by the board. I guess I had no experience with promoting any kind of events of that scale. I was like, don't worry, it'll be big and popular whatever, and they finally agreed and I me do it. So in twenty sixteen was the first year. But I had a lot of hoops and hurdles, so I guess they threw that in my way, hoping that I wouldn't be able to do it. Actually surprised them and I've got all the stuff that they required, permitting, insurance and all that stuff, and yeah, they let me do it for just one night. So it was like a lot of guerilla marketing posters and just flyers and creating certain things like stories just build the hype and draw people out coming to find out that there was some stuff that did happen, but not as malicious as what some of the stories that are going around. But then there's the real stories that we have, because there were many ghost stories before we started moving in and creating these things. You know, always Plantation Village as a museum was built. People things like, oh it's so old, how good he is? You know, do stuff in that place? And replicas the Chinese house however, was there. There was a house there before. It's not what it is now, but used to be owned by the Pang family, and Stephen Pang still works there. I guess he's like the great godson of the people that used to own that area. I mean, yeah, a lot of people don't know the history about that. We filmed for Ghost Hunters there and I think it was eleven, and so at that point there are already stories. But I think it is important to note, like what you're saying, and this happens a lot, is that there becomes this kind of game of telephone and this happens a lot in many haunted locations where it's hard to kind of separate fact from fiction, where you have stories that were created through your haunt, but then you find out later like, oh, it's actually haunted, you know, and so and and it happens. But what I also find fascinating kind of what I was leading with in the beginning, is when we tried to instigate there, and then also when I went back and did a strange escape there, they were very protective as far as what they would do, and so I totally understand that, you know, you had to jump through some hoops and things. But a lot of these historical locations, having either a haunted attraction there or just like a ghost tour, you know, providing that it is actually haunted, ends up being a really great revenue source for them, and sometimes it is hard to convince them of that, and you kind of have to demonstrate like you did, and you have a whole new demographic visiting suddenly to people who probably would never have gone there. So I think overall it's a good thing. There was a lot of you know, from the board and stuff like that, like this concerns and after the first or second year, they needed us to be there. That's my home and you know the history of that place, and to keep that place around so people learn and learn about the culture and the history of the Share plantation and what my family went through doing that time, and to keep that place alive is what's driving me to continue. You to try and create something for everyone. And yeah, it's a very different time, and like you kind of touched on, and just the fact that there were all of these different cultures kind of in one place, brought in to do this, and so I love the representation of that in the village. Now you running a hunt there, though when did you realize that it was actually haunted? So there was like this small stuff and then there's, as I said before, the fabricated stories, but then the real stories that happened, you know, of course all started the first year actually, but it was like really like small and minor things where my mom actually she was in this area which is in front of the Portuguese house. She put some of the setting up level and then she left and she came back. Then it was placed somewhere else and she always thought that was strange, which was really small, and then all of a sudden, she felt something in her pocket. You know, she thought it was like a gecko or like some sort of bug that went into her front pocket. And then she was like, oh, that's weird. She was like kind of hitting it because she thought it was like like a bug or something, but there was nothing in it. Then all of a sudden, the keys kind of got tugged out of her pocket, and what was pulled out from the key chain was just like this little Hello Kitty toy and that thing was yanked out out of her pocket and that was the only thing that was explosions. She was kind of like what we found out later that people see a young girl around that area. Yeah, I mean, and that's in that area. I mean, we weren't able to verify any stories of a little girl, you know, but people have seen her and there's definitely stories around it. And I've had experiences in that house as well, so that's really interesting. So that's probably one of the first clues. So that's two thousand and six, her first year. And then she started getting I felt like somebody like tugging out her dress kind of times, you know, when she's in that area. She says, she's seen that like the next year, like just a little girl by the window and that's it. But it was always like more of a motherly kind of I guess the women that would experience stuff like that, even my workers too. It's usually just me and a couple of people, and sometimes I'm by myself in that village at night, you know, prepping throughout the week, and then weird things would happen, and I remember seeing faces in the window by the Union Hall. It's just weird. I remember just um in the Union Hall than a hear tapping on the window. I just remember saying, like a pale face like on the other side, but it was like on the top right corner of the window. It was just like looking at me. And then I ran out just to see. And the back of the Union Hall window is really high, you know, it's not like someone can just stand there and then their faces in the window. I just freaked out and I just bound stout. I was like, there is something really eerie there at night, because I've been there at night with very few people before, because I've had to kind of do the same thing where we lead a group investigation and then have to kind of close it down and make sure everybody's gone. And I just remember just walking through there and just always feeling like I was being watched, like I never felt like it was completely empty. And there's also you we walk through, there's like frogs everywhere. I remember that distinct. That's what scares me the most. Jump on my feet. There's so many of them and their big frogs, and they also make very strange noises, so that scares me, and you know, more than the ghost, you know what I mean. Yeah, so that was a new one. So ghosts are scary, but strange creatures are also very scary. So there's like a hundred from me more. I mean that kind of stop people seeing a man I've seen them to. Also, in the middle part of the village, by the shrine, there's a bath house. I remember this one night, which was really weird. At the end of the hunt, we asked some of the customers and patrons I walked through. It's like, oh, what was your best house? You know, what was the scariest house? And throughout the night, which was super weird, they are like, oh, the bath house and there was a bunch of scary children in it. Interesting, but they were like five people from different throughout that night that was telling me about those kids, and I was like, oh, you know, we don't have any kid actors. Yeah, that's really strange. That's a whole complete manifestation. You know, it's funny. I don't know what your belief system is and all of this, but you know, one of the things we found is that energy and attitude, those kinds of things have sometimes a lot to do with a haunt of whether someone experiences paranormal activity or not. And so I have found that in many of these places where people are coming in expecting to be scared. Probably most famously, I investigated a place in Pittsburgh called the Scare House and they've moved now, but their original building was super old, and so they would have their haunt every night, and then the people closing up would just constantly here like knocks and banging and voices, and it was almost like they charged the building up with everyone that was, you know, coming through scared and screaming. And I think that could definitely have an effect on the village, Like do you feel different when you guys were done than when you got there? Oh? Yeah, I guess you could say that, But people are telling me what I noticed. Where the the spirits that are there, they're kind of like more playful as far as like the kids or whatever. You know. Having been there now a few times, it never felt negative. I Like I said, I felt like somebody's watching me, But it's kind of par for the course. When you're investigating, it feels like that a lot. But I never felt like in danger or like something was, you know, gonna get me. I just felt like I could just feel that kind of vibe, like it's just like there's a tall guy in a white shirt. But the Portuguese Puerto Rican house people stay here, babies crying over there, like a baby crying, and they'll see somebody on the porch, a tall guy. And even the older docents they would say they would hear stuff when they would have to close and they would see like a tall guy just sitting on the front porch, you know, from the distance, and when they would get close and just he would be on And then some of my actors seeing that guy too. We have this flickering light in there, which the lights dim and we have all that kind of stuff. The lamps are going out and then they go bright and they you know, they then but he was scaring and facing towards the door, are waiting for people to come in. Then when the light flashed, it was just a tall guy just staring at him and then it just flashed again. Gone. But people said that happened multiple times, different people, all of white, I mean, all of oag who. I think Hawaii is just haunted in general, and you know, it's being respectful to just the overall land, and the island is super important. I mean, there is one house in the village that I know has a malicious spirit. There's a choking ghost in that house. That's the only house where we kind of just stay away from or if we shut it down, if we you know, something happens and we just avoid that. Overall, it's the green house, the middle house. Oh right, okay, and so does it have a name or is it just okay now on house. So this is the story of the choking House. This is a true one, and this is what happened multiple times where the actors would just up and leave. M So I had my auntie in this house. She was scaring, and then my mom would float around again with my mom. It was a family affair. Yeah, I said no, no, no. But then there was this these two other girls there that we just cast it. So while they were scaring one of the actresses, her eyes started getting watery and she was like kind of pressed against the wall. Uh you know, some people thought it was part of the act. Then my family looked at her and noticed that her eyes was like getting really red and looked like she was getting choked or something. That she was like, I can't breathe, I can't breathe, you know, and she had her arms around her neck. Then she just dropped to the floor. I mean, she wasn't lifted up, but she was pinned against the wall. You know. We closed that house and we we routed everyone, and then we take her into the back room and she was like, oh, I just felt like somebody was choking me. Here. We noticed that her her neck there was like some marks. That was the first incident for that, and it happened again. Oh, happened a couple of times. And then this other girl that was working there, and then all of a sudden, she was sitting outside in the back part of that house during the hot She didn't know what was going on or what happened to that other girl. This was a new person that came out. She was just sitting on the side and crying in the back was like, are you okay? I was like, oh, I just felt like I had pressure on my chest. Interesting. Then it happened again where we had this guy come the first day. He was there, he was scaring. Then all of a sudden, midway through, he just starts running to the parking lot, you know, past the terra pacts where everyone part. One of the staff members went over there and then the guy was like, oh, I'm out of here. Something happened. I felt like I was getting choked quit and he just left. I mean, that is a workplace hazard at this point. I feel like now that was the only time when we felt like it was dangerous, and that was that was a while ago, right, I mean, And yeah, that honestly could have been just in my experience, sometimes spirits wander in, especially if they know something interesting is going on or something different, if people are receptive to them, they'll kind of wander in. Because I know, we didn't encounter anything like that there, so it could have been something like that. Who knows, But yeah, it's interesting that it happened time and time again. So this is what I think personally, is that you know, the houses aren't haunted. I think there were things that aren't put in the houses that were passed on to have a lot of energy torment. I don't know, that's what I think. Well, we've seen that many times, so I think that that's a really fair assessment because we've encountered many haunted objects and things that just bring energy with them, So that makes complete sense to me. On that note, thank you so much for telling us all these stories. Hawaii's Plantation Village you can tour it if you happen to go to Oahu, but then you also have the haunt that you're doing, and that's coming back this year, I assume. Yeah, it's just an October Okay, great. Yeah, it's a very interesting place. Like I said, I've been there many times. There's so much to learn there, and it is a bit of a drive but not too crazy from you know, where everyone is staying, usually Honolulu or wherever. But it's worth it. During the day, it's really relaxing to kind of stroll through there and take a look at everything and really imagine what got back up the daytime tours again because of course during COVID now you can kind of just free rome if you don't want to go on a tour with a docent, some people prefer going just walking around by yourselves as like informative signs with information. But if you want to go on the four or five hour tour, go with the okay. But then also very important, you have a tiki bar which I am going to come visit when I come out. So what is the tiki bar called? Called Skull and Crown Trading Company located on sixty two North Hotel Street in Chinatown, which is another haunted place. If you guys want to walk around there. There's no shortage of ghosts and spirits in Hawaii. I've learned so well, great, well, I'm definitely gonna pop in. I really appreciate you taking the time. It's just been fascinating listening to you and your stories. And like I said before, I encourage everyone to go pay a visit. Can go look for ghosts at Hawaiis Plantation Village, or you can go find spirits of another kind at the School and Ground Training Company. So thank you so much. No, I appreciate it. No, problem. Hawaii's Plantation Village doesn't fit the mold of most hauntings we in counter. It's not the original village, but it is very nearby to where the original village existed. So could spirits from the original days of sugarcane harvesting be attracted to the village because it looks familiar. Could the actual haunted attraction on site be generating enough energy to create a haunting? Or is the haunting completely unrelated to any of these things. I certainly have a lot of questions, as I'm sure you do as well, But that's why I keep doing what I do, hoping to eventually have answers. I mean, we all will one day in the meantime, completely by chance. I'm headed to Hawaii and just a couple of days, and I plan on taking a detour to Waipa who to pay my respects to whoever seems to be left presiding in the village. I recommend if you're in the area, you do the same. I'm Amy Bruney and this was Haunted Road. M Haunted Road is a production of I Heart Radio and Grimm and Mild from Aaron Mankey. The podcast is written and hosted by Amy Bruney. Executive producers include Aaron Mankey, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. The show is produced by rema Ill Kali and Trevor Young. Research by Taylor Haggerdorn, Amy Bruney and Robin Miniter. For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts

Welcome to Haunted Road, a production of I Heart Radio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Minky listener Discretion is advised. Years ago, I was walking toward a cliff in Hawaii in the middle of the night. The cliff was on the island of Oahu and was rumored to be haunted. The road we were hiking up was very wooded, empty, and we could barely see our hands in front of our faces. We were being led by local tour guide and cultural practitioner Joe Espinda, or as we know him, Uncle Joe. As our small group walked in the darkness, Uncle Joe explained that some believed the night marchers would sometimes traverse this same path. In Hawaiian mythology, night marchers are the deadly ghosts of ancient Hawaiian warriors. They march in darkness after sunset and march as a group continuously until just before sunrise. Anyone living along their path may hear chanting sounds of blown conk shell tones and marching noises in the night. The following signs are a foul and musky, deathlike odor and torches getting brighter and brighter as the night marchers get closer ancient Hawaiian beliefs state that any mortal looking upon or being seen in defiance toward the marchers will die violently. As we stood, completely enamored by the legend of the night Marchers, something happened. We all heard steps on the road ahead. Everyone, including Uncle Joe, froze and went instantly silent. We listened as the wind picked up, and we could hear the soft scratch of leaves tumbling across the road. But there was something else, something ahead was moving, moving toward us. My entire body froze, and I was all at once strongly terrified, but also yearsly curious. What were we about to see? The air changed, it became almost static, and every hair on the back of my neck raised. Just then, out of the darkness trotted a dog, a large black dog. He stood before us for a moment before walking up to each of us. We pet him and let him lick our hands, and then he ran back into the woods. Uncle Joe told us that was a sign we were allowed to move forward. The dog had been sent to give us permission, so we followed his Uncle Joe chanted and saying, and we made our way to the cliff. It was In that moment, I knew and felt that hauntings of Hawaii are very different. They are looked at with respect and intense spirituality. I felt it to my bones that night. So with respect, let's visit one of the few places I've been able to investigate in Hawaii, the historic and very haunt did Hawaii's Plantation Village. I'm Amy Brunei, and welcome to Haunted Road. Captain James Cook, an Englishman with the British Royal Navy, came across the Hawaiian Islands on his third voyage into the Pacific and seventy eight. It seems like he was the first white person to really take note of sugarcane, and he spread the word throughout America and Europe. From this point onward, Westerners poured into the islands. They brought many new things with them, but unfortunately, one of those was disease. Although sugarcane has been present in Hawaii since its introduction in six d, it wasn't dominated by industrial processes until eighteen too, when an unknown man established the first sugar mill in the islands. About thirty years later, the first export was delivered to the US, and within a decade, sugarcane was a staple of Hawaiian agricultural production. A further catalyst for this intensive, protracted, and demanding production of sugarcane can be traced to the Great Mahela of eighty eight. This active governance opened the doors of Hawaii to foreigners who wanted to own land in the islands. Amplified by an ever increasing demand from the US for more sugar, and bolstered by the Pacific trade routes and settlements related to the gold rushing California, Hawaii sugarcane was a top priority. Sugarcane cultivation required a pool of cheap labor, and with native Hawaiians dying from measles, mumps, whooping cough, and other contagious diseases for which they lacked immunity, sugar planters searched worldwide for other workers. Within a hundred years, labors had arrived from mostly Asian countries China, the Philippines, Korea, and Japan, some European ones Germany, Norway, Portugal, Russia and Spain, and folks from the South Pacific islands in Puerto Rico, as well as African Americans all were called there to work sugarcane, and about half of them remained in Hawaii. Growing exceedingly powerful and influential plantation owners lobbied for and won the eventual passage of the Masters and Servants Act of eighteen fifty. The new law legalized in dentured service, the contract labor system, and the importation of foreign workers. The law also outlawed labor unions and workers strikes. In the following decades, tariffs on Hawaiian sugar were done away with In five years from eighteen seventy five to eighteen eighty, Hawaii went from having twenty sugar plantations to sixty three. Sugarcane has a history throughout the Hawaiian Islands, but the town of pa Who on owah Who was dedicated to sugarcane plantations from the late nineteenth century to nineteen forty. From eighteen fifty two until nineteen forty six, three hundred fifty five thousand immigrants came from China, Japan, Okinawa, the Philippines, Korea, Portugal, and Puerto Rico to work in the sugarcane fields and sugar plantations that occupied most of the leeward side of Oahu. The different cultures lived side by side in plantation housing in this valley. In eighteen ninety seven, the ohah Who Sugar Company was officially founded. The majority of the first workers were from Japan and China and somewhere from Portugal, and others were native Hawaiians. Ten of the latter were children. Employees apparently received a house equipped with domestic necessities. Garbage collection, street cleaning, and sewage disposal were also provided. There was a selection of stores from which employees could purchase a variety of goods, and as time wore on, more stores popped up that catered to nationality groups. There were also designated spaces for leisure and baseball numbered at the top of that activity list. But it most certainly wasn't all work fun in games. Bongo is a Japanese word for number, and in the heyday of sugar plantations, workers from numerous countries had their names replaced with bengo tags. The tags originated in the eighteen nineties as a pragmatic way to i d individuals. The shapes of bengo tags represented a different ethnic group. The numbers and tags were used to pay for goods, briefly illustrate who someone was, and keep track of goods, services, and transgressions. These tags dehumanized workers and reinforced the experience of indentured servitude. On pay days, no bongo tag, no pay was the policy. One worker was quoted in part as saying I wanted my name, not the number. In nineteen twenty, a hospital was erected on the grounds and it offered free services to the plethora of unskilled laborers employed by OSC. Over the years, o SC saw their share of tragedies. While I'm sure there were others, here's a small sampling of what I was able to find an old newspapers. I found one newspaper article from nineteen o two that indicated a man had taken his own life and his hanging body was found by a child who ventured into a storage shed. In the article, it also mentioned he was the fifth suicide there in that month alone. In nineteen sixteen, two workers were killed in an on site train accident, and in nineteen fifty five, a seven year old boy drowned in one of the streams that ran through the plantation. He and his nine year old sister had been visiting an aunt on the property. In addition to this, with the closure of o Wahu Sugar Company in nineteen tragedy was felt in an economic sense, a financial and cultural mainstay, even unintroduced by problematic figures out for money was replaced with tourism and other mass market entities. Many who were employed by the company were left in the lurch. For its part, Oahu Sugar Company took out an ad in the Honolulu Advertiser on April saying, the last farewell the people of Hawaii and our ancestors who have come and gone before us, salute you and send you countless mahallows to all of the hundreds of thousands of men, women and children who labored in the sugar plantation field and the sugar mills on the islands of Hawaii, Maui, Oahu and Kauai. The need for laborers brought you from all over the world, your purpose to seek a better life and a strange and unheard of place called Hawaii. Through the years, you have managed to endure the many hardships and struggles, and in times some of you brought your families from your respective homelands, and some of you started a family here in the islands. It goes on to say, the legacy of King sugar has breathed its last breath of life for the Oahu Sugar Company, and now your role with respect to sugar is no longer a part of your life, but a bitter sweet memory. You, as former sugar plantation workers and your families will now see your destinies going through a metamorphosis. God only knows what lies ahead for you and your families. Please understand that our prayers are with you and we wish the very best for you and your loved ones. So what exactly is Hawaii's Plantation Village? Set amid palms in a lush mountain side park and busy Waipahu and not far from the former site of the Oahu Sugar Company. Hawaii's Plantation Village covers about a century along period of Hawaiian history and seeks to represent the experiences of those four hundred thousand sugarcane workers throughout that time. As we've noted, they've performed backbreaking labor and lived regimented lives on the plantations. Among the buildings are camp homes, including a Hawaiian house, Japanese house, Okinawan House, Portuguese House, Puerto Rican House, Korean house, and Filipino house. It represents how plantations homes were organized and divided in such a way that each ethnic group was housed separately from others, which allowed plantation managers to control each immigrant group more effectively and help prevent inter ethnic cooperation and strikes. The museum has been in operation since nine and while it contains a mixture of original, refurbished, and replicated structures, it aims to provide a tangible glimpse of early twentieth century Hawaii and what that experience was like for tens of thousands of people who worked in the fields. The houses are lined in order of the immigration timeline of these major ethnic groups. To enhance the community camp feel, other buildings have been added in a barbershop, a community bath, a plantation store, infirmary, and a social union hall. They also have an Innari shrine that was formerly located outside of the old Honolulu Stadium that was destined for demolition. So what about the hauntings? The Haunted Plantation exhibit, operated by Noah Laporga every Halloween season, clearly has a haunted foundation upon which to work, although apparently their actors have had enough experiences to mandate two persons shifts that doubling up also isn't limited to seasonal workers. In fact, during the year, as a safety precaution, people aren't allowed to work alone in any of the houses. They always work in pairs. There are about twenty five structures on the property, of which about half are associated with hauntings. The Portuguese house is the first structure besides the temple that you see upon entering the village. A young girl spirit is said to reside here, and apparently she's quite playful. She's also the most commonly reported spirit in the village. Reverend Caju Silva, a Hawaiian high priest and spiritual practitioner, visited the home in order to determine more about this spirit. After three visits, he concluded that the young girl was not at all evil, but was in fact protecting the home, and she was very interested in one woman docent, in particular because, according to the priest, she has never had a mother. The girl disappeared for a few years, but since two thousand and fifteen and sixteen, it seems she has once again sought out maternal figures. The associated story claims that her father raised her after the mother took one look at the child and disowned her. Without daycare, the man tied his daughter to a table or chair when he went to work in the plantation field. There was supposedly a fire in the village one day and the house where the little girl was tied up hot on fire. Bitter and ashamed, the man went inside the house and realized he could either rescue his daughter or get rid of his problem. He decided on the ladder, and she died in the house. Of course, there is nothing his storyly to back up the story at all. I was able to find record of one fire in the nearby village, but no one was killed or injured. That's not to say it didn't happen, but like I said, I cannot verify it. Clearly, there is activity reported in the house, though I'd be hesitant to assign an identity to it. In addition to the little girl's spirit in the Portuguese house, there was also evidence of a heavy male spirit, although it too is considered benevolent. In the Okinawan house, people note feeling choked by an invisible presence. An actor in the haunted plantation exhibit once ran out of that structure with watery eyes, and she was gasping and holding her neck. She claimed that she couldn't breathe and then quit the job on the spot. I think we need to get to the bottom of these reports, so we will be talking to Noah Laporga, who heads up the on site haunted attraction at the village, and he's got some very real ghost stories to tell. That's coming up after the break. I am now joined by Noah Laporga, who is the organizer of a thing called the Haunted Plantation, which is a haunted attraction that takes place at the Plantation Village every October or Fall, I'm assuming, and what's interesting is that he's not the first person I've spoken with who has had paranormal activity happen around a haunted type attraction. And we can get into that a little bit further, but I definitely think it has something to do with the energy of people going into a place night after night and being completely terrified. So Noah, thanks so much for joining me. Thank you for having me. Now I have investigated the village now, well, we investigated for ghost Hunters years ago, and it was actually during that earthquake in Japan where there was a massive like tsunami warning on the island that happened while we were investigating. That was my first experience with the tsunami. We had a lot of really interesting experiences and it's just such an interesting layout there. Now. Can you just kind of explain what your capacity is at the village and how that came to be sure, So let's go back a little bit. Was raised in White pa Who where Hawai's plantation village is located right across the sugar mill well. On my mom's side, my grandma used to work up in the doul Canary on Maui, and then on my father's side, grew up in White pa Who his uncle's and I found on that side we're working on a sugar plantation fields. So we're all like we grew up in that area of White pa Who just growing up there, driving past the village and just always thinking wow, you know, it's just the s road. Stories of that road, whitepa street. Hearing stories from family people or just friends, I was like, oh, this road is haunted. They see all these things, you know at night, or stories from plantation time too, would always stick to my mind and my mind, you know, as a kid, like a sponge just so get up just driving down past, you know, through that road, and I was just like, man, I just didn't like looking into the windows of this place of the village. It's just a fence and you can kind of see some of the houses and stuff. But that was, you know, as a kid, and so fast forward. I was like, oh, I was like a promoter for certain things, and at that time, I was promoting a lot of different events and I wanted to take a crack at trying to find a location for what we do, which is a haunted plantation, and I got rejected multiple times by the board. I guess I had no experience with promoting any kind of events of that scale. I was like, don't worry, it'll be big and popular whatever, and they finally agreed and I me do it. So in twenty sixteen was the first year. But I had a lot of hoops and hurdles, so I guess they threw that in my way, hoping that I wouldn't be able to do it. Actually surprised them and I've got all the stuff that they required, permitting, insurance and all that stuff, and yeah, they let me do it for just one night. So it was like a lot of guerilla marketing posters and just flyers and creating certain things like stories just build the hype and draw people out coming to find out that there was some stuff that did happen, but not as malicious as what some of the stories that are going around. But then there's the real stories that we have, because there were many ghost stories before we started moving in and creating these things. You know, always Plantation Village as a museum was built. People things like, oh it's so old, how good he is? You know, do stuff in that place? And replicas the Chinese house however, was there. There was a house there before. It's not what it is now, but used to be owned by the Pang family, and Stephen Pang still works there. I guess he's like the great godson of the people that used to own that area. I mean, yeah, a lot of people don't know the history about that. We filmed for Ghost Hunters there and I think it was eleven, and so at that point there are already stories. But I think it is important to note, like what you're saying, and this happens a lot, is that there becomes this kind of game of telephone and this happens a lot in many haunted locations where it's hard to kind of separate fact from fiction, where you have stories that were created through your haunt, but then you find out later like, oh, it's actually haunted, you know, and so and and it happens. But what I also find fascinating kind of what I was leading with in the beginning, is when we tried to instigate there, and then also when I went back and did a strange escape there, they were very protective as far as what they would do, and so I totally understand that, you know, you had to jump through some hoops and things. But a lot of these historical locations, having either a haunted attraction there or just like a ghost tour, you know, providing that it is actually haunted, ends up being a really great revenue source for them, and sometimes it is hard to convince them of that, and you kind of have to demonstrate like you did, and you have a whole new demographic visiting suddenly to people who probably would never have gone there. So I think overall it's a good thing. There was a lot of you know, from the board and stuff like that, like this concerns and after the first or second year, they needed us to be there. That's my home and you know the history of that place, and to keep that place around so people learn and learn about the culture and the history of the Share plantation and what my family went through doing that time, and to keep that place alive is what's driving me to continue. You to try and create something for everyone. And yeah, it's a very different time, and like you kind of touched on, and just the fact that there were all of these different cultures kind of in one place, brought in to do this, and so I love the representation of that in the village. Now you running a hunt there, though when did you realize that it was actually haunted? So there was like this small stuff and then there's, as I said before, the fabricated stories, but then the real stories that happened, you know, of course all started the first year actually, but it was like really like small and minor things where my mom actually she was in this area which is in front of the Portuguese house. She put some of the setting up level and then she left and she came back. Then it was placed somewhere else and she always thought that was strange, which was really small, and then all of a sudden, she felt something in her pocket. You know, she thought it was like a gecko or like some sort of bug that went into her front pocket. And then she was like, oh, that's weird. She was like kind of hitting it because she thought it was like like a bug or something, but there was nothing in it. Then all of a sudden, the keys kind of got tugged out of her pocket, and what was pulled out from the key chain was just like this little Hello Kitty toy and that thing was yanked out out of her pocket and that was the only thing that was explosions. She was kind of like what we found out later that people see a young girl around that area. Yeah, I mean, and that's in that area. I mean, we weren't able to verify any stories of a little girl, you know, but people have seen her and there's definitely stories around it. And I've had experiences in that house as well, so that's really interesting. So that's probably one of the first clues. So that's two thousand and six, her first year. And then she started getting I felt like somebody like tugging out her dress kind of times, you know, when she's in that area. She says, she's seen that like the next year, like just a little girl by the window and that's it. But it was always like more of a motherly kind of I guess the women that would experience stuff like that, even my workers too. It's usually just me and a couple of people, and sometimes I'm by myself in that village at night, you know, prepping throughout the week, and then weird things would happen, and I remember seeing faces in the window by the Union Hall. It's just weird. I remember just um in the Union Hall than a hear tapping on the window. I just remember saying, like a pale face like on the other side, but it was like on the top right corner of the window. It was just like looking at me. And then I ran out just to see. And the back of the Union Hall window is really high, you know, it's not like someone can just stand there and then their faces in the window. I just freaked out and I just bound stout. I was like, there is something really eerie there at night, because I've been there at night with very few people before, because I've had to kind of do the same thing where we lead a group investigation and then have to kind of close it down and make sure everybody's gone. And I just remember just walking through there and just always feeling like I was being watched, like I never felt like it was completely empty. And there's also you we walk through, there's like frogs everywhere. I remember that distinct. That's what scares me the most. Jump on my feet. There's so many of them and their big frogs, and they also make very strange noises, so that scares me, and you know, more than the ghost, you know what I mean. Yeah, so that was a new one. So ghosts are scary, but strange creatures are also very scary. So there's like a hundred from me more. I mean that kind of stop people seeing a man I've seen them to. Also, in the middle part of the village, by the shrine, there's a bath house. I remember this one night, which was really weird. At the end of the hunt, we asked some of the customers and patrons I walked through. It's like, oh, what was your best house? You know, what was the scariest house? And throughout the night, which was super weird, they are like, oh, the bath house and there was a bunch of scary children in it. Interesting, but they were like five people from different throughout that night that was telling me about those kids, and I was like, oh, you know, we don't have any kid actors. Yeah, that's really strange. That's a whole complete manifestation. You know, it's funny. I don't know what your belief system is and all of this, but you know, one of the things we found is that energy and attitude, those kinds of things have sometimes a lot to do with a haunt of whether someone experiences paranormal activity or not. And so I have found that in many of these places where people are coming in expecting to be scared. Probably most famously, I investigated a place in Pittsburgh called the Scare House and they've moved now, but their original building was super old, and so they would have their haunt every night, and then the people closing up would just constantly here like knocks and banging and voices, and it was almost like they charged the building up with everyone that was, you know, coming through scared and screaming. And I think that could definitely have an effect on the village, Like do you feel different when you guys were done than when you got there? Oh? Yeah, I guess you could say that, But people are telling me what I noticed. Where the the spirits that are there, they're kind of like more playful as far as like the kids or whatever. You know. Having been there now a few times, it never felt negative. I Like I said, I felt like somebody's watching me, But it's kind of par for the course. When you're investigating, it feels like that a lot. But I never felt like in danger or like something was, you know, gonna get me. I just felt like I could just feel that kind of vibe, like it's just like there's a tall guy in a white shirt. But the Portuguese Puerto Rican house people stay here, babies crying over there, like a baby crying, and they'll see somebody on the porch, a tall guy. And even the older docents they would say they would hear stuff when they would have to close and they would see like a tall guy just sitting on the front porch, you know, from the distance, and when they would get close and just he would be on And then some of my actors seeing that guy too. We have this flickering light in there, which the lights dim and we have all that kind of stuff. The lamps are going out and then they go bright and they you know, they then but he was scaring and facing towards the door, are waiting for people to come in. Then when the light flashed, it was just a tall guy just staring at him and then it just flashed again. Gone. But people said that happened multiple times, different people, all of white, I mean, all of oag who. I think Hawaii is just haunted in general, and you know, it's being respectful to just the overall land, and the island is super important. I mean, there is one house in the village that I know has a malicious spirit. There's a choking ghost in that house. That's the only house where we kind of just stay away from or if we shut it down, if we you know, something happens and we just avoid that. Overall, it's the green house, the middle house. Oh right, okay, and so does it have a name or is it just okay now on house. So this is the story of the choking House. This is a true one, and this is what happened multiple times where the actors would just up and leave. M So I had my auntie in this house. She was scaring, and then my mom would float around again with my mom. It was a family affair. Yeah, I said no, no, no. But then there was this these two other girls there that we just cast it. So while they were scaring one of the actresses, her eyes started getting watery and she was like kind of pressed against the wall. Uh you know, some people thought it was part of the act. Then my family looked at her and noticed that her eyes was like getting really red and looked like she was getting choked or something. That she was like, I can't breathe, I can't breathe, you know, and she had her arms around her neck. Then she just dropped to the floor. I mean, she wasn't lifted up, but she was pinned against the wall. You know. We closed that house and we we routed everyone, and then we take her into the back room and she was like, oh, I just felt like somebody was choking me. Here. We noticed that her her neck there was like some marks. That was the first incident for that, and it happened again. Oh, happened a couple of times. And then this other girl that was working there, and then all of a sudden, she was sitting outside in the back part of that house during the hot She didn't know what was going on or what happened to that other girl. This was a new person that came out. She was just sitting on the side and crying in the back was like, are you okay? I was like, oh, I just felt like I had pressure on my chest. Interesting. Then it happened again where we had this guy come the first day. He was there, he was scaring. Then all of a sudden, midway through, he just starts running to the parking lot, you know, past the terra pacts where everyone part. One of the staff members went over there and then the guy was like, oh, I'm out of here. Something happened. I felt like I was getting choked quit and he just left. I mean, that is a workplace hazard at this point. I feel like now that was the only time when we felt like it was dangerous, and that was that was a while ago, right, I mean, And yeah, that honestly could have been just in my experience, sometimes spirits wander in, especially if they know something interesting is going on or something different, if people are receptive to them, they'll kind of wander in. Because I know, we didn't encounter anything like that there, so it could have been something like that. Who knows, But yeah, it's interesting that it happened time and time again. So this is what I think personally, is that you know, the houses aren't haunted. I think there were things that aren't put in the houses that were passed on to have a lot of energy torment. I don't know, that's what I think. Well, we've seen that many times, so I think that that's a really fair assessment because we've encountered many haunted objects and things that just bring energy with them, So that makes complete sense to me. On that note, thank you so much for telling us all these stories. Hawaii's Plantation Village you can tour it if you happen to go to Oahu, but then you also have the haunt that you're doing, and that's coming back this year, I assume. Yeah, it's just an October Okay, great. Yeah, it's a very interesting place. Like I said, I've been there many times. There's so much to learn there, and it is a bit of a drive but not too crazy from you know, where everyone is staying, usually Honolulu or wherever. But it's worth it. During the day, it's really relaxing to kind of stroll through there and take a look at everything and really imagine what got back up the daytime tours again because of course during COVID now you can kind of just free rome if you don't want to go on a tour with a docent, some people prefer going just walking around by yourselves as like informative signs with information. But if you want to go on the four or five hour tour, go with the okay. But then also very important, you have a tiki bar which I am going to come visit when I come out. So what is the tiki bar called? Called Skull and Crown Trading Company located on sixty two North Hotel Street in Chinatown, which is another haunted place. If you guys want to walk around there. There's no shortage of ghosts and spirits in Hawaii. I've learned so well, great, well, I'm definitely gonna pop in. I really appreciate you taking the time. It's just been fascinating listening to you and your stories. And like I said before, I encourage everyone to go pay a visit. Can go look for ghosts at Hawaiis Plantation Village, or you can go find spirits of another kind at the School and Ground Training Company. So thank you so much. No, I appreciate it. No, problem. Hawaii's Plantation Village doesn't fit the mold of most hauntings we in counter. It's not the original village, but it is very nearby to where the original village existed. So could spirits from the original days of sugarcane harvesting be attracted to the village because it looks familiar. Could the actual haunted attraction on site be generating enough energy to create a haunting? Or is the haunting completely unrelated to any of these things. I certainly have a lot of questions, as I'm sure you do as well, But that's why I keep doing what I do, hoping to eventually have answers. I mean, we all will one day in the meantime, completely by chance. I'm headed to Hawaii and just a couple of days, and I plan on taking a detour to Waipa who to pay my respects to whoever seems to be left presiding in the village. I recommend if you're in the area, you do the same. I'm Amy Bruney and this was Haunted Road. M Haunted Road is a production of I Heart Radio and Grimm and Mild from Aaron Mankey. The podcast is written and hosted by Amy Bruney. Executive producers include Aaron Mankey, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. The show is produced by rema Ill Kali and Trevor Young. Research by Taylor Haggerdorn, Amy Bruney and Robin Miniter. For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts