I was born and bred in Hilo, Hawaii. And like every other local kanaka, we would hear those stories about haunted places that you didn't think were quite true, but were too chicken to question it. Well, this is one of those instances where bravery (?) ruled out common sense....

Back in my teenage years, me and a couple of friends would always go down to the beach to kick back and enjoy the environment ... of course, also to drink some beer (legalities aside). Every once in a while, we would talk about local ghost stories (aside from 13 steps in Honolulu that I encountered... somebody threw a mannequin on the road just below a hill that the road went over...but that's another story...)

Anyhow, we started talking about a hospital that used to be at King's Landing up at the end of the beach road in Keaukaha .... that it was washed out by a tidal wave and that at times you could hear the voices of the dead that used to be patients at this hospital, mainly baby cries from the maternity ward.

Now King's Landing is a great fishing spot, and with the action of the waves crashing against the rocks, one could envision a tsunami taking out the whole area. So we decided to return to King's Landing just before midnight, to see if the stories are true. I guess amplification of astral voices are better at midnight, eh?

So here we are, it's fifteen minutes to midnight, and there's four guys sitting in a little Toyota Celica, under a tree, waiting for the witching hour to arrive.

We were all joking to each other prior to midnight, trying to scare each other prematurely. As midnight arrived, we sat dead silence, ears acutely tuned to any audible sound that night. It was unusually quiet that night, the waves seem to be distant sounds compared to the concentrated quiet inside that vehicle (mind you, we had the windows up, we ain't that crazy, you know!!).

As we counted off the chimes of the witching hour, just as the tenth chime went off, a cat landed square on the hood of the car, about a foot away from the windshield!!! If you ever seen teenagers scream in fright before, its not a pretty sight!!

I was very surprised that my friend had to sense to start the car and high tail it out of there with the cat still on the hood!! We never did know what happened to that cat!! I think we used up kinda plenty of his nine lives!!

Well, when it was all said and done (and when we were well away from the area) we stopped at the Dairy queen down on Banyan drive (well, we wanted to be sure we were well away, if you know Hilo landmarks). We parked the car, and got out to stand around and look at each other, sizing-up each others bravado, and retelling what happened that night from 4 different versions.

My, what a life as a teenager in the little fishing village of Hilo.

Hilo born Ronson Kamalii (Hilo High '80) now resides in Brandenton, Florida. After 9 years in the U.S. Army he achieved a Bachelors degree in Environmental Science. He is licensed by the state of Florida for the Operation of Drinking Water Treatment Plants. He works at a Reverse Osmosis Plant for the city of Sarasota, Florida. He's single and enjoys fishing, racquetball, and reading techno-thrillers. His next trip home will be in the year 2000 to visit his ohana and attend his 20 year class reunion ! He doesn't think visiting King's Landing will be part of his itinerary!!