Haunted Hau‘ula - Murder Told in a Dream
In December of the year 1900, an obituary appeared in the newspaper, announcing the passing of Joseph N Keli‘iolono. He was a resident of Makao, Ko‘olauloa and he died as the result of pulmonary hemorrhage at the age of 56.
When he passed, his body was found lying face downwards, directly in front of a house occupied by some Japanese men. Blood had flowed from his mouth, ears, and nose, and it was these signs that had much to do with the assumption that he died as the result of a hemorrhage.
The passage in the paper describes “Old Joe,” as his friends call him, as invaluable both for his honesty and his kindly & affectionate disposition. He was most excellent company and a never-ending source of interesting information in regard to the ancient manners and customs of the Hawaiians. His remains were laid to rest at Makao on the Dr. Carter’s farm.
Six months later, a woman from Honolulu came forward. This woman said she was well acquainted with Old Joe and knew him as something of a kahuna. She then said that he came to her in a dream and told her that he did not come to his death naturally. In the dream, Joe told the woman that he was hit in the back of the head by a Japanese man, and described the club that was used. He then said that if she went to the place where his body was found, she would find the club under the house.
When she awoke, the woman decided to follow Old Joe’s instructions from her dream and went to the place on the windward side where Joe was found. The men in the house had since moved away leaving the place unguarded. Sure enough, the woman crawled under the house and found the club exactly as it was described in her dream.
As far as motive for murder, it was known that Old Joe was quite an eccentric man. It was his habit to bury all the money he could save, spending very little and forcing himself to live on the smallest allowance. Whenever he secured a certain amount of money, he wold invariably convert it into gold and then, at stated intervals, he would hide his wealth away in the earth.
Believing that Old Joe had truly been murdered, the woman brought her findings to the police, who felt they had enough evidence to reopen the case. At the time of this story, it was not known whether the Japanese men in the house actually found Joe’s buried treasure.
Now... the most interesting part of this story... Old Joe was methodical in nature and was in the habit of keeping a diary. It was known that in his diary, Joe had written the whereabouts of his gold. But... his writing were in cipher, a cipher known only to a very few Hawaiians. At the time this story appeared in the paper, the book was in the hands of a woman in Honolulu. She couldn’t understand it and could not read it, but was reportedly taking steps to have it read.
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