A quiet town on the rainy side of the Big Island, Hilo is a charming little town that offers museums, art galleries, shops, restaurants... and ghosts.

Earthquake Triggers Ghosts

In the wee hours of the morning of Sunday, September 13, 1896, Hilo experienced a good sized earthquake that the newspapers then said the, “Earth was rent asunder.” It was the most severe quake since 1868 and was felt as far as Oahu. Obviously the ten-second quake was not as severe as the newspaper would have you think. While no lives were lost, damages in Hilo town were reported as glass items falling from shelves, bottles of medicines in the pharmacy crashing to the floor, a few trees were toppled, as was a wall at a nearby Catholic church, and a crack opened up in the middle of Hilo beginning at the sea and running north for half a mile.

One correspondent from Hilo writing in to the Pacific Commercial Advertiser reported a curious event.

“Immediately after the earthquake a woman was seen to run across the courthouse yard and disappear while running. Whether she was a ghost, witch or some other kind of mystery, no one seems to know. Just as she got about the middle of the yard, three more dressed in the same manner were seen running in the opposite direction along Front street. This remarkable occurrence was witnessed by many people.”

Could it have been Pele’s delegates, as the newspaper suggests? Or might it have been the disturbance of local graves in the area?

The Ghost of Shinmachi Lane

Along Bayfront in downtown Hilo, one would find the small community of Shinmachi. Meaning “New Town” in Japanese, the community boasted shops, businesses and homes. From the front of the community you could see the train running up and down Bayfront carrying its cargo. The kids would play games and make homemade toys while the adults went about the business of the day.

In 1933, residents in the district near the Tsumura store reported that a ghost could be seen at night as the clock neared midnight. The ghost came in the form of a Japanese woman, wearing a long kimono and obi. She appeared in the small lane leading from the Tsumura store on Kamehameha avenue toward the Wailoa river behind the store . The apparition became common enough that many people were wary of going out late at night for fear of seeing her. However, the newspaper article reports that “interested parties” insist that they will watch for her again and again.

Like the rest of Hilo, the tsunami of 1946 devastated the Shinmachi district. Some buildings and businesses rebuilt in the area after things had been cleaned up, but it wouldn’t last long. In May 1960 another devastating tsunami hit our coastal communities, wiping out what was left of the newly built structures. It was after the devastation in 1960 that the area became what you see today, a park and memorial for those who once called this area home. But I wonder, do the ghosts of the tsunami victims and the Japanese woman in her long kimono and obi still appear in the area?

Hitodama, Ghost Lights in Hilo

When people travel to a new place, they often bring their beliefs with them. In Hawaii, those who’ve traveled here have also brought their customs, their gods, and their superstitions. Here, we have tales of the Portuguese feiteceira who spins her spells and curses, we have the Filipino aswang who roams in search of her next victim, and we have the Japanese inugami, sent to ruin the lives of unsuspecting families.

The Japanese refer to almost anything supernatural as “yokai.” Often translated to English as monster, demon, goblin, or spirit, the term yokai is said to encompass that and so much more. Furthermore, the Japanese have a specific term for almost every type of supernatural phenomena one can think of. Among these entities is a group called “hinotama” or fireballs and... within this group of hinotama are specific terms for several different types of fireball phenomena. Just to name a few for example, they have the harmless chochinbi, the paper lantern fire, that appears as lanterns floating above the ground but disappear as one gets closer; the kitsunebi, that only appears when the magical kitsune are near; the onibi, or demon fire, born of the dead bodies of animals or humans, the onibi swarm any living being that gets too close and drains its life force; or the hitodama, the souls of humans that appear as glowing orbs seen floating around graveyards, funeral parlors, or houses where people have recently died.

In 1916, there was considerable excitement among the Japanese residents of Hilo caused by the story of a ball of fire that emerged every evening from the grave of a woman who was recently buried and wandered all over the place, terrifying the people who resided near the cemetery. While hitodama are said to be harmless, it is quite easy to mistake them for deadly onibi or other types of hinotama.

The people of Hilo weren’t strangers to seeing floating balls of fire either.

Motohiro’s Ghost

On July 25, 1902, the body of a Japanese man was found in the upper story of a house on Front Street with his throat cut. The body turned out to be that of a carpenter named Motohiro Kitaro. That night, nine Japanese men were arrested in connection with the murder.

Hilo was up in arms over the killing and seemed to support the sheriff’s intent to rid the town of the gang element to which he believed Motohiro’s killers belonged.

Some said that the “strong arm” gang had only recently moved to Hilo from the Iwilei area on Oahu and the head of the alleged gang was a gambler, slave owner, and hotel keeper. Many thought they were extorting money from Japanese people and the murder of Motohiro was to set an example.

Nearly a month after Motohiro’s death, while the trial was still going on, Japanese people in Hilo were flustered over what was reported as balls of fire or “bundles of luminosity” hovering over Hilo. One report stated that what became known as “Motohiro’s ghost” was seen to hang out over the abodes of his friends, another report stated that astral body of Motohiro was witnessed over the building in which he was killed.

The trial went on for weeks and charges were eventually dropped for seven of the original people who were arrested. The trials for Watanabe Masaji and Funakoshi Tatsugoro, accused of murder, continued. After several appeals that went on for years, the trials finally came to a final close in 1908 in which the two men were found guilty of the murder of Motohiro.

What were these balls of fire that the people of Hilo saw? Were they simply balls of phosphorous gas that had come up from the graves of those who were buried? If so, why would one of them hover over a building he wasn’t buried in? Since nothing vengeful happened to Watanabe and Funakoshi, they weren’t swarmed by a bunch of glowing orbs with the life being sucked out of them, we can probably rule out onibi.

Were they truly Hitodama, the souls of the dead? Or something else?

In any case the building was vacant from the time Motohiro was killed in August 1902 until mid-November the following year. A man named Wo Ling moved in and opened a lodge house and coffee shop in the building.

Wo Ling reported that his first night in the new building, he was unable to sleep well because he kept hearing strange noises. Indeed, three of his tenants complained that they heard moaning sounds throughout the night.

A few days later, things became worse. Lights began turning off of their own accord. Wo Ling would switch them on and, as soon as he walked away, the lights again went out. At one point, Wo Ling turned to go back down the stairs when he swears he felt a ghostly hand hit him in his jaw. He hollered and made a break for the door with his family and his three tenants close behind!

The camped with friends overnight and, the following morning, Wo Ling filed a complaint with the sheriff’s office.

Night Marchers Travel Through Hilo Hotel

There are several hotels along the water’s edge of Banyan Drive in Hilo. These hotels see numerous guests nightly, including residents who want to indulge in a staycation once in a while.

However, there is one group of visitors who turn up at a particular hotel during a specific moon phase and without a reservation. From the building's mauka side, they walk through the wall and the hotel rooms, exiting through the wall on the opposite end of the building on their way to the ocean.

Lights dim and flicker, pictures on the wall shake or fall to the floor, sometimes the furniture moves. The employees at the hotel know to make themselves scarce during that time. So far, there haven’t been any reported deaths during one of these events.

Not that anyone has admitted to anyway.

Think you know Hawaii? Think again.

Mysteries of Hawaii, rated #1 by USA Today in 2023 & 2024, uncovers the eerie side of the islands. From haunted hotels to cursed battlegrounds, these aren’t just stories—they’re history.

Feel the chill of Hawaii’s haunted past. Book your unforgettable experience now.