Haunted Poʻipū, Kauai
Haunted Poʻipū
Just west of Koloa Landing, a small embattled hotel sat along the shore. The hotel was built by mainland contractor in the late 50s or early 60s. During its 20-something years of existence, the property had many owners and many names. It started out as the Hale Nani. The hotel’s other names were Sheraton Seven Seas, Ponderosa of Kaua‘i, Hale Nani again, then finally Po'ipu Village Resort.
Many locals believed the hotel was doomed from the start. It was built on the flood plain of Waikomo stream. During heavy rains, the lobby often flooded. Perched atop the rocky Nahuma‘alo Point, there were no reefs to protect it so it was exposed to the ravages of the frequent high surf. Waved battered the foundation and crashed over the sea wall flooding the pool and the first floor rooms. Rough and stormy seas tossed rocks through the windows. But aside from all that, most people think the hotel’s bad luck came from the sand that was used for the hotel’s concrete.
During the hotel’s construction, a Kauai Community College anthropology instructor was called to the Hale Nani. He was led to a dark room where two large plywood boxes sat. When he looked inside, he said they were filled with skeletons.
The archaeologist discovered that bones were mixed in with the truckloads of sand from the Keoneloa sand dunes at Māhā‘ulepū. The sand had been sifted at the hotel site, and the largest bones were removed and thrown into boxes.
The man told the contractor that his concrete was filled with pieces of human bones. There were bone chips, bits of finger bones and toe bones and small pieces that fell through the sifter with the sand. All the tiny bones were missing from the boxes.
When the contractor asked what should be done, the archaeologist told him to rebury the skeletons in the original resting place at Māhā‘ulepū but no one knows if the bones were ever returned.
Some people think the bones were thrown into the sea, but local fishermen and divers would likely have noticed. There were no reports of anyone finding loose bones in the sea. Others believe that the bones were mixed into the cement as Hawaiians, offended at the desecration walked off the job while placing curses on their fellow workers.
Many claimed that things would disappear out of rooms and then reappear in the same place a few days later. Lots of injuries happened on the property. Brand new electronic cash registers broke down. Reports about night maids and kitchen workers seeing ghosts persisted.
A blessing for the opening of the new restaurant and disco within the hotel was performed. An offering of food and vodka was placed in the storeroom and workers were warned that the offering should never be touched or moved. It seemed to work as nothing untoward happened for quite some time. That is, until one day when the chef decided that enough was enough and threw the offering away. An hour and a half later, the oven blew up in the face of the cook who tried to light it causing serious burns. That same night, a waitress slipped on the floor and was knocked unconscious. A few days later, the hotel owners notified the restaurant that they planned to revoke the restaurant’s lease. A bitter legal battle followed and the restaurant was closed.
After battling the elements and the apparent supernatural for decades, the hotel faced the full force of Huricane Iwa’s fury and, on November 28, 1982, it finally lost its fight. The sea claimed a good part of the foundation as pieces of the seaside pool ended up on the second and third floors of the hotel. Faulty design? Angry spirits? The mana of the iwi kupuna? Who knows?
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