Ghost of Queen Emma Haunts St. Andrew’s Priory

Founded by Queen Emma Kaleleonalani in 1867, St Andrew’s Priory is in the heart of the Historic Downtown district. The school once included boarders who lived in Queen Emma hall, now called Kennedy Hall. A few of the boarders claimed to have seen the ghost of the Queen, greeting students in the hall. At night, they would hear creaking in the hall and on the steps and believed it to be Queen Emma wandering the halls at night. One boarder, who was entrusted as “monitor” to secure the Queen Emma Room after a social evening or study period, recalled one night when she turned out the lights and closed the double doors before heading up to bed. A few minutes later, one of the Sisters entered the dormitory to announce that the lights were still on and the doors wide open.

Back down the stairs, the confused monitor went only to find that the room doors were, indeed open, and the lights still on. Just before turning out the light for the second time, with a glance at Queen Emma’s portrait, the girl was sure the portrait breathed and the eyes twinkled. She closed the doors and hurried back up the stairs to bed.

However, a few minutes later, the same Sister was back to say that the lights were once again ON and the doors were wide open.

Some nights, the girls would hear the grand piano playing well after midnight and, on many occasions, lights would turn on and off, strange noises were heard, tools would disappear and then reappear elsewhere, the contents of handbags were switched or just dumped on the ground. All of these acts are attributed to ghostly hands.

It is said that Royal ghostly appearances are still accepted as a fact of priory life and tradition.

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