One of the most well known haunted house stories in Hawaii is said to be inside of a mysterious house mostly known as the Kaimuki House. Throughout the decades, tenants and owners have gone through terrible ordeals they all claim is from something supernatural, and that the entity of the house wants to hurt them. 

In the quiet neighborhood of Kaimuki, Honolulu, stands a house that has long been the source of fear and whispered legends. Known simply as the Kaimuki House, this unassuming residence harbors a dark and terrifying past that continues to send shivers down the spines of those who dare to recount its story.

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The Kaimuki neighborhood is filled with many older homes where sometimes many generations have never sold once. The houses on the rolling hills between Kapahulu to the west and Kahala to the east was mostly first built in the 1940s, some as early as the 1910s. Today though, many of the original houses has been torn down to give way to newer one. 

One of the things that made people move here initially was actually the 1900 Chinatown fire in Honolulu. Many of the Chinese and Asian families who were left homeless made a new start her, and when we have a closer look to the haunted rumors, seems to have brought with them some of the Asian ghost stories as well, and in this case, a spirit from Japanese folklore have taken the center stage of the haunting surrounding the house. 

One of the most well known haunted house stories in Hawaii is said to be inside of a mysterious house mostly known as the Kaimuki House. Throughout the decades, tenants and owners have gone through terrible ordeal they all claim is from something supernatural, and that the entity of the house wants to hurt them. 
Kaimuki House: Exactly what house in Kaimuki is haunted is up for debate. This is the image mostly used when depicting it, although the original house is said to have been demolished and this duplex built on top of it.

The Murders of the Kaimuki House

At the core of the hauntings there are said murders happened that perhaps was the catalyst for the haunting the next residents would experience throughout the decade. There are actually several supposed murders that were said to happen in the Kaimuki House and started the haunting. 

One of the murder legends tells about a father who killed his two children as well as his wife in their home in Kaimuki. The son and the wife’s bodies were later buried in the backyard, but the body of the daughter was never found. 

There is also a story about a lesbian couple who moved into the house in Honolulu as a fresh start. One of the women ended up having an affair with a man. The boyfriend then killed both her and her lover before killing himself in the house. 

In both of these cases there are not many corroborating evidence for the murders, but are often relayed as facts. What is true though is that playwright Hannah Li-Epstein wrote a play based on the lore of the house called The Kasha of Kaimuki, telling the story of the lesbian couple moved into the house and came face to face with the spirit haunting the ghost in that were in theaters in 2021

The Young Couple Calling the Police

Some of the more famous stories told about the house reached the newspapers, but people are said to have complained about stuff happening in the house for ages before it ever reached headlines. Before the house reached infamously, it is said that a young couple moved into the house. Not long after the neighbors claimed to have heard a lot of loud bangs and crashes from the house. They thought it could be case of domestic violence and called the police. When the police arrived at the scene though, they met the couple who had another story to tell. According to them, they had been attacked by an unseen force. 

A Night of Unimaginable Horror

Then came the summer of 1942, who brought with it a night of sheer horror that would cement the Kaimuki House’s reputation as one of the most haunted locations in Hawaii. On that fateful evening, of August 13th the police were called to the residence by a hysterical mother at 1:25 am, her voice filled with panic and dread. She pleaded for help, claiming that an evil spirit was in her home, threatening the lives of her children.

When police sergeant Moseley K Cummins and patrolman Robert Ansteth arrived at the scene, they were met with a scene so chilling that it defied all logic and reason. The Hawaiian children, a boy of 10 with his two sisters of 18 and 20 were on the sofa, screaming. The mother was at their side, waving ti leaves and threw Hawaiian salt at them to rid them of the ghost she thought was attacking them. 

She told the police afterward that her son had noticed the smell of ghosts around 10 p.m. The ghost got angry at him for being found out and attacked the boy, then moved on to strangling or choking his sisters. 

The mother said that the one to blame was her husband who had left them. 

Over an hour passed and the police and family had to leave the house to kahuna at 3 a.m, leaving the family at the sister of the mother. 

The debacle held the neighbors awake and even made the news in Honolulu Star-Bulletin. The story and article grew, and so did the exaggerations of what really happened there that night. In later years the legend of the haunted house often claims that the children were thrown around, levitated and the spirit are even said to have slapped both the children and police officers. Some sources even claim that the children died of their injuries. 

The Rented Haunted House

In 1967 there appeared an ad in the Honolulu Advertiser that caught the eyes of many. It was a renting out bedrooms and in Kaimuki there was a 2 bedrooms for 155 dollars a month said to be haunted. 

One of the most well known haunted house stories in Hawaii is said to be inside of a mysterious house mostly known as the Kaimuki House. Throughout the decades, tenants and owners have gone through terrible ordeals they all claim is from something supernatural, and that the entity of the house wants to hurt them. 

Here, there was not a specific address given either, but now it was truly official. The house in Kaimuki was haunted. 

The Next Haunting

Years passed and the neighbors around the house remembered the story vividly and the house was by then considered haunted. Or was it? In neither of the news articles any address was given, but the legends have certainly combined the two. 

In 1972, on October the 31st, there was another news article telling about a haunted experience from the house. The editorial was specifically written for Halloween, but was written by Charles Kenn and Rubellite ‘Johnson, two respected Hawaiian historians. So was it really based on facts, or where they just having some Halloween fun?

According to the legend, three girls were sharing the house and yet again the police were called when strange things started happening there. 

A patrol car arrived late at night to the house as the girls had heard strange noises inside of the house. It sounded like someone was moving around and talking, one of them had even felt a hand on her arm.

They were so scared and didn’t want to stay in the house a moment longer, making the police follow behind their car to one of the girl’s mothers in Papakolea. 

As they were driving down Waialae Avenue, the girls pulled the car into the parking lot of the Oasis Cafe. Today the place is where the public storage on Waialae and Kapahulu is. 

According to the police report, the girl sitting in the middle of the front seat was said to be fighting off someone. No one could see what, but whatever it was, it was choking her. The policeman jumped out of the car to help, but there was nothing he could do. He said in his report: “A big, strong calloused hand that could not possibly belong to a teenage girl grabbed my arm and twisted it. I radioed for assistance.”

The officer that came to assist thought there would be a fight meeting him at the parking lot. The girls were hysterical and his colleague simply said: “There is a ghost in the car.” 

They managed to get the girl who had been choked into the police car and made the girls car follow them. But when they started the car, the motor died and wouldn’t start again. They put her back in the girls car and it immediately started again. 

Back on the road they managed to get about five yards before the door of the car belonging to the girls flew up and the choked girl fighting the ghosts fell out on the road. She was tearing at her throat like she was still being choked and the two policemen were not strong enough to pull her hands away. 

The police sergeant, a Hawaiian man, remembered what his grandmother had told him to help chase away ghosts. He ran into the cafe and grabbed a handful of Hawaiian salt and a glass of water. He sprayed it on everyone and it seemed to work and the girl got calmer. 

The Obake Files Book

In 1994, the American history professor and writer published a story about the legend and really cemented the story about the Kaimuki House as a Hawaiian legend. Although fictional, the book looked at many of the well known ghosts stories from Hawaii and used them as a backdrop. It certainly gave rise to the old legend again and this is were the kasha ghost from Japan comes in. 

One of the most well known haunted house stories in Hawaii is said to be inside of a mysterious house mostly known as the Kaimuki House. Throughout the decades, tenants and owners have gone through terrible ordeals they all claim is from something supernatural, and that the entity of the house wants to hurt them. 
The Kasha Spirit: An illustration of a Kasha, a spirit from Japanese folklore associated with the haunting tales of the Kaimuki House. Kasha means ‘burning chariot’ and is a Japanese yōkai that steals the corpses of those who have died as a result of accumulating evil deeds.

The Demolition of the Kaimuki House

Now, the original house built in the earlier part of the 1900s are said to have been demolished in 2016. In its place though another house was built on the property, and even to this day, we have people that have stayed in it, claiming to have experienced some of the haunting. 

But exactly were is the Kaimuki House? In neither of the accounts the address is mentioned, but many have pointed to it being on the Harding Avenue, more specifically on 8th and Harding. There once was a true murder that happened in the house, but could it really have been the house people talk about?

When ghost teller took a drive with Glen Grant in 1999, who had looked into the case, he pointed to the second to the last house on the left of 2nd Avenue and Harding. According to him, this was the true Kasha House of Kaimuki and he said there might have been a headstone in the back of the house where the ghost from the Kasha story was buried.

Could it be in the same place, only different buildings as time has passed and houses have been torn down and rebuilt during that time? There also used to be houses condemned to build the highway going through there. Could the house have been one of those condemned buildings, and could the haunting have manifested in the neighboring houses in the later tales?

The Kaimuki House Today

The Kaimuki House remains a place of dark mystery, its walls still echoing with the terror of that long-ago night. Over the years, the house has been the subject of numerous reports of paranormal activity. Residents and visitors alike have claimed to hear disembodied voices, see shadowy figures, and feel an overwhelming sense of dread within its confines.

But what about today? According to one blogger, he claims to have lived in the house for a year. According to the blogger, the original house is gone and a bland two-story duplex built there instead. 

The blogger named Keith Mann, together with some friends, moved into the brand new, cheap, clean and big place. Although knowing about the legend of the Kaimuki House, the blogger didn’t fill in the blanks that this was the house until changing the address online. 

At least five different people approached the blogger when hanging laundry, scared and in disbelief that anyone would live there. According to people around in Kaimuki, no one stayed for more than 3 months after moving in. 

Although initially spooked the family upstairs had lived there for some time already and the blogger didn’t want to move anymore. But still, there were some things happening in the house that seemed haunted. 

Every night, the blogger would wake up at 4:33 AM, jolted awake to an ice cold room, and the gut telling that something was very wrong. When this happened, the battery powered smoke alarms would beep in unison. The feeling of being watched didn’t stop, even though no one was home. This exact routing happened three times. 

Whatever the truth may be, one thing is certain: the Kaimuki House is a place where the boundary between the living and the dead is frighteningly thin. Those who pass by often quicken their steps, unwilling to linger near the site of such inexplicable horror. The house, with its tragic history and ghostly inhabitants, stands as a chilling reminder that some places are best left undisturbed.

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References:

https://www.mysteries-of-hawaii.com/hawaiis-most-haunted/kaimuki-kasha-house

Ghosts Next Door: The Mythical Truth of The Kasha of Kaimuki 

Kaimuki Homes for Sale | All Real EstateThe Kaimuki House Is Easily Hawaii’s Most Haunted House

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