Haunted Bishop Museum

Haunted Bishop Museum Oahu

Nearly as old as the haunted Iolani Palace is the Bishop Museum on O‘ahu.

This property was once Kamehameha School for Boys, founded in 1887 by the will of Ke Ali‘i Bernice Pauahi Paki Bishop the last descendant of the royal Kamehameha family. Upon her passing, her will established a trust to educate Native Hawaiian children and improve their well-being.

Two years later, Charles Reed Bishop wanted to honor his late wife by opening a museum to house Princess Pauahi’s collection of royal family heirlooms and Hawaiian objects. The Museum and the School shared the space at Kapālama until a larger school complex opened on Kapālama Heights in 1940.

Over the decades, Bishop Museum has expanded to include millions of objects, documents, and photographs of Hawai‘i and other Pacific Island cultures. It also contains bones, bone fragments, hair, and teeth of our people. Sometimes the remains were found along with funerary objects when people would find and raid ancient burials. And sometimes the human remains were incorporated into objects in order to infuse those objects with mana or cast insult upon one’s enemy. On display in Hawaiian Hall are objects like kahili (a feather standard) with handles made from human thigh bones, umeke (calabashes) decorated with human teeth, and lei niho palaoa (whale tooth necklaces) made with thousands of strands of human hair.

What is mana?

Hawaiians believe that a person’s mana, a person’s spiritual essence, is contained in one’s bones and imbued into their belongings during the making or the use of these objects. Thousands of artifacts in the museum--those on display, as well as those unseen--contain an abundance of mana from their original owners. This mana doesn’t fade away with time.

Many, many people have claimed to see shadows moving in the corridors where there is no one about. They’ve heard whispers in the Hawaiian language, when there are no people near them. They’ve felt the presence of something, someone more than themselves nearby. Indeed, specific objects seem to radiate energy and draw people near.

But there are other things that beckon…

Death at Bishop Museum

In 1902, J.F.G. Stokes built a scale model of Waha‘ula Heiau to display at Bishop Museum using stones from the actual Waha‘ula Heiau on Hawai‘i Island.

Constructed around the 13th century, the original Waha‘ula heiau changed the way Hawaii’s ruling class worshipped. Once, this ground was so sacred, so full of mana, that no commoner and no woman, regardless of rank, could approach the heiau. Man became the principal sacrifice while the kahuna and the ali‘i communed with the gods within its walls.

Ancient ‘oli (chants) refer to Waha‘ula as, “No kēia heiau oia ke kapu ‘ena‘ena.”

Concerning this heiau is the burning kapu.

This meant that Waha‘ula was so sacred that the smoke of its fires falling upon any person was sufficient cause for the sacrifice to the gods of Waha‘ula.

So there was some controversy among the Native Hawaiian community about using actual pohaku from Waha‘ula to build a model at the Bishop Museum. With the fall of the kapu system in 1819, Waha‘ula ceased to be a place of worship. However, it was not done receiving sacrifices.

The model was encased in heavy plate glass and placed on the first floor of the Bishop Museum’s Hawaiian Hall where visitors could view it and learn a little bit about Hawaii’s ancient history.

Three years later, while working on the roof of the museum, 17-year-old Herman Kukahiko fell 47 feet to his death, landing directly upon the model of Waha‘ula Heiau.

While working with a crew on the roof of Hawaiian Hall, it is believed that Herman was sent to retrieve some supplies from a tool room located directly below the roof where he’d been working.

Instead of attending to his errand, Herman entered the skylight room which was adjacent to the tool room. The death inquiry found finger marks in the coating of dust on top the skylight panels, as if he’d rubbed off a layer of dust to obtain a view of the people and objects down in the hall.

Authorities say Herman must have lost his balance while sight-seeing and fallen through the skylight straight down, crashing through the glass case that surrounded the model, landing directly on top of the diorama.

Others say that Waha‘ula had claimed yet another human sacrifice.

Discover the Secrets of Haunted Honolulu

If you’re drawn to the mysterious and the macabre, there’s no better place to explore than haunted Honolulu. From the eerie halls of Bishop Museum after dark to the infamous Iolani Palace haunted by whispers of the past, Honolulu is filled with stories that blur the line between history and the supernatural. Join us on a Ghosts of Old Honolulu ghost tour and experience firsthand the chilling tales of Hawaiian hauntings, night marchers, and other unexplained phenomena that linger in haunted places in Honolulu. Our award-winning ghost tours offer deep insight into supernatural Honolulu, where the past never truly rests.

Whether you're seeking our Oahu ghost tours or want to uncover the most spine-tingling haunted places in Hawaii, our Waikiki and Honolulu ghost tours are the key to unlocking the hidden spirits of supernatural Hawaii.

Don’t just visit—feel the stories that still echo through these sacred grounds.

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