The Haunted King Kamehameha's Kona Beach Hotel: Ghosts of a Royal Compound

King Kamehameha’s Kona Beach Hotel sits at the north end of Kailua Bay, next to the Kailua pier, on the land called Kamakahonu. This was the royal compound of Kamehameha I, the king who united the Hawaiian Islands, and the small thatched temple standing in the bay beside the hotel beach is Ahu’ena Heiau, his personal temple, rebuilt in the 1970s. Kamakahonu is a National Historic Landmark, and the hotel, now a Courtyard by Marriott, displays artifacts including a feather cloak and helmet in its lobby.

With history like that, it is no surprise the hotel appears on lists of haunted hotels in Hawaii. Guests on the top floor describe warriors and the sounds of a distant battle, and a portrait of Queen Lili’uokalani is said to breathe. Some say the king himself lies somewhere beneath the grounds. Here is what is told, what is legend and what is known.

The ghosts of King Kamehameha's Kona Beach Hotel

Warriors on the top floor

Most of the reports come from the hotel’s top floor. Guests say they have heard what sounds like a battle far away, with shouting and the clash of weapons, and some describe seeing the figures of warriors. Other versions describe a tall figure in traditional Hawaiian dress. A 2025 column in Aloha State Daily adds guests who woke to chanting that seemed to come from just beyond the walls, and others who heard marching footsteps in an empty hallway.

There is real history behind the image. In December 1819, months after Kamehameha’s death, the chief Kalanimoku led an army out from Kamakahonu to fight the rebellion of Kekuaokalani, who rose to defend the old religious order. The two sides met at Kuamo’o, south of Kailua, and the rebellion was crushed.

The breathing portrait

A portrait of Queen Lili’uokalani, Hawaii’s last reigning monarch, hangs on the ground floor, and the story told about it is that the painted figure has been seen to inhale and exhale. It is a story with no named witnesses, so treat it as hotel folklore. Lili’uokalani was overthrown in 1893, and for many in Hawaii she remains a figure of deep respect.

Is Kamehameha buried here?

Some ghost guides say the activity happens because Kamehameha I is buried somewhere in the hotel grounds. What is known is that he died at Kamakahonu in May 1819. Following the custom of hunakele, burial in secret, his trusted friends Hoapili and Ho’olulu hid his bones so that his mana could never be taken or misused. The place has never been revealed. When his son Kamehameha III asked to see them, Hoapili is said to have turned back because he sensed they were being followed.

So the bones could be anywhere, and claims that they lie under the hotel are legend. That secret is a real part of Hawaiian history, though, and many visitors feel the weight of it on this shore.

Ahu'ena Heiau

The temple in the bay, whose name is usually translated as temple of the burning altar, was Kamehameha’s personal heiau. When the first hotel was planned in the late 1950s, Kona residents pushed for the temple to be protected. A first rebuild by the hotel and local volunteers followed in 1965, and with funding from Amfac and guidance from the Bishop Museum a two-thirds scale replica was finished in 1975. It is a sacred site. You can see it from the beach and the hotel grounds, but do not climb on the platform or walk onto it, and leave offerings you find untouched.

The most haunted rooms and places to look

• The top floor: Where guests report the sounds of battle and the figures of warriors.
• The ground-floor portrait: The portrait of Queen Lili’uokalani said to breathe.
• The beach at Kamakahonu: Facing Ahu’ena Heiau, Kamehameha’s personal temple.

History of Courtyard King Kamehameha's Kona Beach Hotel

Kamakahonu was Kamehameha I’s home in the last years of his reign. The compound covered about 3.5 acres and was built around 1812, with several houses inside massive stone walls guarded by 18 cannons. His son Liholiho, the future Kamehameha II, lived here, as did John Adams Kuakini, who governed the island when the king was away and later built Hulihe’e Palace along the bay. From here Kamehameha ran the kingdom he had united, and here he died in 1819.

Less than a year later, on April 4, 1820, the first American Christian missionaries came ashore at Kamakahonu. Asa Thurston and Hiram Bingham landed on a rock later called the Plymouth Rock of Hawaii, and the changes they brought reshaped the islands.

The houses and walls are long gone. Kamakahonu was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1962 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1966. The first hotel opened on the site in 1960, after local opposition that won promises the heiau would be restored, and it was replaced by the current building, set farther back from the shore, in 1974. Ahu’ena Heiau was rebuilt as a two-thirds scale replica by 1975, and a 2009 renovation of the hotel added a museum and cultural center. The hotel now operates as a Courtyard by Marriott, marketed on its own site as King Kamehameha Kona Beach Resort, and hosts the Island Breeze Luau on the king’s former grounds.

Tips for a haunted stay

• Ask for a top-floor room facing Kailua Bay: it is where the stories are, and the view of the heiau at sunset is the best on the property.
• Look at the cultural displays in the lobby, including the feather cloak and helmet.
• Swim at the small, sheltered beach at Kamakahonu, but keep off the heiau.
• Walk along Ali’i Drive to Hulihe’e Palace and Mokuaikaua Church, a few minutes south.
• For a second Kona ghost story, the Outrigger Kona Resort at Keauhou Bay is about six miles south.

More haunted hotels nearby

• Outrigger Kona Resort (former Sheraton Kona): Ghostly girls in the corridors at Keauhou Bay
• Volcano House: Pele’s old woman and white dog on the rim of Kilauea
• Haunted places in Hawaii: More ghost stories across the islands
• Haunted hotels in Hawaii

Sources

Facts on this page are checked against the hotel’s own website, historic records and news coverage. Ghost stories are reported as guests, staff and local historians tell them. Read how we rate haunted hotels.

• Wikipedia: Kamakahonu
• Wikipedia: Kamehameha I
• King Kamehameha Kona Beach Resort (official site)
• Aloha State Daily: The Spirit of Kamakahonu (2025)
• To-Hawaii.com: Haunted places on the Big Island
• Moon Mausoleum: Most haunted hotels in Hawaii

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