The Haunted Nuuanu Pali Lookout: Battle, Ghosts and the Pork Legend

The Nuuanu Pali Lookout is one of Oahu’s most famous views: from a stone wall at the top of the Koolau cliffs you look out over Kaneohe, Kailua and the windward coast, in a wind so strong that people lean into it and laugh. It is also where one of the bloodiest battles in Hawaiian history ended.

Storytellers say the warriors who died at the Pali are still heard at night, and the road over the mountains carries Hawaii’s best-known piece of folklore: never carry pork over the Pali. Here is the history, the stories, and how to visit, including the nearby places you should not.

History of the Pali

In the spring of 1795 Kamehameha landed a great army on Oahu. The Oahu chief Kalanikupule met him, joined by Kaiana, a chief who had broken with Kamehameha shortly before the battle. The fighting moved up Nuuanu Valley, and Kaiana was fatally wounded.

At the head of the valley the land ends at the pali, cliffs that drop about 1,000 feet to the windward plain. Kamehameha’s warriors pressed the Oahu army to the edge, and more than 700 men either jumped or were pushed over. The battle gave Kamehameha Oahu and set him on the way to uniting the islands. Histories of the battle vary and sometimes conflict, and its Hawaiian name is Kalelekaanae.

A footpath crossed the cliffs long before the battle, and a road was later built over it. In 1898, construction workers on the Pali road found about 800 skulls, which are thought to be remains of the battle. The winding Old Pali Road below the lookout, now a walking path, was replaced by the modern Pali Highway and its tunnels, and the lookout became a state wayside.

The Pali has a darker modern history too. Honolulu Magazine traced the legend of Morgan’s Corner, a hairpin bend on Nuuanu Pali Drive below the cliffs, to a real crime: in 1948 two escaped prisoners killed Therese Wilder, a 68-year-old widow, in her home there. Her house is gone, and the address is now a gated community.

The ghosts of the Pali

The warriors

The oldest story is the simplest: that the warriors driven over the cliffs in 1795 are still heard at night, screaming as they fall. It was told in the Seattle Times in 1996 and by storyteller Robert Sepulveda of Oahu Ghost Tours, who said the warriors’ bones lie at the foot of the cliff. Others describe figures thrown from the cliff and a ghost in white at the lookout. These are legends; no one claims to have recorded them.

The voice that calls

Storyteller Lopaka Kapanui, who leads night tours here, tells of a girl from McKinley High School who jumped from the lookout after her boyfriend left her for her sister. About a year later, the story goes, the boyfriend brought a new girl to the lookout, heard a distant voice calling his name from below, and ran, and was never seen again. Kapanui tells women on his tours that the spirit calls the names of unfaithful men.

We found no record of the girl, the boyfriend or his disappearance. Before he goes in, Kapanui chants in Hawaiian to show respect and ask for protection, which says a lot about how the Pali is regarded.

Pork over the Pali

The legend everyone in Honolulu knows says you must never carry pork over the Pali, especially at night. The windward side belongs to Kamapuaa, the pig god, and the leeward side to Pele, his former lover; the two agreed to stay out of each other’s lands, and pork crossing the mountains breaks the agreement. Drivers say their cars stall until they throw the pork out, and in some versions an old woman with a dog appears and the dog must be fed the pork.

In 2007 a Hawaii News Now reporter tested it with pork hash and a manapua and left them at the lookout; looking back with his flashlight, he thought the pork hash was gone, but did not go back to check. Kapanui also tells of a tour bus that would not start until the driver demanded to know who had pork, and a passenger scraped out the last of a roast pork lunch.

Morgan's Corner

The most famous Oahu urban legend, of a couple whose car will not start under a tree and a tapping on the roof that turns out to be the boyfriend’s feet, is set at Morgan’s Corner on Nuuanu Pali Drive. Honolulu Magazine concluded that story is completely made up, and found that the only real murder there was the 1948 killing of Therese Wilder. Some still say the area is haunted. It is a residential street with no parking: please do not go.

Where to look

• The lookout wall: The stone wall at the cliff edge, where the battle ended and the wind is strongest.
• The Old Pali Road: The old road below the lookout, now a walking path, where cars carrying pork were said to stall.
• The cliffs to either side: The thousand-foot pali the warriors were driven over.
• Nuuanu Pali Drive: The old residential road below, home of Morgan’s Corner. Drive it, but do not stop or trespass.

Visiting the Pali Lookout

The Nuuanu Pali State Wayside is open daily from 6am to 6pm. Hawaii residents park free; non-residents pay $7 per car. It is off the Pali Highway between downtown Honolulu and Kailua. Bring a jacket and hold onto hats and phones: the wind can be fierce.

The wayside closes at 6pm and night visits are not allowed, so the evening ghost stories are best heard on a guided tour. Respect the place: this is a battlefield where hundreds of people died.

• Visiting State wayside open daily 6am to 6pm; parking fee for non-residents
• Hours and season 6am to 6pm daily
• Tickets $7 parking per vehicle for non-residents; free for residents
• Ghost hunting Local ghost tours visit the area; the wayside closes at 6pm, so do not stay after hours

Tips for your visit

• Go in the late afternoon for softer light, before the 6pm closing.
• Walk a short way down the Old Pali Road for the view back up at the cliffs.
• Lock your car and take valuables with you.
• Do not carry pork, just in case.
• Do not visit Morgan’s Corner: it is private homes on a narrow road.

More haunted places nearby

• Highway 1 and the H-3: the freeway through the Koolaus and its legends
• Iolani Palace: the royal palace downtown
• Haunted hotels in Hawaii: stay in a haunted Waikiki hotel
• Haunted places in Hawaii
• Haunted places in Oahu

Sources

Facts on this page are checked against the official website, historic records and news coverage. Ghost stories are reported as staff, visitors and investigators tell them, and we say where records contradict a story.

• Hawaii DLNR: Nuuanu Pali State Wayside
• Wikipedia: Battle of Nuuanu
• Honolulu Magazine: Chilling ghost stories from Nuuanu Pali Lookout
• Hawaii News Now: Pork and Pali are recipes for disaster
• Honolulu Magazine: The real story behind Honolulu's haunted Morgan's Corner
• Ka Leo (Sacred Hearts): Historic Hawaii places with a haunted past
• Seattle Times (1996): Chicken skin experiences, ancient spirits live on
• Honolulu Magazine: The 5 most haunted hikes on Oahu