Haunted Iolani Palace, Honolulu: History, Ghosts and Tours

Iolani Palace stands in the middle of downtown Honolulu, a cream-colored building with stacked verandas and corner towers set in a walled park of royal palms and banyans. King Kalakaua built it, Queen Liliuokalani reigned from it, and after the monarchy was overthrown in 1893 the men who took power used it as their capitol. In 1895 they held the queen prisoner in an upstairs bedroom.

It is no surprise that the palace has ghost stories. Palace guards, storytellers and visitors have told them for more than a century, from royal processions passing through the gates to a piano that plays in an empty room. The palace’s own staff have never confirmed them, and we say so where it matters. But the history alone is reason to visit.

History of Iolani Palace

King David Kalakaua laid the cornerstone of the new palace on December 31, 1879, on the site of an older royal residence, and the building was finished in November 1882. Architects Thomas J. Baker, Charles J. Wall and Isaac Moore worked on its design. The palace grounds were walled, first with an eight-foot coral wall and wooden gates on all four sides; after the 1889 Wilcox rebellion the wall was cut to just over three feet and topped with an iron fence.

Each gate had a name and a purpose. The Kauikeaouli Gate on King Street, named for Kamehameha III, was used only for ceremonies. The Hakaleleponi Gate at the back served staff, the Kinau Gate on Richards Street served tradespeople, and the Likelike Gate was for the royal family. A fifth gate was added for Queen Liliuokalani’s husband, John Dominis.

Kalakaua died in 1891 and his sister Liliuokalani took the throne. In January 1893, when she sought a new constitution, a group of American businessmen overthrew her with the help of Marines from the USS Boston, and the Provisional Government took over the palace. After a failed attempt to restore her in 1895, the queen was arrested and held for months in a small upstairs room, where she quilted, composed music and translated the Kumulipo. She was tried in her own former throne room.

For the next seven decades the palace served as the capitol of the Provisional Government, the Republic, the Territory and the State of Hawaii, until the new State Capitol opened in 1969. It was restored and opened as a museum in 1978. Beside it, behind a fence, is Pohukaina, a royal burial ground where Kamehameha II and Queen Kamamalu were laid to rest; most of the royal coffins were moved to the Royal Mausoleum in Nuuanu, but many chiefs remain.

The ghosts of Iolani Palace

Queen Liliuokalani at dawn

The best-known story is that the queen still walks the grounds. Storyteller Lopaka Kapanui told Honolulu Magazine that palace security guards report her figure around 5:30 in the morning, often enough that they no longer doubt it. On a 2006 ghost walk across the street, Kapanui said he saw the silhouette of a Hawaiian woman at the second-floor window of her old bedroom, and admitted it might have been a trick of the light.

Visitors with family ties to the royal line have told of hearing chanting or Hawaiian music when they enter the Imprisonment Room, where the queen’s quilt is still on display.

The Blue Room piano

Guards have also described hearing the piano in the Blue Room playing when the palace is closed and empty. The palace has never confirmed it, and historian Zita Cup Choy told Honolulu Magazine the stories are hearsay.

The gates and the royal procession

The oldest account was given in 1925 by Mrs. Kahanawale Kaawa, the widow of a royal guardsman, and retold by storytellers Lopaka and Tanya Kapanui. She said the guards’ wives slept near the gates during night watches, and that the Kauikeaouli Gate on King Street would open by itself; a guard who tried to lock it was knocked down. The guards believed the spirit of Kamehameha III was passing through, followed by his ancestor Iwikauikaua carrying his own head, and they knelt.

The late historian and storyteller Glen Grant said he was struck on the head after walking through the Likelike Gate and found only an empty guard shack, and his tours told of royal guards who still rattle their keys on patrol.

The banyans and a woman in white

Queen Kapiolani planted banyans on the grounds in the 1880s, and storytellers say the grove holds the spirits of people who had no family to care for them. A 2008 downtown ghost tour that began at the palace told of a woman in white said to wait on the grounds. We found no record behind either story; they are part of Honolulu’s ghost-walk tradition.

What the palace says

Iolani Palace presents itself as a place of history and Hawaiian sovereignty, not a haunted attraction, and it does not host ghost tours or investigations. Please respect that: take the regular tour, and leave the ghost stories for the evening walks run by local storytellers outside the walls.

Where to look

• The Imprisonment Room: The upstairs bedroom where Queen Liliuokalani was held in 1895, with the quilt she made there.
• The Blue Room: The reception room where guards say the piano plays by itself.
• The Kauikeaouli Gate: The ceremonial King Street gate said to open for a royal procession.
• The Likelike Gate: The royal family’s gate, where Glen Grant said he was struck.
• Pohukaina: The fenced royal burial mound on the grounds. It is kapu: view it only from outside the fence.
• The banyan grove: Queen Kapiolani’s banyans, said to shelter spirits.

Visiting Iolani Palace

The palace is open for docent-led tours and self-led audio tours of the first and second floors, Tuesday to Saturday, and reservations are highly recommended. The ticket office is open 8:30am to 4pm, Tuesday to Saturday. Hawaii residents can get free audio tour tickets on the monthly Kamaaina Sundays.

Personal photos are allowed inside and outside, but not flash, video, tripods, monopods or selfie sticks. The grounds are open to walk, and the statue of Queen Liliuokalani stands just behind the palace between it and the State Capitol.

• Visiting Museum open for guided and self-led audio tours; the grounds are open to walk
• Tours Docent-led and self-led audio tours of both floors; reservations highly recommended
• Hours and season Tours Tuesday to Saturday; ticket office 8:30am to 4pm
• Ghost hunting Ghost walks run by local storytellers pass the palace at night; the palace itself does not host ghost hunts

Tips for your visit

• Book the docent-led tour for the full story of the overthrow.
• Ask to see the Imprisonment Room and the queen’s quilt.
• Walk to the King Street gate and the Kamehameha statue across the street at Aliiolani Hale.
• View Pohukaina from outside the fence: it is a burial ground.
• For ghost stories, join an evening walk with a local storyteller rather than lingering on the grounds after hours.

More haunted places nearby

• Aliiolani Hale: the courthouse across King Street, with its own stories
• Hawaii State Capitol: where the queen is said to walk near her statue
• Kawaiahao Church: the coral church and graveyard a block away
• 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.

• Iolani Palace: Visit
• Wikipedia: Iolani Palace
• Honolulu Magazine: The ghosts who haunt Hawaii's historic Iolani Palace
• Aloha State Daily: These gates can't keep the ghosts out
• Aloha State Daily: In the presence of the Queen
• Seattle Times (1995): The haunting of paradise, a guide to island ghosts
• U.S. Army: Military ohana enjoy ghostly experience