New horror novel features ‘The Nightmarchers’

The latest book of best-selling horror novelist J. Lincoln Fenn explores the perils of paradise through the Hawaiian Islands’ most haunting supernatural symbol: “The Nightmarchers.”

Also known as huaka‘i pō, nightmarchers are spectral bands of ancient Native Hawaiian warriors often accompanied by the sounds of chanting and blown conch shells. Sightings have long been reported by locals and tourists alike.

In her novel bearing the spirits’ name, which was released Tuesday by an imprint of Simon & Schuster, Fenn places the legend near the center of a nightmare set on an island controlled by Western interlopers.

The seed of the story was planted when Fenn learned the definition of the Hawaiian word ‘kanu,’ meaning both ‘to plant’ and ‘to bury.’ Sometimes, what is buried comes back.

“All the different kinds of things we bury in the West, like the impact of our history and the impact of colonization,” said Fenn, a Seattle resident who spent a decade of her life on Maui.

“We’re always looking ahead and wanting to have a fresh start,” she continued. “But we’re bringing this with us, whether we want to see it or not.”

The novel follows struggling journalist Julia Greer, who is at rock bottom when an estranged relative comes forward with a strange offer: Obtain the interred remains of her aunt, botanical researcher Irene Greer, and samples of a special flower in exchange for an outrageous sum of money.

In 1939, Irene had plunged off a waterfall to her death, convinced her dead husband and daughter had joined the nightmarchers.

Julia soon finds herself on Kapu, where a sinister corporation and a mysterious sect known as the Church of Eternal Light have designs for something lurking in the island’s jungle interior.

Fenn and her family lived on Maui in 2012 when 98% of nearby Lānaʻi was purchased for a reported $300 million by tech billionaire Larry Ellison, the chairman, chief technology officer and cofounder of the software company Oracle Corporation. Ellison, per Forbes’ real-time billionaires ranking, is the world’s second-richest individual as of earlier this week with an estimated worth of $211.2 billion.

“It was interesting to me that there could be a whole island under the auspices of people who are not initially from there,” Fenn said.

The fictional corporation and Christian sect of “The Nightmarchers” seek material and spiritual gain, respectively, yet share an extractive approach to the natural world around them on Kapu.

“Neither side really understands what the island is, and they’re not able to really live in accord with it,” said Fenn, who also authored “Poe” and “Dead Souls.”

The release of “The Nightmarchers” occurred in the run-up to Halloween (an appropriate time for a book subtitled “A Novel of Terror”), but the stories it draws from are more than things that go bump in the night.

They represent powerful symbols and experiences with deep roots in Hawaiian history and culture, according to the islands’ storytellers.

Kaua‘i resident Dominic “DC” Acain, a lineal descendant of the island’s earliest Hawaiian settlers, has spent a lifetime recording paranormal tales shared by locals and vacationers. Following his retirement, he sorted his notes and began to write. He published “The Hawaiian Storyteller” in 2022, and an expanded edition earlier this year. He also launched a related YouTube channel in September.

The nightmarchers are often warriors on patrol or marching in advance of an ali‘i, or ruler, according to Acain. While most say the nightmarchers spell doom for witnesses who do not make the proper obeisances, Acain has found the warriors sometimes appear indifferent or unaware of onlookers.

In “The Hawaiian Storyteller,” Acain recounts the story of a hiker lost and injured in the Waimea Canyon on the West Side of Kaua‘i. The hiker, a visitor unaware of local traditions, believed he had been rescued by a group of fellow hikers before he realized they were not human.

“It’s different for different people, there are different beliefs… You’ve got to get out of the way and place yourself on the ground,” Acain said of proper responses when encountering the nightmarchers. “Some even say you’ve got to remove your clothes to be shameful and show them you’re not hiding any weapons on you.”

But the hiker lost in the Waimea Canyon, oblivious, called out to the nightmarchers and lived to tell the tale.

“He called out and they ignored him. It was like a replaying of another time,” Acain said. “Something that had already happened years ago, an energy that’s just playing itself over, like a movie.”

Lopaka Kapanui, an O‘ahu-based storyteller who operates ghost tours throughout Hawai‘i, first encountered the nightmarchers in 1995 following a hula presentation in Waiʻanae. That night they appeared as a series of lights moving in a zigzag pattern.

A subsequent encounter with the nightmarchers occurred in a Mānoa cemetery in 1998. While leading a ghost tour through the area, Kapanui found himself in the middle of a prolonged and uncanny gust of wind, which bent nearby trees beneath its force but could not be heard nor felt. Kapanui later consulted a cousin, who suggested Kapanui had been standing along a known nightmarcher route, and had likely been spared from harm by ancestors.

Ancient warriors are not the only figures known to march at night, according to Kapanui, who in 2020 was recognized by the Hawai‘i State Legislature for his work to perpetuate Hawaiian history through storytelling. He said many Hawaiian deities, like Pele and Laka, and historical figures like King Kamehameha I, lead nocturnal processions as well.

The nightmarchers appear to represent ancestors belonging to the ahupuaʻa, or traditional land division, in which they are seen, Kapanui said. If a witness can trace their own genealogy to the same place, they may recite a chant to protect themselves.

“There’s a chance that a family member in the procession will save you,” he explained. “If you’ve got ties to that land and the bones that are buried there, then that genealogical chant makes sense, because you’re a part of that ahupuaʻa.”

Nightmarchers have remained a “visceral and important” part of Hawai‘i, due somewhat to the great number of encounters reported over time. Kapanui claims they are referenced in the Hawaiian creation chant, the Kumulipo.

But Kapanui said the nightmarchers’ enduring power mainly is “because of heritage, ancestry: Something we can tangibly connect ourselves to.”