While the Hawaiian Islands are home to awe-inspiring beaches, majestic mountain tops and sweeping, panoramic views, many of these beautiful spots are full of tragic stories, gruesome murders, and spine-tingling hauntings. One such place is MacKenzie State Recreation Area, a secluded park covering 13 acres on Hawaii Island’s rural southern coast featuring tall ironwood trees, volcanic sea cliffs, and quite a few paranormal encounters.
You see, this seemingly lovely park has quite the gruesome past. Portions of the King’s Trail wind through the park, and according to the National Park Service, improvements to this ancient coastal trail were made in the mid 1800s by prisoners and those unable to pay their taxes.
Howard Ignatius/Flickr
Legend has it that the souls of prisoners who died while working on the trail still wander around the park. Visitors have claimed to see apparitions of haggard men wielding pick axes and hand tools, wandering around at sunset.
Lindley Ashline/Flickr
And the dark history gets even worse - MacKenzie State Park has also been the site of several gruesome murders, beatings, and rapes, including a gruesome beating death of an engaged couple who were camping in the park in 1980.
Hunter Bishop/Flickr
Park guests have been awakened by nightmarish screams, heard cries and whispers inside the park’s many collapsed lava tubes, and have even experienced sleeping bags being suddenly unzipped.
Lindley Ashline/Flickr
Lindley Ashline/Flickr
The park’s secluded location doesn’t help its reputation either. Tucked away in a remote area of the Malama-Ki Forest Reserve off of “Read Road,” the park doesn’t receive many visitors, perhaps due to its lack of good swimming.
Howard Ignatius/Flickr
Many Hawaii natives believe that the park is not only home to restless human souls, but also to nightmarchers - the ghosts of ancient Hawaiians that can be found drumming and chanting at all hours of the night - especially during the full moon.
Lindley Ashline/Flickr
Whether or not the park is haunted is yet to be determined, but I’m skeptical, if only because camping is prohibited and the park is only open during daylight hours.
Lindley Ashline/Flickr
While the story behind the haunted MacKenzie State Recreation Area is certainly terrifying, it is not the only haunting in Hawaii; the state is home to several haunted places, including 10 haunted roads, and 9 haunted hotels.
Howard Ignatius/Flickr
Lindley Ashline/Flickr
Hunter Bishop/Flickr
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