Hawaii ghost stories don’t get much more enduring than the Faceless Ghost of Waiʻalae Drive-In. In May 1959, Honolulu children were whispering about people with no faces, a restroom rumor exploded across the city, and a movie called The Headless Ghost was suddenly headed for the same theater.

This episode of The Spirits Beneath the Palms goes far beyond the jump scare. We trace the original 1959 newspaper trail, Bob Krauss, theater manager Albert Silva, Ocean View Cemetery, Glen Grant’s later witness accounts, Japanese obake, the difference between mujina and noppera-bō, and the way immigrant folklore became something uniquely local to Hawaii. We also examine a later oral history preserved by Lopaka Kapanui and an unanswered show-business question hiding in the May 1959 timeline.

This podcast is dedicated to the memory of Glen Grant. Some experiences discussed here are oral tradition or eyewitness claims that cannot be independently verified. Where the historical record ends, we leave room for uncertainty.

Sources
A Defunct Drive-In Theater Still Evokes Moving Images
https://www.staradvertiser.com/2016/02/26/hawaii-news/rearview-mirror/a-defunct-drive-in-theater-still-evokes-moving-images/
Waiʻalae Drive-In 1959 Newspaper Clipping
https://www.newspapers.com/article/honolulu-star-advertiser-waialae-drive/10984210/
In Search of Kappa and Mujina: Japanese Obake in Hawaii
https://hojishinbun.hoover.org/?a=d&d=thh19831021-01.1.2
Searching for the Home of Mujina, Part 1
https://discovernikkei.org/en/journal/2011/2/18/searching-home-of-mujina/
Searching for the Home of Mujina, Part 2
https://discovernikkei.org/en/journal/2011/2/25/searching-home-of-mujina/
Searching for the Home of Mujina, Part 3
https://discovernikkei.org/en/journal/2011/3/4/searching-home-of-mujina/
Faceless Ghost
https://www.mysteries-of-hawaii.com/blog/faceless-ghost
Glen Grant Memorial Tour
https://www.mysteries-of-hawaii.com/glen-grant-memorial-tour
Hawaii Creole English
https://www.hawaii.edu/satocenter/langnet/definitions/hce.html
Tanomoshi
https://imagesofoldhawaii.com/tanomoshi/

Music: “Broken Wings” by Yoza.

#HawaiiGhostStories #WaialaeDriveIn #FacelessGhost #HawaiiFolklore #Mujina

Therese “Teddy” Wilder lived at 3939 Pali Road beside Morgan’s Corner in Nuʻuanu, Oahu, decades before the road became one of Hawaii’s best-known ghost stories. We trace her life, her 1948 murder, James Majors and John Palakiko, the death-penalty fight that followed, and the dangerous curve that helped give Morgan’s Corner its reputation.

Then the history turns into folklore: the hanging-boyfriend urban legend, the confusion between Nuʻuanu and Kionaʻole Road, Glen Grant’s 1974 “seventh frame” photograph, the unsolved murder of Alana Bailey, and the line between documented Hawaii history, local ghost stories, spiritual belief, memory, and mystery. The Spirits Beneath the Palms is dedicated to the memory of Glen Grant.

Music: “Broken Wings” by Yoza.

Sources:
The Infamously Haunted Morgan’s Corner: https://www.mysteries-of-hawaii.com/blog/morgans-corner
The Real Story Behind Honolulu’s Haunted Morgan’s Corner: https://www.honolulumagazine.com/the-real-story-behind-honolulus-haunted-morgans-corner/
One Killer Died in Prison, the Other Faded Into History: https://archives.starbulletin.com/2001/12/29/news/whatever.html
Morgan’s Corner Has Deadly Reputation: https://archives.starbulletin.com/2005/05/01/travel/story2.html
Palakiko v. Territory of Hawaii, 188 F.2d 54: https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/188/54/65989/
In re Palakiko, 39 Haw. 141: https://law.justia.com/cases/hawaii/territorial-supreme-court/1951/39-haw-141.html
State Historic Bridge Inventory and Evaluation 2024 Update: https://hidot.hawaii.gov/highways/files/2025/02/SHBIE-2024-Update-Report-20241224.pdf
Alanna Bailey: https://www.honolulupd.org/cold-case/alana-bailey/
This 1948 Death Penalty Case Shows How Multiracial Coalitions Can Promote Change: https://www.civilbeat.org/2023/04/jonathan-okamura-this-1948-death-penalty-case-shows-how-multiracial-coalitions-can-promote-change/
Morgan’s Corner: https://imagesofoldhawaii.com/morgans-corner/
Morgan’s Corner: https://conservatory.windward.hawaii.edu/morgans-corner/
Residual Spirits at Morgan’s Corner: https://alohastatedaily.com/2026/02/03/residual-spirits-at-morgans-corner/

#MorgansCorner #HawaiiGhostStories #HauntedHawaii #HawaiiFolklore #GlenGrant

Welcome to The Spirits Beneath the Palms — a podcast honoring the legacy of Glen Grant and exploring the spiritual shadows of Hawai‘i. These are real places. Real legends. And real encounters that linger beyond explanation. This isn’t about jump scares. It’s about listening. Because in these islands, spirits don’t always leave. And the land? It remembers.

Glen didn’t chase ghosts. He listened. And now, we continue that work.

#TheSpiritsBeneathThePalms #HawaiiGhostStories #GlenGrant #ObakeFiles #HawaiianFolklore #SpiritualHawaii #TrueHauntings