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The drowned boy refused to let them forget, however. People who traveled on the shore of the pond complained that something would tug at the bottom of their pants as they walked. Rumors spread that the boy’s spirit was still trapped beneath the dark waters of the pond, and tries to pull unsuspecting victims in to his watery grave. Years later, another boy was inexplicably dragged into the pond. He was walking behind his father when something pulled him in. He shouted to his father, but it was too late. The force had pulled him beneath the surface. When divers went to retrieve the boy they fund him perched on a rock, eyes and mouth open, arms relaxed at his sides. Fortunately this boy was rescued and revived. Nowadays children are warned to avoid this pond. Who knows when the spirit will become restless once again and claim another young life? –John Kawikonu The legend of this eerie pond was documented in the work of the late, great storyteller, author, and compiler of Hawaiian legends, Glen Grant. In his book Obake Files, Ghostly Encounters in Supernatural Hawaii (Mutual Publishing Company, 1999) Grant writes: |
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Those who were present at the second accident swear that the other boy was pulled into the water against his will. It was the noon hour. He was walking about 50 yards behind his father along the edge of the pond, occasionally picking up a flat stone to skim across the water. When he fell, he screamed out to his father that something was pulling him into the pond. He clawed at the earth, trying to hold on, to fight back. But in what seemed like an instant, the force tugging at his legs pulled him into the watery depths of the pond. By the time the young boy's body had been located, it was found sitting naturally on a rock on the bottom of the pond. He seemed so natural sitting there--arms placidly at his sides, eyes and mouth open, swaying gently to and fro in a light current. Fortunately, the rescuers were able to bring him to the surface in time to be resuscitated… Would the Tanaka boy ever find his peace? A Shinto priest was brought from Hilo to bless the pond so that the haunting cries finally ceased. Yet, on the peculiarly dark nights, when the evening skies seem bathed in a black ink, those who lived closest to the pond would say that sometimes they heard the Tanaka boy's cry. Was it melancholy, or sinister? |