For the first time in 20-plus years, “Chicken Skin” returns to the Big Island on Oct. 23 for a live obake storytelling event at the Kilauea Military Camp Theatre in Volcano National Park featuring kumu, actor and master storyteller Robert Lopaka Kapanui.
For the first time in 20-plus years, “Chicken Skin” returns to the Big Island on Oct. 23 for a live obake storytelling event at the Kilauea Military Camp Theatre in Volcano National Park featuring kumu, actor and master storyteller Robert Lopaka Kapanui.
The event is open to the public. Pre-sale tickets are $20 and are available at Irie Hawaii shops and CD Wizard in Hilo. Doors open at 7 p.m. A private showing for Hawaii police and fire department staff also is planned for Oct. 24.
“Chicken Skin,” the name of the infamous book collection of Hawaii obake “ghost” stories by historian and author Glen Grant, also was the name of a live ghost storytelling event that has been produced throughout the state.
“As a kid in the early ’80s, I remember my mom telling me about a ghost story event being held at the UH theater called ‘Chicken Skin,’” said promoter Mariner Revell. “It was a bunch of local Hawaii-based ghost/spiritual stories that were supposedly true. I don’t remember going to the event, but the name of it, ‘Chicken Skin,’ always stuck in my head.”
Flash forward20 years, and Revell met Kapanui through some friends in the professional wrestling business.
“After our pro wrestling shows, Lopaka would tell us about different obake stories,” Revell said. “These weren’t your ordinary campfire ghost stories, these stories were super spooky.”
Kapanui eagerly shares tales of between-world spirits and Hawaiian mythology with locals and visitors alike. For nearly two decades, he has led after-dark ghost tours around Oahu.
With his theatrical, mesmerizing style, he gives fascinating glimpses into Hawaiian spirituality.
He published two short story collections, “Haunted Hawaiian Nights” and “The Legend of Morgan’s Corner and Other Tales.” His third book, “Mysteries of Honolulu,” is a compilation of short stories he shared on Facebook and is available through Amazon.com as an ebook.
Aside from short stories, ghost tours, lectures and blessing ceremonies, Kapanui is working on his first full-length, fiction novel. “Ka Hua O‘o” is the story of Boy Napualawa and his team. They offer a unique service; they will put a curse on someone on your behalf but you have to have a good reason.
Follow Kapanui at www.Mysteries-of-Hawaii.com or facebook.com/mysteriesofhonolulu.
For more information, email rrphawaii@aol.com or visit facebook.com/iriehawaii.