The Uncanny Coffee Hour with Dr Kitsune and Odd Bob
From Yokai and Bigfoot sightings to spirits, other-worldly beings and UFO encounters, we share stories and interviews; exploring evidence, theories, and philosophical implications. Always respectful with a touch of impish irreverence, we gather stories with wit and wisdom encouraging a strong look at Indigenous perspectives.
This project has been brewing in our minds for years and now with the help of our community (including the uncanny world) we are making it a reality.
The Uncanny Coffee Hour with Dr Kitsune and Odd Bob
Hawaiian Tales: Part One
The boundary between our world and the supernatural realm has always been thinner in Hawaii. The islands pulse with ancient energy, spiritual power, and stories that send shivers down your spine—even on warm tropical nights.
Kevin Chang joins us from Oahu to explore one of Hawaii's most enduring supernatural phenomena: the Night Marchers (Huaka'i Po). These ghostly apparitions of ancient Hawaiian warriors announce their presence with pounding war drums and conch shells as they march between sacred sites. The protocol for encountering them is clear: lie face down, avoid eye contact, and show absolute respect—your life may depend on it.
As a musician, attorney, and community builder, Kevin brings multiple perspectives to this conversation. His work with Kua'a'i Na'ulu A'uamo helps Native Hawaiian communities connect and strengthen their stewardship of natural resources, preserving cultural knowledge that spans generations. Through his band Hoopa Aina, Kevin has captured the mystique of Night Marchers in haunting melodies that both entertain and educate.
The episode takes an especially chilling turn when we share a firsthand account from a visitor who claims to have encountered Night Marchers at Kapina Falls. Their detailed description—the rhythmic drumming, ethereal torches, and the metallic tang in the air—mirrors centuries of similar reports across the islands.
Whether skeptic or believer, this exploration of Hawaiian spiritual traditions reminds us that some knowledge exists beyond scientific explanation. The stories we share connect us to our ancestors and teach respect for forces we may never fully understand.
Have you ever felt unseen eyes watching you in places where history runs deep? Subscribe now and join our community of curious minds exploring the uncanny in all its forms.
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An evil-minded man will keep you evil-minded too. Get evil, cause there's nothing else to do. Come on.
Speaker 2:Come on, get evil cause. There's nothing else to do. Come to you live from the parking lot outside this year's Obon Festival west of Springfield. It's the Dr Kitsune, odd, bob and Kenny Coffee Hour.
Speaker 3:Where we're always respectful, with a touch of impish irreverence. We tell stories with wit and wisdom, encouraging a strong look at Indigenous perspectives.
Speaker 4:A warm welcome to you all. It's myself, saoirse, and if you're thinking, my voice has a different ring to it since we last met. Well, don't be bothering yourself with it. It's the nature of the puka to have a whole host of forms and sounds for spinning a yarn. It's grand to have you back with us for the uncanny coffee. 28 or so minutes, eh, don't you be shaking your head at me? Yeah, go on, it's not an hour. Anyway, welcome to the show.
Speaker 2:Brought to you this week by Dr Kitsune's Menehune musubi need to pick me up exhausted, feeling drained, tired, don't care what animal you eat. Wait, what animal is this? Try, dr kitsune menehune musubi broke the mouth. Oh, specially processed in dr kitsune menehune mystery meat factory, on I feel funny atop a bed of rice wrapped in seaweed, cured a low T, and lots of other stuff too. One million and one uses, get some.
Speaker 5:I feel like I'm having a bay-bay.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay Good enough.
Speaker 2:Yep, well, well, saoirse, do you think you could come out of that tree?
Speaker 3:What are you doing up there.
Speaker 1:Oh god.
Speaker 2:You didn't need to shit on me. God damn it. I'm wearing a black shirt. Yeah, I didn't need to, but you should have seen your face One of the benefits of being a shapeshifter.
Speaker 4:Damn it, I'm wearing a black shirt. Yeah, I didn't mean to, but you should have seen your face, One of the benefits of being a shapeshifter.
Speaker 2:Besides, I just came from the country fair and all the giggle smoke there inspired me Country fair, you came from the country fair.
Speaker 3:We were supposed to try to go this year it didn't work out very well. Yeah, it didn't work out. It didn't work out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, all right, next time you know, there's over a hundred thousand people there and one dead sexy puka I believe it quality's driving around with 60 000 pounds of compost on a trailer right now from that country.
Speaker 3:Fair and it's only, it's only sunday I may have had a bit of a wee in it I mean it seems really cool but it feels like it's gotten more commercialized and maybe a little too big for the space.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't know, I've never been there.
Speaker 3:Well, I haven't either. I just think that. I think it comes from a good place.
Speaker 2:Right now, this is one person shy of being overpopulated.
Speaker 3:This where we're sitting right now.
Speaker 2:If we had one more, it'd be overpopulated.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I hear you.
Speaker 4:And I smell you both.
Speaker 3:So what are you drinking?
Speaker 2:Oh well, let me. I am drinking a Hawaiian Sun Tropical Ice Tea with pineapple and lemon juice from concentrate with other natural flavors. Shake well. Oh fuck, I didn't shake. Shake well, not carbonated. Thank you for asking what are you? Drinking today.
Speaker 3:I'm drinking Ruby Red Squirt the thirst quencher. Wait a minute, no, hemp Nope, milk Nope, not right now.
Speaker 4:Saints preserve us. He's finally become a man.
Speaker 3:Nope, I'm trying to tone down my caffeine just a little bit. I know there's some caffeine in this, but yeah.
Speaker 2:Not today, and it's hot out. This isn't called the Dr Kitsune Odd Bob, uncanny Soda Hour.
Speaker 3:Well, I can tell you what I had earlier. It wasn't a woman.
Speaker 2:Oh, what did you have earlier?
Speaker 3:I had some espresso with some soy milk in it. Soy milk.
Speaker 2:Yeah, soy milk, soy milk. There's a lot of estrogen in it.
Speaker 4:Tanuki boobies.
Speaker 3:Does it. Is that why my boobs are like this?
Speaker 4:Yes, my moobs.
Speaker 2:What are you drinking, Saoirse?
Speaker 4:So I met one of your modern druids down by the river path, a kind, stinky soul covered in glitter. For some reason he was generous enough to share his potent little brew here. He said my laugh sounded like bells he'd lost Mortals are funny that way, trading things you can't put in your pocket. Also, I think he fancied my hypnotising potty painting.
Speaker 3:I don't know how healthy that is for you long term, if you ever tried to lay off the booze for a little bit.
Speaker 2:You might be happier.
Speaker 4:Who says I'm not happy it is a natural depressant piss off no, I'm not telling you to stop drinking.
Speaker 2:I'm just saying we're kind of, you know, buying into the stereotype that irish pukas are always drinking. You know, maybe something a little different I'm feckingcking magic.
Speaker 4:You idgits what You're. Rather, I was drinking hemp milk.
Speaker 3:No, it doesn't have to be hemp milk Wouldn't hurt, especially if you buy it.
Speaker 2:Did I say that nice enough? Yeah, I think you did. Did I mention I'm drinking Hawaiian Sun Tropical Iced Tea? Because in this episode we are going to be interviewing one of my brothers, we're going to Hawaii, Yep we're in Hawaii now Doesn't it look like Hawaii?
Speaker 3:Wait, what was it? Was it a rock, or was it a conch? Or what was it in the Brady Bunch that they grabbed?
Speaker 2:I have the conch, get him, get Piggy. Oh wait, that's not Brady.
Speaker 3:Bunch. I have the conch.
Speaker 2:That's not Brady Bunch. We're going to be interviewing my brother, kevin Chang, and Kevin is an awesome artist, an awesome musician, very cool. And I want to suggest people.
Speaker 4:Listen to the music.
Speaker 2:Purchase his album, and we'll give you a link to do that later.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and have one on the website.
Speaker 2:And we are going to play a little bit of his music too Excellent One of my favorite songs called Night Marcher.
Speaker 3:Very cool.
Speaker 4:Okay, then I'll give our listeners the shape of it. Then can call Kevin. The Night Marchers, known as the Huaka'i Po in Hawaiian, are the ghostly apparitions of ancient Hawaiian chiefs and warriors. Legend says they rise on certain nights to march from their burial sites to other sacred places or to revisit the sites of ancient battles. Their presence is announced by the sounds of pounding war drums, the blowing of conch shells and a faint light from their torches. They march in a single file, often accompanied by the acrid smell of death. They are said to float a few inches off the ground, leaving no footprints. It is considered an extremely bad omen to encounter the night marchers. According to tradition, if you hear them approaching, you must show immediate respect. To avoid harm, you should get out of their path, lie face down on the ground, remain silent and never look at them directly. Making eye contact is said to mean death, though some legends say you might be spared. If one of the marchers is an ancient ancestor of yours, right, then let's not keep Kevin waiting.
Speaker 2:Kevin Sershaw. Hey, Kevin, how you doing?
Speaker 6:Hey, aloha Mitch, nice to see you, aloha Nice to meet you, bob, nice to meet you.
Speaker 6:So, uh, tell us a little bit about yourself. My name is Kevin Chang. I live in a place called Kahalu'u on the island of Oahu in the state of Hawaii, pretty much grew up here all my life, except for a period of time when I was in school in Oregon. I'm an attorney but I don't practice.
Speaker 6:My work really is around community building. I work primarily through a nonprofit organization called Kua'a'i Na'ulu A'uamo, which means grassroots growing through shared responsibility, growing through shared responsibility and what we do. We were created as a mechanism by rural Native Hawaiian communities who do community-based stewardship kind of things like community fishery management, traditional agriculture, watershed management, forestry, stream management, things like that, and we were created as a mechanism to help these communities connect to each other, basically to build a movement around kind of greater local governance around natural resources. In fact, as I'm speaking to you, I have about 30 community members flying back from Rarotonga where they spent about a week learning about how the communities of Rarotonga manage their fisheries. So my work has primarily been focused on that Community empowerment through natural resource management.
Speaker 4:Brilliant.
Speaker 2:That sounds really awesome. Hey, do you have a link to that in case people are interested in seeing more about it or maybe even putting some money towards that donating?
Speaker 6:Oh sure, Our website is KUAHawaiiorg KUAHawaiiorg Very cool. And then I play music, but not so often as I used to when I was younger so a little bit about Kevin, also from my perspective.
Speaker 2:He's I met him at U of O. He's someone I consider a brother, and my brother and I we were walking across the quad and we heard this beautiful sound and a beautiful voice and ukulele. And we walked around the corner and there was Kevin standing in the quad and he was serenading someone in the third floor of the dormitories and we stood there. He didn't know we were watching or listening, and it was the most beautiful song I think I've ever heard. I actually cried when I heard you sing. I don't know if you remember that night we were watching or listening and it was the most beautiful song I think I've ever heard. I actually cried when I heard you sing.
Speaker 4:I don't know if you remember that night I cry when I hear you lads sing, for an entirely different reason I know I caught it.
Speaker 6:I think I caught a doom and I was in. Was that in carson?
Speaker 2:that was carson.
Speaker 6:Yep, yeah yeah, yeah, no, I actually, when you mentioned it, I, I, I kind of remember that now. My memory is going to come back these days when others talk about it. I can't remember.
Speaker 3:Did you get a date out of it, at least Dinner.
Speaker 2:No women matter, except for his lady now.
Speaker 4:No, I don't think so I would have gone with you? I don't think so.
Speaker 2:I would have gone with you. Also his band, hoopa Aina. I got to say I listen to your album at least once a week. I listen to songs from your album.
Speaker 6:Wow, thank you.
Speaker 4:I like the Night Marchers. Skank mix.
Speaker 6:Oh, thank you. I don't know. I think I don't hear my music very often, so it's good to know other people listen.
Speaker 2:I think you texted me and said yeah, I think you and my mom are the only ones that listen anymore.
Speaker 6:But that's not true. You know it's random. Every now and then I do meet like people. You know our music got a lot of radio play in Hawaii but it it didn't get it didn't get play on the island of Oahu, which is the main island, and so we never really heard ourselves on the radio unless you went to another side of the island to catch the stations on, like Maui or Hawaii Island. So it's always neat to find people who actually listen to our music. Well, mitch said he likes Night. Marcher.
Speaker 2:Yeah, can we play a little bit of that?
Speaker 1:Yeah, sure, I've always liked that song you can hear when the moon shines bright, the lone blue air in the black of night you can hear. You can hear the whisper in the valley and you know when Kama Kani blows to the Pahu drum, it's the warriors who are marching down the mountain, because history ain't no mystery to me, been marching through the pain and the loss that I see, and a revolution is born in love with me.
Speaker 6:Because the change, mitch, do you have my? I did a solo album too. Do you have that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I got Mr Chang. It's Mr Chang, right.
Speaker 6:Oh, yeah, yeah Okay.
Speaker 2:It's Local Island People, koopa Aina. And then Mr Chang right, yeah, simple Island People. And then Mr Chang yeah, okay, it's Local Island People, Kupa Aina, and then Mr Chang right.
Speaker 6:Yeah, Simple Island People, and then Mr Chang yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I got that one. You covered Chocolate Jesus. Yeah, I love your version of Chocolate Jesus.
Speaker 6:Yeah, I love that song.
Speaker 2:My boy on Easter. He was walking into his school singing Chocolate Jesus. I said you know, boy, you might get into a little trouble. He says but Uncle Kevin sings it.
Speaker 6:At least he's not singing that song, Nursery Rhymes. I have friends who, I guess they said they like my music and so they play the album, and then they always forget that that song is a little illicit, and so now our kids are learning their bad language from my music.
Speaker 2:Well, first grade the other kids were acting up. My boy stands up and he says uh, shut the feet up the teacher tells me this at my very first student teacher conference I said, uh yeah, his mom, she cusses a lot what'd you have for that bus? I said what did you do? And she said well, it worked. The kids were quiet for like 45 minutes, so I didn't say anything.
Speaker 6:Yeah, I bet I shocked them.
Speaker 3:What would you like to tell the people that are listening? The whole five of them, and two in Russian.
Speaker 2:We have 10 people in russia now about 750 listeners, so we're on our way to a million yes, that's how it begins.
Speaker 6:You know that. Uh, what's that? You know that? Author robin wall kimura yeah, kimura kimura. Yeah, yeah, I was just listening to an interview with her and you know, I guess her book came out in 2013. And it's only taking off now. Did you know that?
Speaker 3:Yeah, it takes time. It takes a little time. It's a labor of love for us right now. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 6:You never know, man, keep at it. Yeah, you never know, man, keep at it. Yeah, you know. Like if we were talking about like spirits and kind of like the cultural kind of motifs and stuff, my experience with that was more like being scared as a child by all the stories that the teachers would tell or our parents and relatives would tell. Would tell or our parents and relatives would tell, like I remember when I was in, uh, intermediate school, there was a teacher who was so popular that like kids would cut class to sit outside his room and hear all the ghost stories that he would tell about hawaii, um, and like all his kids did their homework because they wanted to hear the stories. Like that's kind of the ways I heard stuff.
Speaker 6:Personal experience has been more like not around that kind of thing, but like in fact, you know my mom's from Oregon. That's why I kind of went to school in Oregon and my grandmother from there lived with us for a while and then she went back to Oregon while I was in school and then she died while I was an undergrad over there. But when she passed away all my family went to Oregon to the funeral and my auntie my Chinese side was watching our house and she said the day of the funeral, our dogs started getting hot and nuts outside just barking violently. She couldn't figure out what was going on, but she knew the funeral had started. So she walked outside of the house, stood next to the dog and she said Granddad, which is my grandmother's name, said Grand-aunt, you've passed away, you no longer live in Hawaii and everyone's back in Oregon waiting for you. And then the dog stopped barking and went back into its house.
Speaker 3:Uncanny coffee.
Speaker 6:And then the direct personal experience I had was, um, you know, 20 years ago I used to live with my grandparents and take care of my grandparents and my grandfather died in his 80s and he had cancer and, um, he was on fentanyl. So before everybody was talking about fentanyl as a drug of addiction and a week or so before he passed away he was walking in the hallway and basically he fell over because I think the fentanyl was just too strong and then he went to the hospital and he passed after about a week. And so like a week after that my cousins come over with their kids and one of my nieces she's very unique, like she's a very smart but socially awkward kind of girl and I just was with her and I just was standing behind her and I just remember she stopped in the middle of the hall and started talking to my grandpa saying Hi, uncle, and everything. And I don't even know if she ever met him and the whole family saw that and they knew that was the last place my grandfather kind of was in the house before he had to leave to go to the hospital and uh, that's always had a deep impression on everyone who was there. So it was like personal kind of stuff.
Speaker 6:But you know, like the song Night Marcher, I wrote that I think you might be talking to my band member, his name is Kalama. I wrote that song about you know, when I was younger we didn't know the Hawaiian name for everything. It's Night Marchers, I think the word is huakai, po, like huakai is like to. You know, when I was younger we didn't know the Hawaiian name for everything. So night marchers, I think the word is huakai, like huakai is like to, to journey, to, like go on an excursion, and then po is the night, so it's like, I guess you know, to to march in the night, to journey into the night, and so they call them. But we didn't know all these terms.
Speaker 6:So when you talk to Kalama you can talk more deeply on like the cultural background, like everybody in Hawaii when I was younger, unless you're like someone like Kalama, which is you don't have a lot of those folks. Even now, in my opinion, you took you learn these things based on more broad generalizations and stereotypes about ourselves and our own community and it was always stories of at night people would tell stories of, especially like you go camping and whatever you know, campfire, stories of night that people would see these torches coming down a mountain, and there's always stuff about and you never know if it's like some uncle pulling your leg, you know. But you know like if you're ever in a mountain and in the night and the night marchers come, you need to kneel down and hide your face, sort of like subjects of the king, might you know, or you would get killed and so people would talk about doing that, and then there was always an uncle. Like I said, I don't know if they're pulling your leg.
Speaker 6:You know you'd piss on yourself or something, you know, I don't know, why I say stuff like that to protect yourself, but I remember stories like that from some people. I think that's like uncles pulling your leg and trying to get you to do something stupid. They told you to pee on yourself.
Speaker 4:Yeah that's what my memory is. Yeah, If you have an accident, you've drank too much.
Speaker 2:Isn't there something about that with kahunas also, that their urine can heal certain things? Have you, do you remember hearing stories about that?
Speaker 6:nope no, um, I don't think so.
Speaker 2:I mean, I've heard uh, stuff like that from you know, like hippies and stuff like that but uh, I mean I I know like man o' war sting you want to pee on that.
Speaker 6:Yeah, we're told that. We're told to do that.
Speaker 3:I don't know if that's a thing, guys, yeah.
Speaker 1:I don't know, I think you might have been told that it really matters.
Speaker 6:I don't know if it works, but people will stop pissing on you.
Speaker 3:If you it works, maybe water would work just as well.
Speaker 2:No, it's the uric acid. It does something to neutralize the jellyfish sting. Yeah, but you know it might do something. So who are the night marchers? I mean, do they ever talk about that?
Speaker 6:marchers. I mean, do they ever talk about that?
Speaker 6:I wouldn't want to speculate the way I think by like, like a comma can lay it out but um okay you know, because, like you know, people like will imply like who they are and what they're searching for and whatever, and, um, nothing deeply comes to mind actually. So I can't, I can't really say much. I've never seen the night marchers, I've never seen the torch in the mountain, but I definitely can tell you it was used to scare the shit out of me and everyone else I grew up with when we were younger. Ah, she had a lot of me and everyone else I grew up with when we were younger.
Speaker 4:Saints, preserve us. I have a treat for you now A letter one of my Scottish friends sent when I mentioned we were doing an episode that included the night marchers. It reads as this I'd gone to Capina Falls, lovely spot, but sadly, like many beautiful places these days, it had its share of rubbish left behind by knobs. So I was doing my bit, picking things up. The jungle sounds all around me, the waterfall, a pleasant roar in the background.
Speaker 4:As the afternoon wore on, a strange feeling crept over me, like eyes were on me, though I couldn't see a soul. The air felt heavy somehow, not just the usual humidity, an unease in my gut, a prickling on the back of my neck, and I found myself glancing around more often. The shadows deepened quicker than they should and the sounds of the forest, usually comforting, started to feel watchful. I was just about to call it a day, the lights starting to fade, when I heard it faint. At first, a low, rhythmic thump, thump, thump, rhythmic, thump, thump, thump. It wasn't the sound of the jungle nor the water, deeper, more resonant, like a heartbeat Echoing from the bones of the island. Then a high, mournful wail, a conch shell being blown. The drumming grew louder, closer, the conch call echoed through the trees. A faint, flickering light Started to move through the undergrowth further up the path I was on. It wasn't the beam of a flashlight, it was soft and ethereal, like distant torches.
Speaker 4:I darted off the path quick as a shadow and flattened myself behind a thick clump of ferns. The damp earth, cold against my cheek. Behind a thick clump of ferns, the damp earth, cold against my cheek. The sounds grew deafening the drums like thunder, the conch, a drawn-out cry. And then they came silently. Their feet didn't seem to touch the ground. They moved in a column, torches casting a pale, flickering glow on stern, unseen faces. I could feel their presence. The air even smelled different, a sharp metallic tang mixed with the scent of turned earth. I kept my face pressed down, eyes squeezed shut, every muscle in my body tense.
Speaker 4:All the old warnings, the ingrained respect for the unseen flooded through me Don't look, don't breathe too loud, don't disrespect their passage. They seemed to go on forever, a silent army of the long gone, their ancient purpose, carrying them along the path. The drumming faded slowly as they moved past the conch call, receding into the distance. It was only when the last echo had died away. When the heavy feeling in the air had begun to lift that, I dared to move. I stayed there for a long time with my heart still hammering against my ribs. In the silence that followed their passing, I made my way back a lot quicker than I'd come, with a newfound respect and a healthy dose of fear settling in my spirit. The beauty of those islands is undeniable, but they hold stories and powers older than you or I can truly grasp, and sometimes it's best to just listen to the whispers on the wind and give the ancient ones their space.
Speaker 2:Whispers on the wind and give the ancient ones their space and with that our coffee and tea and squirt are sadly empty for this session of the Uncanny Coffee Hour. Many thanks to Dr Kitsune. That's me, hey Odd Bob.
Speaker 4:That's me.
Speaker 2:And Saoirse.
Speaker 4:Right then that would be me.
Speaker 2:And especially thank you to Kevin Chang for joining us in these chilling conversations about Hawaiian night marchers and the sacred paths they still tread.
Speaker 3:You can find us stirring up more mysteries next week, wherever you listen. So make sure you subscribe so you don't miss a single uncanny moment. Until then, respect the shadows and aloha We'll see you for the next brew.
Speaker 4:Stay strange everyone.
Speaker 5:Thanks for listening. Join us next time for more uncanny chats and coffee and tea. You can find out more about us, read show notes and get your Uncanny merch at wwwuncannycoffeepodcastcom. Until next time, remember.
Speaker 2:Never whistle at night. Always respect the local ways.
Speaker 3:And above all, else remember, we are not all monsters.
Speaker 2:Thanks to all of our listeners out there. Uncanny Coffee Hour is produced by Bob Masson and Mitch.
Speaker 3:Kiyotakitsune. Executive producer, Gracie the.
Speaker 2:Wonder Dog Uncanny Coffee Hour is copyright protected by all laws, foreign, domestic and uber natural, by the Unseelie Court.
Speaker 3:Did I say Aloha, right, yeah, okay, I heard it on the Brady Bunch.
