There are many stories about ghosts and hauntings in our old Hawai‘i newspapers. Some articles briefly mention someone who claims to have seen a ghost, while others unfold over several days with explicit detail. One of our favorite stories takes place in the area we now know as Kamāmalu Playground.
In 1905, Emma Street, as it was called then, was lined with rows of old wooden houses, and in one of them lived the Camara family. They made a living doing laundry for several prominent members of the community, including the Parker family and Princess Kawananakoa.
One night, in their shared bed, something disturbed the two daughters in their sleep. They awoke to a vision of a woman dressed in a white, floor-length gown with long black hair. Her skin was pale and ashen. The girls told newspaper reporters that the strange woman pulled back the sheets and then lay down next to them. It was that moment they both screamed loud enough to wake their parents, who ran to the bedroom just in time to see the haunting woman leave the bed and disappear into the dark.
After that, the family continued their laundry business during the day but refused to return to the house after sunset. They later found out that previous tenants also had a hard time staying in the home, and one family even forfeited their security deposit to vacate the house.
Reportedly, the description of the apparition matched that of the house’s original owner, who died many years earlier. The woman’s son, hoping to retain the Camara family’s occupancy, arrived at the home and said he wanted to speak with his mother. He thought he could tell her not to come back, as she was not wanted, but the family doubted his ability to reason with the spirit and continued looking for another place to live.
During all the commotion, two men showed up, claiming to be ghost hunters, and asked to be allowed into the house. Mr. Camara obliged but became suspicious when he took the men to the room where the ghost was seen, and they began opening trunks and bureau drawers, and examining the dresses and other articles sent there to be laundered. Finally, one of the men asked if they could spend the night in the house, along with Mr. Camara, to welcome the ghost if it appeared. Mr. Camara replied that he would not sleep in the house for a thousand dollars. He suspected the men were more interested in the valuable garments sent there to be cleaned and refused to allow them to stay in the house overnight.
After the Camara family moved out, the property owner could not find any other tenants who were willing to stay in the house, and the house was finally torn down the following year. About 50 years later, a public park would be built on the site where that haunted house once stood.
One of the first public parks on O‘ahu was Kamāmalu Park, but it wasn’t always along Queen Emma Street.
Set aside in 1912 for the use and purpose of a public park and playground, the plot was originally on the ‘Ewa/makai corner of Fort and School Streets and was referred to as the “Old Fort Street School Lot.” In 1915, it was officially named Kamāmalu Park after the recommendation of the Outdoor Circle, explaining that all the land in the surrounding area was once the property of Princess Kamāmalu, the sister of King Kamehameha IV and Kamehameha V. A year later, a resolution announced that the park would be equipped and provided with playground equipment and dedicated to public use. The official name would now be Kamāmalu Playground.
In 1932, Emma Street, where the haunted house once stood, was renamed Queen Emma Street, and then, in the late 1950s, the Queen Emma Reconstruction Project was proposed. The 73-acre project was bounded by School, Kukui, and Queen Emma Streets, and Nu‘uanu Stream. The plan was to tear down around 850 tenements, dilapidated houses, and old shops in the area, which were labeled as “a hazard and a threat.” More than one newspaper referred to it as the “slum clearing project.”
In 1958, the Parks Board approved the sale of Kamāmalu Playground at Fort and School Streets from the Free Kindergarten and Children’s Aid Association to the Territory, citing that the area was needed for construction of the Lunalilo Freeway. After six years, when the Nu‘uanu section of the freeway and the Queen Emma redevelopment project were complete, the new Kamāmalu Playground was built on the corner of Vinyard and Queen Emma Street, behind the new Nu‘uanu YMCA.
The project brought Honolulu a larger botanical garden, tall condos, a new YMCA, a small shopping center, and a bigger park and playground. But after more than a hundred years, would the ghost of the Emma Street house still exist?
After one of my nightly ghost tours, a young couple stayed a little longer to ask me about Kamāmalu Playground. Before I could explain any history, they went on to share their own strange story.
As part of their evening routine, Mark and Laura usually walk their German shepherd from their condo on Kukui Street to Kamāmalu Park. One night, just as they crossed the Vineyard intersection, their dog somehow slipped his collar and took off toward the basketball courts. They explained that this was highly unusual after his intense obedience school training, but here he was, running through the overgrown grass like he was chasing something.
The couple tried to catch up, but the shepherd continued to elude them until they lost sight of him completely. As they stood near the back of the YMCA building, they heard the vicious barking and yelping coming from the playground. As they got closer, they saw the German shepherd being dragged through the grass and dirt by something they couldn’t see. Whatever it was, their dog was fighting against it with everything he had. The couple sprinted across the park to rescue their pet, but as soon as they got close, the commotion suddenly stopped. The shepherd turned to face them, sat down, and just stared at them, motionless.
Relieved, Mark started toward his dog, but his wife stopped him, saying something felt off. Laura called out to the dog, but it didn’t move. No wagging tail, no panting, and absolutely no reaction to them, aside from its blank stare.
The couple began to walk backward slowly, questioning whether this was actually their dog. They realized it would be a weird coincidence if their dog ran off and they came upon another dog that looked exactly like him. Then Mark saw something out of the corner of his eye. He turned to look and then alerted his wife. There, under the shower tree, was their dog, lying in the grass, tail flapping, looking completely unbothered. When they turned back to look at the dog that was initially in distress, they couldn’t believe what they saw.
“It literally vanished right in front of us!” Laura said.
They had no explanation for what might have happened to them that evening, and neither did I. However, I did suggest that, when they do take their dog out for walks at night, it might be best not to go to a place with a ghostly history. I then told them the story of what was once at Kamāmalu Playground.
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