The Legend of Hawaii's Abandoned Haunted High School

One of the most popular on the island, focused around the old high school near Paia town, tells the tale of students and teachers from long ago who continue to return in order to reclaim the area.

In the rural area of Hamakuapoko, there is a picturesque skeleton of a building. It sits lonely, desperately fighting back against the nature around trying to reclaim the land. When the first missionaries and sugarcane plantation owners arrived in Maui, they wanted to create a center of education for their children in this remote area.

They built Old Maui High in 1913 and opened doors of opportunity to the youth in the area. After the school relocated in 1972, the building slowly fell into disrepair and was thereafter abandoned. Today, some of the building’s features, like the pillars and walls, have stood the test of time, while others, like the library being occupied by a banyan tree, have succumbed to the power of nature.

In Hawaii, though, it is believed that spirits who have passed on will always come back to areas that they knew in their previous lives. As regards Old Maui High, locals will tell you this is true. The students and administration of the school are said to still roam the grounds, occasionally interacting with the living.

With rumors of ghosts who choke people setting foot on the land, to the sounds of a crying girl inside what used to be the school’s bathroom, stories of the old high school grounds still manage to make their rounds within the community.

With its structure barely intact, Old Maui High’s shadowed corners have become the perfect setting for tales of spirits and haunting experiences, so much so that events like Haunted Mayhem have made the location a perfect place to spend a Halloween evening.