Grant is a professor at Tokai International College, but he is better known as the host of the Honolulu radio show “Chickenskin” and as a favoured guest on Art Bell’s “Dreamland.” He has a doctorate in American studies from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. And he has authored such books as Obake Files: Ghost Stories of Hawai’i and Honolulu Mysteries: Case Studies in the Life of a Honolulu Detective, as well as co-writing (with Dennis M. Ogawa) Ellison S. Onizuka: A Remembrance, the biography of Hawaii's first astronaut.

In 1995, the City & County of Honolulu Council honoured him as one of Hawaii's Living Treasures of Multiculturalism. For the past 27 years he has collected the folklore of the Hawaiian Islands, focusing on tales of the supernatural.

A few times each month, he leads the adventurous on guided tours of haunted Hawaii. Grant is a gifted storyteller with a relaxed and captivating style, incorporating a mix of English and Hawaiian slang.

On this particular evening we would be strolling around downtown Honolulu, a popular gathering spot for denizens of the spirit world. Grant quickly surveyed his charges. Thirteen believed they had previous encounters with the supernatural and three were none believers. That left 34 who were really hoping to see a ghost tonight.

Unfortunately, in his ten years of conducting tours, he has never encountered a ghostly manifestation - although there have been a few spooky coincidences. Often his tours have experienced eerie scents, sounds or breezes. He added that no less than four participants had encounters upon returning to haunted places immediately following their tours.

Hawaii is a potent place for ghosts because of ancient traditions of ancestor respect. Certain areas were set aside for “ghost towns” where the dead were to be left in peace to do as they please. Night marchers, ghostly parades that travel on fixed paths, are still common occurrences. Their paths are duly noted on some maps and land surveys. Night marchers are particularly active near old graveyards. Locals are warned to cower and close your eyes to the marchers - lest the ghosts try to take them along.

Hawaii also has the distinction of being the only state in the US with a history of human sacrifice, as well as a recent monarchy - which comes complete with the usual romantic baggage monarchies tend to attract.

As a cultural crossroads, the islands are subject to a combination of traditional Hawaiian spirits, American-style chain rattlers, and footless and faceless Japanese Obake ghosts. Common kinds of Hawaiian hauntings are “choking” ghosts and “calling” ghosts. The latter often appear as “Ladies in white” who lure unsuspecting men to their doom.

Dr. Grant led us through the royal Iolani Palace grounds where long dead guards still tend their rounds, their invisible keys jingling as they walk. He took us to the Iolani Palace, where a lonely Hawaiian prince - who died of pneumonia following a dunking meted out as punishment - has left wet footprints in his search for his family. He showed us the Post Office, where a supervisor who committed suicide many years ago, still checks up on things once in a while.

Even the Hawaii State Capitol building is haunted. Among its alleged ghosts are a former security guard whose cremated remains were placed in the surrounding fountain, a deceased politician who continues to smoke cigars outside his old office, and the spirit of Hawaiian Queen Lili’uokalani who was upset by the undistinguished placement of her commemorative statue.

I was stunned to learn that a rather new movie complex that I often frequent is occasionally visited by the ghosts of smallpox victims who were once buried in the land underneath!

You would think because of his perpetual quest for ghosts that Grant is a brave individual. Unfortunately, you would think wrong. “There was once a psychic who was very interested in taking my tour,” he recalled. But she was concerned about his leading people into the old downtown Kawaiahao Cemetery.

“‘You take them into the cemetery between nine and 9:15 p.m.?’ she asked. I said ‘Yes.’ ‘Well, then I can never go.’ According to her, each night between nine and 9:15 p.m., ten thousand spirits rise up for their nightly march - and I am leading my tour right through them. The spirits like this because I am giving them energy to feed off of, but she told me that I didn’t have to worry. ‘You are safe because of your aura. You have the brightest white aura I have ever seen.’”

“This is good news, I think. What does a white aura mean? I’m powerful? A natural leader?” ’I have never seen someone so filled with utter fear,’ she explained. White indicates fear. But I don’t mind fear. Sure, I have chickenskin.”

Grant claims he was once summoned by a spirit to bring it peace. One of the stories he often told on his tour was the tale of a choking ghost in the dormitories of the University of Hawaii’s Manoa campus.

The ghost revealed itself to be that of a young man who had committed suicide, apparently following a recent breakup. For several weeks in a row, living friends, relative and even ex-girlfriends of the dead student participated in Grant’s tour. Through these strange coincidences, Grant found out that the student took his life for deeper reasons than the grief of his failed relationship - the young man was adopted after his birth. His parents died in a car accident and he wanted to be reunited with his family.

Finally, it was suggested to him that he might want to spend the night in the haunted dorm. “But what am I going to do - phone the University and ask if I can stay overnight to look for ghosts?” He didn’t have to - the University’s housing administrator happened to be on his tour on the night of the suggestion.

After many months of confronting his chickenskin, Grant worked up enough nerve to go to the dorm, accompanied by a psychic friend from Australia. She was not informed about the history of what they were investigating, but after some delay, she eventually led Grant right to the haunted room - where she promptly became possessed by the spirit of the dead student.

During the psychic’s possession, the student revealed that he quickly regretted his decision to take his life and that he wanted nothing more than to rest in peace. He called out for his beloved cousin and then was freed into the care of his birth father - whose spirit waited nearby. This impromptu “exorcism” successfully cleansed the room of the choking ghost. Grant tape recorded the whole event, but alas, upon playing back the tape he was treated to nothing but the gasping sounds being emitted by his psychic cohort.

“These things exist,” he shares. “They watch over us, they love us, they protect us, and sometimes, just sometimes, they frighten us."

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