Spirits in the South Pacific -- January 2003
This was a popular story about spirits causing sickness on an island in the South Pacific. The events described were witnessed
by the author.
Spirit Activity
This photo was taken the day after a house was intentionally burned down -- the charred spot in the middle of the photo. The
owner torched it to get rid of some troublesome ghosts who occupied the house and were making the neighbors sick. Photo was
taken by the website author using an old Pentax 35mm film camera. What's the orange spot? I don't know. It's also on the negative.
Spirits in the South Pacific
Christianity was brought to the islands of the South Pacific in the mid-1800s, but many of the indigenous beliefs survived.
People still believe that spirits, called ‘aitu, still roam the islands. Some spirits have always been spirits, akin
to nymphs and fairies, while others are the spirits of once-living persons. Both can either be obliging or troublesome, but
the spirits of the deceased seem to be the most active.
I arrived in the main village on the night of September 23, 2002. There was no one waiting at the airport to meet me because
of a communication glitch, so I hailed a cab and instructed the driver to take me to a nice but not expensive motel. There
was, at the time, only one functioning motel/hotel on the island, but I didn’t know that. My driver took me to the Rainmaker
Hotel.
The next day, I was talking with the head of the Commerce Department and the father of my friend Cecilia. He asked me where
I had stayed that night and I told him.
"How did you sleep?" he asked.
"The phone in my room rang several times overnight," I said. "When I would answer it, there would be no one on the other end.
It would ring through to the front desk."
"The Rainmaker is notorious for its ‘aitu," he said. "Maybe the ‘aitu were saying hello."
He told me a story from his childhood. Along the path that he and his friends took to get to and from school, there was one
area they always hesitated to cross. When they got up the nerve, they would run as fast as they can, and usually they were
pelted with a rain of small stones.
"We always thought the place was the haunt of some ‘aitu," he said.
‘Aitu often choose a favorite resting place. It may be a tree or bush, or a building or pile of stones, but if anyone
disturbs this place, the ‘aitu will throw stones at the offending person – or worse. Stories from the not-too-distant
past tell of ‘aitu jumping on a person’s back and making them carry the spirit equestrian-style to another location.
According to legend, the only way to rid oneself of such a spirit is to throw it in the fire.
‘Aitu are also feared because they can possess a person. Spirit possession here usually takes the form of a deceased
relative temporarily inhabiting the body of and speaking through a young woman. The spirit most often is berating someone,
including the person possessed, for an unacceptable behavior or for not taking care of the deceased’s grave.
The ‘aitu are also blamed for causing unexplained sickness. The person "hit" by the spirit usually has done something
to annoy the spirit, even though the action was innocent or even laudable. Spirits don’t like change, and if a person
does something to change the ‘aitu’s favorite spot, that ‘aitu may retaliate.
I currently live in Utulei village, two villages west of the main village on the island. My little dwelling sits on a hillside
overlooking the harbor. The street next to the house meanders up the side of the mountain to the top – it’s a
very steep climb. I walked to the top of the mountain one evening with some friends who are immigrants from another South
Pacific island country.
At the summit there is a little park overlooking the mouth of the harbor and the village of Utuilei. Turn the corner, and
you can see the main village, the canneries and the main docks, and the other small villages surrounding the bay. The old
cable car station is here, too. Years ago, the cable car took passengers from the top of the mountain, across the bay to the
mountain on the other side.
The cars haven’t run for many years, and the housing and cars are in decay. It’s a sad sight. The cable is still
there, but the system is not operational. My Tongan friends commented about how beautiful the building must have been before
it was abandoned and how much potential the location has for tourism.
It was getting dark as we were enjoying the view. The sun had set, and the lights of the villages could be seen in the descending
twilight.
From within the bushes, I heard a little girl’s voice saying, "Boooooooo…. Boooooo…..!"
"I hear an ‘aitu!" I said to my friend Soa, winking.
"Boooooooo…. Boooooo…..!" whispered the voice, this time with a little giggle.
"I’m scared," I said. "I hear an ‘aitu!"
The ghost noises dissolved into girlish giggling and little Christina, age 4, ran down the sidewalk, pleased with herself
that she had fooled the palagi.
The house where I’m now staying is one of the oldest western-style houses in Utulei village. A Tongan man and his family
are caretakers of the house, and they have lived there for about 30 years. The original owners are buried next to the house,
under concrete slabs, the usual way for marking important graves on the island.
I was sitting one day on the long concrete stairway that leads to the front door of this hillside house. A relative had driven
up and everyone ran to greet him, leaving me alone to meditate quietly on the dark green fruit of orange tree growing in the
front yard. I felt like someone was standing behind me, and when I turned, I could swear I saw a man in a brown suit standing
at the top of the stairs, near the front door. It was only for an instant, then I was alone again. I mentioned it to Soa and
he said it was probably the owner of the house, who is buried in one of the two graves. He asked me not to mention it so no
one is frightened by it, but he said, "He’s probably watching over us." It reminded me of the ‘aitu who rang my
phone my first night on the island, when I was staying at the Rainmaker Hotel. The Rainmaker is a short walk from the house:
walk down the hill, across the high school campus, and right across the main road and you’re at the hotel.
My friend Maria, who lives in Nu’uuli, also saw an ‘aitu. Maria’s experience was not a pleasant one, however.
One evening, I was sitting in Maria’s living room with several native women. We were talking in their native language
(which I only understand a few words of) and some English. It began to get late and I excused myself to go home. Maria offered
to let me stay the night with them. I had a funny feeling – like an urgency to go home – so thanked her and said
I was too bony in the wrong places to sleep on the floor (which made them all chuckle), and I went home.
That night, the women said they heard a rain of softball-sized rocks on the corrugated metal roof of the house. When they
ran outside, there was no one there. The guys who lived in the blue house next door were all asleep, as attested to by their
snoring.
Maria woke up in the middle of the night and to her shock and fright there was a man lying next to her, watching her sleep.
He immediately disappeared, much like the man in the brown suit did when I looked at him.
The day after the man’s "visit," Maria came down with an inexplicable, flu-like illness that dogged her for two weeks.
It was disconcerting to see her walking around in 95-degree heat, wearing a t-shirt and a flannel shirt and whatever she could
wrap around herself. She said she was freezing.
The second week, I came home from work to see the blue house next door to Maria’s totally engulfed in flames. My friends
were all standing around, some smiling, some looking serious but none looked worried. Two of the boys were carrying water
to pour on Maria’s house to keep it from catching. I noticed, too, that the big old mango tree that grew at the front
corner of Maria’s house had been given a serious "haircut;" most of its branches had been cut and it was just a trunk.
The young man who owns the property was there, and I asked him what was going on.
A traditional healer-clairvoyant had been called in about Maria’s illness, he told me. The healer did a card reading
and told Maria that she had been "hit" by an ‘aitu who had come down the water pipe. The pipe originates in the mountains
and runs across Nu’uuli, across the property, next to Maria’s house and down to the ocean. The healer (usually
referred to as "the old man," which is not considered disrespectful; more like calling someone "grandfather") said the spirits
were stopping over and living in the little blue house next door to Maria’s. They were mad at Maria because she has
kept the property tidy and clean, changing things. Spirits apparently like things to remain unchanged. The Old Man recommended
burning down the house and cutting down the mango tree. When Maria’s husband returned from the States, he would follow
the pipe to its source, find the source of the spirits — usually a grave — and pour battery acid on them. He told
me that, while his people pour boiling water on the graves of suspected wandering spirits (and often on victims of spirit
possession), Maria’s people apparently have even less tolerance for troublemakers, so they use something industrial-strength:
battery acid.
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The ashes of the house that was burned to get rid of spirits who were causing illness. |
Recurring themes in prophecy and in recent dreams and visions
July 2003
EDITOR'S NOTE: This article is particularly interesting in light of the devastating tsunami in the Indian Ocean in
December, 2004.
There are a number of themes that recur in end times prophecy from many different centuries and from around the world.
Some sources are Christian, some are not; some sources are religious, some are not. Here is a thought-provoking compilation
of some of these recurring themes. They include tidal waves, earthquakes, volcanoes, comet, mind control, police state and
various kinds of persecution.
It is probably not a coincidence that people are dreaming about these things now. Many are reporting dreams depicting horrific
scenarios that fit in with prophecy – in some cases, prophecies the dreamers were not aware of.
As I write this, I don’t have access to a copy of Revelation. I will add that information as I can acquire it.
Wave, tidal wave, tsunami, floods
Many people are dreaming of waves and water-related natural disasters. This theme can be found in the prophecies of saints
and indigenous people, but Mary only mentions it at Bayside.
Tsunami
April 28, 2001
This is the first "wave" dream.
I was with a large group of people in some kind of structure. I was out on a porch or something, and I looked out to the
sea and saw a huge tsunami heading right for us. It was coming fast! I ran inside to warn everyone, but only a handful listened
to me. I ran to an interior room, and began packing a bag full of food and some other things I thought I might need. I felt
the wave hit; it knocked me to the floor. Then it was over. I could hear people shouting and crying. I grabbed a coat and
worked my way back toward the exterior.
Someone was saying that the structure held up to the wave the way it was intended to, and expressed hope that it would
survive whatever else was to come.
It was then that I realized the structure was a ship of some kind, like a modern Noah's ark.
Olivet Discourse (Jesus Christ)
“For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines [and pestilences] and
earthquakes in various places: all this is but the beginning of the birth pangs”
Southwest Wave
July 24, 2001
We were aware that something bad was about to happen. We thought it was some kind of terrible disaster, like a global nuclear
blast or something no one would survive. A wave was coming toward us that would have serious consequences. Some people gave
up in despair, but many of us decided to try to survive. My friend and I, and a couple with a small child took some provisions
and hid in a small cave under a rock.
The next morning, we came out. I was surprised to see a large crowd of people gathering around a makeshift kitchen. I was
hoping to fill my thermos with tea when a friend offered me a cup. Someone asked what had happened. A thin woman with strange
eyes--eyes she kept downcast--said it was a temporal shift.
I guess instead of being killed, we were shifted into another time, or our time changed somehow. However it happened, we
had entered another era.
I think in the former time zone, everything had been destroyed by the wave. Someone asked why we were preserved, and I
said, "because of where we are, in this valley." I looked up toward the horizon, and noticed that we were in the
four corners area, maybe on the Navajo reservation. There were mesas and rock formations that reminded me of the desert Southwest.
It was a sacred place. I wondered: perhaps other sacred places were also preserved.
Saints
St. Columba: (521-597)
“Seven years before the last day, the sea shall submerge Eirin [Ireland] in one inundation.”
St. Hildegard (12th Century)
“The great nation in the ocean that is inhabited by people of different tribes and descent will be devastated by
earthquake, storm, and tidal wave. It will be divided and, in great part, submerged. That nation will also have many misfortunes
at sea and lose its colonies. [After the] great Comet, the great nation will be devastated by earthquakes, storms, and great
waves of water, causing much want and plagues. The ocean will also flood many other countries, so that all coastal cities
will live in fear, with many destroyed. All seacoast cities will be fearful, and many of them will be destroyed by tidal waves,
and most living creatures will be killed, and even those who escape will die from a horrible disease.”
Johannes Friede (1204-1257)
“When the great time will come, in which mankind will face its last, hard trial, it will be foreshadowed by striking
changes in nature. The alteration between cold and heat will become more intensive, storms will have more catastrophic effects,
earthquakes will destroy great regions, and the seas will overflow many lowlands.”
Indigenous People
Guboo Ted Thomas, Australian Aboriginal Tribal Elder
“So, you see, that's really what's going to happen to the earth. We're going to have tidal waves. We're going to
have earthquakes.”
No Eyes (Mary Summer Rain) 1987
“The Great Lakes were flooding down through the Mississippi River as the Earth tilted into its new axis position.
The land bordering the shorelines of all coastal regions will be inundated with a massive influx of water. Swamps will persist
where arid and dry land once existed. And the Mississippi will stretch its shorelines to an incredible new width…”
Mary, the Blessed Mother
Bayside
“These floods shall increase, and many will die; and these floods shall be in diverse places, places not known before
to have had such an occurrence. Many mothers’ hearts will be saddened.”
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