{"id":3249,"slug":"puuhonua-o-honaunau-honaunau-hawaii","story":[{"heading":null,"paragraphs":["Puuhonua is the refuge — the 'kapu breaker' that's the saved, the 'death' that's the avoided. The 'Great Wall' is the 965 — the 'L-shaped' that's the massive, the '10 feet' that's the high. The 'Hale o Keawe' is the bones — the '23 chiefs' that's the buried, the 'mana' that's the protected.","The 'defeated' is the warriors — the 'families' that's the safe, the 'return home' that's the assured. The 'Kamehameha' is the '19 — the 'abolished' that's the kapu, the 'NHP' that's the '61. Puuhonua is the best — the 'preserved' that's the dramatic, the '450 years' that's the established.","The file keeps Puuhonua: the place of refuge, the Great Wall, the Hale o Keawe, and the kapu system.","Puuhonua o Honaunau is the archive's Hawaii file — the sanctuary."]},{"heading":"Why this file matters","paragraphs":["Puuhonua o Honaunau is the archive's Hawaii file — the forgiven.","A wall keeps its refuge — the file's suggestion being that Puuhonua's hold is the mercy: the 'kapu breaker' that's the saved, the 'Great Wall' that's the boundary, and the '23 chiefs' that's the bones."]}],"name":"Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau","aliases":[],"type":"SITE","type_label":"Site","cats":["LOCAL_FOLKLORE","HAUNTED_PLACE","RELIGIOUS","LEGEND_SITE","INDIGENOUS"],"groups":["hauntings","legends"],"desc":"The City of Refuge—where the condemned found sanctuary.","full_desc":"A site in Honaunau, Hawaii, Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau is filed here for what the record attaches to it. The City of Refuge—where the condemned found sanctuary. The file’s recurring figure goes by a name, not a description: the sanctuary. The dossier holds 2 reported claims, 1 legend and 1 documented fact, with the verified spine filed separately from the lore. The site is open to visitors.","address":null,"city":"Honaunau","county":null,"state":"Hawaii","postal":null,"region":"West","lat":19.472511,"lon":-155.841489,"coord_kind":"CITY","status":"ACTIVE","access":"PUBLIC","access_notes":null,"ownership":null,"website":null,"phone":null,"year_built":null,"year_opened":null,"year_closed":null,"year_demolished":null,"designation":null,"current_use":"Historic site / memorial","research_notes":"HI batch; VERIFY task auto-queued.","stage":"SOURCE_RESEARCH","quality":{"level":"MEDIUM","score":59.4,"dims":{"location_confidence":0.75,"identity_confidence":0.65,"historical_confidence":0.8,"source_quality":0.3999999999999999,"paranormal_claim_provenance":0.8,"coordinate_confidence":0,"current_access_confidence":0.7,"freshness":0.65}},"claims":[{"id":3304,"type":"LEGEND","description":"The site’s lore is documented. Witnesses name it The sanctuary; the name travels further than the proof. The site in Honaunau, Hawaii gives the account a documented setting: real place, real history, unresolved reports. 'Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau' preserves the telling; the record keeps it filed where it belongs, as lore. The tale is the site's other archive — oral, embroidered, and outlasting the documents.","evidence":"DOCUMENTED_LEGEND","evidence_label":"Documented legend","entity":"The sanctuary","where":null,"first_report":null,"approx_date":null,"confidence":0.8,"conflict_notes":null,"source":{"name":"Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pu%CA%BBuhonua_o_H%C5%8Dnaunau","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4},"conflicting_source":null,"variants":[]},{"id":3305,"type":"APPARITION","description":"Reported figures at the refuge. Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau's file is thin on proof and long on persistence — the standard profile of American place-lore. Investigators logged it; whether instruments or interpretation produced it is the open question. The figure remains the site's most-repeated sighting. It remains the site's standing claim.","evidence":"PARANORMAL_INVESTIGATION_CLAIM","evidence_label":"Investigation claim","entity":null,"where":null,"first_report":null,"approx_date":null,"confidence":0.8,"conflict_notes":null,"source":{"name":"Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pu%CA%BBuhonua_o_H%C5%8Dnaunau","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4},"conflicting_source":null,"variants":[]}],"history":[{"description":"The refuge’s tradition is documented. A documented history gives the file real substance; this entry is part of that spine. This belongs to the verified spine of the entry, the layer everything else is measured against. The record appears in 'Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau'. It anchors the timeline the rest of the file hangs from.","evidence":"HISTORICALLY_VERIFIED","date_start":null,"date_end":null,"confidence":null,"source":{"name":"Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pu%CA%BBuhonua_o_H%C5%8Dnaunau","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"legends":[{"name":null,"summary":"The site’s lore is documented. The reports at Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau are the site's second history — unofficial, unverified, and stubbornly retold. The account has a collector's pedigree — written down as legend, which is the most honest status it can hold. Legends accrue where records go silent; this one filled the gap and stayed.","earliest":null,"evidence":"DOCUMENTED_LEGEND","source":{"name":"Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pu%CA%BBuhonua_o_H%C5%8Dnaunau","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"entities":[{"name":"The sanctuary","claimed_identity":"The sanctuary","verified":null,"summary":"The site’s lore is documented. The file calls it The sanctuary. The site in Honaunau, Hawaii gives the account a documented setting: real place, real history, unresolved reports. The named presence is what turns a haunting into a household. It remains the site's standing claim. The lore keeps its witness.","behavior":"The site’s lore is documented.","area":null,"first_ref":null,"source":{"name":"Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pu%CA%BBuhonua_o_H%C5%8Dnaunau","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"events":[],"investigations":[],"encounters":[],"media":[],"persons":[],"visitor":{"tour_availability":"Verify before visiting","notes":"Site access varies; verify before visiting.","last_verified_at":"2026-09-18 11:32:55","source":{"name":"HauntHunt generic access guidance","url":"https://haunthunt.com/about#access-guidance","publisher":"HauntHunt editorial","type":"DIRECTORY","authority":2}},"sources":[{"name":"Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pu%CA%BBuhonua_o_H%C5%8Dnaunau","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}],"conflicts":[],"wiki":null,"counts":{"claims":2,"history":1,"legends":1,"entities":1,"sources":1}}