Something Sacred

Summary

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Snap Judgment — “Something Sacred” (June 4, 2026)

Podcast by Snap Judgment and PRX

Theme: What does it mean to encounter something sacred—be it divinity, spirits of the past, or the primal forces animating the world? This episode weaves two cinematic tales: a haunting aboard a Coast Guard cutter, and a legendary night at Hawaii’s Merrie Monarch Festival, where dancers must decide whether to perform a hula invoking an ancient goddess.

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Episode Overview

In “Something Sacred,” Snap Judgment digs deep into moments when people brush up against the divine—or something unexplained—out in the world. From a chilling encounter with a ghost on the ocean to an electrifying (and terrifying) hula competition, the episode explores the boundaries between the ordinary and the mystical, and how reverence, doubt, fear, and respect all play into our most meaningful rituals.

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1. Opening Reflection: The Golden Calf

[00:48 – 04:22]

Host: Glenn Washington

• Childhood Memory: Glenn recalls a fiery sermon about Exodus 32 and the Golden Calf, delivered in a stern, almost threatening tone. As a boy, he’s stirred to anger and curiosity by the story of divine judgment.
• Personal Experiment: In youthful defiance, Glenn constructs his own “graven image” out of hangers and aluminum foil, retreating to the woods to pray to his creation, desperate for some sign from the divine.
  • Memorable quote:
    “If you want to see God face to face. You remember that.” — [02:05]
  • Set-up for the episode’s theme: ordinary people reaching past the boundary for some kind of answer or presence.

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2. The Coast Guard’s Ghost

[06:13 – 20:32]

Storyteller: Jordan

• Setting: Late-night watch on a US Coast Guard cutter off the coast of New England. Jordan, fresh out of boot camp, is standing watch alone.
• Uncanny Sighting: Through night vision goggles, Jordan sees “a person standing at the forward most point of the bow” with arms outstretched—something that shouldn’t be there. He alerts the Officer of the Deck (OOD).
  • “It’s the middle of the night. There aren’t very many people awake at this point. And for someone to be out there in the pitch black darkness standing on the front of the ship, that rings alarm bells in my head.” — Jordan [06:59]
• Confusion & Fear: The bosun’s mate investigates but finds no one: “He walks right through the person and is still saying that there’s nothing there. My blood runs cold. I’m dumbfounded. I just watched a man walk through another man.” — Jordan [09:54]
• Validation: Both Jordan and the OOD repeatedly see the figure, but others do not. Later, the OOD admits to seeing the apparition again in the hallway.
  • Notable quote:
    "She just described it as just a black man-shaped figure. Right away I just got chills. My hairs on my arms stood up." — Jordan [12:50]
• Wider Phenomenon: Word spreads—others start reporting strange sightings across the ship.
• Resolution: The ship conducts a burial at sea for the ashes of a deceased Coast Guard electrician’s mate who once served aboard the vessel. After the ceremony, the hauntings cease.
  • “When we drop the urn in the water, sort of say a little bit of a prayer to myself... And after that, the sightings stop. The shadow just feels like another shipmate now.” — Jordan [18:20]
• Reflection: Jordan relates to the spirit’s desire to revisit and reminisce, seeing it as part of the ship’s living memory.

Notable Quotes & Moments:

• “I’ve always been a sort of what I would call maybe a loose believer, but I’ve never seen one, so how can I possibly say one way or the other?” —Jordan [11:26]
• “He was just trying to get his bearings and see what’s changed, see what stayed the same, reminisce in a way.” —Jordan [17:02]

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3. Dancing with the Gods

[24:08 – 45:08]

Storyteller: Leanne Durant

• Historical Context: Leanne discusses how she grew up only learning modern hula because ancient forms were suppressed after Hawaii’s annexation by the United States.
  • “During the overthrow of our monarchy, we were illegally taken by the United States. And once that happened... we weren’t allowed to speak our language. Ancient hula was underground because we were not allowed to dance it.” — Leanne [25:52]
• Hula Renaissance: Returning from college in the late 1970s, she finds Hawaiians resurrecting hula kahiko, the ancestral, chant-based form.
• The Merrie Monarch Festival: The biggest hula event in Hawaii, a reunion of tradition, craft, and competition.
• The Tale of 1986:
  • Leanne’s group is chosen to perform the “Three Windstorms of Hina,” invoking a powerful and ancient goddess known for warning humanity with storms and, if unheeded, unleashing destruction.
  • Unease: Leanne feels an unexplained dread throughout rehearsals. “I all of a sudden just felt. I don’t know how to explain it. I was a little frightened... just a feeling I had in my nao, in my gut.” — [31:47]
• The Night of the Performance: On stage night, thunderstorms build as the ritual dances and chants begin—just as the story they are telling predicts.
  • “As I was dressing my hula sisters, I kept watching the rain, and... the water was just gushing out... I just felt like, this is the story.” — Leanne [35:36]
  • The weather mirrors each verse of the legend, the rain and thunder escalating in sync with the story of Hina opening her gourd and releasing destruction.
• Crisis & Choice: When it’s their turn, the storm peaks—then the lights go out.
  • Quote: “It’s pitch black, and the storm is going crazy. I start to kind of panic because I felt like the lights were the warning. ...the only way I knew how to break the cycle would be to not dance.” — Leanne [40:22]
  • Other dancers confess their fear too. Leanne approaches their teacher (kumu), Mapuana da Silva.
• Defiant Decision: Rather than force her students to perform through dread and apprehension, their kumu chooses to withdraw:
  • “We have decided that our girls will not be performing this evening. My concern and care is first for my ladies. Thank you.” — Mapuana da Silva (reported by Leanne) [43:00]
• Release: The rains stop immediately after their withdrawal. They are disqualified, but Leanne feels the group broke the cycle—and respected something larger than themselves.
  • “It didn’t matter that we missed this competition, that we got disqualified. None of that mattered because I feel that... we broke the cycle.” — Leanne [44:45]
• Aftermath: The group dances again the next night, free from dread. The episode draws a parallel between their ordeal and the sacred responsibility to heed the world’s warnings.

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4. Episode Close: Sacred in the Everyday

[49:10 – End]

Host: Glenn Washington

• Glenn reflects on his own search for the divine, recalling finding comfort not in mystical experiences—but in his aunt’s steadfast, practical love.
  • Quote: “Here the divine is shining bright in front of me. And now the divine is cussing me out, floating all that cold air inside, leaving her door wide open.” [49:08]
• Reinforces a final message: sometimes the sacred is found not in the spectacular or terrifying, but in the everyday acts of care and connection.

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Timestamps & Key Segments

| Timestamp | Segment | |------------|-----------------------------------------------------------| | 00:48–04:22 | Glenn’s childhood and the golden calf story | | 06:13–20:32 | Jordan’s Coast Guard ghost encounter | | 24:08–45:08 | Leanne Durant and the haunted hula competition | | 49:10–End | Glenn’s closing reflection: finding the sacred in family |

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Memorable Quotes

• “There’s no surer way to summon the Lord than to mock him.” — Glenn [01:34]
• “I just watched a man walk through another man.” — Jordan [09:54]
• “That shadow just feels like another shipmate now.” — Jordan [18:50]
• “What if we were the ones that she decided then and there, let’s open the gourd the third time, and it would be destruction of man. And stadium was full of man.” — Leanne [39:50]
• “We have decided that our girls will not be performing this evening. My concern and care is first for my ladies. Thank you.” — Mapuana da Silva (as quoted by Leanne) [43:00]

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Tone & Style

The episode is contemplative and cinematic, interweaving suspenseful, imaginative personal stories. Both tales linger in ambiguity—open to belief, doubt, or reverence. The style is intimate, the voices warm but edged with the mystery and intensity that define sacred experiences.

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Conclusion

“Something Sacred” challenges listeners to reconsider the boundaries between mundane and mysterious, inviting us to imagine the power—sometimes frightening, sometimes deeply comforting—that emerges when we listen for the sacred in the world around us.

Transcript

[Glenn Washington]

Snap Studios.

[Narrator/Host]

This show is supported by Odoo. When you buy business software from lots

[Leanne Durant]

of vendors, the costs add up and

[Narrator/Host]

it gets complicated and confusing. Odoo solves this. It's a single company that sells a suite of enterprise apps that handles everything from accounting to inventory to sales. Odoo is all connected on a single platform in a simple and affordable way. You can save money without missing out on the features you need. Check out odoo@o-o o.com that's o d o o.com.

[Glenn Washington]

Nine years old, sitting in this church, angry and my parents angry at these brethren, this place. And now they're preacher all puffed up, red faced, bug eyed steps to the podium commands us to open your Bible to Exodus 32 here brethren, Moses climbs the mountain to see God. Do the people wait patient? They do not. Did they work with their forges, their ovens? With wickedness in their hearts with evil? Then look right here, look here, look here, look here. They pull a golden calf from the flame. What do they do then? The very worst thing you can do. They call this thing, this abomination, a God who needs that other God. When this one gleams golden, then they bow their heads before blasphemy. But know this brethren. There's no surer way to summon the Lord than to mock him. The God that delivered them from slavery under Pharaoh stretches out his mighty hand and smites with fire and horror and pain for their betrayal.

[Leanne Durant]

Remember that.

[Glenn Washington]

If you want to see God face to face. You remember that. Later. Anger has an idea. I snatch two hangers from the hall closet, bring them back to my bedroom, strip the wires from the hangers, bend them, fashion them, work it just so. Then I cover it. Not with gold. I don't have any of that. Nah. Instead I wrap sheet after sheet of aluminum foil around it, pinch and shape it into a face, into horns. The body of a calf. I admire it for a moment. Beautiful. My own graven image. Then I went for a lull and the ever present noise of my household. Peek outside my bedroom down the hall, pushed the front door open. Quiet, quiet, quiet. Pad down the front steps of our trailer. Aluminum calf wrapped tight in my jacket. Then I ride out to the middle of the woods. My secret. Fast, fast, run, run until I reach the spot. Reverently set the calf down on a patch of hard earth. But doubt stops me. Fear. Then the anger returns. The fur. Have asked, begged their God to reveal itself as many ways as I know. Still it judges me. Unworthy of even a word, even a Whisper, answer me now this is all I have left so I steel myself look to the sky One last chance Answer me Then I drop to my

[Leanne Durant]

knees

[Glenn Washington]

bow my head and I pray to my own graven image. Today on Snap Judgment, we proudly present something sacred. My name is Kevin Washington. All that glitters is not aluminum when you're listening to Snap Judgment, We begin headed out to sea to meet Jordan. Now Jordan is fresh out of boot camp and doing his very first unit with the Coast Guard on board a ship patrolling the waters off the East Coast. And I'm gonna let Jordan take it from here.

[Jordan]

It's half past midnight. I'm out here by myself on the catwalk, standing my watch, doing my lookout. This is a famous class cutter, bowed astern, 270ft long, white, with the famous US Coast Guard orange racing stripe on the front. At this point, the ship is off the coast of New England. Even being late spring, it's still pretty cold. The wind is blowing. I'm bundled up in what we call a float coat, essentially a rain jacket with a life jacket built into it. It's a pretty dark night. It's very starry out, but the moon had very little illumination in this particular night. So I'm using night vision goggles and I'm looking for hazards, essentially things floating in the water, other ships that we might not see on radar. At this point, I'm about an hour and a half into my watch. It's been a pretty quiet night. I'm doing a scan with my night vision, just looking towards the front of the ship, and I see there's a person standing at the forward most point of the bow, about 70ft away from me with his arms outstretched. It's the middle of the night. There aren't very many people awake at this point. And for someone to be out there in the pitch black darkness standing on the front of the ship, that rings alarm bells in my head. I'm concerned about the worst case scenario that this person is out there with the intent to jump off right away. I have to look again. You know, did I actually just see that? I pick up my NVGs again and look out, and it's very clearly a person standing there. Just the silhouette of a person. I can tell that it's a man, he's got a military style haircut. And I can tell that they're wearing the Coast Guard uniform. Not by any color, just by the sort of silhouette of it. I'm yelling, hey, what are you doing out there? Hey. Just trying to get Their attention, the ood, the officer of the deck, the person in charge of navigation of the ship. She's inside the bridge. This OOD has heard me screaming. She's my boss as a seaman, and she has come out to see what the deal is. She's short, probably five two, blonde woman with big porthole glasses. Just these big round glasses that you practically can't see past when you're talking to her. So I hand her my night vision goggles. I say, there's someone standing on the bow. And I think the exact words out of her mouth were, oh, because at this point now she's reached the same initial conclusion that I have of somebody's on the front of the boat and they might be getting ready to jump over the side. So immediately she calls to the bosun's mate of the watch, our only roving watchstander on the bridge, and tells him to go down there. I can hear him open the door. It's a very distinct, like, creak and slam sound, a very heavy door. And I can see his flashlight as he comes out. He's got a life jacket on himself and he's got another life jacket in his hand in case he has to reach out and grab this person and throw him in a life jacket to prevent him from hurting themselves. So the od, she sends the bosun's mate of the watch down, and a couple minutes later he comes up on the radio and he says, there's no one up here. Right away, my heart sank. My immediate thought was that this person had jumped over the side or fallen over the side and we didn't see it happen. I expected that we're gonna be looking for a man overboard throughout the night, but I immediately pick up the night vision and I see right away that the person is there still. I hand him to her. She can still see him there. So now I'm thinking that the BMO probably had to walk through like a lit up space to get out there. And so his natural night vision just isn't adjusted enough to see this person. We're on the radio, I'm yelling, we're trying to guide him to where this person is standing. We can see him shining his flashlight right in the spot where the shadow is. And we see the BMO walk up right where this person is standing. We're telling him the whole time he's right there. He's right there. He's right in front of you. How do you not see him? And then he walks right through the person and is still saying that there's nothing there. My blood runs cold. I'm dumbfounded. I don't know how I could be even seeing what I'm seeing. I just watched a man walk through another man. The OD and I are trying to figure out what it is we're looking at. Maybe it's this, maybe it's that, but we can both see that it's not. It's not any of those things we try to rationalize. The OD goes back into the bridge. She didn't have much to say after that. I think she was pretty well shaken up and in her own head at that point. I continue standing my watch. Every time I looked down it was still there. And at this point I've pretty well understood that he's gonna be there. I get off my watch and make my way through the ship. And at this point I'm just so exhausted that I'm ready to go to sleep. And I pass out pretty much as soon as my head hits the pill. So the next day I'm sitting on the mestic between meals, kind of just wasting some time. But at the same time I'm thinking about this shadow that I saw last night. Ghost stories are very common on these boats. I've always been a sort of what I would call maybe a loose believer, but I've never seen one, so how can I possibly say one way or the other? And then the OOD from that night comes up and sits down. That's abnormal behavior. Officers don't sit on the enlisted mess deck. They have their own sort of eating area cloistered from the rest of the ship. And traditionally officers aren't supposed to sit there unless they ask you. And so for her to come over here and sit down, she clearly has something on her mind. Really. Before I had a chance to say anything, she said, I saw it again. After I got off watch, I went to my room and it was standing in the hallway. She just described it as just a black man shaped figure. Right away I just got chills. My hairs on my arms stood up. It wasn't just this figure that stood on an unreachable part of the ship. You know, 70ft away from me. It's now something that I could turn the corner and see at any given moment. Within the next few days, you know, I start hearing stories about I went out on the fantail to smoke in the night and I saw someone standing there and raised my phone up to their face to see who it was and there just wasn't anybody there or about Seeing a shadow of a man while they were making their. Their rounds before they went to watch, that they were in the gym and saw just this shadow of a person. At this point, I felt pretty afraid that I was gonna now run into this thing anywhere that I went. It's capable of moving around the ship. What else is it capable of? What is it gonna do the next time I run? About a week after that initial incident, we're having what we call quarters where we, we all get together and the executive officer and the commanding officer, they discuss our upcoming plans, they make announcements. The executive officer stands up and he goes, oh, and we've got a. A burial at sea that we need volunteers for. I'm thinking, what are you talking about, burial at sea? Like nobody's dead. Nobody died on this boat. Come to find out, since we left Florida on our way back up to New England, we have been carrying this urn on board, and it's been tucked away in one of the officers staterooms for safekeeping. And the urn belonged to a former electrician's mate in the Coast Guard. The electrician's mate had been in the coast guard in the 80s on board this particular ship, responding to search and rescue. What he requested was to be buried at sea in the vicinity of where his first Saar case was. At this point, it starts to make sense. This was probably the man that was walking around the boat. Anytime you run into an old veteran, one of the first things they want to do is take a look at the ship that they used to be on, see what's changed and see who's working and how things are going. I think he was just trying to get his bearings and see what's changed, see what stayed the same, reminisce in a way. This guy who was on this ship that stood where I stood, did the mission that I do, and now we're honoring his final request. That felt very moving to me and I was very quick to volunteer to be a part of this, this ceremony. The day of the ceremony comes, and I have volunteered to be an urn bearer. We have three riflemen to do the gun salute. We have someone with the trumpet to play taps, a couple people to hold the American flag as we do the internment. This particular urn is a small plastic box. Myself and the chief, we bring it over to the rail and put it over the side and let go. When we drop the urn in the water, sort of say a little bit of a prayer to myself. Just thinking about the implications of what we've just done and what it means to the man and his family. And after that, the sightings stop. The Shadow just feels like another shipmate now. That being said, a shipmate that I still don't want to run into in the dark in the middle of the night, but it's just someone else who lived part of their life on this boat. Recently, I was underway on the ship that I'm on now and I knew that the ship that I used to be on was in a port that we were pulling into. I went over to the ship, they were right across the pier and salute the watchstander, go on the brow and salute the flag as is custom in the Coast Guard and step on and immediately that smell. Every cutter has its own smell. And just the memories of the time I was there just filled my head as I took in that smell. And I kind of feel like maybe that's what that electrician's mate was doing as well, just taking in the memories.

[Glenn Washington]

Jordan thank you, thank you, thank you for sharing your story. This spooked. The original score for that piece was by Lauren Newsom, was produced by Zoe Frigno. When snapduck returns, we wake up the gods. Stay tuned. You know, I often think about that younger me, the guy who would howl in front of the ATM at the treachery of having his paycheck devoured by withdrawal fees, banking fees, fees on fees. That poor guy could have used Chime because Chime is fee free banking that changes the way people bank fee free and you get savings that grow faster with a 3.75% APY, nine times higher than the national average. Did I mention Chime Spotme which lets you overdraft up to $200 fee free. I could have so used that. Chime is not just smarter banking. It's the most rewarding way to bank. Join the millions who are already banking fee free today. Head to chime.com snap that is chime.com snap it only takes a few minutes to sign up. Chime is a fintech, not a bank. Banking services for MyPay and Chime card provided by Chime Bank's partners. Optional products and services may have fees or charges. Stated annual percentage yield and cash back for Chime prime only. No minimum balance required. Checking account ranking based on a J.D. power survey published October 20, 2025. For more information on APY rates, MyPay Spot Me and travel perks, go to Chime.com disclosures. Welcome back to Snap Judgment, the Something Sacred episode featuring amazing stories from snap's Evil Twin podcast spooked. Our question. How do you wake up a God? Our next story begins on the spring night, 1986. Thousands of people have gathered in Hilo, Hawaii. Not just from around the islands, from the four corners of the earth to witness the largest, the most prestigious hula competition in the world. As the sun sets over Hilo, rollers pack either the Kanakaole stadium, the rafters. Air tastes rich with the smell of galua pork and the sound of ancient drums. And in the distance, dark clouds roll in snap judgment. Good evening, and welcome to the 23rd Annual Merriam Monarch Festival Hula Competition. We are here live at Hilo tonight,

[Leanne Durant]

the Kahiko competition, where 30 halaus will be sharing the ancient dances of Hawaii.

[Narrator/Host]

Leanne Durant is backstage with the other dancers in her halau, or hula school. After nine months of practice and preparation, they're about to take the stage and perform their rendition of the Three Windstorms of Hina.

[Leanne Durant]

The women's chant, Kimo speaks of the goddess Hina from Molokai and her three devastating winds that were able to bruise skins and devastate lands.

[Glenn Washington]

And so we should get from these dancers, male and female, very strong, emotional kahiko, ancient dances. It should be very interesting this evening.

[Leanne Durant]

And we were all ready to go, and we're standing in a circle, and then all of a sudden the lights went out. It's pitch black. The storm is going crazy. That's when the dread really comes. Like, I had bad feelings from the very beginning of learning down. I was like, okay, what do we do to stop this?

[Narrator/Host]

Leanne has been dancing hula for almost as long as she can remember. As a girl growing up in Honolulu, she learned to dance a version of hula called hula awana. It's an instrumental style of hula that became popular after the Hawaiian language was banned in the islands.

[Leanne Durant]

I grew up in the generation where Hawaiian language hula was not accepted. During the overthrow of our monarchy, we were illegally taken by the United States. And once that happened, as a people, we weren't allowed to speak our language. Ancient hula was underground because we were not allowed to dance it. And then when I came home from college in 1977, there were things happening here in Hawaii which they called the first renaissance of things Hawaiian. And it all started with the hula.

[Narrator/Host]

All over the islands, young Hawaiians were reviving hula kahiko and bringing back those traditional dances and chants.

[Leanne Durant]

It looked exciting. So I asked my neighbor if she was dancing hula anywhere, and she said she was. So I Went down with her to a hula class with kumu hula, Mapuana da Silva. She was teaching kahiko, which is the ancient hula. Those chants go back, way back. It tells those stories of our ancestors. What kind of beauty did they see in a flower? What kind of beauty did they see in a rock? What did they do if things weren't right? What kind of battles did they have? And I just fell in love with.

[Narrator/Host]

One day, not long after she started studying hulakahiko, Leanne remembers overhearing her kumu, or teacher, Mapuana da Silva, talking about entering the merry Monarch Festival.

[Leanne Durant]

I was like, what is that? That's how out of touch I was. I didn't even know about the festival. They started it as a little competition with a few halau, and over the years, it just by word of mouth, by, you know, more. The Renaissance was bringing more and more halau into being, and it just became one of the biggest things ever. And that's kind of like our big gold star, you know, in the spring is going to marry monarch.

[Narrator/Host]

The first time Leigh Anne went to marry Monarch, it was 1981. She was in her 20s and having the time of her life preparing for the festival with her hula sisters. Her halau didn't win that year, but

[Leanne Durant]

it was just really a fun time. It was a really bonding time. Each halau would have their own fundraiser with their own little signature to it. And because even though we were in competition, we would support each other, we would go to each other's fundraisers. We would help them, they would help us. It was like a huge, huge family, but it was a lot of work. We make our own costumes, we make our own lei. We have to raise money to get there and be able to pay for our hotels, our vans, not to mention

[Narrator/Host]

the hours each week spent practicing the dances they were going to perform.

[Leanne Durant]

They would have a dance of your choice, and then whoever the committee was would choose a dance where every halau danced the same, but each kubu brought their own spirit to it.

[Narrator/Host]

They'd start rehearsing their dances in September and work on them all the way through to the competition in the spring. But for Leann and the other dancers in Halau Mohala Ilima, the point of all this hard work wasn't just to win. Although in her first five years with the group, they did win three times.

[Leanne Durant]

What we would strive for was to share our hula and our interpretation with everyone.

[Narrator/Host]

And then came 1986 and the three windstorms of Hinata.

[Leanne Durant]

It was about the goddess Hina. She's one of the oldest goddesses in Hawaii. And she was the female that could generate forest in Hawaiian cosmology. And she was kind of a protector of the land, too. She had this gourd, and if the people wouldn't take care of the land, she would open her gourd just a little bit. When she opened that gourd just a little bit, the rain got stronger, the wind started to pick up, and it was kind of like a warning to the people that you better take care of business. And so as the chant goes on, the people still don't heed her call or, you know, pay attention. So she opens her gourd a little more. That's when you start getting lightning, thunder. The rain gets harder, the winds start whipping up. And on the third time, when she opens the gourd, it's the destruction of man.

[Narrator/Host]

Leigh Ann was a really experienced dancer at this point, and she was a mentor to some of the newer hula sisters. But when she got into the studio to start practicing this one, something was just weird.

[Leanne Durant]

I remember going to hula and we learned the second verse. I all of a sudden just felt. I don't know how to explain it. I was a little frightened. I couldn't really explain why, but it was just a feeling I had in my nao, in my gut. And that feeling carried through the whole, what I call the marabonic season starting in September.

[Narrator/Host]

Leanne hoped that with time, she'd get more comfortable with the routine and the feeling would fade. But it didn't. When the spring rolled around, that uneasy feeling in her gut was still there. Whenever she practiced, she didn't mention it to her kumu or anyone else in her halau. She just kept pushing, trying to get

[Leanne Durant]

it right, but I just couldn't get it. I couldn't get the dance, I couldn't get the chant. I made mistakes all the time. It just didn't feel comfortable to me. I never had struggles like that learning a hula.

[Narrator/Host]

Finally, the week of Merry Monarch arrived. Leigh Ann and her hula sisters flew to Hilo and checked in to the Nani Loa Hotel. That night, they sat in the audience in Edith Kanakaoli Stadium and watched the Miss Aloha competition. The next day, it was their turn to compete Kahiko Night. Leanne remembers waking up that morning to perfect Hilo weather. Blue skies with a cool mist coming off the ocean. The dancers spent the day rehearsing on the hotel lawn before heading over to the stadium. When they Got there, they had some time to kill before they had to get ready. And most of the dancers wanted to watch the the first groups perform. But Leanne decided that she needed some time alone and fresh air to clear her head. So she made her way back outside.

[Leanne Durant]

I was super nervous because I had a hard time with the chant. I needed to calm my nerves. So I remember going down, I sat on the sidewalk, kind of along the fence. I would just keep kind of just taking a deep breath. I would always just tell myself, just let it go. Just let it go. Once you get on that stage, you're gonna forget all your worldly worries.

[Glenn Washington]

The Snap Judgment Something Sacred episode continues right after the break. Stay tuned. Welcome back to Snap Judgment. The Something Sacred episode, featuring amazing stories from snap's evil twin podcast, spooked Snap Judgment.

[Narrator/Host]

As she sat there breathing in and out, Leanne could hear the first women's group take the stage inside the stadium and start to perform Hina's chant.

[Glenn Washington]

We welcome you, the people throughout the state of Hawaii, from all of the Hawaiian islands, and now from Las Vegas, Nevada, under the direction of Kumu Hula Wayne Panoke.

[Leanne Durant]

This is our first opportunity to see the Wahine competition chant, which will always be performed first. And then as I could hear the chanting on the stage, it started to rain. It came so fast. It pretty soon. Soon it was pouring rain. At first I didn't think anything because Hilo is unpredictable. It always does things like that, you know? So I went in and I started dressing, and then my hula sisters came. We dressed under the bleachers so we could hear what was going on on the stage. Making their first appearance at the Merry Monarch Festival. Another opportunity to see Hina and her devastating wins. As I was dressing my hula sisters, I kept watching the rain, and I was noticing, like, the gutters of the tennis stadium was. The water was just gushing out, and it was coming really quickly. All of a sudden, I just felt like, this is the story. The rain kept coming, and the rain kept coming. It seemed like every time I heard the chant, the rain got worse and worse and worse. I was just, like, observing and thinking, wow, this is like the first storm. Clouds were really dark and heavy, and I could hear the chanting, and I would see lightning or hear the thunder. And then I went to. This is like the second storm. We're dancing about the story, and the story is coming true. Everybody's on stage, like, they're chanting, and their energy is there, and they're bringing this to life. So I felt very Uncomfortable. And I did not want to go on that stage. What if we were the ones that she decided then and there, let's open the gourd the third time, and it would be destruction of man. And stadium was full of man. So I really felt dreadful. But I was not going to disappoint my kumu or my hula sisters. Like, I didn't want to be the one that was like, I don't want to do this, you know, because not performing on Kahiko night automatically disqualified us from the competition. And you've worked so hard. You've sacrificed. You know, we've had girls sacrifice being in sports, going to proms, you know, doing all the things that you do as young people because we loved it so much. And what if I was wrong? So I talked myself back into it. It's just like, okay, you're here. This is a commitment. You can do it. Intermission was ending. People were going back to their seats. Welcome back to Hilo, Hawaii, in the beautiful Edith Kanaka Ole tennis stadium. We're about to go on. My stomach is in knots. We were all ready to go, and we're standing in a circle, and then all of a sudden, the lights went out. You hear the audience say, whoa. And then there was silence. It's pitch black, and the storm is going crazy. I start to kind of panic because I felt like the lights were the warning. And I just kept thinking in my mind, we need to break the cycle. We have to do something to stop. To stop the momentum of this storm. And the only way I knew how to break the cycle would be to not dance. And then one of my hula sisters that was standing next to me, she told me that she was afraid and she didn't want to go out and dance. And several other people came up and told me that I went into care nurturing mode. So I said, okay, I'll go talk to Kumu and see what happens. So I left the circle, and I went up to her and I said, mapu, I have to tell you something. We don't feel good about dancing. There was no anger. She just said, okay. So she came to the group and she talked to us and said, do you not want to dance? You know, of course, everybody's kind of like, oh, what should I say? And then I just said, well, I don't want to. And then the majority of the girls were like, yeah, we don't want to, we don't want to.

[Narrator/Host]

Meanwhile, out in the audience, somebody had started to sing.

[Leanne Durant]

I don't remember what song? But just to take the tension off, I think someone started to sing and then everyone was singing.

[Jordan]

So despite the festive mood, it was haunting, if not coincidental, to think that the night's intense lightning and thunderstorm literally shook Edith Kanaka Ole indoor tennis stadium. The storm caused a 40 minute blackout.

[Leanne Durant]

Eventually the lights went on.

[Narrator/Host]

With the storm raging against the black sky. The announcer got on the mic.

[Leanne Durant]

He says, I'd like to announce our next halau. Halau Mo Hala Ilima under the direction of Mapuana da Silva. She comes up, goes up the ramp by herself, goes to a mic in the middle of the stage. And nobody knew what she was going to say. But then she said, we have decided that our girls will not be performing this evening. My concern and care is first for my ladies. Thank you. Then everybody was clapping. I think they were clapping because she made her students number one. It mattered what we felt mattered to her and that we were willing to be disqualified. As soon as Mopoana came back from being on stage and making that announcement, the rain just stopped. As we were undressing and putting our costumes away and taking care of everything. It went back to being a light mist with a little breeze. And it was no rain for the rest of the competition. I don't know what would have happened if we went up. There were a whole bunch of halau after us. They danced no problem, but I felt it's not meant to be danced by us. It didn't matter that we missed this competition, that we got disqualified. None of that mattered because I feel that. But we broke the cycle.

[Glenn Washington]

Thank you. Thank you, Leighann, for sharing your story. Leanne told us that even though her group was disqualified from the 1986 competition, the next night they did have another chance to dance. And after all the ups and downs of the festival, they rocked the stage with one of the best performances ever. And Spooksters, you should know the next Merrie Monarch Festival is just days away. There'll be a link in our show Notes where you can learn more. This piece was scouted by Ixchel Lopez. The original score was by Clay Xavier. It was produced by Zoe Ferrigno. If you dug this journey due to Shadowlands, know that spook stories drop each and every week. Amazing stories from people who can scarcely believe it happened themselves. The Spook Podcast. Never Miss a moment and. And Snap is now available. Finally, you can subscribe for bonus Snap episodes heard nowhere else. And special Snap meetups, Snap stuff, Snap community and more. SNAP. SNAPjudgment.org. Now, for just a moment, let's talk about babies. Tiny little bundles of joy. Fat cheeks, that smell, that baby smell. The other baby smell makes your heart grow three sizes too big. But longtime listeners to this show know that it often starts at the beginning. And if you know an infant or a small child that demonstrates knowledge, powers, understandings or memories that they didn't learn at nursery school, tell me about it. [e-mail] because there's nothing better than a spook story from a spooky listener. Spook studios stand centered between this world and the next. Cloaked by KQED in San Francisco. Don't seek to find it, lest it seek to find you. No SNAP studio content may be used for training, testing or developing, machine learning or AI systems without prior written permission. On Team Spooked, the union represented producers, artists, editors and engineers are members of the national association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians Communications work with America AFL CIO Local 51 and Spooks is brought to you by the team that loves to hula dance. Except for Mark Ristich. Now Mark prefers to dance with the devil in the pale moonlight. There's Davy Kim, Zoey Ferrigno, Eric Yanez, Marissa Dodge, Regina Berriaco, Miles Lassie, Teo Dicott, Su Yi Chu, Evan Stern, Eve Jeffcoat, Eshal Lopez, Jack Darrell, Doug Stewart, Nicholas Marks. The Spook theme song is by Pat Mesiti Miller. My name is Glenn Washington. And you know, on the way to my auntie's house, my auntie's place, I'm contemplating my little quest for the divine. A search I know she would think was silly. My auntie, she always wanted kids of her own. I think she did. I think. I think that she did. But it never happened that way for her. So I believe this was my personal stroke of good fortune. Because when I was in the crazy at my house, she could sometimes be the escape, the respite, the hug,

[Leanne Durant]

the

[Glenn Washington]

hot meal, the field trip fee, the couch to sleep on, the kind word, the new kicks, the gas money, the good book, the screaming from the stands at the graduation, the address to write down when I didn't have an address, emergency contact. Well, I didn't have an emergency contact. All these little things. I think about this walking to her tiny apartment, busy searching for the divine. But here the divine is shining bright in front of me. And now the divine is cussing me out, floating all that cold air inside, leaving her door wide open. Never ever, ever, ever, ever turn.