What is a Night Marcher? Runner allegedly encounters an entity during a race in Hawaii rainforest

A Night Marcher was allegedly spotted by a Hawaiian runner during a grueling race. In January 2019, Kay Borleis was running the Hawaiian Ultra Running Team’s Trail 100-Mile Endurance Run on the Honolulu Mauka trails in Oahu, when she had an encounter with the "demon".

According to Bringham Young University Hawaii, the Night Marcher is also known as "huaka‘i pō" in the Hawaiian language which means death-dealing ghosts. Folklore describes them as "a group of spirits—sometimes traveling with ancient Hawaiian gods or goddesses in their midst—that march down the mountainside after sunset."

Borelis' friend Cassie was running the fourth lap with her when Cassie snapped the photographs, at the time. Later on, her friends and family pointed out the alleged creature to the two friends, as per Metro.

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Runner encounters a Night Marcher demon during 100-mile race in Hawaii rainforest

Kay Borleis is a senior art director with a designer blog called Kay Bo. She wrote about a spooky experience she had in January 2019 while running the Hawaiian Ultra Running Team’s Trail 100-mile Endurance Run on the Honolulu Mauka trails in Oahu. Participants are supposed to run the 20-mile loop through the trails five times.

As per The New York Post, she posted pictures and videos of her walking the trail with what looks like a creature dubbed the Night Marcher seen in the background. She wrote,

"To this day, we still don’t know what it was."

According to Honolulu Magazine, the Hawaiian rainforest region is roamed by the ghosts of deceased Hawaiian warriors called Night Marchers. The local legend says that these rainforest revenants "supposedly traveled at night to protect people so sacred that the common man was never allowed to look at them. Breaking that rule meant death."

Kay stated that she has been an avid runner since age 14. She said that she specializes in ultramarathons, which run longer than 26.2 miles. The designer explained that she had to quit the 100-mile marathon in the middle. She said,

"I never quit things in life. I have never quit a run before. But this felt different. It was like an out-of-body experience and I just felt like quitting. It felt like something bad is going to happen to me if I go forward."

Borleis injured her foot during her fourth lap and had to pull out of the race, marking the first time she’d ever done so in her ultramarathon career, as per The Sun. Her friend Cassey was acting as a pacemaker who had captured several pictures and videos of the event. She later sent them to her mom and friends who allegedly spotted the Night Marcher. Kay wrote,

"My pacer took this photo. Notice the figure in the frame to the left of my head. We never saw anyone passing us and there were no statues along the trail. It is NOT photoshopped or made. This is legit. And we saw it the morning of the Blood."

The duo said the day of the run was during a lunar eclipse is often linked with paranormal and mysterious sightings. Both of them claimed to have seen nothing during their time in the Hawaiian rainforests. She explained,

"The reason why no one was on that part of trail is because all runners had to run in a clockwise direction. And tourists weren’t out that early. We didn’t see anyone for hours while running together. So, we were — and still are — positive there was no one there."

As per Metro, if a mortal finds themselves in a Night Marcher’s path, they should lie face down and strictly avoid making eye contact. Folklore also dictates that sharing a bloodline with one of the tropical specters in the procession.

Borleis said that she was lucky she didn’t spot the alleged forest spirit until after the fact.