Origin of the ‘Laie Lady’?

Intro: The “Laie Lady” was a ghostly character featured in the Polynesian Cultural Center’s series of Haunted Lagoon scary Halloween canoe rides.]

On Monday, January 23, 1989, at around 8:15 p.m. — way past closing time — Jerry Pineda and Daniel Wong, who are Concessions employees, were making a delivery to the Mission Settlement Snack Bar [yup, there used to be one there].

Upon approaching the area, they

heard singing coming from the Chapel. They parked their cart by the Wishing Well and as they did so, observed through the front windows of the Chapel a family of about four adults and three children sitting inside while a woman dressed in white was playing the organ.

The two workers stopped for about a minute inside the Snack Bar, and when they came out, they found the Chapel all closed up, the lights out and not a soul in sight in the darkness. Both men experienced an eerie feeling as

Was this perhaps part of the origin of the "Laie Lady," one of the PCC "Haunted Lagoon" characters?
Was this perhaps part of the origin of the “Laie Lady,” one of the PCC “Haunted Lagoon” characters?

they quickly made their way back to the front to the comfort of lighted areas. At about 11 o’clock that night Security reported the front door of the Chapel unlocked.

Author

  • Mike Foley

    Mike Foley, who also goes by his Sāmoan and Hawaiian name Mikaele, first visited the Polynesian Cultural Center on his way home from serving for 2.5 years in the Samoa Mission. A few months later, he returned to Laie to enroll at the Church College of Hawaii, and also got a student-job at the Center. He has worked intermittently at the Center ever since, 60-ish years, including about 25 years full-time in marketing communications, PR and advertising. During the earliest of those years, he met and married Sally Ann McShane, a beautiful young Hawaiian dancer (who came to Laie in 1963). They raised their family in Laie and still live there.

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