That “old guy in the Samoan Village”: Have you ever walked through the PCC late on a moonless night? The Villages could be particularly dark and a little spooky sometimes, as demonstrated by a former security guard supervisor when he paraphrased a midnight incident he shared with me from one of his new employees: 

“How did it go?” the supervisor asked. 

 “Everything was really quiet, but I had a nice chat with that old guy in the Samoan Village.” 

 “What old guy?” 

 “I don’t know his name, but he said he had to work late. We chatted a little, and then I continued making my rounds.” 

 “What did he look like?” the supervisor asked. 

 “He was kindaʻ short, with gray hair, and was wearing a lavalava and aloha shirt.” 

 The supervisor later told me that sounded like a former employee who had passed away earlier that year, and after that, the new employee didnʻt want to work nights again. 

 “You scared me!” On another dark night, this time in the Tongan Village years later, a PCC executive was sleeping in the Queen’s Summer Palace with the windows open, when a different security guard passed by and noticed the fale was not secured. He decided he better check it out. 

 Quietly opening the door, his flashlight showed someone was sleeping on the mats in there, but the security guard got an even bigger surprise when the other person stirred, and responded, “You scared me!” 

 “You scared me, too!” I learned the security guard said later. 

 The exec recalled he better explain, “I sometimes come over here to sleep when Iʻm pondering things,” but after that, he added that he would let the security guys know when he was seeking late-night inspiration in the Queenʻs summer palace.