Book Review
Pair's guide makes it easy

By Bob Krauss
Advertiser Columnist

"EXPLORING LOST HAWAI'I" by Ellie and William Crowe, paperback, $15.99.

"Exploring Lost Hawaii," a new guide to "Places of Power, History, Mystery & Magic," has a laudable purpose, introducing visitors to Hawaiian culture by viewing ancient sites.

At the same time, the sites become more interesting because their stories are dramatized in the book.

Husband-and-wife team Ellie and William Crowe, who wrote the text and shot the photos, take you on a tour of 53 heiau, historic valleys, petroglyph fields, healing stones and soul leaps in the Hawaiian Islands.

William Crowe consistently finds a way with light and perspective to take dramatic photos of heiau ruins, healing stones and bare lava carved with petroglyphs. This isn't easy.

His wife, Ellie, is less successful because her job was more difficult, compressing a complicated culture into colorful literary snapshots that educate and hold interest at the same time.

The author has chosen to dramatize the sites by emphasizing the supernatural — for example Halawa Valley (Moloka'i), "Valley of Sorcerers"; Kualoa Valley (O'ahu), secret burial caves and night marchers; Haleki'i and Pihana Heiau (Maui), temple of high supernatural beings.

A good deal of research went into this book, and Ellie Crowe cites her sources. In addition, she adds her personal experiences at the sites, or that of someone who lives nearby. It's an effective technique that bridges the gap between ancient culture and today.

But there are pitfalls. I'm not sure a bartender on Moloka'i, talking about the time he saw night marchers, speaks with the authority of somebody like David Malo. The book also mixes UFOs with Hawaiian spirituality.

Geologists might be surprised to read that, "When Charles Reed Bishop, co-founder of the Bernice P. Bishop Estate, left Hawai'i to settle in California, the enraged Pele (Hawai'i's volcano goddess) stalked him, causing the earthquake of 1906 (that destroyed San Francisco)."

You'll find the largest assortment of ghosts, night marchers, fire balls and invisible chanters in the section on Waipi'o Valley on the Big Island. Kualoa Valley on O'ahu isn't far behind.

Credit Ellie Crowe, however, for documenting all these night marcher stories. The number she found indicates that myth and legend are still alive in Hawai'i.