In busy Waikiki beach next to the police station are four plain boulders locked up behind a barrier. A few bushes grow near the fence, but there are no signs or explanations on the reason for protecting rocks. The answer: sometimes, a stone is more than just a stone.
According to Hawaiian folklore, four foreigners settled in the Waikiki area over 600 years ago. It came to be that these men were skilled healers, and tales of their successful cures soon spread throughout the island. Eventually, the men decided to return home and asked the people to create four monuments made from bell stone, a type of basalt rock that rings like a bell when it is struck. Because each rock weighs several tons, however, it is unclear exactly how the Hawaiian people moved the boulders from Kaimuki to Waikiki.
In any case, once the bell stones were gathered from the nearby suburb of Kaimuki, the healers spent a month transferring their spiritual energy, or mana, into the stones using various chants, incantations, and sacrifices. As soon as the transfer was complete, the four men disappeared from the islands and were never seen again.
Today, the wizard stones are on public display along Kalakaua Avenue, although they have not always been so revered. During the 1950s for instance, the stones were buried beneath a bowling alley. Even after the bowling alley was demolished in the 1960s, few people afforded the stones any attention. For decades, locals would often sit on them while eating lunch, or drape their wet towels over the rocks.
Finally, in 1997, the city constructed the current display area for the stones, although most locals are still unaware of the area's significance. Of course, visitors should still show respect for the stones by viewing them from an appropriate distance and staying behind the gate.
