Myths and Legends and customs

[rainyjim]

When I was working at HAVO (the nat park) we would get 'rock' mailed to us on almost a daily basis. There was many that came with letters about unfortunate events that befell the possesors of the 'rocks' after they removed them from the island. I will note here that many of the rocks were not actually basalt (i.e. not even from Hawaii). We were instructed in training to not bring the subject up with visitors directly, but if asked to inform them that leaders among the recognized various Hawaiian cultural practitioner groups have acknowledged repeatedly that this myth came about after contact with western peoples and holds no significance to their current cultural beliefs.

I believe this is widely documented elsewhere as well and can be categorized in the same area as fake news and conspiracy theory.