'Traumatised' hikers heard chilling scream after teenager sent photo of 'shadow man' to his family before vanishing
A man who vanished after sending his family a disturbing photo, terrified hikers when they heard a scream.
Teenager Daylenn Pua went missing on a walk in Hawaii on 27 February 2015.
The 18-year-old was venturing up Hawaii's Haʻikū Stairs, and although he managed to capture an image during his time, he never returned home.
The Stairs, also known as the ‘stairway to heaven’, was created during WWII to give pedestrians access to the US Navy communication facilities, which were based on O'ahu island.
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The stairs consists of 3,922 steps and was a popular hiking path for many until they were removed in 2024.
Almost a decade before they were taken down, Daylenn undertook the walk and began sending his grandmother pictures of his journey as he walked.
However, one of the last images he sent included a mysterious 'shadow man' crouching in the bushes.
While online sleuths believe the man in question has something to do with his disappearance, Hawaii News Now reported that a group of hikers heard a cry for help near a narrow ridge around the same time he was there.
The main theory was that Daylenn fell from the stairs, and the hikers corroborate this theory.
The falling theory came after there was no other proof to suggest otherwise.
The stairs had been closed off to the public in the late 80s, partly due to safety concerns.
This is because the ridge has a sheer drop, providing a fatal fall for anyone who stumbles over.
There had also been a landslide on the trail earlier that very month, making the treacherous terrain even more dangerous to climb.
As for what the hikers believe, one of them took to Reddit 10 years ago, specifically one with the username 'Dclandry.'
They claimed to have heard Daylenn scream and was 'traumatised.'
The person wrote: "I could never explain to you the feeling I felt when you hear a cry like that.
"The hiker did not trust pass and go up the stairs. By the looks of the photographs, he didn't ever make it to the stairs.
"The hiker went up the Moanalua way. I'm not a local so I don't really know any of the name of the ridges, all I can do is try my best to explain to others where we went and where it was that we heard him."
They explained: "We started the hike on a trail about 20 feet from the Kulana'ahane trail. We had hiked about three hours up.
"We were yelling to each other to make sure the others were okay because we were so far apart. The wind died down for just a half a second and we hear a scream 'help me!'"
As soon as they heard the cries for help they called 911, but when a rescue team came, they claimed to have heard even more 'screams.'
"I'm down here!" the group of five said they heard, but they couldn’t tell exactly where the voice was coming from due to the wind.
"The wind was so bad and the clouds are starting to roll in so it was hard to hear anything," the user said. "My friend and I that heard the last cry, are heading up the ridge tomorrow the same way that we went Monday.
"It's hard to explain where the location was that we heard it, as well as where the voice was coming from."
Britt Jones