HANAPEPE — A research team looking for a mass grave of 16 Filipino strikers killed in what has become known as the 1924 Hanapepe Massacre on Kauai believe they located the grave site Sunday.
Sixteen Filipino plantation strikers and four deputized officers were killed in the massacre on Sept. 9, 1924.
At about 11 a.m. — approximately an hour and a half into their search — an engineer and technician assisting the team of the Filipino American National Historical Society Hawaii State Chapter’s Kauai committee discovered a trench at the Hanapepe Filipino Cemetery with what they described as “12 anomalies.”
A divining rod and ground-penetrating radar equipment detected the location of the anomalies lined parallel to one another. Kauai committee chairman Mike Miranda believe the four other strikers are located in a section where newer graves were built on top of the remaining part of the trench.
“I’m excited and anxious at the same time. The primitive and modern technologies brought closure to a big missing piece to a major tragedy in Kauai’s history and Filipino American history,” Miranda said.
Emmy-winning independent filmmaker Stephanie Castillo captured the team’s discovery with an Oahu film crew as part of her documentary called “The Hanapepe Massacre Mystery.” She aims to premiere the documentary in 2024 on the 100th anniversary of the massacre.
Castillo said there were mixed emotions of excitement and sadness of the discovery. “It was just an incredible moment. … For 95 years nobody knew where this grave was. Today we’re sure enough. We know where it is.”
The anomalies believed to be 12 of the 16 strikers were located approximately a foot away from a small makeshift concrete marker with no names and only dates: “Born 1886. Died Sept. 9. 1924.”
The research team initially did not know whether the marker involved the location of any of the strikers killed in the massacre. Castillo said, “This marker was pointing to it the whole time.”
The cemetery is on a hillside with a view overlooking Hanapepe Bay.
The divining rod pointed to the site where the possible mass grave was found. The research team used the ground-penetrating radar to repeatedly scan a section that showed what may be bodies lined closely together.
Castillo said the two men assisting the research team could not push the ground-penetrating radar equipment further because of other graves built on top of what is believed to be the remaining part of the mass grave.
Miranda said there are no plans to dig up the graves as they do not want to disturb the site.
The team is continuing to search through court records as well Hawaii Sugar Planters’ Association records to identify each of the 16 strikers.
They also plan to contact the county and labor unions to install a memorial or permanent marker for the strikers killed in the massacre.
“Because of their sacrifices, a lot of Hawaii’s workers have better working conditions, ” Miranda said.
The research team plans to present its findings in July at the Filipino American National Historical Society biennial conference in Waikiki.