• Kay Borleis was running a race known as HURT 100 in 2019 when she encountered the mysterious figure
• Her friend Cassie snapped a photo of her on the trail which showed a dark figure in the trees
• The spirit is supposedly an ancient Hawaiian warrior known as a Night Marcher

A woman may have unknowingly passed the ghost of a supposed ancient Hawaiian warrior while running through a rainforest.

Kay Borleis was running the Hawaiian Ultra Running Team’s Trail 100-Mile Endurance Run on the Honolulu Mauka trails in Oahu in January 2019 when she had the spooky encounter.

'To this day, we still don’t know what it was,' said Borleis, a senior art director, in a blog post.

The race, known as HURT 100, is a 20-mile loop through the rainforests that participants run five times. 

Borelis' friend Cassie was running the fourth lap with her when Cassie snapped the photographs, which she shared with friends and family.

Kay Borleis was running the Hawaiian Ultra Running Team’s Trail 100-Mile Endurance Run in 2019 when she encountered the supposed phantom

The dark figure is said to be a Night Marcher, which are ghosts of ancient Hawaiian warriors who protected people so sacred that the common man was never allowed to look at them

'After dinner, we drive back to our Airbnb and Cassie receives a text from her mom. It was about one of the photos Cassie had sent,' Borelis explained. 

'It was a “live” (moving photo) that showed a dark figure dressed in a cloak moving past me while I was running.'

'Now, I know my memory is quite shotty after the race and even while racing, but I did not remember passing a person on that strip of trail. Cassie didn’t either and she had her wits to her.'

Borelis noted there were other uncharacteristic aspects from that day. She said she has been an avid runner since she was 14-years-old and had previously never dropped out of a race.

However, while running that fourth lap with Cassie, she experienced a sharp pain in her foot. She said it was so painful she started wailing and had to drop out of the race.

She also said the moon was shades of orange and red and that at the during the time of her visit there was a total lunar eclipse going on.

Borelis and Cassie enlisted friends to help them decipher what the being in the photo could be, when they learned about the Night Marchers. 

'According to legend, there are ghosts of Hawaiian warriors that roam the island and they’re called, Night Marchers. They are, “murderous shades, demons, revenants that haunt the island. They are the rabid galvanized specters of ancient Hawaiian fighters, heroes, and warriors,"' Borelis said.

Borelis' friend Cassie was running the fourth lap with her when Cassie snapped the photographs, which she shared with friends and family who pointed out the figure

Borelis said she received backlash after sharing the photos of her discovery online. Some people said it was photoshopped or they were disrespecting Hawaiian culture

'Upon further research, we found out that, “ancient Hawaiian tenets assert that any mortal gazing upon or being viewed in defiance to the marchers will die horribly and violently. Some people declare that if the mortal lies still, down on the ground, prostrated to the marchers they are giving proper respect, fear, and reverence to the Night Marchers; and they will be forgiven and spared.”'

Borelis said: 'Luckily, we did not see the supposed Night Marcher.'

According to Honolulu Magazine, Night Marchers are the ghosts of ancient Hawaiian warriors.

'In life, these warriors supposedly traveled at night to protect people so sacred that the common man was never allowed to look at them. Breaking that rule meant death,' said the magazine. 

Borelis (pictured) said she is still not certain what the creature is, but she still hopes to return to Hawaii to complete the HURT 100 and 'maybe bump into my old friend'

Borelis said she received backlash after sharing the photos of her discovery online.

'Our simple and harmless request to figure out what was in our photo turned a little violent. We received messages calling us, “Haoles,” and that we were disrespecting Hawaiian culture,' she said.

'We even got threatening messages where people wanted us to meet a Night Marcher so we would die a violent death. Less than 72 hours after posting our photos, we took them down.'

Borelis said she is still not certain what the creature is, but she still hopes to return to Hawaii to complete the HURT 100 and 'maybe bump into my old friend.'