Paki Kēhua

The Train Ticket (Part 1)

Episode 26 - The Train Ticket, Part One (Based on a True Story) 
It's December 23, 1953, and an old school friend has turned up out of the blue, offering to take Emily on a whirlwind trip across the countryside, back to their hometown in Taumarunui. Why take tomorrow night's express train when you can have a chauffeur-driven ride right now, and catch up with an old school friend at the same time? But there’s something not quite right about the old schoolmate that Emily can’t put her finger on. Emily and her old buddy, Billie, head off the night before the scheduled train trip, all set to surprise Emily’s whānau a day early. And what a surprise it will be, but not for the reasons Emily thinks. The trip home is about to rock not just Emily and her family, but the entire world. Get ready to relive the ride of Emily’s life.   
T.A. Whero

Happy (Ghost) Feet

Episode 25 - Happy (Ghost) Feet (Based on a True Story) 
If you ever spoke to a dead person, would you know it? Would anyone else be able to see the dead person and witness the conversation, or would it look like you're talking to yourself? I'm trying to steer clear of a "Sixth Sense" scenario here, but I've heard many stories where the dead return for a final farewell.  I remember my Māori teacher from college talking about a kid who missed school, turned up in the afternoon on his horse, and then left, only for a message to arrive at the school later that day saying the kid had died earlier that morning. This tale is true, and secondly, I'm going to let one fact out here that's not in the story but needs to be said: one of the characters quit her job after the incident. We know that the dead can indeed come back, but this story is not about that; it's about why the dead choose to return. 
 T.A. Whero

The Old Man (Part 2)

Episode 24 - The Old Man, Part Two (Based on a True Story) 
Herana is being hunted by a malevolent spirit from the nightmare world, and if that isn't bad enough, the spirit seems to be able to physically hurt Herana. She has woken from the nightmares with marks and bruises all over. Herana and Hona have reached out to their mother's brother, Uncle Tipene, whom their mother forbade them from seeing when she was alive. They are hoping their uncle will be able to help. What they don't know is that there was a reason their mother wouldn't let them see their uncle. It's a secret that's intertwined with all the nightmares. Buckle up because things are about to get worse. Much worse. 
T.A. Whero 

The Old Man (Part 1)

Episode 23 - The Old Man, Part One (Based on a True Story) 
Have you ever had a dream that was so real that you didn’t know it was a dream until you woke from it? I have grown up knowing that when you dream, you cross over to the spirit world. I remember my koroua saying that you should never wake anyone suddenly, as their body might return while the wairua stays in the dream world. That always troubled me. If you could cross to the dream world then it would stand to reason that something could also cross into this world, which is fine if you’re talking about marsh-mallows and butterflies, but what if it’s demons and monsters? 
Herana and her sister Hona are all alone after their mother died a year or so ago and they are about to discover that the veil between them and the demons is thin……real thin.  
T.A. Whero 

Mata(ku)riki

Episode 22 – Mata(ku)riki (Based on a True Story) 
Hawaiki is our ancient homeland, but where is it and how did we forget its location in less than a thousand years? Here's an answer that I grew up with. When we asked Koro if he knew where Hawaiki was, he would always point upwards. "We're from the stars," he would say. "How else could we know without cartography tools that the North Island looked like a fish? The only way you could know is via an aerial view... from the stars." There are clues everywhere that we are from the stars. The instructions from Kupe are "whakatau ki a Atutahi mā Rēhua." Everyone assumes he was mapping the ocean pathway using the stars as a guide, but have we considered the possibility that when Kupe said, "go via Atutahi and Rēhua," he meant it - "whakatau" or visit Atutahi via Rēhua - and was giving us the true location of Hawaiki... among the stars? It's obvious when you think about it, which brings us to our story of the stars of Te Waka o Rangi and a young man's terrifying journey that would bring him face to face with the captain of Te Waka o Rangi, Taramainuku, the soul collector. 
T.A. Whero

Pounamu

Episode 21 - Pounamu (Based on a True Story) 
Pounamu, or greenstone, is more than just a precious stone. It is a living treasure, the 'fish of Ngahue', as the old stories say. As such, it is considered more valuable than common stones such as gold or diamonds. We wear pounamu, we fight with it, we even liken it to the magnificence of the glistening ocean. But in its beauty lies a tūpato. Pounamu can be a vessel, a conduit where emotions, especially the more insidious type are captured and the, let's say “karma” is passed on to the future owner. This is why one must be careful when buying pounamu. You should not buy it from just anyone, and only a fool would buy a second-hand pounamu. Well, my friends, this is a story about a fool I knew. 
T.A. Whero

The Burning Mattress

Episode 20 - The Burning Mattress (Based on a True Story) 
You're supposed to burn the mattress that a tūpāpaku lies on. It's based on an old tikanga whereby a small 'whare mate' was built specifically to house the tūpāpaku, and then burned immediately after the body was taken to the urupā. I mean, would you really want to sleep on the same mattress after a dead person has been on it?Today's Māori are different, and the old ways are often traded off for convenience and expedience. Young Māori of today, beware. There is a reason our tipuna put laws in place – unbreakable laws to be broken at one's own risk, as the unfortunate man in our story soon discovers. If you think you can hide behind the "I didn't know" card, don't be surprised if a kēhua chews it up, spits it out, and blows hūpē on it. Don't say you weren't warned. 
 
T.A. Whero

Te Kaingaroa a Haungaroa

Episode 19 - Te Kaingaroa a Haungaroa (Based on a True Story) 
This is a tale about inheritance. Not something as common as money or assets, but something far more intriguing: magic! I know of several practices to acquire occult powers. There's knowledge of karakia and incantations, of course, but more is needed than just words. The Ngau Taringa rite involves the passing of power through biting the ear of a dying tohunga. Then there's the magic diet, where you know... eat someone with the power. Finally, there's whakapapa, where the ability stays within the family and can resurface in later generations under the right conditions. Our story follows a group that ventures into the Kaingaroa Forest and encounters trees that have come to life. They realise that a young girl in their group is a descendant of the woman who cursed them originally, turning them into cabbage trees. This story is about one thing: revenge. 
T. A. Whero

Over The Blood Moon (Part 3)

Episode 18 - Over the Blood Moon, Part Three (Retelling of an Old Story) 
Fighting out of the brown corner, weighing in at 200 pounds, all the way from Rotorua... Koro Pat (aka Hatupatu)! And in the red corner, weighing in at a trim 950 pounds, 1000 pounds if you include the wings, Kurungaituku! Oh, also, this is a tag match, and Kurungaituku's tag-team is an entire army of Amazonian bird warriors like herself. Koro Pat's tag team are Kara, Nikau, and their class of gifted Māori kids from Tutunui School. It sounds like an unfair fight, but don't worry, the class has one thing going for them that the bird army hasn't anticipated: they're small and insignificant. Nobodies. Just a bunch of clever, nerdy little kids. Well, that's what the bird women see, but the bird women have made a grave mistake. As every parent should know, never ever underestimate your kids. Especially when they're Māori kids. Clever Māori kids at that. Let's get ready to rumbllllllleeeeeee. DING! DING! 
T.A. Whero 

Over The Blood Moon (Part 2)

Episode 17 - Over the Blood Moon, Part Two (Retelling of an Old Story) 
Our two anti-heroes, Kara and Nikau, have been separated from the rest of the class (their own doing, of course), and they've just heard a monstrous scream from a terrifying creature that's shaken them to the core. They've decided to do what any typical Māori kid would do and run... towards the scream. If you reckon the boys are going to run into some kind of unimaginable, grotesque demon, well, you'd be right, but there's more to it than that. Also, Koro is acting more squirmy than usual, and he's definitely super grumpy (that's probably normal). Then there's the mysterious guide, Ingo, who seems like she's up to something. Is the blood moon affecting everyone? Oh mate, you have no idea...