Daylenn Pua, 18, vanished while hiking in Hawaii in December – his last known photo appears to show a ‘shadow man’ standing behind a tree
A teenager who vanished on a hiking trail in Hawaii snapped a chilling photo featuring a ‘shadow man’ just before he disappeared. Eighteen year old Daylenn Pua was last seen embarking on the perilous Haʻikū Stairs – known as the ‘stairway to heaven’ – on O’ahu island.
The Haʻikū Stairs, constructed during World War II to facilitate better access to a former US Navy Communications facility, were once a popular hiking spot prior to their removal in 2024. With a staggering 3,922 steps, the steep path across the mountain range was infamous for safety issues and was technically illegal to traverse, but this didn’t deter many, including young Daylenn, from attempting the risky walk.
Despite the sheer drop on either side of the ridge, which meant any misstep could be deadly, Daylenn was eager to take on the challenge. He reassured his worried grandmother by promising to send her regular photos documenting his journey.
One of the final images sent eerily shows a man partially obscured behind a tree, standing in the centre of the frame and side-on to the teenager.
This mysterious figure, dubbed the ‘shadow man,’ has never been identified and is believed to be the last person to see Daylenn before he went missing. The unsettling photograph has sparked numerous theories online, fuelling speculation about whether Daylenn was abducted or assaulted, reports the Irish Star.
His family later made a public appeal for the individual in the photo to come forward, but no one did.
Lacking any alternative theories or evidence, and with a failed search and rescue effort, the prevailing belief is that the teenager accidentally fell from the stairs. This theory is supported by hikers in the same area who reported hearing desperate pleas for assistance.
Reddit user ‘Dclandry’, claiming to have heard the distressing cries, posted: “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. 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!”.
So alarmed by what they witnessed, they contacted emergency services for aid, and upon arrival, the rescue squad seemingly heard more ‘screams’.
“I’m down here!” was reportedly heard by the group, but pinpointing the source of the cries proved difficult. “The wind was so bad and the clouds are starting to roll in so it was hard to hear anything,” one of them explained.
They added: “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.”