Long before the papālagi first arrived in Sāmoa, there was a village which has been abandoned now for over 250 years. Near this village was an area called Pua, named by the locals after an unusually big and beautiful Pua tree which grew there. This tree was always covered with flowers and was the home of some powerful spirits who roamed around Sāmoa during the day and returned to the tree every night. Some were ruled by impulse, making trouble and mischief wherever they went, others were usually harmless and even helped people sometimes, but all were capricious and dangerous if angered.

For many generations the people of this village were very afraid of this area and when they worked on their plantations nearby they always left long before darkness came. Because of this they rarely had any trouble with the spirits and were generally contented with this situation. The village was a prosperous and happy one where the people lived and loved and fought and gossiped and didn't think much about Pua except to avoid it after dark.

A very handsome young visitor who was staying at the village one night heard the story about the spirits and asked to see the tree. The next day he was taken to Pua and after seeing it he praised the area called Pua saying what a good piece of land it would be for plantations. Imagining out loud that if a Pua tree could grow so big and healthy and have flowers all the time, any crops grown there would be equally impressive. Then he kicked the Pua derisively and laughed, and made fun of the people calling them cowards and old ladies to be scared of spirits, when the spirits could easily be made to move if they even existed.

Upon listening to him some of the people became ashamed and his host who was a brave and powerful man coveted the land and urged the others to find their courage. Back at the village they ate and then talked about the day. Many doubted the existence of the spirits, others were unsure, but none of them relished being called cowards and all of them recognised the value of the land. Eventually after some argument it was decided that they would cut the Pua down and force the spirits to leave. So they made their plans and got everything ready for the next morning.

Several people went to Pua early the following day including the visitor. And upon reaching the tree, the man who coveted the land immediately hit it with his stone adze and jumped back warily, nothing happened. This emboldened the rest, some of whom had been hesitant at first, so joking to each other, several more joined him. As they cut further into the tree with their adzes they were terrified because blood started to flow from the cuts. Red blood, dark and thick. First oozing out, running down the trunk and pooling on the ground, and then in the deeper cuts bright arterial blood spurting spasmodically like a pulse and splashing the people, meanwhile a thin wail could be heard coming from the underground roots and the branches started shaking although there was no wind. Some ran away, others wanted to stop, but still others told them it was too late, and now they must finish what they had started. The bravest among them arguing that the spirits would never know who cut the Pua down, and would have to find another place to live. So they returned to the cutting and worked as fast as they could.

Eventually they finished chopping and the tree toppled over slowly with an awful sound like nothing ever heard before, a sound louder than the squealing of a multitude of pigs made more eerie by an almost human quality to the sound, as if a whole group of people were screaming in agony, while the sound was still reverberating they couldn't move at all, they were all frozen and were showered with blood from the tree which fountained one last time from what was left of the trunk. The roots forced themselves out of the ground tearing up the stump and whipped around violently for a few seconds before subsiding and falling around their feet. The remains of the tree became like rotting meat, heaving and crawling with maggots and an overpowering stench of decay swept through the area.

Finally a single piercing scream was heard which gave them back the use of their limbs and sent them all running back to the village as fast as they could. Everyone went back to the meeting house, and were joined by others and they discussed the happenings of the morning. After a while they broke up after deciding that everything must appear normal in case the spirits were suspicious and looked at the village. This way the villagers could fool the spirits who wouldn't know they were guilty of cutting down the Pua. It was also decided that no one else in the village was to know about what had transpired yet. Once the spirits had left only those involved would have a chance to use some of the land at Pua for their crops, and only after they had divided it amongst themselves could they let anyone else know. It was still only mid day so everyone went their own ways.

In the light and heat of a fine day most felt relieved and congratulated each other on their bravery and went about their normal activities. Some started planning which part of Pua they would claim for their plantation and what crops would be best, spending their time choosing the very best of their crops for planting. Others were worried and armed themselves with weapons and stayed close to their families making ready for conflict, and still others decided to hide themselves just in case, and spent the afternoon preparing cunning hiding spots for themselves.

When the spirits returned later that evening they found the tree had gone, dissolving into the ground without trace as if years had passed instead of hours. All that remained was coagulated pools of blood, some with foot prints in them and discarded tools. They were very angry and had a meeting and discussed what to do. It was decided that they would kill all the people involved and they would find them by their smell which lingered in the vicinity. The smell of the trees blood was strongest, a scent with which the spirits were very familiar and connected to after an ageless time of living there, mixed with the stink of life left by the people. The spirits followed the scent to a stream where the people had washed themselves and their clothes, but although fainter they could still smell the trees blood because no amount of washing would ever take away it's taint once it had touched a person. They continued following the scent which led them straight to the village.

At the boundary of the village they were met by the ancestral spirits of the people and such a war was fought that night as was never fought before or since. The ancestral spirits rising from their graves and fighting for their descendants were numerous, but they were scattered, each was protecting a small area and they were weakened by their own feuds and jealousies, while the invaders were free to roam in groups and overran them bit by bit. But nethertheless even the least of them fought like a mother would fight for her child, no quarter was asked or given and great were the losses of the invaders.

All this war was fought in total silence, invisible to the people, all that was felt was swirls and eddies of wind gusting about in those places where the struggle was fiercest. A great exhaustion came over the village and was felt by everyone, the villagers went to their beds and fell into a deep slumber as the desperate battles raged on unseen around them. Piece by piece the village was slowly cleared by the invaders, as one piece was cleared the victors would join in an adjacent battle until faster and faster through sheer weight of numbers they moved closer to their goal. One by one and in small groups the defenders were sent to oblivion in despair, helpless to do more for their families.

Finally the last intense battle centred on the paramount chiefs land as monster met monster, both sides goaded beyond belief and the fighting was at its most savage and merciless. The breezes turned into gales, the winds seeming to come from everywhere growing mightier, destroying the great house around its occupants who awoke in wonder and could do no more than lie down sheltering as best they could as they were plunged into a sudden cold, colder than a mountain spring, colder than anything thought possible, the air itself biting and stinging at any exposed skin from all directions. Even the strongest who tried to stand was immediately blown off his feet, tumbling first one way then another at the mercy of the gusts. Most huddled clutching one another in terror, their hairs stood up from their heads and their screams and cries turned to smoke exiting their mouths while they shivered violently as if from fever.

At first the spirits of proud and fierce chieftains held their own, strong and used to victory as their birthright, they fought vigorously, boasting as they fought of their contempt for the invaders, and evenly matched the battle waged to and fro. Then singly and in groups a host of other spirits rose in the midst of the battle, the victims of long forgotten murders and cannibal feasts, forsaken by their own families, joining the invaders and attacking en masse, wreaking a vicious, mindless vengeance. They attacked with no aim other than revenge, overwhelming and terrifying the chieftains with their ferocity and ruthlessness. The morale of the defenders was shattered as the most powerful among them saw a myriad of their own half-remembered victims advancing on them, broken wraiths of all ages from babies to elderly, slavering and howling their blood lust, unhesitating and relentless. People who in life had been worthless and powerless, downtrodden and disdained, to be punished or killed at a whim for any fault real or imagined, now in death spelling their utter destruction, sapping their strength at the very time they needed it to protect their own. Their courage dissolved as they fought not for their descendents but against the consequences of their own arrogance and pride, fast losing any cohesive defence as they were cut off into smaller and smaller groups fighting for themselves.

Most of the spirits of the Pua withdrew from the battle one by one in their own surprise at the sheer feral intensity of the retribution being meted out and surrounded the area. Centuries of distilled and concentrated hate were terrible to behold and overshadowed their own much newer grievance. Those craven who tried to escape were dragged down and despatched by the Pua all around the edge of the fight. As the most powerful defenders met their pasts in combat or tried to evade it and were wiped out, more and more of the powerful spirits of the Pua re-entered the battle until it ended in defeat for the chieftains in a crescendo of vying winds, uprooting trees, smashing nearby buildings, and flinging all around in a mess of tangled lashings, wood, and people. As the last ancestor was annihilated, just as suddenly as it had started, all fell silent and still. Those of the unexpected allied wraiths who still existed sank back into the ground with a collective sigh and played no further part.

The people got to their feet bewildered and frightened. Looking around and shivering uncontrollably. Unknowing of what had transpired and gazing with wonder at the rest of the village which was undamaged, and in which no one stirred while their own area was devastated.

A sound was heard like hundreds of huge insects scurrying and skittering in all directions, Then, a pause, more than a silence, it was a total absence of sound, not even the crackle of the fires or the whisper of leaves in the wind. A sense of nameless forces gathering into themselves, a darkness descended so that fires cast no light. The whole village seemed to be sucked in, holding its breath waiting. A heaviness and slowing down, a period of weight and timelessness.

Then the human slaughter began. Suddenly as if the breath had been released explosively, from all directions the villagers awoke to screams of agony. An indescribable stench of putrid death spread rapidly and strengthened until the people were incapacitated by the power of it and retched uncontrollably, painfully disgorging their last meal and rolling around in terror trying to hold their breath with their hands over their ears. The spirits killed all who stood in their way while they sniffed out and found all who smelt of the trees blood. These were reserved for a terrible torture, first expelling their intestines from their mouths until the weight of their still attached guts pulled them down on their hands and knees, then their bodies started rotting, while from behind they were entered and eaten from the inside by maggots until each was reduced to a shapeless mass, heaving and crawling and stinking, unable even to scream with their mouths full, their lives and sufferings unnaturally prolonged until dawn would give them the release into the death they already craved. The innocent who were in the way had their limbs torn off and were left to die. Terrible was the punishment of the spirits angered even more by their hard fought battles earlier.

During the hunting some spirits came to the fale where the meeting had been held and sniffed. They could smell that many more people had been at the meeting than those who had cut the tree. So they each followed a scent. The scents moved around crisscrossing each other as the people had moved about during the afternoon, but, like pigs snuffling and rooting they unerringly followed and found those they sought.

One by one they tracked each person who had been at the meeting and took them. Those who had armed themselves were driven crazy and lost control, they fought and killed each other in a frenzy of violence and mutilation, then turned on anyone around them including their own families. When their weapons broke they continued fighting with their hands and teeth, biting, ripping, and tearing, rampaging chaotically through the village, bursting into houses and attacking families already frightened by the sounds and smells. There was no stopping them until they were killed or ran out of victims and turned on themselves.

The one woman who had been present at the cutting of the tree was nursing her baby when she suddenly found herself unable to move anything but her head. She watched, screaming in helpless horror as countless utusā appeared from nowhere and crawled on the two of them, slowly eating them alive over the remainder of the night. Her baby locked tight within her paralysed arms thrashed and struggled wildly but could not escape its fate and cried pitiably until it could no longer even do that. At which time her screams became a mixture of bestial terror and overwhelming anger as she lost her mind and sank into insanity, laughing maniacally as her flesh was eaten and she saw her own beating heart beyond the bared skull of her daughter.

Others were found hiding and dragged out of their hiding places and their bones shattered to pieces, snapping and cracking, distorting their bodies into impossible angles while they still lived, jagged edged bones jutting through the skin, ripping bloody tears through flesh as the contortions continued, and these suffered in horrible agony for many hours and no one could help them. Not one single person involved escaped because they were all betrayed by their scent where ever they were. And many more were killed for trying to help their loved ones.

Spirits had been stationed all around the village and tore apart anyone, innocent or guilty who tried to run. All that long night the sound of people wailing and begging for their lives was mixed with the screams of the dying and the howls of people driven insane. Those who were not involved, didn't really know what was happening and huddled in terrified groups clutching their children. Anyone who dared to leave their house for any reason, was ripped to pieces and left to die, with bloody pieces of their bodies flung into the houses as a warning further terrifying the inhabitants. This did not stop until the first break of dawn. And during that night many more went insane through grief or terror.

One scent was found which led away from the village, it belonged to the visitor who had left the village after the meeting, one spirit had followed the scent but he had travelled fast and far towards the sea and the spirit was caught by dawn before catching up and returned to tell the others.

In the morning the terrified survivors surveyed the carnage. Blood and body parts were everywhere, men, women, and children of all ages, some battered and mutilated beyond recognition. Huddled in corners crouched in their own faeces were wild-eyed people driven crazy by the sights and sounds of the night, gibbering and dribbling, or hoarsely screaming in fits, unable to do anything for themselves, many of them still cradling bloody pieces of their loved ones. Almost as frightening were the skeletons of those devoured by the utusā still lying in their bed. The baby with its body intact but it's head eaten to the bone, still held tight between skeletal arms against a bare ribcage. Eyeless and tongueless unable even to cry, feebly croaking  and gasping. The mother was just a skeleton except her head which was untouched, mouth wide open baring her teeth as if screaming, or laughing.

Worst of all were the broken crooked bodies of those who had hidden, many still lived in terrible pain, but nothing could be done for them as all their bones had been shattered. Their eyes begging someone, anyone, to finish them, croaking and gurgling through their shattered mouths, unable to even make an end.

All of those who were able to and had enough of their senses left abandoned the village and went where ever they had some family who might take them in. Some to Savai'i and others stayed in Upolu. None ever returned to the village and none of the insane human wreckage left behind were ever heard from again.

As for the spirits, the loss of the Pua did indeed scatter them, they still roam Sāmoa and often when night falls during their travels they will take up residence temporarily in a Pua tree in a village, sometimes staying for one night, sometimes for several years. But even 250 years has not assuaged the anger of the spirits, and to this day as they travel around Sāmoa they are still malevolently searching and sniffing for the visitor who had started it, often causing trouble for innocent people. Sometimes they will leave Sāmoa and search in other lands, some travelled to Hawaii, some to other places, anywhere that Samoans have gone. Never will they give up.

Although the spirits will often roam in pairs, never again will they meet as a full group until the visitor or his direct descendants are all located so the spirits have completed their vengeance. No Samoan knows who he was or even what village he came from because all who had met him had been killed.

It is said that the taint of the trees blood has been passed down faintly through the generations, flaring strongest in those of his descendants who are most like him at the time of the cutting when he was covered in the blood of the tree, young and beautiful, both male and female. Then fading with age only to be passed down to the next generation. Wherever they are found they are taken alive, and many are the tears that have been shed because of the cutting of the Pua.

Paraphrased into English at Faleāti'u by ChrisB 2015

‘Aua le pūlea e agaga leaga lou fatu.