Hiker sent eerie photo of 'shadow man' before 'harrowing' scream and vanishing

A teenager who vanished on a hiking trail in Hawaii took a mysterious photo featuring a 'shadow man' just before he disappeared. Eighteen year old Daylenn Pua was last seen heading up the perilous Haiku Stairs - known as the 'stairway to heaven' - on O'ahu island.

The Haiku Stairs were constructed during World War II to provide better access to a former US Navy Communications facility. Comprising some 3,922 steps, the steep path across the mountain range was once a popular hiking spot before its removal in 2024.

The site was infamous for safety issues and was actually illegal to traverse, but this did not deter many, including 18 year old Pua, from attempting the walk despite the risks. On either side of the ridge lies a sheer drop, meaning that a stumble at any point could be fatal.

Despite his grandmother's worry about the challenge, Pua was eager to undertake it and pledged to send her regular photos to track his progress. One of the last photos sent clearly depicts a man partially concealed behind a tree, standing in the centre of the image and side on to the teenager.

Dubbed the 'shadow man,' he has never been identified and was likely the last person to see Pua before he went missing. The photograph has sparked numerous theories online - fuelling speculation on whether Pua was abducted or assaulted, reports .

His family later issued a public plea for the figure in the photo to come forward - however, no-one did.

The absence of alternative explanations or evidence, combined with an unsuccessful search and rescue operation, suggests that the teenager likely lost their footing on the stairs. This account is corroborated by nearby hikers who recalled hearing desperate cries for help.

Reddit user 'Dclandry', claiming to have heard the screams, shared: "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!

"I'm down here!" the group were reported to have heard, yet pinpointing the source of the shouts proved elusive. "The wind was so bad and the clouds are starting to roll in so it was hard to hear anything," noted the commentator.

Firm in their resolve, they said: "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."