From a young age, Ikaika Tadaki said he could sense ghosts.

Born in Oahu, Hawaii, Tadaki and his family moved to Ohio in 2005.  He graduated from NKU in 2012, earning a degree in computer science.

As a child, Tadaki was highly sensitive to spirits. Over time, he said he learned to dull his heightened senses because the experience was becoming too intense. He claims to be less sensitive to spirits now compared to his mom and uncle.

Although Tadaki said his mother and uncle can also feel ghosts, this ability is a matter of sensitivity rather than genetics.

“Some people are more open than others,” Tadaki said. “It’s kind of just something that you have, whether you like it or not.”

When sensing a spirit, Tadaki said the hair on the back of his neck stands up and he focuses on a single spot until he can see a ball of light, signifying there is a spirit present.

“You stare into a spot and feel something’s there, but you can’t see anything,” Tadaki said.

Not only can Tadaki sense when a ghost is near, but he has also seen spirits lurking in his very own apartment.

Recently, after a rare nightmare, Tadaki got up in the middle of the night to go to the restroom.  While passing by the living room he felt the presence of a spirit. He looked back in the living room and spotted the apparition of an old man.

“There was something hovering there looking back at me,” Tadaki said.  “He was there for about two and a half hours.”

Tadaki believes the spirit sent him the nightmare because he normally never has bad dreams.

When it comes to opening up to his friends and loved ones, Tadaki says he does not tell people about it unless they ask.

“It’s not necessarily a gift.  It’s not something you brag about,” Tadaki said. “People already think I’m weird.”

If Tadaki does choose to tell someone about his supernatural ability, he tries to stay as calm as possible so that others will actually believe him instead of assume that he’s crazy.

Other times, however, Tadaki experiences intense spiritual presence that endangers his loved ones and must take immediate action.

Molly Deaton, Tadaki’s girlfriend, described the moment when she first found out about his paranormal senses. In August 2012, Deaton was at a friend’s house one night in an apartment complex in Newport that used to be a historic mansion. Tadaki called her unexpectedly early in the morning.

“He told me about a dream he had just awoken from where he was in the building and saw me and my friends. He described friends I had who lived in the same building who he never had met or even seen,” Deaton said.

Not only did Tadaki describe the setting of the apartment perfectly, but he also warned his girlfriend to avoid the door in the hallway on the left.

“He told me that in the door on the left there was something very angry and not to go through the door,” Deaton said. “Needless to say, my friends and I were freaked.”

When Deaton tried to go back to sleep, she, as well as her friends, heard footsteps walking in the apartment on the hardwood floor. Tadaki later told Deaton that he sensed two spirits in his dream that night: an angry female in the hallway and another spirit through the door on the left.

“I was a little weirded out when he first told me,” Deaton said. “I always enjoyed ‘ghost’ stories and when I mulled it over, I actually thought it was cool he could sense them. I feel a bit safer now that I know he’ll warn me about angry spirits.”

Tadaki’s best friend, Eric Schierberg, jokingly called Tadaki a witch doctor when he first learned that his friend could detect the presence of ghosts. However, Tadaki’s ability to sense spirits has not changed their friendship.

“It hasn’t changed my view of Ikaika at all,” laughed Schierberg. “Ikaika’s my best friend and whenever I insult him I don’t mean it.”

Schierberg stated that he even appreciates when Tadaki “does a walk through” in his apartments to see if there are spirits present.

While Deaton and Schierberg accept his paranormal senses, Tadaki said many people don’t. However, he doesn’t let other people’s negative opinions bring him down.

“There are always the freaks in the family. Some people can sense ghosts and some people talk to cats,” Tadaki said.