Young Visitors Reporting Strange 'Booth-Like Artifacts' in South Maui {NRL}

Maui County officials reported a flood of calls this month from visitors from the mainland inquiring about what they describe as "booth-like artifacts."

Most of the callers appear to belong to groups of Americans known as Millennials, or members of what is called Generation Z, officials said.

"It's December and the beginning of the busy season on Maui, and a lot of young adults and teenagers from the mainland are visiting for the very first time," said Joanne Spingler, a historical studies specialist with the county. "And for whatever reason, they find the public telephones in South Maui fascinating."

"I've been to ghost towns in California, and these booth thingies reminded me of those," said Brenda Berwinkle, 22, of Simi Valley, Calif.

"There's some kind of a curved tool with bulbous ends connected by a thick wire to the booth things," said Kevin Johannsen, 24, of Portland. "We think it's some sort of exercise break thing, like folks can stop and use the cord to jump over or pull in sets of 10. There's even a little square keyboard on it with numbers, to keep track of your reps."

Spingler said the county is weighing whether to arrange free weekly classes for visitors to attend and learn more about the pay phones, and how they work.

"Some even seem to have ancient hieroglyphics on the sides, in some kind of a thick black ink, like natives long ago left hints for future visitors," said Lance Bickford of San  Diego. "They should mark these as cultural landmarks, so they are protected for future generations to appreciate."