If you have lived in Korea for more than a couple of months you have most likely heard a ghost story or two. Most of these ghost stories are comical and even silly, for example, a bathroom ghost that queries its potential victims if they prefer red or blue toilet paper, and depending on the answer, either kills them or lets them go. The more serious stories fall along the lines of urban legends. Usually they start out as having been heard from a friend who had a friend that????..sort of thing. One would assume, however, that in a country with 5,000 years of history filled with wars and natural calamities that there would be ghost everywhere. Yet, for some unknown reason, few Westerners have reported seeing ghosts. The few stories that I have found concern the Westerner walking his dog along the Han River and suddenly encountering a Japanese ghost, dressed in his uniform and emerging from the water. Another story is about a G.I. (I believe at Camp Casey) who was beat severely by a ghost in his barracks room - you tell me. I have also talked to several other people who have claimed to have seen ghost or felt ghost in Korea, and if there is an interest I can post them - if not….
With a few exceptions, most young Korean people do not believe in ghost. However, one young preschool boy insisted that his house was haunted. “There is a ghost in our refrigerator,” he whispered sagely as he
looked back at his smiling mother. “My mother told my brother and me to never open the refrigerator door because the ghost will get us.”
One elderly Korean man that I talked to noted that “a long time ago there were many ghosts but now there are only a few,” which leads to the question: where did the ghosts go?
Indeed at one time there seems to have been a very strong belief in ghosts and other malicious spirits. A general of the Silla army during the Three Kingdom period always went to war accompanied by his Sapsaree, a wooly poodle-like dog to chase away the spirits that might haunt the battlefields and seek revenge on the living. Sapsaree basically means “dog that chases away spirits.” These dogs were kept throughout the country as protection from intruders: mortal and supernatural.
With modernization and the development of science, many of the old mysteries have been explained by science and have ceased to exist, yet, there are some stories that persist ??? usually whispered amongst
friends and neighbors about ghosts. Some of these stories are of unscrupulous real-estate developers who violate the resting places of the ancestors by improperly relocating cemeteries and building apartment complexes upon the once hallowed ground. Worse yet are the rumors that circulate about the developers that don’t even move the cemeteries but secretly pave over them and build their complexes. It is these allegations that form the origins of haunted apartments buildings in which the elevators, for no apparent reason, stop on the fourth floor. The number four has the same sound as the Chinese character for death and is widely viewed as evil ??? something similar to the number 13 in the West. It is almost impossible to find someone with first hand experience of this phenomena, or even harder, the location of one of these haunted sites.
However, for those of you who do have an interest in ghost stories and possible places that there are hauntings please go to this site.
Here you will see pictures of an alleged haunted ????????????… the owner ran away several years ago after financial difficulties and then a truck driver stayed the night (of course) in the building and was awakened by a ghost. This organization offered a very large sum of money to anyone that could photograph the woman ghost and it has been on tv a couple of times - groups of people actually go on excursion tours of this building. There are many pictures here and if you look around the site you will find other pictures that people send in - one that I liked was the picture of heads hanging in a tree.
Not that I believe in this stuff or anything - but for those who are interested…
13 Comments
I am fond of old ghost stories, as written by Lafcadio Hearn in Japan.
My little Korean wife just told me a second-hand ghost story. Her aunt, many years ago (she was already a gronw-up at that time, though), was walking along a street on a rainy afternoon when she felt someone was just behind her. She suddenly turned back and saw clearly and closely a typical Korean-female ghost (white-dressed, long hair etc.). The face was showing no emotion. Then the ghost desappeared.
You forgot to mention ghosts in the subway. Few years ago, a video clip for a Korean-male singer was shot in the Seoul subway. When looking at the rushes, the staff spot quite clearly a typical female ghost standing close to the driver. The cameraman did not see anything special during the shooting, though. My wife tells me this happened two times. There is no explanation for the presence of these ghosts in the subway.
Also there are the traditional ghosts in the country side. They haunt houses and impede the owners to sleep by having them nightmares. The usual way to get rid of them is to hang a Dalma (Bodhidharma) picture in the sleeping-room. But it must be a Dalma picture made by a virtous monk. Unfortunately, she doesn’t know if a Christian cross is known to be as efficient as the crazy Dalma, or a shamanic amulet. Personally, I suspect these are not ghosts (guishin) because their presence is linked to underwater current (under the house) — that’s why the first step is to find out if there is _moving_ water under the house with the help of a water diviner. The link with the water makes me think of nasty dragons (yong). Also the Buddhist method makes me think to the _naga_ (snake-looking being living in the rivers), which can be tamed but not destroyed. These _naga_, once tamed, can be protectors of the Buddhist teaching (they protected the Buddha from the rain before he became the Buddha, proporly speaking). If I remember well, two of the Four Protectors at the entrance of the Korean monasteries where Naga Kings — that is why they carry attributes, like a kind of guitar, to avoid hurting human beings but nevertheless afraid negatives influences (which may be “just” the poisonous mind itself:). These stories are consistent with the _naga_ explanation (don’t is there is a Korean name for these beings, if not dragons).
Christian
A note: the Protectors in question were Naga in their previous life (before serving the Buddhadharma), that’s why they do not look like snakes.
speaking of ghosts in subway stations, i work in busan and live in jinhae (which is near gupo train station) but before then, i was living in seoul. anyway, when i was considering moving down here, a (korean) guy i was sort of dating for a while told me that it’d be a big mistake to live near gupo station. according to him, years ago (not sure how long ago this was), gupo train station experiened a horrendous fire, killing lots of people. he said that apparently, the ghosts of all those who died still haunt the station at night and have been known to appear in people’s homes who live within the area. he told me that if i moved down here and lived anywhere near gupo station (which i *kind* of do), he would never come down and spend the weekend with me as he didn’t want to be in the area after dark. needless to say, i dumped his ass before moving down here!
I taught for a year at a high school in Gyeongju that was reputed to be haunted by multiple spirits. Originally the school had been located downtown, but about ten years ago the school sold the downtown campus to developers and moved to the base of a hill on the edge of town (very near Kim Yushin’s tomb). Of course, being a hill in the countryside, there were a number of graves on the new site that had to be moved, and quite a few that remain in the area behind the school. Since the school is a Christian school, some prayer services were performed when the graves were moved, but it must not have worked for the non-Christian spirits. My students, particularly the ones who lived in the dormitory, reported strange sights at night, and many of them really disliked being in the school alone after dark. Some of my kids counselled me not to go riding my bike home alone from the school at night because my route took me around the base of the mountain. Personally, I never felt anything at the school, but I did have a much scarier (although vague) experience at the Andong Imcheonggak Kunjajeong. I haven’t heard of it being haunted, but on one occasion I stopped by just before dusk to take some pictures. I’d been in other areas of town, including the nearby Goseong Yi head house at the same time of night, but this was the only place that had ever felt “icky” to me. In the inner courtyard I found a white dog that came and played fetch with me for a bit, and bizzarely the sick feeling left immediately. As soon as I went out into the outer area though, the feeling returned and stayed with me until I left the compound. Nothing specific though, and a doubtful ghost story. Nobody in town had any ghost stories about the place. There is also a tree growing in the middle of the road nearby (the same road that leads to Andong Dam) that is supposed to house a spirit. When last I saw it someone had hung straw and shamanistic flags on it.
Im not versed in Hangul so Im not sure if theres any footnotes to the photo for this article, but if you look closely at the photo, you will notice a number of “orbs” or balls of light swirling around especially on the righthand side.
Many ghostbusters or parapsychologists will tell you that these orbs are an indication of ghost phenomenon.
One elderly Korean man that I talked to noted that ?€œa long time ago there were many ghosts but now there are only a few,?€? which leads to the question: where did the ghosts go?
Actually the question that I get lead to is…”How does he know?”
all this talk about ghosts in korea reminds me of a conversation i had this past weekend with a korean friend of mine. this person sort of serves as my encyclopedia to all things korean. whenever i have a cultural question, i ask him and he explains it to me.
anyway, during dinner, he asked me if i was married. i told him no. immediately, like all other koreans–especially my bosses–he asked me why.
it was here that i complained to him: “why are those the 2 most common questions a foreigner will hear in korea?”
and this is what he told me:
koreans believe that the worst thing that can happen to a person, is that they will die before getting married. in such cases, the ghosts of these people will haunt the living as they search for their other half. (i guess it’s called the “virgin ghost” but it goes hand-in-hand with marriage in korea, the land of love motels…)
so, because of this, matchmakers (whether professional or not) are considered to be really good people in korea, almost like saints.
so about this whole asking about one’s marital status deal: he said that if a person can make 3 successful marriages as a matchmaker, he/she will go to heaven as he/she is doing a great service for the living.
he also told me that there have been known instances of koreans conducting ghost marriages–like uniting two spirits in marriage (sounds like an exorcism ritual to me).
so because of this belief, koreans tend to ask what foreigners may think of as very personal questions about their marital status.
this explains why korean friends have freaked out when the “read my palm.” i’ve been told that according to my palm, i don’t have much time left in this world. (well, i don’t know if i believe that but whatever–if it happens, there’s nothing i can do to stop it.) but the reason they freak is not because i’m gonna die soon, but because i’m gonna die soon and i’m still single.
anyway…all this korean ghost talk reminded me of such conversations. from a cultural standpoint, i find such stories fascinating, although i don’t believe them myself.
listen to music
Ghosts in Korea
mp3 downloadable
Ghosts in Korea
macphex
Ghosts in Korea
Where do these non sequiturs come from?
Marmot needs to add image-verification registration or image-verification posting to prevent the bots from spamming the blog.
payday loans
You may find it interesting to visit the pages on discover card cash advance personal loans