[KoreaUrbanLegend] The land of evil spirits

In the early 1960s, about a decade after the Korean War had ended, a small mountain village between Yanggu and Inje in Gangwon Province vanished without a trace. The reason for the village’s disappearance was tied to a rather strange and terrifying tale. It wasn’t simply abandoned or closed due to natural disasters, but was said to have been wiped out overnight by the wrath of vengeful spirits.

The story first appeared on an internet community in 2000. The writer claimed that it was an old tale he had heard from his grandfather during his childhood. The grandfather had shared a shocking confession, but the credibility of the story has remained a subject of debate. The website where it was posted shut down around 2001, and over time, those who shared the story lost track of its origin. However, the narrative continued to circulate, gaining renewed attention in 2023.

The Village's Origins

The village had been formed by people who fled their hometowns during the Korean War and settled in the southern regions. After the war, these refugees, originally from a place called Changdo-gun, gathered in a small, fertile area near the border. The land they chose for settlement was rich and promised a good future. Thanks to the abundance of nature, the villagers started building a new community, hopeful of a better life away from their war-torn homes.

But their happiness didn’t last long. One day, a monk appeared in the village. Wearing tattered clothes, he wandered from house to house asking for donations. The villagers, open-hearted and generous, offered him food and money. Grateful, the monk didn’t leave but instead sat down in the middle of the village and entered deep meditation.

The Monk's Warning

That day, the monk suddenly stood up and went to the headman's house, where he shouted, "Headman, come out. I have something urgent to tell you." After an hour of discussion with the headman, the village leader called everyone together with a grave expression.

"I’ve discovered something about this land," the headman said, his voice serious. "This is not your homeland. For 700 years, no one has lived here. It was once covered in dense forests, but due to some spiritual cause, this place became fertile land. However, this land does not belong to humans—it belongs to evil spirits. They are creatures like demons or yaksha, who have been bound by a curse. Once the curse is lifted, the village will fall into disaster. If you do not leave within three weeks, no one will survive."

The monk then handed out strange talismans and large prayer beads, warning the villagers, "If you don’t protect these, you won’t survive. Leave now, or face certain doom."

Though the villagers were skeptical, a sense of unease began to settle in their hearts.

Preparing for the Ritual

The village fell into chaos. Fear gripped the people, who were now terrified of losing everything they had worked for. The headman, desperate to save his village, sought the monk’s help again, asking, "Is there any way we can stay here? We cannot just leave."

The monk thought deeply and finally proposed a strange ritual. "Only children under the age of ten can complete this ritual. From the hour of dusk to dawn, they must sit in front of the village’s guardian tree, the Dangsan tree, holding hands with their eyes closed. If they open their eyes or let go of each other's hands, the entire village will perish."

The monk then took his own blood and smeared it on the Dangsan tree, muttering an incantation. The villagers watched in shock as he quietly finished his chant and left the village.

The Ritual and Its Aftermath

In the days that followed, the villagers rigorously trained the children, warning them that if they didn’t complete the ritual properly, the village would be destroyed. The fear of impending doom filled their hearts. As night fell, strange happenings began to occur—animals started dying, and a strange energy seemed to hang in the air.

On the night of the ritual, the children gathered in front of the Dangsan tree, holding hands and closing their eyes. The villagers, fearful and anxious, hid in their homes, locking their doors tight. The night passed in eerie silence, but when dawn broke, the village was unrecognizable.

The Dangsan tree had been split by a lightning strike, and all the houses were reduced to rubble. A strange wailing sound filled the air, and the people had vanished without a trace. The village was nothing more than a desolate ruin. There were no survivors.

The Grandfather's Tale

Afterward, the writer's grandfather left the village and moved to Jeju Island. He never shared the full details of the story with his children, but on his deathbed, he confided in his wife. She, in turn, passed the story down before she died. The family members dismissed it as an old tale, but the writer's great-aunt claimed to have seen a strange paper with mystical symbols written on it when she was a child, at her grandfather’s house.

The paper may still be out there, somewhere, in someone’s possession. Though the village and its vengeful spirits have disappeared, the terror of that time still lingers in the hearts of those who remember it.