The Collapsing of Sampoong Department Store, and the Ghost Stories
On June 29, 1995, Sampoong Department Store in Seocho-gu, Seoul, collapsed, taking countless lives in an instant. After the disaster, a new high-end apartment complex, 'AcroVista', was built on the site where the department store once stood. People started new lives there, but the land held something else.
1. The Chill in the Air
“There’s something strange here.”
Minjeong, who worked at the underground shopping mall, often felt a cold, eerie chill lately. In the evenings, it became stronger, as if her feet were dipped in ice water. One night, while leaving work, she saw a large shadow suddenly cross her path. It disappeared in an instant. She wanted to scream, but all that came out was a cold breath. She often heard that exorcists visited regularly, performing rituals to cleanse the area.
“Maybe... the grudge of Sampoong Department Store still lingers here.”
2. The People in Black
One day, a child and their mother were walking past the department store. The child suddenly began to cry, clutching their hands. The mother asked,
“Why are you crying? What’s wrong?”
The child’s eyes were wide, trembling as they replied,
“Mom… didn’t you see the people in black clothes? They’re over there.”
“People in black? There’s no one like that, let’s go.”
She hurried her child out of the store. Just as they exited, the news broke. "Sampoong Department Store has collapsed…"
From that day on, the mother couldn’t forget the words of her child. The 'people in black clothes' were said to be the grim reapers. Or perhaps they were the spirits of the people who tragically died in the collapse. The memory of that day haunted her forever.
3. The Curse of the Shopping Cart
A few years later, Jaehun, working at an office, stumbled upon an old shopping cart in the storage room. He didn’t think much of it, but once he began moving it around, strange nightmares started haunting him.
“Why do I feel so uneasy?”
While taking a nap one afternoon, he dreamt of the cart, as if it were a giant boulder pressing down on him. Something was chasing him, never letting him escape. The more he thought about it, the more he realized: it wasn’t just a shopping cart. It was cursed.
“Get rid of it. It’s not just an ordinary cart.”
His colleagues told him it was tied to the tragedy. The memory of that store, the people who died there, lived on in the cart. Jaehun would never be able to look at it the same way again.
4. The Shopping Bag
Even after the accident, Sampoong Department Store still lingered in the memories of the people living nearby. One such thing was the department store’s shopping bags, often seen in the neighborhood. Many people reused them for other purposes, a common practice. But on this particular day, when a woman with a child was seen riding the subway holding one of these bags, something felt wrong.
“The shopping bag from Sampoong Department Store… it’s still here.”
The sight of the bag, once just an ordinary object, now felt like a ghost of the past. The memory of the tragedy was attached to it. And those who touched it couldn’t help but feel a chill, as if the spirits of the past were watching. The shopping bag wasn’t just an item—it was a symbol, a reminder that the past was never truly gone.
