World Urban Legend

 The collapse of the Sampoong Department Store was an accident that occurred at 5:57 PM on June 29, 1995, in Seocho-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul. The building collapsed, injuring or killing 1,445 employees and customers. Debris, rubble, and dust scattered into the nearby Sampoong Apartments, Seoul High Court, and Umyeon-ro, injuring pedestrians in the vicinity. This disaster caused significant financial damage and loss of life. Immediately after the collapse, rescue operations involving the 119 Rescue Team, police, Seoul Metropolitan Government, the military, and the national government were initiated, followed by nationwide relief efforts and post-accident handling. There were 502 deaths, 937 injuries, and 6 missing persons. The estimated damage was about 270 billion KRW. Among the survivors, Choi Myung-seok, Yoo Ji-hwan, and Park Seung-hyun were rescued after being trapped for 11, 13, and 17 days, respectively. The site of the Sampoong Department Store was redeveloped into the mixed-us...

 Late at night, the girl dragged her tired body home after finishing her evening study session at school. Her steps were heavy and slow as she walked through the alley towards the apartment. The path to her home was always the same, but tonight, for some reason, she felt uneasy. The surroundings were quiet and dark, and the stillness made everything feel more intense. When she arrived at the apartment, she unconsciously entered the elevator. Being alone in an elevator was always scary, and especially at this time, her fear seemed to grow even more. The confined space made it hard to breathe. She took a deep breath. Just then, the elevator doors opened, and an older man entered. He looked kind and gentle, wearing a slightly worn jacket, with a friendly smile as he nodded at her. “Are you going alone?” he asked. The girl was momentarily startled but nodded in reply. “Yes, I’m heading home,” she answered with a calm voice. The man, without showing any signs of discomfort, leaned in an...

 The night in the high-rise apartment was quiet and still. The only sounds that occasionally brushed past her ears were the rustling of tree branches swaying in the wind and the noise of the air brushing against the apartment's exterior walls. The girl lived on the 17th floor of the apartment building. Every time she took the elevator, she felt an odd gaze, and slowly, she began to fear coming home late at night. It felt as though an invisible presence was watching her. One late night, after finishing a supplementary class at school, the girl hesitated in front of the door. The entrance to the apartment, shrouded in darkness, felt unfamiliar and cold. To enter her home, she had no choice but to take the elevator. Gathering her courage, she pressed the button and waited. When the doors opened, she immediately felt the air grow colder. The empty elevator was silent, but an inexplicable energy lingered inside. That night, the girl finally confided in her mother. “Mom, I feel like some...

  Ark Adventure 1. The Ominous Invitation One late autumn day, Minji visited Lotte World Adventure with her friends. It was the Halloween season, and the park was filled with eerie decorations and cast members dressed in spooky costumes. Near the Animal Theater, a man approached Minji’s group and whispered, “Are you interested in Ark Adventure?” His eyes glimmered with a strange mix of tension and excitement. Intrigued, Minji and her friends exchanged glances and nodded. The man handed them a small black invitation card and said, “Midnight tonight, behind Pharaoh’s Fury. But be careful; this is no ordinary ride.” 2. The Hidden Attraction At midnight, Minji and her friends headed to the location mentioned on the card. The further they walked, the quieter and more unsettling their surroundings became. Finally, they arrived at a sign illuminated by red neon lights that read "Ark Adventure." Below it stood cast members in makeup, their expressions oddly stiff and unnatural. The r...

The Ghost and the 17 Consecutive Wins of Ssangbangwool In the summer of 1996, Jeonju was a city that witnessed an unbelievable transformation in the world of Korean baseball. Ssangbangwool Raiders, a team long known for its struggles, suddenly found themselves at the top of their game. The team's rise began with the appointment of manager Kim Sung-keun, along with the full support of their parent company. However, even the most passionate fans could never have predicted what was about to unfold in the city's beloved stadium—Jeonju General Sports Complex. It all began with a mysterious presence in Jeonju’s most prestigious hotel: the Coa Hotel. The Ghost of Coa Hotel Coa Hotel, once the tallest and most luxurious building in Jeonju, was where all visiting teams stayed when they played at the Jeonju ballpark. However, strange rumors had begun to spread in the early '90s. In 1992, two OB Bears players, Kim Hyung-seok and Kim Sang-ho, reported seeing a strange woman sitting sil...

On a quiet night, a university’s traditional music club was busy preparing for their upcoming concert. The room was filled with the sounds of flutes, daegum, and haegeum, blending into a beautiful harmony. However, among the students, one suddenly spoke up. "If this were true, our club room would have turned into a snake den!" His joke made everyone laugh, but amidst the laughter, a subtle unease lingered in the air. The old tale of the flute played at night and the snake’s appearance suddenly resurfaced in their minds. This legend had been passed down for years. It was said that if you played a flute at night, a snake would appear. Of course, no one truly believed in it. Yet, the thought crossed their minds. "Didn't they say snakes can't hear flute sounds?" In reality, snakes had no hearing, and the sound of a flute didn’t affect them. Instead, they were sensitive to the wind that the flute produced, which made them seem as if they were dancing to the tune....

 Once upon a time, in a small village, people lived with different colors around them. Among all the colors, red was the one that everyone feared. There was a widespread superstition among the villagers that writing in red ink would bring bad luck, a belief passed down through generations. One day, a young man appeared in the village. He was a scholar from a distant land, eager to learn about the village's old traditions. But as he was teaching the villagers, he accidentally wrote his name in red ink. The moment he did, the villagers' faces turned pale, and they fell silent. They began whispering to each other. "That young man is going to die…" "To write his name in red! That's a sign of death!" one person whispered. "Just like the era of King Sejo, there must be a plot to eliminate him!" another person said worriedly. But the young scholar merely smiled. He understood the true meaning behind the superstition. He realized that it was simply bor...

   Cactus electromagnetic wave blocking theory One of the urban legends that spread during the early days of PC communication in Korea was the claim that "cacti absorb and block electromagnetic waves emitted by monitors." This belief became widespread, and many people placed cacti next to their monitors, thinking they would block harmful electromagnetic waves. However, this belief has no scientific basis, and the truth is quite different. 1. The Directivity of Electromagnetic Waves and the Effect of Cacti The first thing to understand is the nature of electromagnetic waves. These waves have directivity, which means that placing a cactus next to or above a monitor doesn't block or absorb them in any meaningful way. The claim that a cactus can block electromagnetic waves is fundamentally flawed. For electromagnetic waves to be shielded, direct intervention is needed, but simply placing a cactus nearby does not achieve this. If cacti did absorb electromagnetic waves, they wo...

In Hoeryong-ri, Baebang-eup, Asan-si, Chungcheongnam-do, there is a legend that has been passed down through generations. This legend is not just a simple story, but one that holds a deep meaning connected to the village, its people, and nature. The beginning of the legend dates back over 500 years, when a yellow dragon, banished from the heavenly realm for committing a grave mistake, descended to Hoeryongri village in Asan. This dragon, originally a celestial being, had been exiled after making a serious error in the heavens. To atone for his sins, he was given the task of protecting a village on Earth. The dragon arrived in Hoeryongri to fulfill this mission, and his job was to guard the village from calamities for three years, under the strict condition that he must never leave the area during that time. For those three years, the yellow dragon worked tirelessly to protect the village. When epidemics struck, he fought them off; when droughts came, he caused rain to fall; and when f...

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...

  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 mo...

1992 Rapture On October 28, 1992, Korea was preparing for the “Rapture” predicted by Pastor Lee Jang-rim of the Dami Mission. In the late 1980s, Lee began spreading the doctrine of the “Rapture,” which was based on a dispensationalist interpretation of the Bible, predicting that the Rapture would occur on October 28, 1992. The Rapture, according to this belief, meant that the faithful would be taken up into the sky, while those left behind would suffer through the tribulation under the rule of the Antichrist. Lee Jang-rim specifically chose this date and encouraged his followers to prepare, even having them donate their assets. The belief in the Rapture spread widely in Korean society at the time. People believed in the doctrine to the point of training in self-defense, even learning martial arts in preparation for survival. The anxiety in the society was heightened by the Gulf War in 1991 and the 1999 doomsday predictions, which led to an increase in the number of Rapture followers. W...

  Bunshinsaba is a ritual for summoning spirits that originated in Japan and is said to have first gained popularity in Daegu, South Korea. However, the exact origins and spread of the practice are unclear. According to the Japanese Wikipedia, Bunshinsaba is derived from Kokkuri-san during the Japanese colonial period. Kokkuri-san is a method used in Japan to communicate with spirits and shares many similarities with the Ouija board. To perform Bunshinsaba, one must hold a pencil or pen and write symbols such as OX or numbers on a piece of white paper. Then, two people sit facing each other, hold the pen together, and recite an incantation, causing the pen to move and write letters. This can be done anywhere, but in some regions, there are rumors that if the method is shared with seven others, it could lead to death. In Japan, instead of using a pen, people often draw the Japanese syllabary and a torii gate on paper, using coins to see which letters the coin points to as they place...

   Gonjiam Namyang Psychiatric Hospital was a mental health facility located at 114 Shindaegil, Gonjiam-eup, Gwangju, South Korea. It opened in December 1992 and closed in July 1996. The building later gained attention when CNN listed it as one of the "7 Creepiest Places in the World." On May 28, 2018, a sales contract for the hospital's land and three surrounding plots totaling over 69,000 m² was finalized, and the building was subsequently demolished. A film titled  Gonjiam  inspired by this location was released in 2018. The area has been controversial due to issues with trespassing. Following CNN's designation, many people seeking a thrill have visited, causing discomfort to local residents. Especially during the summer, the number of visitors increases, and some fail to clean up after themselves or cause noise disturbances, prompting locals to report incidents to the police or file complaints. Despite warnings stating, "Trespassing may result in criminal cha...

  The figure of the "Mangtae Grandpa" appears in various stories, known for taking children away. The tales vary, with some suggesting he eats the children or that they can never return home, while others depict a scenario where they are scolded and sent back. Depending on the region, he might be called "Barang Grandpa" or "Salt Merchant," and in a poem by Lee Yong-ak, he appears as "Gajujin," reflecting a local tradition from his hometown in North Korea. In the late 1990s, the animated series *Kkobikkobbi* featured a character called the "Mangtae Dokkebi," based on this folklore, where it was revealed that bad children are needed for the revival of Mangtae Grandpa. The story suggests that a parent must tell their child that Mangtae Grandpa will take them for him to appear. Though the tales of Mangtae Grandpa still exist as folk narratives, they have become unfamiliar to modern children, who are more accustomed to phrases like "Aje...

  Jangsanbeom is a cryptid resembling a tiger that is said to appear in the mountains of Jangsan in Busan, South Korea. Similar to America’s Slender Man or Japan’s Kunekune, this creature has gained notoriety through internet communities. With a sleek design and spiritual abilities, Jangsanbeom is a creation based on the experiences of modern individuals who have lost their way in the forest. Initially, it gained attention from two reports of unidentified creatures combined in a post on a site called "Jambangi." This led to nearly 40 sightings and speculative discussions on the occult board of the website "Sredik," prompting various explorations and research. Jangsanbeom is described as having crimson skin and luxurious, long fur, resembling a tiger’s skeletal structure. Its fur is so beautiful and long that it often leads people to perceive Jangsanbeom as human rather than a tiger. Although it walks on four legs, its fur evokes the image of human hair. The creature...

  The fan death myth is a famous urban legend in South Korea, claiming that sleeping in a closed room with a fan on can lead to suffocation and death. This legend was widely spread until the 2000s, and the media reported it as fact, leading many people to believe it. In English, it is referred to as "Fan Death," and it is particularly noted in South Korea. The origin of this myth dates back to the early Japanese colonial period, where the saying "if you sleep with a fan on, you will die" existed. For instance, newspaper articles from 1927 and 1932 warned about the dangers of fans. As the use of fans became common, many people developed the perception that the airflow from fans could cause breathing difficulties or be harmful to health due to contaminated dust. The spread of this myth was significantly influenced by the media during the mysterious death incidents in the summer of the 1970s and 1980s, where fans were pointed to as the cause. Notably, the Supreme Court...

  1976 Seoul UFO incident On October 14, 1976, between 6 PM and 8 PM, a UFO close encounter incident occurred in the Gangbuk area of Seoul, South Korea. This incident is also known as the "Cheongwadae UFO Incident" because the flying object entered the airspace over the Blue House (Cheongwadae). The South Korean military attempted to shoot down the object, but failed, making it a notable case of using force in a UFO close encounter, similar to the Battle of Los Angeles. Incident Progress On the evening of October 14, citizens discovered dozens of strange flying objects illuminating the sky over Seoul. These objects emitted bright lights and slowly moved south in a semicircular formation. There is testimony that Lee Soo-man, who was hosting the MBC radio show "Full of Youth" at the time, received real-time reports and announced this fact on the radio, but due to data loss, the exact facts are difficult to verify. The objects were estimated to have hovered over Seoul ...

  This piece, which premiered at the National Theater in Myeong-dong in 1975, is an avant-garde work performed with the gayageum and human voice. The piece exudes a unique charm through new attempts, such as playing the gayageum like an ajaeng using a violin bow or playing it with a washboard. The overall theme is known to express the joys and sorrows of people living in the era. This piece gained great popularity when it was used as the theme song for the horror game "White Day: A Labyrinth Named School" by Sonnori. The name of the piece became widely known among the younger generation who played the game, and it was repeatedly used in various parts of the labyrinth, giving a familiar feeling. The fear experienced during the game is an intense experience that is difficult to express in words. Especially in the doppelganger boss battle, the sound of reading a newspaper is played on a CD, creating a creepy effect. This piece was already popular among high school girls as a son...

  In the 1990s, as the pigeon population in Seoul surged, rumors began to spread about "using pigeons as food." People started to believe the rumors of using the pigeons found on the streets, and urban legends emerged, claiming that "pigeon meat is sold on skewers disguised as chicken." This coincided with the popularity of imported boneless chicken, amplifying the suspicions. Over time, rumors circulated that "the number of pigeons in the Han River has decreased" or "Chinese pigeon meat is being supplied." In China, pigeons are indeed sold on skewers, but they are priced higher than chicken. A 2007 investigation by "Bunman Zero" concluded that it was impossible for pigeons to be cheaper than chicken. It is clear that purchasing imported chicken is far more economical than processing and using pigeons. The claim that "catching street pigeons is free" is logically flawed, as the labor costs and time involved in catching them ca...