Have you ever heard the Korean phrase that crying makes horns grow out of your butt? Like this phrase, some tales have been handed down from generation to generation in cultures around the world. Each country's stories are similar, but have slightly different content that reflect the unique characteristics of each nation. In this October issue, the Dankook Herald (DKH) reporters and international Dankookians (Students of Dankook University) from the Netherlands and Japan share their country's scary stories for the Halloween season.

▲ A Photo of a Tiger and Dried Persimmons (Photo from Yonhap News & Tongil News)

   Koreans tried to relieve their fear of tigers by portraying them as foolish beings in folktales. The most famous is the story of tigers and dried persimmons. The story starts with a tiger overhearing a mother urging her child to stop from crying by saying, “If you keep crying, a tiger will come and take you.” However, when the child did not stop crying, the mother soothed him by saying that she had dried persimmons for him to enjoy. The tiger that overhears the conversation gets scared and runs away, mistaking the dried persimmons for a bigger and scarier beast.

   Dokkaebi, also translated as Goblin, is a male human-like mischievous nocturnal ghost that often appears in Korean folktales and is characterized by being strong, playful, and harmless. The most famous story of a Dokkaebi is the Ssireum (traditional Korean wrestling) story. A young man crossing the hill faces a goblin who challenges him to a wrestling match. The man agrees, but when he realizes that he cannot win with his strength, he embarrasses the goblin with a lie that the sun would rise, and tie him to a tree. The next day, the man returned to the place and found a bloody broom tied to the tree.

   Jangsan-beom is a fast and faceless creature with white fur that is rumored to appear in Jangsan, Busan. The sound of its cries are described as higher pitched than the sound of scratching a blackboard or the shrill of a frightened woman. The most interesting thing about this mysterious creature is that it is said to eat humans and imitate their voices. Stories about Jang San-beom are more of a modern ghost tale than an ancient myth, and several eyewitness accounts of the creature have become a hot topic on the internet. However, the character has not been officially recorded in Korean classic literature.

▲ The Flying Dutchman Floating on the Sea and Hanako in the Bathroom (Photo from Deviantart & irasutoya.com)

   International Dankookians also introduced scary stories of ghosts in their countries and hometowns. The first interviewee was Martin from the Netherlands. He said he doesn't like scary stories, including ghosts, adding that he doesn't have a strong conviction about whether ghosts exist. He explained a scary story from the Netherlands called the Flying Dutchman, which was a ‘wandering ghost ship.’ It comes from a legend that Captain Van Strassen forced his way to Africa through inclement weather, causing a shipwreck. As a punishment for his stubbornness, he was forced to wander the sea forever with his crew. Many people, including King George V of England, are said to have witnessed the ghost ship, but others denounce the stories saying it is an optical illusion that is caused by the refraction of light. This story is portrayed in pop culture such as in the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' movie franchise and the animated series 'SpongeBob SquarePants.' Martin’s opinion about the story is that he doesn't know if the Flying Dutchman is real or not, but it is one of the few scary stories from the Netherlands.

   The second interviewee was Yuuki Hamaguchi from Japan. She said she does like scary stories, adding that she believes in ghosts. Her grandmother’s job was related to a shaman in Japan so she naturally became interested in ghosts. She recounted a Japanese ghost story called 'Hanako in the bathroom.' The story is that at 4:44 AM, a ghost named Hanako shows up and knocks on the third stall in the bathroom. If there is a person in that stall, the person gets sucked into the toilet. Yuuki says she is still scared of this story, so she avoids using the third stall of bathrooms. Also, if you turn round for 13 times and say “Hanako, are you there?”, knocking on the third door in the bathroom, Hanako will answer, according to the tradition. She also wanted to introduce another ghost named Jishikiwarashi which is a kind of patron saint. It is said that if Jishikiwarashi leaves a home, the house will fall apart on the spot. It sometimes plays mischievous jokes on people and frightens them. But according to tradition, if a Jishikiwarashi is in a house, the owner will be lucky and make lots of money.

   It was fun to hear about the scary stories of each country. Each story shows that there are cultural differences but also similarities. Through this article, the DKH hopes that Dankookians will have more opportunities to listen to the folktales from other countries and gain a greater understanding of their culture.