Secrets within the walls – The Korea Times

By Robert Neff

Every neighborhood has its secrets. Behind the facades of clean storefronts, tastefully decorated interiors and the busy sounds of pedestrians going to and from work or school, some buildings have dark histories. If only the walls could talk — some eventually do.

Home is supposed to be an inviolable sanctuary, a bastion against the evils surrounding us. But according to some old Korean superstitions, it becomes a prison where the supernatural reigns, judging and punishing mortals for the slightest transgressions. Nothing escapes their notice. Yet, it’s not the spirits that people fear revealing their secrets to — it’s their fellow humans. Secrets can be hidden for a while, but eventually, all skeletons in the closet — or walls — are revealed.

In 1997, “Saturday Mysteries,” a popular Korean program that explored ghost stories and unexplained events, aired an episode about a chilling encounter in South Gyeongsang Province in 1980. A young woman had recently rented a small room in a hanok, a traditional Korean house, but her first night there quickly turned into a nightmare.

While reading, she felt an unnatural coldness seep into the room, along with the unsettling sensation that someone was standing behind her. Glancing nervously around, she saw nothing unusual and convinced herself it was merely her imagination inspired by being in a strange place for the first time. Later that night, she awoke to the icy feeling of hands brushing against her in the darkness. Once again, no one was there.

The pattern continued over several nights, each incident growing more intense and violent. Finally, in the dim light of early morning, she witnessed two shadowy hands stretching out from the wall, grasping for her. Her terrified screams brought the neighbors rushing in. They knocked down the wall and uncovered a grisly secret — the corpse of a 10-year-old boy hidden within.

Many years earlier, a former tenant had kidnapped and murdered the boy, concealing his body behind the wall to cover up his ghastly crime.

While this tale seems improbable, it’s worth noting that sometimes fact is stranger than fiction. Bodies have been found secreted in walls and floors — some very recently.

In the early months of 2002, strange events began to plague Eungam-dong, a quiet neighborhood in northwestern Seoul’s Eunpyeong District. Rumors spread of a female ghost wandering the streets at night near a multi-family brick-and-cement building. Residents began to move out, complaining of a heavy, dark, and oppressive feeling that seemed to originate from the building’s basement.

The building was not that old. Constructed in September 1992, it initially housed a small textile factory owned by a 54-year-old man in its basement. But business struggled, and in 1994, he took his own life — presumably in the basement.

Following his death, another man tried his luck, operating a tailor shop in the same space. However, after only two years, he was forced to give up his business due to poor health — he eventually died of cancer in 2001.

In 1996, the basement became a sweater yarn factory owned by a 55-year-old woman and her business partner, a 45-year-old man. In March 1997, the partner borrowed 12 million won from the owner, promising to invest it in a card-scam business. His timing couldn’t have been worse — the country was on the brink of the Asian financial crisis, with the won plunging to 2,000 won to the dollar by the end of the year.

By May 1997, when the owner demanded her money back, the partner, tired of being badgered for money he could not pay back, made a horrifying decision to end his torment. He lured her into the factory basement, bludgeoned her to death with an iron rod and sealed her body in a space beneath the basement stairs. He even used sand and cement stolen from a nearby construction site to conceal his crime.

No one could explain the owner’s disappearance. With the economy worsening, the factory shut down, and the partner repurposed the basement as a warehouse for his clothing store. In March 1999, a new tenant moved in and established a sweater factory with nine employees, all in their 50s and 60s. Almost immediately, eerie and unexplainable occurrences began to plague the workers.

Several employees reported looking into mirrors at home and seeing a woman’s face superimposed over their own. Strange health issues and accidents took a toll on the group, and by early 2002, four of the nine were dead. Even the CEO of the factory wasn’t spared the basement’s sinister influence — he struggled to sleep and lost nearly half his body weight.

Rumors began to spread that the basement was cursed, and those who entered could feel an overwhelming sense of malevolence in the air.

By the summer of 2002, the building was nearly deserted. In a bid to end the rumors and make the property more appealing, the landlord decided to remodel the basement. While working on the renovation, contractors noticed that the construction beneath the stairs seemed newer than the rest of the room. With the landlord’s permission, they began to knock it down. As soon as they breached the wall, a foul stench permeated the basement. Inside, they discovered the mummified remains of the owner.

A brief investigation quickly pointed to the partner as the prime suspect, and he was eventually apprehended. According to his confession, he was relieved to be caught, admitting that he had been unable to sleep since the murder. He claimed that the murdered woman’s ghost haunted his dreams, and during his waking hours, he heard strange noises from the dark corners of his home.

The partner was tried, found guilty of murder and sentenced to 15 years in prison. What became of him afterward is unknown. If he is still alive, he has since completed his sentence and may be wandering among us — a murderer haunted by the restless spirit of his victim.

As for the basement, the landlord renovated it and then summoned a shaman to perform a purification ritual. According to blogs and popular media sources focused on mysteries, the shaman revealed that more than just one spirit haunted the building. Despite offers of extremely cheap rent and various perks, no tenants were willing to move in. For years, the apartment remained unoccupied. Even the locals avoided walking down the alley where the building stood, as they claimed to feel an oppressive atmosphere — perhaps a sinister, watchful presence.

In 2017, the building was sold and demolished for a pittance of its value. It has since been redeveloped into new apartment buildings. But the question remains: Does the ghost still wander the streets, or is she confined to haunting only the imaginations of the new residents?

Eungam-dong’s alleged haunting is perhaps the most notorious of its kind, but the timing raises some questions. The murder and the concealment of the body occurred just about a month before “Saturday Mysteries” aired its episode about the boy’s body hidden within the wall. Was it merely a coincidence?

More recently, another gruesome discovery has come to light. In October 2008, a man murdered his girlfriend in his rooftop studio apartment during a heated argument over their relationship. He then placed her body in a suitcase and encased it in cement and bricks on the apartment balcony. For nearly eight years, he lived with her body hidden just outside his door until he was convicted and imprisoned in 2017 for drug-related charges. Perhaps the drugs helped numb his guilt over her death, or maybe they silenced the voices of self-condemnation echoing in his mind. For nearly 16 years, she was listed as a missing person, but in August 2024, a construction worker discovered her remains while repairing a leak on the roof.

While her restless spirit may finally find peace and freedom, his spirit and body remain confined to prison for the rest of his life.

Were these three murderers haunted by the sounds of the night, much like Edgar Allan Poe’s protagonist in “The Tell-Tale Heart”? Did the weight of their consciences and the specters of their victims drive them to eventually “admit the deed” to the authorities, seeking some form of peace in the darkness of their own minds? Only they know the answer to that question, but for now, they remain silent.

Robert Neff has authored and co-authored several books including “Letters from Joseon,” “Korea Through Western Eyes” and “Brief Encounters.”