Ghosts and spirits are popular elements of Korean folklore. The Cheonyeo Gwisin, or “Virgin Ghost,” has, in recent years, become the most well-known example of Korean otherworldly spirits. According to legend, these spectral beings are the shades of unmarried maidens who are so embittered about their fate as eternal spinsters that they will not pass into the next world. They are also sometimes thought to remain on this plane of existence, naturally enough, out of a desire to avenge themselves upon those who wronged them in life. Generally described as having long, flowing black hair, pale visages, and blood at the corners of their mouths, a Cheonyeo Gwisin is usually said to be attired in a funereal white hanbok, or traditional Korean dress. Many aspects of the Cheonyeo Gwisin parallel those of the Irish banshee, cursing a family line with her presence until she is banished forever through an exorcism ritual or appeased through a posthumous marriage to a spectral bachelor. Early traditional stories about the Cheonyeo Gwisin often have much in common with the popular genre of the ghostly murder mystery thriller, and modern film adaptations often portray such elements. Contemporary tales of Virgin Ghosts, however, often focus upon the ghost herself and the oppressive social structures that alienated her in life—in a cruel and unjustly hierarchical high school culture, for example. Injustice is personified in traditional stories by figures such as the evil stepmother, while the oppressive class structures that are critiqued are generally those bedeviling the male protagonist who finds himself becoming enamored of the ghost.
Such Maiden Specters are most often associated with graveyards, quiet back roads, bodies of water, and bathrooms, the latter of which offer a surprising although perhaps coincidental parallel with some Western female, adolescent ghost traditions, including most notably the urban myth of Bloody Mary and even Moaning Myrtle, a teenage ghost with a crush on Harry Potter who abides in an abandoned girl’s washroom at Hogwarts. Although the emphasis on marriage and the curse of spinsterhood, which are part and parcel of the Cheonyeo Gwisin, may well hearken back to traditional Korean family values and anxieties concerning marriageable young women, the Virgin Ghost has become a staple of contemporary Korean and Korean American popular lore and media. During her evolution to her present form, the Cheonyeo Gwisin has become, to some extent, associated with the more overt sexuality of the changing mores of these cultures.
Since Cheonyeo Gwisin (A Virgin Ghost), released in 1967, the vengeful and potent phantom maiden has become a staple element in Korean horror films. In recent years she is most often represented by a signature possession, representing her and the longing, terror, and haunting associated with her. Often such objects may in fact become the namesakes that dominate the film, as in a number of popular Korean horror films that have crossed over into the international market, including Chello hongmijoo ilga salinsagan (Cello, 2005), Pon (Phone, 2002), and Bunhongsin (The Red Shoes, 2005). Searchers for online links to stories, images, and films related to this genre should be forewarned, however, that the search terms involved are likely to unearth a related vein of Asian erotica that is often violent and disturbing in content.
C. Fee
Further Reading
Choi, Jinhee, and Mitsuyo Wada-Marciano. 2009. Horror to the Extreme: Changing Boundaries in Asian Cinema. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.
Grayson, James H. 2012. Myths and Legends from Korea: An Annotated Compendium of Ancient and Modern Materials. London: Routledge.
Iwazaru. 2011. “Of Real Korean Ghosts and Ghost Stories.” The Three Wise Monkeys website. http://thethreewisemonkeys.com/2011/10/31/of-real-korean-ghosts-and-ghost-stories/. Accessed August 26, 2015.
Redeker, Stephen. 2012. “Behind the Myth: Korean Ghosts.” Gwangju News Online. http://www.gwangjunewsgic.com/online/behind-the-myth-korean-ghosts/. Accessed August 26, 2015.