1) Woman with her mouth slit: Legends have it that if your a child walking through the night, you would be approached by a creepy woman with a red surgical mask on. She is said to ask people is they think she is pretty. If you say no, she is said to kill you with the scissors she carries but if you say yes, she takes off her mask that shows her mouth slit open from ear to ear. She is then said to ask you the same question again, where a no will result in death, whereas a yes will result in your mouth being slit open like hers. Mind you, you cannot escape if you do she reappears in front of you!
2) A bath with Sesame Seeds: The story goes as a young girl who was unhappy with the appearance of her skin took a bath with sesame seeds in the water. The girl who stayed in the tub for hours had her mother worried about how long her daughter was in the bathroom. Only to check on her, she found out the sesame seeds had lodged in her daughter’s pores and now had roots, while her daughter sobbed and tried taking the seeds off with a toothpick.
3) The haunted toilet: Koreans seem to have a lot of stories about haunted schools and school bathrooms. Another legend tells the story of a ghost who comes out from a toilet and asks if one would use a red or blue toilet paper. It is said that if you chose red, the ghost will cut you open, but if you opt for blue the ghost will suffocate you.
4) Red Pen: In Korea, it is mostly forbidden to use a red pen in the house. As it is said that writing a person’s name in red mean bad luck or sometimes death, as red ink is usually used to write the name of the deceased, not the living.
5) Don’t let the handsome man in the Elevator: According to this legend, a girl Karuko in Korean, who lived on the fourteenth floor of her building, was heading home from her university late at night. Just when the doors of the elevator were about to close, a handsome man put his hand in between the doors to stop it. He told her he would get out on the thirteenth floor. The man stood quite close to her and the two even flirted for a bit. On reaching the thirteenth floor, he said, “I’ll see you upstairs,” and pulled out a knife as he ran towards the staircase. No matter which button she pressed the lift just wouldn’t stop or open and Karuko met her death when the doors of the elevator opened. It is claimed to be true and hence nowadays all lifts have a stop button.
6) Eyeless Woman: Towards the north of Seoul, on a highway called Jayuro, the area is frequently covered by fog, which results in various car accidents every year. But the locals there believe that the accidents are caused because of something supernatural. Driver claim that they have seen a woman who wears sunglasses, hanging out on the side of the road. But when they get closer they discover that they are not sunglasses but actually she has her eyes gouged out.
7) Dreams that can steal your soul: Legends have it that dreaming about a dead loved one is often bad news, especially if they are standing in a waterbody. It is said that the spirit will make you get closer and closer and on succeeding will have you wrapped in their embrace will they steal your soul.
8) The injured man with oyster eggs: The legend goes as a man who was walking on the coast of the beach hit his knee on a rock which resulted in a cut. The man on reaching home cleaned his wound and had it bandaged, only for it to itch horribly. He tried to get through it for a few days, but as he couldn’t take it anymore he took off the bandage. Turns out that oysters laid eggs on the rock and it was that, which got into his wounds. His knee was covered in baby oysters.