Chonyo gwisin (์ฒ๋ ๊ท์ ) is a popular urban legend in South Korea since ancient time. It is about females who died as a virgin & became a resentful spirit.
Why do they become a ‘virgin ghost’?
Right now females have a life too, they have dreams & freedom to achieve them unlike during the ancient periods where women’s main task was to produce an heir to continue the family line & retain their position, not being able to provide a heir meant disgrace to the family. Being unable to even get to that process & dying with a unsatisfied desire leave them with a heart filled with rage & vengeance.
You might’ve seen in K-drama how vicious minister or despicable step mother puts poison in the crown prince’s bride intakes to slowly kill her or make her incompetent to have a baby to drag them down from the stairs of the throne.
Why do the spirits mingle around as ‘virgin ghost’?
Their spirit can’t move on from the human world until they complete what had to be done before they died or take revenge on the person who murdered them, that’s why they approach humans who can see them & stick to them until they help them.
Ghosts are commonly found in abandoned places, Chonyo gwisins are no difference they’re said to be found in abandoned building, hospital, forest areas and other creepy places where no human resides. In drama Hi Bye Mama, the virgin ghost even can ‘enter’ one’s body to seduce their partner to do ‘close relationship activity’.
How do the ‘virgin ghosts’ look?
They’re described wearing Sangbog [์๋ณต] (traditional white mourning clothes) with long back hair which covers their pale face partly & shows their vengeful eyes & bloody lips.
There are male virgin ghost too, they’re called Mongdal gwisin [๋ญ๋ฌ๊ท์ ] but they don’t seem that intimidating compared to the female ones as there aren’t any famous stories or rumors about it.
Where to look for them (if you dare to)?
It is said that Chonyo gwisin has been seen in Yongin. You’ll be able to see them too, I can’t guarantee the real one but if you visit the traditional village during this time, you’ll see actors dressed up as chonyo gwisin (which of course not the real one). But worth to mention, the Korean Folk Village in Yongin is a popular tourist site that you must visit if you travel to Korea next time! It has been a famous tourist attraction since 1974.
Personal feeling about ‘meeting the virgin ghost’
Due to our intuition we can tell if something is out of ordinary even when there’s no explanation to it, but if you cross paths with a virgin ghost you’ll be able to describe how you felt, temperature around you will suddenly drop, you’ll get a eerie feeling & cold chills all over your body then your eyes will meet with her resentful ones or not because not everyone can see & hear ghosts like Park Bong Pal in K-drama ‘Hey Ghost, Let’s Fight’ ๐คท๐ปโโ๏ธ
Everyone knows about Halloween, it’s not a traditional holiday in South Korea but since many has taken a like of it they celebrate Halloween on 31st October ๐
People like visiting creepy places with friends to find something amusing, decorate their places with scary Halloween props & dress as different ghost or spooky characters, dressing as a Chonyo gwisin is one of the easiest, you just need a white gown & a long black wig, put make up on your face to make it white & a little lipstick for fake blood. You’ll look just like Seo Jang-hoon in the Knowing Brothers show.
If you want to know more about the ‘virgin ghost, there’s an old tale from Miryang city [๋ฐ ์์] and two encounter stories with Chonyo gwisin picked from internet & translated by Anthony on YouTube. Do check it out below!
These are some kdrama & movies about Chonyo gwisins you can watch!
TO CATCH A VIRGIN GHOST 
OH MY GHOST 
ARANG AND THE MAGISTRATE
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I’m Zeba
From India ๐ฎ๐ณ
I like BTS and K-dramas. My favorite song is “We are bulletproof eternal”.
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