Ghost Stories & Paranormal Encounters

I lived in Korea for a period of 8 years. After my parents got divorced, my mother and I moved to another country and I took with me the memories of my ghostly encounters as a child in my hometown of Korea. These are some of them that have scared me the most.

1. After settling into a new apartment, I was getting ready to go swim practice and was putting my shoes on, getting ready to walk out the door. Now, note that most apartment doors in Korea are made of metal. My hand was reaching the door handle when suddenly I saw a fast flash of white coming from the kitchen, going to my parents room on the reflection on the door. I hurriedly made my way out of the building.

2. One night, on a particularly hot summer day, I lay sleeplessly in my bed thinking about how unusual heat is in a cold place like Korea. I was tossing and turning and kept being woken up by the ticking sound my clock was making. I decided to take the batteries out for the time being so I would be able to sleep. At that time, I was used to locking my door because sometimes my parents would come in the room and wake me up when I want them to leave me alone. So for what seemed to be most of the night, I slept quite soundly through the heat, without the annoying ticking sound of a clock. from the bright light streaming through my window, it seemed to be a bright and sunny early morning. I smiled, half awake, half asleep when I heard it. a small but distinct ticking sound that clocks usually make. A small shiver went up my spine when I saw the batteries back in my clock. I went into the kitchen where my parents were eating breakfast [noting that my door was still locked when I came out of my room] and asked them if they put the batteries back in my clock. they raised their eyebrows and said “how could we when you lock your door and keep all the keys to your room?” I threw the clock away.

3. This was actually something that happened in a previous residence, but I assume it didn’t have anything to do with the actual apartment. At the time, most girls my age had dolls. lots of them. I personally enjoyed the ones whose eyes closed when you set them down, and opened when they sit or stand upright. My parents bought be a beautiful doll that met my eye criteria. I remember playing with it while watching TV. my favorite show was on, so I set my doll down and watched intently. after it was over, I looked down at my doll and was sort of creeped out by how it was staring at me, not to mention how its eyes didn’t close like they were supposed to. I shrugged it off, and went about my daily business. after a while, I noticed something that gave me goosebumps. every time someone else way playing with it, its eyes did what they were supposed to. but when I played with it, its eyes stared no matter what I did. I threw the doll away shortly after.

4. this would be my number one scariest experience, but there was another one that scared me more so this would have to settle for second best. Going back to the new apartment. After all our things were moved, and the electricity was enabled, we spent our first night at a new apartment. At around midnight, I heard soft and soothing piano music. It was very melodious and calming, so I disregarded the fact that playing piano in the middle of the night was creepy and unusual. The next morning my parents and I talked about the weirdness of it all. We decided that it was probably just a one-time thing. Oh, were we wrong. the next following nights were pretty much the same. At around midnight, I heard soft and classical piano music that stopped after a few minutes, sometimes an hour. I didn’t mind it much, seeing as I could barely hear it, and it was beautiful music. After a few more nights however, the music seemed to get faster, and louder. it was as melodious and beautiful as the previous soft music, but it was definitely a change. A few nights after that, that’s when it started to scare me. The music was much louder, and sounded angrier and fast and cold. Something that gave me sleepless and terrifying nights. My parents and I decided to talk to our neighbors, to find out who was playing all this piano. They assured us it wasn’t them, that they don’t have a piano and that they didn’t own any classical CD’s. They did inform us that they hear it too, but cant seem to determine where its coming from. One night, when the piano music sounded absolutely terrifying, I worked up the courage to go out and investigate. Now in most Korean apartments, there are staircases adjacent to the elevator incase of a brown out or electrical malfunction. the sound seemed to be coming from upstairs. so I went back to bed and had a conference with the neighbors and decided to talk to the land lord. He checked some records and checked his computer, and his face seemed to drain of all color. he told us quietly that “I’m sorry. But there is no one living in the floor above you.” he also told us that we might have been wrong and it didn’t come from upstairs. so that night, I tried to go to sleep but couldn’t. I was waiting for midnight, when I heard it. it was horrible. it sounded like a mad man was punching a piano with his fist repeatedly. it was scary, totally UN-melodious and was so loud, it felt like it was being played inside my room. to make things worse, the ceiling was making thumping noises as if some one was trying to cave it in. I slept with my parents that night and made arrangements to move someplace else.

5. The scariest of all. It was in the same apartment as the noisy piano player. It was around dawn, when the sun was just about to rise. I was half awake, half asleep and wanted to go back to sleep when something caught my eye. At that time, I had a see-through canopy above my bed made of white lace. There was a woman, dressed in what seemed to be a purple robe and purple wizard hat, peering at me through the small opening in the canopy. Being as sleepy as I was then, all I could think of was what the hell a woman in a Halloween costume was doing in my room at this hour. still half asleep, half awake, I watched in half horror, half annoyance as she danced around my room, acting like a total freak show, then I remember blinking slowly and seeing her next to me on my bed. then I remember falling back asleep. when I woke up close to noon that day, I didn’t even know what to do or what to say. I pretended it never happened, to spare my sanity.

Sent in by Kelsey J., Copyright 2010 TrueGhostTales.com