The Dark Side of Seoul Podcast
Korean dark history, ghost tales, folklore, serial killers, true crime, and more. You are about to discover why Korea has the spookiest stories and darkest history.Folklorist Shawn and history buff Joe delve into Korea's gruesome stories of massacres, betrayals, and blood. It's like "Game of Thrones" in Asia. We share our passion for Korea and its struggles throughout time. If you enjoy shows like "Kingdom," this is the podcast for you. Even if you know nothing about Korea, its history will become your new addiction.Subscribe, sit back, and enjoy.
Episodes
King Jeongjo inherited a kingdom broken by madness, murder, and factional greed. In this episode, we look at how the grandson of Yeongjo—and son of the doomed Prince Sado—tried to rebuild the dynasty. From political purges and paranoid advisors to free-market experiments and the rise of new factions, Jeongjo’s reign was a fight to heal a wounded court without losing his crown.
Starting at just $5/month, you c...
Kidnapping and abduction attempts are on the rise in Korea, with more than nine cases per week. We break down the numbers, the shocking cases from Seoul to Jeju, and the weak court responses that leave parents furious. From lures near schools to drug-laced drinks, we look at why this trend is growing and how authorities and families are responding.
Starting at just $5/month, you can get a lot of extra content, includi...
We tour Korea’s “cursed landmarks,” from the Blue House to Jongno Tower, the National Assembly, Cheonggyecheon, and beyond. These sites carry dark folklore, bad feng shui, ghost stories, and political baggage. What makes a landmark “cursed,” and why do Koreans still talk about them?
Starting at just $5/month, you can get a lot of extra content, including the following:
- Early episodes
- Video podcasts
- Behind-the-scenes...
Our follow-up to Cruel Summer shows Korea’s August crimes were just as horrific. A shaman murdered her niece in a ritual. Couples turned their homes into crime scenes. Babies were abandoned for cash. Convenience store clerks were stabbed for no reason. This summer didn’t cool down. It only got darker.
Starting at just $5/month, you can get a lot of extra content, including the following:
- Early episodes
- Video podcas...
Summer in Korea sucks. This was a record-breaking year for temps. Floods were awful again. Crime was pretty damn bad, too. Big one, little details: headless body found in Taebaeksan; wearing winter clothing - so been there a while.
Starting at just $5/month, you can get a lot of extra content, including the following:
- Early episodes
- Video podcasts
- Behind-the-scenes pre-ambles
- "Weird Tales from Korean Lore" - ...
K-Pop Demon Hunters looks flashy on the surface, but it hides a lot of Korean folklore inside the glitter. We talk about mudang rituals, dokkaebi, tiger and magpie tricksters, and why the movie is both a tribute to K-Pop and a satire of idol culture.
Starting at just $5/month, you can get a lot of extra content, including the following:
- Early episodes
- Video podcasts
- Behind-the-scenes pre-ambles
- "Weird Tales f...
We close out Spooky Summer with a set of chilling Korean ghost stories and urban legends. Joe shares tales of the Wailing Woman, the Red-Hatted Ghosts, and the eerie story of “Visiting the Grandparents.” Shawn brings first-hand accounts from interviews, from couples plagued by unseen forces to political hauntings at City Hall. A mix of folklore, rumor, and lived experience rounds out the series.
Starting at just $5/mo...
A chill night-walk through Korea’s darker folklore: we bring together old graves, cursed bills, haunted portraits, and digital terrors. Hear how a man’s midnight pit stop frees a trapped virgin ghost in 1930s Jeonju, why a gruesome urban legend is said to hide inside Korean currency, and how a painting and an elevator can quietly rewrite your life. Then we go online — the Red Room and the infamous cursed number remind...
Shawn and Joe guide you through 11 of Seoul’s eeriest locations—from the pressure-draining crossroads at Sejong Intersection to the ginkgo-guarded spirits of Marronnier Park. Along the way you’ll encounter singing servants of a Japanese collaborator, phantom beggars at Jongmyo Park, wailing soldiers outside the university morgue, and more. Get your map ready, because these spots are the stuff of nightmares.
S...
Turn off the lights. Slip on your headphones. Tonight’s Spooky Summer episode takes you to the edge of your seat with five skin-crawling tales of the unexplained:
- A lone soldier buried a war widow’s baby by moonlight—then dared to steal her ransom. What he unearthed under the old tree was far more terrifying than combat.
- Three boys discover a mirror that doesn’t reflect—and a presence that still watches them.
- A weldi...
Ready to pucker up from sheer creepiness? Ditch the cheery summer playlists and crank your earbuds—these tales will haunt your dreams. From phantom hands blocking elevator doors to severed pianist fingers humping keys in a jar, we’ve rounded up the nastiest, most head-scratching Korean urban legends your average tourist guide sniffs at. Think you can handle a blood-red diary dictating murder, dual assassins in black a...
Shawn and Joe take you on a fog-shrouded drive down Paju’s Jayuro Highway to hunt the road’s most bone-chilling legends: the Woman in Sunglasses, blood-oozing meat packages, and the cursed box no driver wants to touch. They sift witness accounts from freaked-out truckers and local ghost hunters to figure out whether these tales are urban myth or something far more sinister.
Starting at just $5/month, you can get a lot ...
We kick of Spooky Chills Summer 2025 with three fresh stories and more.
Brace yourselves for three spine-tinglers in Spooky Chilly Summer Part 7:
• The Hong Kong Grandma’s deadly Q&A—answer wrong, and you’re never seen again
• The Forest Chair that traps souls in a vision of their own funeral
• The Subway Ghost who still asks, “Can you take me home?”
Shawn and Joe also unveil their top haunted tourist...
Prince Sado’s life reads like a gothic horror: crowned heir, but driven mad by his father’s cold perfectionism, he slew palace servants and terrorized court ladies—then was locked in a rice chest by King Yeongjo, left to die over eight harrowing days. Drawing on Lady Hyegyeong’s 1805 memoir, we untangle Sado’s paranoia, rituals, and possible political frame-up, and reveal how his gruesome death in 1762 marked the star...
POSCO helped forge modern South Korea, but at what cost? We trace the company’s origins under Park Chung-hee’s grand steel plan, its “Right-Turn Spirit” cult of willpower, and its risky “backward” build strategy. Then we peel back the polish to expose repeated fatal accidents, toxic pollution, sexual assault cover-ups, and corrosive “POSCO mentality” boondoggles—from F1 circuits to Olympic bids. Steel may be POSCO’s c...
Seventy-five years after the Korean War began, North Korea still defines its identity by the conflict. NK News Podcast host Jacco Zwetsloot explains how Pyongyang marks the anniversary, what myths it perpetuates about victory over the U.S., and which historical flashpoints—from land reforms to the nuclear program—have shaped Kim Il Sung’s successor states. We’ll also hear Jacco’s takes on everyday life under sanction...
Featuring Thomas Duvernay, PhD | Sinmiyangyo: The 1871 Conflict Between the United States and Korea
When American warships steamed into Korean waters in 1871, they ignited more than just cannon fire—they opened a chapter of resistance, cultural clash, and a legacy that still echoes today. This week, historian Dr. Thomas Duvernay guides us through the Shinmiyangyo (신미양요), the United States’ ill-fated “punitive expeditio...
After the Noron and Soron slaughter of 1721–22, Joseon lay fractured. When Prince Yeoning ascended as King Yeongjo, he resolved to break the cycle. Through calculated pardons, strategic reshuffles, Confucian exhortations against in-group politics, and reforms of the powerful Ministry of Personnel and private schools, Yeongjo pursued an uneasy peace. Yet rival camps continued scheming even as he sought “Impartiality.” ...
You may find it hard to believe that two countries as different as Korea and Canada have shared folklore. Why is that? And just what do they share? In this episode, we have a listen to a presentation on the topic made at the invitation of Seoul City and the Canadian Embassy.
For the video version of this episode, watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0gUR7VdRRU
Starting at just $5/month, you can get a lot of ...
Death is inevitable, but for many expats in Korea, the cause of death remains a mystery. In this episode, we delve into the unsettling number of unexplained deaths among foreign nationals living in Korea. From recent tragedies like the case of a Bangladeshi man who collapsed on the dance floor in Hongdae to the broader statistics of migrant workers and their untimely deaths, we explore the lack of answers, the lack o...
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