Janghwa & Hongryeon: Korea's Most Famous Ghost Story

 

"Janghwa & Hongryeon: Korea's Most Famous Ghost Story"

Bae Mu-ryong, a Jwasu (head) living in Cheolsan, North Pyongan Province, had two daughters, Jang-hwa[1] and Hong-ryeon[2], in his old age. After his first wife, Lady Jang, passed away, he took Lady Heo as his second wife and had three sons.

 

Lady Heo had a wicked appearance and a wicked heart, so she abused Jang-hwa and Hong-ryeon, the children of his first wife. She not only mistreated and plotted against the two sisters but also tormented them by falsely accusing Jang-hwa of having an abortion. Lady Heo claimed to have found a dead mouse in Jang-hwa's bedding, presenting it as evidence that Jang-hwa had an abortion after becoming pregnant as a virgin.

 

At that time, during the Joseon Dynasty in Korea, there was a culture of male chauvinism where male children were preferred and female children were mistreated. In particular, the mistreatment of the daughters was intensifying due to the issue of Janghwa and Hongnyeon's marriage. When daughters get married, they need to prepare dowries and other necessities; however, it was believed that if Janghwa and Hongnyeon were to marry and provide a large dowry, the share allocated to Lady Heo's three sons would decrease.

 

Lady Heo's hatred of Janghwa and Hongnyeon was not limited to the dowry alone. At that time, there was a system for women called "dividend distribution," which was similar to modern inheritance. According to the prevailing view, the thousands of bolts of field and hundreds of slaves that Janghwa and Hongnyeon's mother had brought with her upon marriage because her family was wealthy were to be "divided" by their father at the time of their marriage. Jealous of this, Lady Heo framed Janghwa with false accusations of adultery and had her killed before the two sisters were married.

 

The only possibility for Lady Heo's offspring to inherit all the property currently enjoyed by Bae Jwasu was for Janghwa and Hongnyeon to die before they were married, resulting in the former wife's property belonging solely to Bae Jwasu.[5] Furthermore, Jwasu Bae deliberately turned a blind eye to the abuse his daughters suffered because Lady Heo had borne him a son. Eventually, Lady Heo, the second wife, had her eldest son, Jangsoe, drown Janghwa in a pond.

 

Unseen lotus petals grew profusely in the pond where Janghwa had drowned. Hongnyeon, who had often visited the pond with her older sister, also followed her deceased sister in the same pond, grieving her loss.[4]

 

After Janghwa and Hongnyeon died unjustly, a series of incidents occurred in which newly appointed magistrates in Cheolsan died on their first night in office.

 

The souls of the two sisters, who had died unjustly, visited the newly appointed magistrates to seek revenge, but they all died instantly from the shock of seeing ghosts before they could even speak. Some are said to have appeared sobbing with their long hair let down and their faces completely covered. The royal court sought officials to go down to Cheolsan as the Magistrate to resolve the situation, but everyone refused to take up the post due to the terrifying rumors.

 

In the meantime, the courageous Jeong Dong-u[6] volunteered and was appointed as the Magistrate of Cheolsan. The lower-ranking officials working in Cheolsan were preparing a coffin, believing that the new magistrate would also be dead by tomorrow morning. At dawn, while the new magistrate was sleeping, the lamp lit in the room went out again, and the door slid open.

 

Startled, he quickly sat up from under the covers, grabbing the long sword he had placed by his head.

 

“Are you ghosts?” “What grudge do you have that you killed innocent officials of the royal court?”

 

At this, Janghwa and Hongryeon knelt down and sobbed.

 

“Finally, the Magistrate who will listen to us has come.” With that, Janghwa and Hongryeon spoke about their unjust deaths. He calmly listened attentively to the story of the two vengeful spirits. Being human, Jeong Dong-woo was initially startled to learn they were spirits, but being a man of great courage, he listened to their story to the very end and did not die.

 

“I have heard your story completely, and tomorrow I will investigate the truth and clear your names.”

 

“Thank you, Magistrate.”

 

“Trusting your promise, we take our leave.”

 

“However, my father was deceived by Lady Heo, so we ask for your leniency.”

 

Janghwa and Hongryeon bowed deeply to Magistrate Jeong and quietly slipped out of the room.

 

The next morning, the officials, thinking, “The new magistrate must have died this time as well,” prepared for the funeral and opened the door. Everyone was astonished to see the new magistrate sitting in the center of the room, fully dressed in his official robes.

 

“What? To think the Magistrate is alive…”

 

“Hahaha, did you think I was dead too?”

 

With that, he issued an order to the officials. “Go immediately and apprehend the village headman Bae and the man named Heo who lives in this town.”

 

Magistrate Jeong, accompanied by Bae, Heo, Heo’s son Jangsoe, and the local residents, went to the pond and discovered the bodies of the sisters Janghwa and Hongnyeon floating on the water. He recovered the bodies, had a physician prove that Janghwa had never been pregnant, and restored her honor.

 

Magistrate Jeong held a funeral for the two sisters and built a grave for them.

 

Afterward, instead of personally trying Heo and Jangsoe, Magistrate Jeong explained the case to his superior, the Inspector, and inquired about punishment. In response, the Inspector said, “This is a grave matter that even the royal court is concerned about; it is not a matter to be decided alone, so report it to His Majesty.” Upon reading the official report submitted by Magistrate Jeong Dong-u to the King, the King felt pity for the sisters Janghwa and Hongnyeon. The King was enraged by the wicked scheme of Lady Heo and her son, and ordered Lady Heo to be executed by beating and Jangsoe by strangulation. However, the King ruled that although Janghwa and Hongnyeon's father, Bae Jwasu, was responsible for the death of his daughters while obsessed with having a son, he had been completely deceived by Lady Heo and her son into unwillingly condoning the murders; therefore, he should be granted a special pardon for the sake of his two daughters.

 

With all grievances resolved, Janghwa and Hongnyeon appeared in Jeong Dong-u's dream and said, "Thank you for resolving our grievances."

 

"From now on, Cheolsan will enjoy bountiful harvests every year, and you, Magistrate, will continue to rise in your career."

 

Afterward, Jeong Dong-u's career in government went from strength to strength, eventually rising to the high-ranking position of Commander-in-Chief. When this actually happened, Jeong Dong-u performed ancestral rites for the two every year as a token of his gratitude.

 

As time passed, Bae Jwasu took an 18-year-old maiden named Yun as his third wife and fathered twin sisters who were the reincarnations of the two sisters. It is said that Bae Jwasu named the two sisters Janghwa and Hongnyeon, and that Janghwa and Hongnyeon grew up and married the twin sons of Lee Yun-pil and Yun-seok of Lee Yeon-ho, a wealthy man from Pyongyang, thus forming a double marriage and living happily.