No. 007
Son-gaksi (maiden ghost)
손각시 (son-gaksi)
The vengeful spirit of a young woman who died unmarried. As a resentful demon it was believed to cling to girls of marriageable age, making them ill or blocking their marriages; it was counted among the most feared of all vengeful ghosts.
Names
- Korean
- 손각시
- Hanja
- No hanja attested in a source
- Revised Romanization
- son-gaksi
- English
- Son-gaksi (maiden ghost)
Weaknesses
- To stop a dead maiden becoming one, she was buried upside down in men's clothing or with thorny branches around the coffin.
Other names
- 손말명 (Source: Encyclopedia of Korean Culture)
- 왕신 - Because it could ruin a household, it was sometimes enshrined as a household god. (Source: Encyclopedia of Korean Culture)
- 처녀귀신 (Source: Encyclopedia of Korean Culture)
Related creatures
- Related Mongdal ghost (bachelor ghost) - The ghost of a man who died unmarried; the two could be joined in a ghost marriage.
Attestations
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Encyclopedia of Korean Culture Encyclopedia
What it says: The son-gaksi article: alternative names, the belief that it torments girls of its age, the custom of enshrining it as a household god (wangsin), and the Okyeobong legend of Saryangdo.
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Encyclopedia of Korean Folklore and Traditional Culture Encyclopedia
What it says: The son-gaksi article: the harm it does to young women, the custom of keeping it in a spirit box, and burial practices meant to keep a dead maiden from becoming one.
Interpretation and notes
The 'son' in the name has been traced to a tale of a maiden of the Son family or to 'son(nim)' in the sense of an intruding harm; neither etymology is settled.