Seodaemun Prison

Seoul · South Korea · Prison

Seodaemun Prison — Seoul · South Korea · Prison

By the gallows at Seodaemun the condemned clung to the poplar and wept – its twin inside the wall is said to have refused to grow from all the sorrow it drank.

Seodaemun Prison in Seoul was built in 1908 by the Japanese colonial regime and became a place of torture and execution for Korean independence fighters. Outside the execution house stood the "wailing poplar", which the condemned would grasp to pour out their despair at dying before their country was free. Its twin, planted at the same time inside the wall, is said never to have grown tall – choked by all the grief it drew from the soil. Visitors to the preserved corpse tunnel and the cramped cells still report cold shivers, faint moans and a weight settling on the chest. The prison is now a museum and national memorial to the victims.

FAQ

Where is Seodaemun Prison located?

Seodaemun Prison is in Seoul, South Korea.

More haunted places in Seoul

Accounts are drawn from local folklore and visitor reports.

Image: MonasteryInwang / CC BY-SA 4.0 — Wikimedia Commons