Gwisin

Gwisin are understood in Korean folk imagination as the spirits of specific deceased humans who, upon death, do not immediately pass to the afterlife because they retain ties to the living world. These ties take many culturally meaningful forms — unresolved revenge, duties of care toward family, deaths perceived as unjust, or particular social situations at death such as unmarried status — and those circumstances are commonly invoked to explain why a particular person becomes a gwisin. In folk classification gwisin are distinguished from non-human beings such as dokkaebi and from other folkloric monsters; gwisin are specifically human in origin and often categorized into named subtypes according to manner or circumstance of death.

Folklore and popular summaries commonly describe gwisin as ethereal or translucent and often depicted as legless and floating in mid-air. A prominent subtype, the cheonyeo-gwisin (처녀귀신), the unmarried-young-woman ghost, is typically pictured wearing white funeral hanbok, with long drooping black hair and — in some portrayals — lacking facial features depending on narrative needs. The male analogue, chonggak-gwisin (총각귀신), is noted as less commonly emphasized in many modern portrayals. Mul-gwisin (물귀신), the drowned spirit, is identified by its association with water rather than a consistent visual formula. Sources list a variety of named forms (won-han, yuk-gwisin, ja-sa gwisin) indicating that appearance can vary with subtype and narrative context.

Sources emphasize motives and narrative behaviors more than a fixed catalogue of supernatural powers. Gwisin are said to remain because of ties to the living (revenge, care for loved ones, injustice) and appear in stories to pursue those aims. Mul-gwisin are folklore-blamed for dragging people into water out of jealousy or loneliness. Gwisin frequently function as agents in revenge narratives, moral cautionary tales, and contemporary horror media (for example, stories set in schools). Aside from floating/legless movement and potential harmful actions tied to their motive (e.g., causing drownings), the available material does not supply a systematic list of magical abilities.