Dokkaebi Road (도깨비도로)

A dokkaebi road is a stretch of road where the incline feels precisely opposite to what the eye perceives. The name is borrowed from the dokkaebi, a goblin of Korean folklore, and something of that old sensation lives inside it still — the feeling of an invisible hand reaching out to pull the car along.

The first such road to become widely known in South Korea was the so-called "Mysterious Road" on Jeju Island. Reports of the same phenomenon have since emerged from across the country: the old pass of Dumungdongjae in Gangwon Province, Uiwang in Gyeonggi Province, the Hakyeon-soya Road in Jecheon in North Chungcheong Province, Gwangyang in South Jeolla Province, and Gaengti Pass in Asan in South Chungcheong Province.

The scientific explanation is one of optical illusion. Near points where the road's gradient shifts, the surrounding terrain and the horizon appear distorted, and the brain misreads a genuine downslope as an uphill climb. This is said to be why a water bottle set down rolls seemingly "upward," and why a car left in neutral appears to creep against the hill.

Yet even after hearing the explanation, the sight before one's eyes does not change. In that instant when logic cannot overcome the senses, visitors have stopped their cars one after another and run the experiment again and again. Records remain of the congestion this caused near Jeju's Mysterious Road becoming so persistent that a bypass had to be built.

Even after the verdict of optical illusion was delivered, people continue to seek these roads out. What has been proven is the cause of the phenomenon — not the sensation that moves through the body the moment one stands there.