Changgyeonggung (창경궁, 昌慶宮)

Rebuilt during the reign of King Seongjong to house three queen dowagers, this palace was, on its surface, a monument to filial devotion. Yet even before its walls had fully risen, something heavy is said to have taken up residence within — for in its earlier incarnation as Sugangung, it had long been the place where those who surrendered the throne and those who inherited it drew breath beneath a single roof.

No account of Changgyeonggung is complete without the memory of the wooden chest. It is said that within these grounds, King Yeongjo had his son Crown Prince Sado sealed inside a rice chest and left to die. From that day forward, the story has persisted to the present: that near certain palace halls, even in the full light of noon, one's steps grow inexplicably heavy. It was also within these walls, they say, that King Sukjong ordered the execution of Royal Consort Jang Hui-bin, and that King Jeongjo met his sudden end.

During the Japanese colonial period, the palace was demoted in name to Changgyeongwon — a pleasure garden, fitted with a zoo and opened for nighttime cherry-blossom viewing. Those who remember that era recall it with an unease they cannot quite name, as though grief had simply been papered over with amusement.

In 1983 the zoo was relocated, and the palace reclaimed its name. The restored halls stand composed and orderly. Yet from time to time, accounts surface online from visitors who claim to have sensed an unaccountable presence moving through the grounds around Myeongjeongjeon late at night. These remain, it must be said, nothing more than the testimonies of individuals.

Whether what this palace harbors is a ghost, or simply the irremovable weight of history — that question has yet to find a clear answer.