3) Korea - 3. Jeongyeouhu

The characters mean 'well', 'same', 'cow', 'cry'. It translates to 'a well cries like a cow,' and it's said to be a legend passed down throughout the country since the Goryeo Dynasty. The most widely known among them is the story experienced by An Jong-yak, the maternal uncle of Seong Hyeon, who wrote Yongjaechonghwa, when he became the magistrate of the Imcheon region. Imcheon had a custom of worshipping ghosts. When those who moved into the government office kept dying, the villagers called it the Goblin Forest and abandoned it. When An Jong-yak, who had been appointed as the magistrate, tried to enter the office, the villagers tried to stop him, but he didn't listen. Instead, he burned down all the shrines around him that worshipped ghosts. To the south of the office, there was an old well where villagers believed there were ghosts and held rituals. When An Jong-yak ordered the well to be filled in, a sound like a cow crying was heard from the well for three days. The villagers then asked him not to fill in the well, but An Jong-yak pushed ahead, saying, 'What's the big deal if a well cries?' After that, all evil spirits disappeared.