Modern-day internet is little more than an incubator for urban legends.
All sorts of nonsense, rumors, and ghost stories run wild, and with truth and lies hopelessly tangled, things spread from mouth to mouth, or rather… from post to post, from video to video.
Because people spin stories in whatever way fits their worldview best.
Whatever way is most interesting, entertaining, or believable to them.
And through that process of mutation and regeneration, some stories end up with extraordinary lifespans.
Even though they clearly started from a lie.
For example…
Like this very ghost story I’m investigating now.
[Do you know about the red clothes at Exit 4?]
(photo)
A red piece of clothing with the sleeves tied twice
It looks way too clean to have been thrown out, and the color stands out so much that it gives off a weird atmosphere
So people are saying it’s for organ trafficking, or someone possessed by a ghost, or the work of a crazy person…
But it’s appearing all over the place, and it really seems like someone put it there deliberately, which makes it creepier
No one knows what the intention is, but it just feels off, and a lot of people say they felt sick or had nightmares after seeing it
(photo)
Has anyone here seen it too?
This was the most famous version that first appeared two months ago.
A ghost story about spotting something suspicious and eye-catching at subway Exit 4.
It’s a report that blends the chill of encountering something strange in a mundane place with the horror born from imagination.
It quickly spread through all kinds of internet forums and social media, with similar reports popping up everywhere.
And now, two months later.
The urban legend has become genuine fear.
[Do not touch the red clothes at Exit 4]
More and more people are testifying that it’s a shamanistic ritual bait
They say it’s meant to attach a ghost to anyone who touches it
– they made it red on purpose to attract people… dont touch it
– Even getting close is risky. It’s so the ghost thinks that red clothing is yours. If you’re spiritually weak, just looking at it up close could bring you bad luck
– Just pretend you didn’t see it and walk by. Don’t pay any attention. There’s someone in the clothes.
– d sleeves r tied twice… ugh i have a bad feeling if its the ritual i know that isnt smth a normal shaman wud use…
– thats something you should never leave in a crowded place why would someone do that do they have a death wish
– if u check inside the clothes ull definitely find hair or a jijeon or smth right? but if u touch it to check ig ur an idiot? ㅋㅋ
(T/N: jijeon = shamanistic talisman paper)
These are just what I found and captured
And the clincher is…
Someone actually found hair and paper inside the clothes…
(photo)
I don’t know what this is, but it feels so wrong. Everyone, be careful
And the most upvoted comment was this.
– Someone told me the person who checked out the clothes in that screenshot hasn’t been heard from since…
└ seriously?
└ crazy
└ It’s true. Apparently they sprinkled salt and even did a ritual or smth like that? And even posted proof that all the salt was burned up, but after that there’s been no word
└ haㅠㅠ
└ fk thats scary as hell ㅋㅋ
Even more chilling and eerie testimonies have surfaced.
And comment sections and quote threads everywhere turned into a madhouse.
– there’s even a rumor that the person who disappeared was reported dead? is that for real?
– Isn’t this about that youtuber who picked up the red clothes and got hospitalized and kept posting about having nightmares and asking for help?
– crazy. this is scary as hell tho fuckk is there actually no one trying to figure out whos behind this?
– theres even shamans saying maybe it wasnt a human being who left those behind too
If you’ve read this far, it really feels like a terrifying twist in a supposedly-true ghost story.
Even now, red clothes are still being found at subway entrances everywhere, but with no involvement from authorities, only those who know about it are left trembling in fear, watching more victims appear.
But it doesn’t die down.
Because it’s still ongoing.
– another missing person case added… feels like we should report this
– red clothes found outside seoul (photo) is this a copycat or the real thing?
And people who’d been consuming these internet horror stories as casual entertainment were starting to feel the creepiness and horror so close to home that they began considering real-world measures.
Law enforcement.
– Even if you report it to the police, they don’t do anything since it’s ‘just clothes’ ㅠㅠ
And apparently, a lot of police who know what it is actually avoid it, especially the older officers
└ ig we just dont know but there must’ve been cases like this before
Public attention.
– can’t we tip off the news or smth?
└ tried it, but they just mentioned it as an internet oddity at the end of the morning news, even when I said there was an actual missing person. they just treated me like an overreacting jobless person ㅋㅋ아ㅋㅋ
And more realistic eyewitness accounts.
– I tried telling a station attendant but since it’s outside the exit they just said its not their responsibility, the other day i saw people yelling and fighting over it (video)
– someone stared at the red clothes for a while n then collapsed. nobody helped, so sum elderly person supported them n called an ambulance but what if smth happens to them too? I can’t stop worrying…
– Stop taking photos of the red clothes and posting them online, it seems like it’s having an indirect effect too
And finally, this internet urban legend even reached the Disaster Management Bureau.
Of course, most of these internet ghost stories are really just a mix of coincidence, misunderstanding, and a psychological desire to believe.
At first, the Disaster Management Bureau also approached it that way.
The problem was…
An agent who witnessed the ‘Red Clothes at Exit 4’ attempted contact and sample collection.
Afterward, they lost consciousness and were in a coma for five days. Symptoms of sleepwalking. Hostile reaction from their dokkaebi flame. After regaining consciousness, they could only repeat, ‘I have to wear the red clothes’.
Afterward, that agent jumped to their death.
This confirmed that the ghost story was real.
And all the rumors spreading online…
They were all true.
The agent has been stabilized through memory-erasure therapy and is currently hospitalized.
There is now discussion about registering the ‘Red Clothes at Exit 4’ as a supernatural disaster. More case studies needed.
And so, I, ‘Agent Grapes’, was put in charge of collecting various stories about the Red Clothes at Exit 4 from the internet…
Honestly, it’s basically a given that it’ll be registered… they just want me to grab more supporting material from the internet for documentation.
It’s a bit spooky and creepy, but compared to fieldwork, it’s really just at the level of reading ghost stories.
A true training slash ‘rest day’ assignment for a rookie.
However…
‘I can’t just stop there.’
Didn’t I say it?
I’m much better at paperwork.
And… organizing internet ghost stories into documents?
‘That’s my specialty, a thousand percent.’
I’ll show you all exactly what I can do.
With a grin, I put my hands on the keyboard.