Are mountains really that beautiful? The mysteries of mountaineering, trekking, and more
Footprints in the Dark: The other face of the mountain you don’t know
The mountains have always called to us. The majestic views as we climb along rolling ridges, the crisp air as we walk through forest trails, and the sense of accomplishment at the top. These are some of the best gifts that mountaineering and trekking can give us, but sometimes the mountains have strange stories that we can’t predict, or even believe. Like a forest that’s perfectly peaceful in the sunshine, but takes on a completely different face as darkness falls or mist settles in.
Today, I’d like to invite you to explore the mysterious and eerie stories that mountains hold. Through bizarre incidents that I’ve experienced myself, or that have been passed down through the ages among those who love the mountains, you’ll come face to face with another face of the mountains. Stop for a moment and listen to the stories I’m about to tell, and who knows, maybe you’ll experience something similar on your own walks…
The first story: Shadow of Jirisan Nogodan
When, where, and who?
This story happened to my longtime climbing partner Minjoon Kim (pseudonym, mid-40s) in the fall of 2018 while we were climbing Jiri Mountain. He was a veteran mountaineer with dozens of summits of Jirisan, and that day, we started from Seongsamjae and headed to Nogodan.
The setting: Mount Jiri in thick fog and silence
Jiri Mountain had been shrouded in a thick fog since dawn that day. Visibility was so poor that you couldn’t see more than 10 meters in front of you, and the fog made the entire mountain unusually quiet. Minjoon seemed to enjoy the lack of people on what would normally be a crowded trail. At around 10 am, he was walking on a relatively gentle forest trail heading toward Nogodan. The fog showed no sign of lifting, and the only sounds were the occasional drops of water on the leaves.
The case unfolds: footprints, and the shadows that disappear
Minjun was walking along as usual when he suddenly heard the faint sound of footsteps walking directly in front of him. “Has someone already gone as far as me?” he thought to himself, but for some reason the footsteps were too regular and light. It was almost as if they were trying to muffle their footsteps. He picked up his pace, just in case, and tried to catch up to the person in front of him.
They’d been walking for maybe five minutes? The fog was so thick that he couldn’t see any human shapes in front of him, but the sound of footsteps kept coming. Minjoon thought, “This person must be really good, I can’t keep up with him even though he walks pretty fast.” Suddenly, the footsteps stopped, and a blurry shadow came into view from beyond the fog. It was definitely a human figure. “Excuse me, I’m also on my way to Nogodan, would you like to come with me?” Minjoon shouted in delight.
But the shadow didn’t answer, just stood still. Minjoon took a step closer, just in case he hadn’t heard, and called out again, “Excuse me! Would you like to come with me?” At that moment, the shadow in front of him surged upward, as if it were a mist, and then disappeared completely into the fog.
“What… what was that?” said Minjoon, frozen in place. In the windless, silent mountains, the human figure in front of him had obviously vanished like smoke. He felt a cold sweat run down his spine. Only then did he realize that the sound of the footsteps he had been following had been so unreal – they were light, as if the soles of his feet didn’t touch the ground, and his stride was so different from that of a normal person.
Impact and mystery after the event
Minjoon stood there for a while, calming his heart. He made it to the top of Nogodan that day, but he couldn’t shake the chill that ran down his spine. He’s climbed Mount Jiri dozens of times since then, but he’s never experienced anything as bizarre and inexplicable as what happened that day.
Was it an optical illusion created by the dense fog? Or was it the work of something lurking in the mountains? Jirisan has long been known as a sacred mountain, home to many legends and mysterious tales. Stories of getting lost in the dense fog or having hallucinations are often told while hiking the mountain. But what Minjoon experienced was too vivid and eerie to be a simple optical illusion. What was the identity of the shadow? Perhaps he had come face to face with the mountain’s guardian spirit.
Part 2: Echoes of Daecheongbong, Seoraksan Mountain
When, where, and who experienced it?
This is the story of four members of a college mountaineering club who were climbing Daecheongbong in Seoraksan Mountain in the summer of 2012. One of them, Seoyeon Park (a pseudonym, she was in her early 20s at the time), is a longtime reader of mine, and she actually told me about the incident. They had planned to climb Mount Seoraksan for their summer vacation, and they set out at dawn to watch the sunrise over Daecheongbong.
Case background: Darkness, torrential rain, and isolation
It started raining at dawn that day on Seoraksan Mountain, first as a drizzle, then as a torrential downpour with thunderstorms. The group stayed in a makeshift shelter for a while to get out of the rain, but when it showed no signs of letting up, they decided to descend. But the valley was swollen from the overnight rain, and the trail had turned into a muddy mess. They took a wrong turn and began to wander, and soon became completely lost. At around 10 p.m., they decided they couldn’t move any further in the pitch blackness, and decided to spend the night in a rocky crevice where they could barely hunker down from the wind. It was pitch black without the light of a lantern, with only the sound of rain and thunder assaulting their ears.
The unfolding of events: An Unknown Voice, and a Repeating Echo
In extreme conditions, they clung to each other to get through the night. That’s when they heard it. A human voice could be heard faintly through the rain: “Help… help me…” It was so small and faint, but it was clear.
“Who is it? I think someone is out there!” shouted Seo-yeon, and the other members nodded in agreement. They shone their lanterns in the direction of the voice in case there were other hikers in distress, and called out, “Hey, are you okay, we’re here!”
Then, to their surprise, they heard the voice even more clearly: “Help… help me…” Strangely, the voice seemed to be mimicking their own: “Are you okay?” they’d call out, and a moment later, they’d hear the voice echo back, “Are you okay?”
At first, they thought it was an echo from deep in the mountains, but it sounded too close to be an echo, and it seemed to mimic their tone and intonation exactly. Panic began to set in. “Isn’t that… is that our voice?” one member said in a shaky voice.
Suddenly, their voices turned desperate: “Here… here… it’s so cold…” Then, again, they heard an echo that seemed to mimic their own voices: “Here… here… it’s so cold…” They looked into each other’s faces. No one spoke, but they were all thinking the same thing: “This isn’t an echo. Someone… or something… is imitating us.”
At that moment, the voices suddenly took an eerie turn. It sounded like a tearing scream, then a sob, and then it grew louder and louder, until it seemed to be coming from right next to their ears. They clutched each other in terror, swinging the lantern light this way and that to look around, but there was nothing to be seen. In the pitch blackness and the sound of the rain, there was only the unidentifiable voice.
Impact and mystery after the event
Throughout the night, the voices came and went. They were so terrified that they didn’t get any sleep, and as soon as the rain stopped at dawn, they hurried down the mountain. The group stopped participating in mountaineering clubs, and Seo never forgot the experience, suffering nightmares for a while.
But what was the identity of the voice – was it simply the echo of a lost person? Or was it an apparition heard in the wind and rain? Seoraksan Mountain is known for being the site of numerous strandings in the past, and heavy rain and fog can create deadly conditions for hikers. Perhaps the voice was the last cry of someone who had been lost in the past, or perhaps it was a psychological hallucination created by their fear. But the fact that all four members, including Seo-yeon, heard the same voice leaves a lot to be desired, making it more than just a hallucination. The mountain seems to speak to us sometimes in ways we don’t understand.
Part three: The Lady of the Baekdudaegan Marugum
When, where, and who experienced it?
This is the story of Jaeho Lee (a pseudonym, early 50s), a lone mountain climber who was running the Paektudae Mountain Race in the early 2000s. He left his job and set out to complete the Paektu Daegan alone. He favored the less traveled sections and spent most nights alone in his tent.
Case in point: deep in the mountains and on a forgotten road
The incident occurred on a particularly off-the-beaten-path, off-the-map road in the Baekdu Daegan Marugum. Jaeho had deliberately chosen the lesser-known route to enjoy the more remote scenery. It was late fall, and the sun had set early, plunging the entire mountain into darkness at less than 6 p.m. He had pitched his tent at the site of an old bivouac and was preparing dinner. It was a windless, silent night, with only the crunching of leaves and the occasional wildlife call to keep him company. There seemed to be no one around, and the bushes were dense, obscuring his view.
Events unfold: footsteps, then a shadow
After eating and studying the map by lantern light, Jaeho suddenly heard faint footsteps outside his tent. “Who passes here at this time of night?” He wondered, but thought nothing of it, as it was not uncommon to encounter other hikers deep in the mountains.
But then he felt the footsteps coming closer and closer to his tent. “Excuse me, are you lost?” he asked, opening the tent door and sticking his head out.
At that moment, the back of a woman’s head flashed before his eyes. It was very close: she had long, raw hair that fell to her waist, and she was dressed in a white, thin hanbok-like garment. But something was wrong: she was heading in the opposite direction from where he’d heard the footsteps-the way he’d come-and her gait was very unnatural. It was as if her feet were not touching the ground, or as if she was sliding.
For an instant, Jaeho felt the blood in his body run cold. He instinctively realized that this was ‘not a person’ – it was so vivid, but at the same time, so unreal. He stood there dumbfounded until the woman’s backside had completely disappeared into the bushes.
Even after the woman had disappeared, the footsteps seemed to echo in his ears for some time. He hurried inside his tent, checked the locks, and lay awake all night, unable to shake the feeling that the hairs on his body were standing on end. He hurriedly pitched his tent as soon as the sun rose the next morning and hurried downhill.
Impact and mystery after the event
Mr. Jaeho stopped running Baekdu Daegan from that day onward. He says he felt eerie every time he thought about the woman’s identity. Who was she, and why was she wandering alone in the deserted mountain late at night?
The Baekdu Mountain Range is the spine of the Korean Peninsula and has been home to countless legends and stories since ancient times, especially stories of lost spirits or mountain spirits encountered on old trails and passes. Was she the spirit of someone who met an untimely end on this path? Or was she a guardian of the mountain’s energy? Jaeho felt an unexplainable sadness and eeriness at the sight of the woman. Perhaps she was a being with a tragic story, trapped forever in the mountain’s embrace.
Mountains provide us with stunning vistas and unforgettable memories, but sometimes they also provide us with the strangest experiences that defy explanation: shadows that disappear without a trace in thick fog, unidentifiable echoes in torrential rain, a strange woman on an off-the-beaten-path trail… All of these stories remind us that mountains are not just places we climb and descend, but living, breathing entities in their own right.
I hope these stories have inspired you to think about the enormity and mystery of nature, and not just to be scared of it. Mountains are always showing us something, making us feel something, even if that something is beyond our comprehension.
Have any of you had similar, or even more bizarre and eerie experiences while hiking or trekking? We’d love to hear your stories. Feel free to share your experiences in the comments! The mountains are always waiting for us. But on your next hike, look a little deeper into your surroundings – you never know, you might find another mountain face hidden in the darkness…
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