The “Hong Kong Granny Ghost
The “Hong Kong Granny Ghost” When Kids Ran Home After School
Around 1989, a strange rumor spread among Korean elementary school students.
An elderly woman traveling to Hong Kong had been in a plane crash.
Her body fused with the cat she was traveling with.
She became a ghost—half human, half cat.
And that ghost returned to Korea to abduct children.
Her name was the Hong Kong Granny Ghost.
Today, the story may sound absurd.
But to children at the time, it was no joke.
Kids were told not to walk home alone.
They were told to run through dark alleys.
Some believed the Hong Kong Granny Ghost had long claws, moved like a cat, and kidnapped children.
According to MBC’s Mbig News, frightened elementary school students even called the broadcasting station asking if the story was true, and the rumor eventually made it onto the evening news.
This was far beyond a simple classroom prank.
Why “Hong Kong”?
This part matters.
In the late 1980s, overseas travel was not common in Korea.
As travel restrictions loosened, Hong Kong became a popular destination—especially for “filial piety tours” for parents.
Scholar Roh Sung-hwan’s paper “The Hong Kong Granny Ghost and Japanese Yokai”describes the Hong Kong Granny Ghost