Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Keepongoing]

When I lived in Hong Kong,I had moved into a new place. The first night I woke up and it felt like a heavy weight was laying on my body. I could hardly breathe. I could not move and was in a cold sweat. This unnerved me, so I prayed until this sensation ended.

The following day I explained this to some Chinese friends and a Chritian girl told me that the Chinese called this "Lei Jyap Gwan". That she herself had had this expereince two weeks earlier. The Chinese believe this to be a ghost. Now, I don't believe that, but was interested that it was such a common occurance that they had a name for it.

By the way, I had not been drinking.

Anyway, I heard my students talking about this expereince. The Koreans call it "scissors". And basically it shared in all the characteristics as the Chinese version.

My guess is that it is related to stress, or perhaps an anxiety reaction in one's sleep that wakes you up.

I do find that in the East much more people believe in ghosts and many I have spoken to claim to have seen them. I do not believe
in them. But in every Asian country (lived in Asia over 20 years) I have been to, ghost themed movies seem to be a dominant feature for late night television. Perhaps it is because of the ancestral thing that exists in most Asian countries?

In Hong Kong there is one day a year where most citizens offer up offerings to ghosts to appease them, I am sure Korea has something similar.

[TheFonz]

You might have been experiencing sleep paralysis. There are similar experiences mentioned here.

http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=60721&highlight=

[RACETRAITOR]

The Koreans don't actually call it "scissors." They call it "kawi," which is a homonym for their word for scissors.