A well that foretells doomsday

Dug in a small village in Chungcheongbukdo, a province in central Korea, is a special well known to foretell the end of the world. The well is called ‘Yeongcheon,’ which means in Korean a mystical spring. There is a special story about this well. When it runs over for the third time, it means the end of the world. Also called as ‘doomsday well,’ Yeongcheon is known to have never dried up in severe droughts, and in 2008 was listed as Chungcheongbukdo cultural monument #143.

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Its legend goes back to the reign of Sejo, the Joseon Dynasty's 7th king, who ousted his young nephew from the throne and crowned himself. In the next year of his accession, the land suffered from severe drought. An old Buddhist monk was passing a village, when he felt thirsty and asked a woman for water. The woman told him to wait for a moment, but she came back after a long while, sweating, saying, “I am so sorry, but had to go 2.5km from here to get this water.”

In gratitude, the old monk located a good site to dig a well. Pointing with his stick a piece of land beside an old tree, he said, “Dig a well here. You will have warm water in the winter and cool water in the summer. This well will not run dry in the drought nor run over in the flood. However, if the well runs over for the third time, hurry off, for it will be the end of the world.”

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The well is known to have already run over twice in the past. The first was in 1592 when the Japanese invasion of Korea was launched, and the second was in 1910 when Japan annexed Korea. More recently, it has shown dangerous signs twice as well. In 1950 when the Korean War broke out, the water rose nearly to the brim, and again in 2009 when the late President Roh Moo-hyun passed away, the water got noticeably higher. So, the local residents heartily hope not to see the well run over for the third time.