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'Salmokji: Whispering Water' success has fans flocking to real life reservoir

Published: 17 Apr. 2026, 18:21 Updated: 19 Apr. 2026, 16:20

KIM JU-YEON
[email protected]

A still from ″Salmokji: Whispering Water,″ shows the reservoir where the story is set. [SHOWBOX]

Who’s going to an artificial lake said to be haunted by drowned spirits that drag the living underwater? People who’ve watched the horror film “Salmokji: Whispering Water.”

Visitors have flocked to Salmokji, a real-life reservoir in Yesan County, South Chungcheong, after the movie inspired by the location entered the cultural zeitgeist following its April 8 release.

Cars completely crowded the singular narrow road leading to Salmokji one day at 3 a.m., one social media post claimed.

One to three in the morning is popularized by Korean horror and occult media as the time during which the gwimoon, a gate through which spirits move between worlds, is open. If it sounds familiar, it might be because honmoon — a fictional term that refers to a spiritual barrier used by demon-fighting girl group HUNTR/X in Netflix's "KPop Demon Hunters" (2025) — was likely adapted from the same concept.

A bottle filled with water from the Salmokji reservoir in Yesan County, South Chungcheong, is pictured in this photo uploaded on a Naver blog on April 14. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Koreans treating the location as just another tourist spot also amused online lookers.

"My phone and internet didn't work for a while. Guess it's because it's surrounded by a mountain and on a remote path," one blogger wrote nonchalantly in a review that has since gone viral. The blogger also posted parking advice and photos of collecting water from the reservoir, with the quip, "come at me, ghost."

Created in 1982 to provide water for agricultural use, Salmokji first became known among occult lovers after it was introduced on MBC's "Midnight Horror Story" (2021-), a storytelling program where celebrities read urban legends or true events submitted by the audience. In one retelling, a woman, who said she didn't initially believe in the supernatural because she majored in physics, claimed she was led by the car's GPS to almost drive into the reservoir. After visiting, she claimed, along with her parents, to have faced misfortune.

The lake is also known as a fishing spot among locals, according to media reports, though it is forbidden there.

Still from horror film “Salmokji: Whispering Water″ [SHOWBOX]

The reservoir became more widely recognized after the relatively low-budget "Salmokji: Whispering Water" became a surprise hit at the box office.

The movie follows Soo-in, a producer played by Kim Hye-yoon, who travels with her crew to the remote lake to reshoot roadcam footage after receiving complaints of strange figures captured in the initial video.

Over 1 million tickets were sold as of Friday, according to the Korean Film Council. The film, with a budget of around 3 billion won ($2 million), broke even on Tuesday by crossing the approximately 800,000 threshold needed. It had the highest reservation rate as of 9 a.m. on Friday, at 22.5 percent, followed by "Project Hail Mary" at 17.5 percent and "My Name" at 7 percent.

The surge of visitors to the reservoir even prompted Yesan County officials to issue their own public warning: Don't come at night; stay away from the water when it's dark; and don't litter, camp, cook or fish at the reservoir.

Posts on Yesan County's official Instagram promote Salmokji and surrounding areas and warn travelers of rules to follow when visiting the reservoir. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

BY KIM JU-YEON [[email protected]]