The Parting of the Sea at Jindo
A few times a year, the sea between two Korean islands draws back to open a road nearly three kilometres long, and crowds walk across.
What was reported
Between Jindo and the small island of Modo, in south-western Korea, a strip of seabed about 40 metres wide rises out of the water for about an hour at the lowest tides of spring and early summer. People call it the Miracle of Jindo, and a festival brings huge crowds to walk across.
The legend is of Grandmother Ppong, left behind on Jindo when her village fled to Modo to escape tigers. She prayed to the Dragon King of the sea to see her family again, and the sea parted to let her cross.
Explanations offered
It's a natural tidal effect: the seabed between the islands is higher than the water around it, and at the year's lowest tides it's left dry. A French ambassador who saw it in 1975 compared it to Moses parting the Red Sea, which made it famous abroad.
- When
- Several times a year
- Where
- Jindo, South Jeolla, South Korea
- Witnesses
- Hundreds of thousands of visitors
- Status
- Explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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