Giselle turns a tour memory into a livestream ghost story
Giselle of aespa has turned a personal tour anecdote into one of the more unusual fan talking points of the week. During a livestream, according to Koreaboo, the idol shared what the outlet describes as a bad juju talk: a story about a book she brought on tour, a hotel room she associated with bad feelings and a nightmare that persuaded her to get rid of the object.
Koreaboo published its report on 26 October 2026, after clips and posts about the livestream circulated on social media.
The practical significance is not a release, chart move or tour announcement. It is the way an informal livestream anecdote can become a public debate about belief, mockery and how much of an idol's inner life fans feel entitled to judge. Giselle did not present the story as a formal statement; she told it in the conversational mode that livestreams encourage. That context matters because the clipped version travels faster than the telling.
The book, the nightmare and the friend's warning
According to Koreaboo's account, Giselle refused to name the book publicly. She said she felt bad vibes while it was in her hotel room and had a nightmare. She also said she experiences nightmares and sleep paralysis often, and in the livestream linked them particularly to New York. Koreaboo notes that the incident she described following this remark presumably also happened in New York, but the report does not establish that as a separate confirmed detail.
The sequence that caught listeners' attention involved a friend's phone call. Giselle recalled waking from a nightmare and receiving a call from a friend who told her to get rid of the book. When she asked why, the friend described a dream and said she knew it was about Giselle, with the message: 'It's still here.' Giselle said she was creeped out and decided to throw the book away.
Sage, a black candle and the book's return
Giselle went further than a simple disposal. Koreaboo reports she performed cleansing rituals in her room, burning sage and a black candle near the door. She then left for dinner and gave the book to her manager, asking her to throw it away. That detail is the hinge of the story: the object was meant to be gone.
Later, according to the same account, Giselle had drinks with staff members in her room. During the conversation she realised that one of the staff members had the book with them at that moment. She said she was extremely freaked out and insisted that the staff member throw it away. Koreaboo does not report how the book moved from the manager to the staff member; the source's focus is Giselle's telling of the coincidence and her reaction to it.
How the clip became a divided social media story
Clips from the livestream circulated on X, with one fan post on 25 October 2026 summarising the nightmare, the book and the friend's warning. Koreaboo reports that the story drew significant attention and divided responses. Some listeners were spooked; others dismissed the anecdote as corny. The split is familiar in K-pop fandom, where a livestream moment can be received simultaneously as entertainment, personality content and evidence for an argument about an idol's judgement.
The reaction also moved beyond the story itself. Koreaboo's report includes social media posts mocking Giselle, including criticism of her decision to buy the book and comments about her braincells. Those posts are presented as part of the backlash, not as a settled verdict. The same report includes fans defending her, arguing that disbelief in the paranormal does not require ridicule and that idols are often asked to show personality only to be criticised when they do.
The defence: empathy without belief
The defence articulated by fans in Koreaboo's report is narrower than a claim that the book was haunted. One post quoted by the outlet argues that people do not know the history of every item they buy and that a dark aesthetic does not prepare someone for everything. Another says that audiences ask idols to speak freely and show their personality, then get angry when the subject is spiritual. These are arguments about treatment, not proof.
That distinction is useful. A reader can find the anecdote silly, or enjoy it as a spooky story, without turning it into a character judgement. The mockery in the report often targets Giselle personally rather than the tale. The fan defence asks for empathy with a person who was frightened, even if the fear is not shared. It does not require anyone to accept a supernatural explanation.
What the source does and does not establish
Koreaboo's report is clear about the limits. Giselle did not name the book. The outlet says the incident she described after mentioning New York presumably happened there; it does not independently confirm the location of every part of the story. There is no claim in the source that anything paranormal occurred, and no medical conclusion is offered about her nightmares or sleep paralysis. Those are details Giselle shared in her own account, not diagnoses or verified external events.
That uncertainty should be part of the story rather than a footnote. The verified core is that Giselle told a livestream audience about a book, a friend's warning and her own unease, and that the clip drew a mixed reaction. The rest, including how the book ended up back in the room, rests on her telling as reported by Koreaboo. Treating the anecdote as a scandal or as proof of anything beyond that would go further than the source allows.
Why an informal livestream carries so much weight
Livestreams are one of the few places where K-pop idols can speak at length without a music-show script. That makes them valuable for fans who want personality and unguarded detail. It also makes them prone to clipping. A story told to pass time can be edited into a punchline, and the punchline can become the version most people see. Giselle's anecdote fits that pattern: the book, the nightmare and the cleansing ritual are memorable, while the conversational context is easier to lose.
For aespa's audience, the episode is a reminder that the boundary between showing personality and being mocked for showing personality is thin. The same livestream that gives fans a story to retell also exposes the idol to ridicule from people who were not in the room and may not have heard the full telling. That does not make every critical response malicious, but it does explain why fans reacted defensively.
A spooky story, not a scandal
The takeaway is modest. Giselle shared a creepy personal anecdote on a livestream; Koreaboo reported it; social media split between spooked, sceptical and mocking responses. No release date, chart claim or tour update is attached to the story, and the source does not present the book as anything more than an object in Giselle's account. The interest lies in how quickly a private superstition becomes public content.
For listeners, the more useful question is not whether the book was cursed. It is how fans and outlets talk about an idol's personal beliefs when the story is strange, unverifiable and delivered in an informal setting. aespa's Giselle told the story; the reaction is now part of it. The line between a harmless ghost story and a pile-on is the part worth watching.
