The Stalker Prince
Prince Sado was a troubled young man, given to extremely violent and erratic mood swings. One day, he would behave with such decorum, dignity, and probity, so as to be all that his father had ever wanted in a son and heir. The next, he would undergo a transformation, and give free rein to violent outbursts in which he turned rapist and murderer. Historians are unsure what exactly ailed him, but he was clearly mentally unstable, and many today think that he was schizophrenic. Alcohol was forbidden at court, but Prince Sado was nonetheless downed heroic amounts of wine and spirits. He became a full-blown alcoholic. When a depressive mood fell upon him, the murder of servants brought Sado relief. On many a day, several dead bodies were carried out of the palace.
He also became a palace stalker who pursued, preyed upon, and assaulted court ladies. After he murdered his concubine, he began to harass his own sister. As a result, he became widely feared throughout the kingdom as a dangerous psychopath. Eventually, Sado’s father had enough, and determined that he could not in good conscience inflict his criminally insane son upon the Korean people as their next king. On July 4th, 1762, Sado was summoned by his father, who ceremonially struck the floor with a sword and declared the crown prince deposed. Taboos prohibited the outright execution of the prince. So the king had Sado placed inside a heavy wooden chest of the kind in which rice was stored, and locked him inside. There, the deposed prince was left to starve to death, and he perished eight days later.
