This is the 14395th most frequent Korean word.
무서워했다
"Was scared" or "was afraid."
The word '무서워했다' is used here to express a past feeling of fear regarding a specific activity, walking alone at night.
그는 밤길을 혼자 걷는 것을 무서워했다.
He was afraid of walking alone at night.
In this sentence, '무서워했다' describes the children's past reaction of fear caused by hearing ghost stories.
아이들은 유령 이야기를 듣고 무서워했다.
The children were scared after hearing the ghost story.
Here, '무서워했다' denotes her past fear related to the possibility of falling from a high place.