Day 209: Fan Death

There's been a noticeable change in the weather/everyday temperature here in Korea this week. The extreme summer heat has left us, and although it is still very nice outside, (hell somedays it's still quite hot and sweaty!) gone are the days when you went outside and just BAKED in the heat. The nights have gotten significantly cooler, and I haven't used my aircon in weeks. I actually prefer this weather - it's much more comfortable to be outside in like 25 C weather instead of 40 C weather!

A funny cultural phenomenon about Koreans that involves heat and summer weather is a bizarre (and completely incorrect) fear of Fan Death. All Koreans know about Fan Death, and take it *very* seriously. They will do anything to avoid it, and will also often warn foreigners of this potential threat to our lives. Here's what they believe:

Koreans believe that if you're in a room, and you're going to go to sleep, and the door is closed, and all the windows are closed, and the fan is on in the room, you WILL die. I kid you not. The fan will kill you while you are sleeping - you will just never wake up from your sleep. This is the infamous Fan Death.

The Koreans honestly believe in their hearts and minds that leaving a fan turned on without a window or door cracked will kill while you are sleeping! They attribute this to suffocation or something, as if the fan will 'suck out' all the air in the room and cause you to suffocate while sleeping, and that you can only prevent this by having a constant supply of air into the room to replace it. I'm totally not joking!!!

Even funnier/more unbelievable than believing in Fan Death is that sometimes the media will even report someone dying of this! There are a couple of Fan Deaths in Korea every year, and you can read about them in the newspaper or hear about it on the news. Some body will be found dead in a bed or in a room (apparently Fan Death can affect even you if you're not asleep) but a fan will be found still whirring in the room, and thus caused the death. Now I don't think the forensic scientists who do the autopsy believe this, but this is what is reported to the media.

Most likely, as us foreigners have discussed and maybe figured out, is that Fan Death is the name given to all deaths which are embarrassing/somewhat mysterious/may cause a loss of respect for the dead person's family in order to 'save face' for either the person who died or their family. For example, lets say that someone comes home drunk one night, goes to sleep with the fan on, becomes sick and throws up, and chokes to death on their own vomit. This is not a very 'honourable' death, and so most likely will be reported as Fan Death. Suicides sometimes come under this category also, as well as drug-related deaths (ie: overdoses.) No one seems to question it, and people carry on with this very serious and real fear of Fan Death.

It's very, very strange (and amusing!) It's hard not to laugh when Koreans warn you about it (you don't want to appear rude or condescending) but they really do take precautions to avoid it. It all just seems so silly to me, as it flies in the face of all science and logic! I wonder if 'Fan Death' occurs in any other Asian countries?