I start this with a Yogi Berra quote in honor of Lee Yoon-song, a professor at SNU’s med school. Mr. Lee opines in a Korea times article trying to dispel the “fan death” urban legend:
“Korean reporters are constantly writing inaccurate articles about ‘death by fan,’ describing these deaths as being caused by the fan. That’s why it seems that fan deaths only happen in Korea, when in reality these types of deaths are quite rare. They should have reported the victim’s original problems such as heart or lung disease, which are the main cause of death in these cases,” said Lee Yoon-song, a professor at Seoul National University’s medical school. “If a Western doctor investigated these deaths, he would say what really caused the death, and say that the fan was merely beside the victim,” he added.
“Quite rare”? It seem that Mr. Lee’s whole case could be summed in a very Yogi-esque quote “It never happens, except when it does.”
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19 Comments
Oh, give the guy credit! He’s swimming upstream singlehandedly against the tide of popular opinion here. As a good scientist, he cannot say it absolutely can never happen…who knows, there’s always the possibility of some freak occurence (maybe once or twice every hundred years), but he is saying that fans are basically not to blame in these incidents.
There was another article or two dispelling fan death a few months ago (posted here on the Marmot’s Hole)…a doctor was also quoted for that one saying similar things; perhaps it was the same gentleman.
Actually, Dr. Lee has a couple of undated quotes in the Wikipedia article on the subject: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_death (at least one of the quotes from him dates from before this article).
But fortunately, he’s not alone. The last Marmot’s Hole post on this topic was when a Hankyoreh medical columnist by the name of Seo Min valiantly attempted to dispel this myth: http://www.rjkoehler.com/2006/.....columnist/
Wrote an article about “fan Slaughter” about a year ago and remember quite well sharing a room with a KATUSA and arguing about the fan. Fortunately I outranked him, but I do remember it did give me something to think about - especially during the turbulent days of the late 80s when emotions were running high. What if he had died and the windows and doors were found closed and the fan on - would I have been charged with fan slaughter?
I have always had a pet theory on this: it wasn’t that many years ago that most of the housing in Korea consisted of small house with ondol heating. Perhaps the leaking vapors of gas seeping up (is that a correct way to describe this) through the floor and then blown by the fan directly into the face of the sleeper might have accounted for some of those deaths. Just a theory.
I think this is one of those stories that will never completely end. Don’t sit too close to the tv., don’t make funny faces, and don’t sleep with the fan on - great advice from mothers…..
Try as you might to fan disbelief how can you counter this piece of scientific evidence? (Hat tip to “The Fan Death Avenger”.)
Murderers!
Robert (Neff),
Don’t ondol heaters run hot water under the floor? If this is the case it would be pretty hard for gas to be seeping up. I know the really old ones used the smoke from the fire to heat the floor so the gas ones could have just been the old ones altered to run gas.
Although your theory is about as good as any I have heard, I don’t think the fan would increase the amount of gas breathed.
Probably the best theory I have heard is that in hot weather, if the fan motor starts to malfunction and have some electrical sparking, it can create ozone which could in theory kill someone, although it’s a pretty big stretch to believe that this could actually happen.
I considered the ‘ondol as real killer’ theory for a while but had to drop it when I realized one very weak point about it. Fan death is usually said to occur in summer, as far as I know. No one in his right mind would be using ondol and a fan simultaneously in the tropical late night heat of late July. It’s pretty obvious to me now that when some assclown goes out and drinks himself into a stupor, stumbles home and dies of alcohol poisoning in his bed, the ever competent Korean police force survey the scene and usually find a fan. Voila, cause of death.
A good plot for a Korean movie: a serial killer who sneaks into bedrooms of homes at night and turns on the fan.
or taking a cue from Corpy Carly: A rogue cop who is determined to find the real killer, fighting an uphill battle againts his colleagues (and evcen the victims’ relatives) who insist its just the fan.
Shenzen> Reminds me of one of my favorite jokes in my head. Imagine the poor guy who writes out a suicide letter, turns on the fan, and goes to sleep. Then he wakes up in the morning even more depressed that he cannot even kill himself right. He does this night after night after night…
Good bye cruel world! (Click! Whirrrrrrrr!)
good one, Dram.
Corpy Carly,
I think Robert Neff’s theory relates to a gas leak that could occur any season rather than toxic gases caused by the buring of something for the heating, which is why I was wondering if they burn gas for the heating directly or if it’s done with the hot water like the modern ones. Not saying it’s a great theory, but it’s better than the other theories out there.
I don’t remember if they were gas or hot water. I think gas back in the 80s but to be honest I don’t remember. I do know that throughout the mid 90s it was often warned on AFKN to make sure that you slept with a window open during the winter to avoid accidental (is there any other?) gas poisoning from the ondol. As to it only happening in winter - I would have to disargree with that - I think that the ondol had to be on for the hot water too. Not that the hot gas went under the floor during the summer, but I think that there were also gas leaks. I remember spending a night in Chunchon at a Yokwan (spelling?) that had a sauna below and my floor was cooking. Worst night I spent.
I enjoy reading all the old “advice” in the various books, letters and journals that I read. I remember that one of the missionaries in Pyoungyang who was tired and cranky made an off-the-wall comment to one of his patients who was bothering him that he/she could be cured if they went out and kissed the mule. The next year it was an accepted cure by many of the locals….still laugh when I read it.(Seoul Press - newspaper - about 1920).
When I was in Daegu, I lived in one the old Jugong apartments built in the 1970s. They all still had the chimneys for the coal fired ondol system. They were inherently dangerous and also terrible for air pollution so they were all retrofitted with the hot water system in the early 1980s. When I fist moved in, my boiler was an antique and constantly broke down at the worst times. I can remember my wife and I trying to stay warm with a toaster oven!
I was truly surprised about the fan death thing. I first heard of it when I was entertaining a Korean lady at my apartment. She thought I was suicidal to leave the fan on at night. Since it was about a billion degrees in my little concrete box, I was not about to let her win. I doubt she slept a wink, though!
I think the “leave your window open” relates to the coal heating systems which can cause the carbon monoxide to build up in the house.
At least the fan death myth is relatively harmless. Considering the wealth of myths these days which cause actual, bodily harm (acupuncture, herbal ‘medicine’, ear candling, etc…), I find it actually kind of refreshing that this one, at least, isn’t likely to kill anyone (ironically enough).
Rowan and Robert Neff - I hadn’t really considered the ondol killing gases as just regular old 도시가스(CNG?). I was thinking of the way-back ondol, that Dram and Kimchipig describe, that burned coal. Maybe there is a reason to switch my gas line on and off every time I cook….
zonath,
at the risk of getiing too far off topic, i’m suprised you consider herbal medicine as a myth. where do you think most pharmaceuticals come from? there is plenty of evidence for herbal medicine working and some for accupuncture, although i have to a certain extent that their benifits can often be overstated, and they can be used for more than its actually useful for.
corpy carly,
i don’t know if they actually upgraded the wood/coal/other fuel fired heaters to gas but kept everything else the same in which case i guess it’d be possible for gas to leak up, or they switched to the gas fired hot water system thats used now where it wouldn’t be a problem, but its possible.
My only response to this oft-quoted statement is that if certain herbal medicines work, then the purveyors of herbal medicine should be willing to subject them to the same testing and regulatory schemes that ‘real’ medicine is. Until that happens, I’ll rely on medicines with a proven track record, well-documented side effects, and strict, well-enforced standards for safety and purity.
As for acupuncture… I suppose ’some evidence’ for it working is better than ‘no evidence’, but again, when you’ve got studies that also say that you get the same theraputic effects from having needles randomly stuck into you (as opposed to only being inserted into specific ‘magical’ points), that sort of militates for the whole practice just to be a long-practiced extension of the placebo effect. And although I will admit that herbal medicine can have its benefits beyond the placebo effect, stuff like acupuncture, ear candling, moxabustion, homeopathy, and an innumerable list of other sketchy and generally shady practices are nothing but placebo effect.
Zonath,
Amen brother.
i pretty much hold the same views in principle at least. i’m open to most natural therapies but remain very sceptical at the same time ( which ellininates a large amount of them). the thing i like about natural therapies is that they are an earlier intervention, whereas modern western medicine operates for the most part on a crisis system, only treating something when there is a significant failure.
the ear cadling was quite interesting, i have never heard of that before but somehow can’t see myself trying it….