Koreans: Is it really possible to die while sleeping in a room with the door closed and a fan blowing on you?

When I lived in Korea, I heard this many times. Nobody could explain exactly why. I heard it has something to do with O2 deprivation, but nobody really seems to understand this claim. The Koreans that told me this all agreed that the fan is safe as long as it rotates side to side. Is it really possible to die from fan blast? And if so, what is the reason that this can happen? Walk me through the sinario, please. It just seems so improbable.

Ah, the the mysterious fan death. You know real Koreans if you've heard of fan death. My mother used to tell me this as a child repeatedly. In fact, I went over to a friend's house to spend the night as a kid and freaked out when she didn't turn off the fan before we went to bed. You should know I'm writing from my grave, but the internet connection bites. Oh, and I stuck out my tongue and my face froze like that.

Fan death is Korean urban legend that is so widely believed that even the Korean government put out an official warning/advisory. If you ever see a fan made in Korea or even air conditioners, you'll see most come equipped with a timer to "prevent" such deaths.

No one understands the claim that it has to do with O2 deprivation because it's just not true. It doesn't happen. Koreans obviously don't believe this.

Other mechanisms of death that they have tried to claim in addition to suffocation/asphyxiation are hypothermia and carbon dioxide (yes, I meant dioxide, not monoxide) poisoning. Some Korean doctors will even tell you that it's unique to Korean body physiology when told that no other countries have heard of the fan death. It's amusing, that's for sure. I love my crazy people.

All I can say is correlation isn't the same thing as causation.

No, because I've slept many times with a fan blasting on my face and the door shut... and I'm still here.

I'm Chinese-Vietnamese and I have been told of something similar. I was given the explanation that some lady left the fan on before she slept and in the morning to was dead. Of course in Vietnam a lot of people lack education so their logic is flawed.

In response to jenz, any real Korean will tell you that they have a special physiology that makes them susceptible.

I ask every new KATUSA that comes in about fan death. It is one of those fun conversations to have. They all talk about it enthusiastically but with reverence and most truly believe in it. Check out the link.

Edit:
Dang it. Now I repeated part of what flip flop said. bobby, we are not the same people.

Edit2:
I think the key to this urban legend is the guy that said "They died because of fan but only those who have some kind of disease." There is no room in the Korean mind for the cause of death to be the disease and the fan to be a coincidence. They feel the disease must have distracted the body enough for the fan to sneak in with it's murderous ways.

Very good question. My English teacher from America one day asked me the same thing and I say yes. He said Korea is the only nation that believe so which made me surprised. Allmost all Koreans believe it since every summer it happens to some people and I heard it a lot of time from news. My mom never let me go to bed when fan is on. Also myself is afraid of that seriously. However, according to some scientific tv program I watched it is found false. They died because of fan but only those who have some kind of disease. Still mystery to me I want to know it too.

I think Korean guy represents most of the younger generation of Koreans regarding fan death. I'm not Korean but I teach in Korea and every time I have debated Urban Legend - Fan Death it's about 60-40 in favor of believing it's true.

The ones that say it's true are adamant about it.

that's crazy. maybe they just want to keep their electric bill low.

I remember I heard that kinda news some times a few years ago.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_death