[KoreaUrbanLegend] If you play the flute at night, snakes come out

On a quiet night, a university’s traditional music club was busy preparing for their upcoming concert. The room was filled with the sounds of flutes, daegum, and haegeum, blending into a beautiful harmony. However, among the students, one suddenly spoke up.

"If this were true, our club room would have turned into a snake den!"

His joke made everyone laugh, but amidst the laughter, a subtle unease lingered in the air. The old tale of the flute played at night and the snake’s appearance suddenly resurfaced in their minds.

This legend had been passed down for years. It was said that if you played a flute at night, a snake would appear. Of course, no one truly believed in it. Yet, the thought crossed their minds. "Didn't they say snakes can't hear flute sounds?" In reality, snakes had no hearing, and the sound of a flute didn’t affect them. Instead, they were sensitive to the wind that the flute produced, which made them seem as if they were dancing to the tune.

"There's no snake, really. They just react to the breeze," one of the students said.

But the legend had evolved. Long ago, the belief was that whistling at night would summon snakes into the house. This wasn’t just an old wives' tale but a warning believed by many in villages. In those days, a whistle was seen as a signal from an outsider to tempt a woman, which would lead to misfortune for the household.

As time passed, however, the legend began to change. After the popular TV broadcasts showing Indian street performers charming cobras with flutes, the idea of "playing a flute at night will summon a snake" became a part of urban legend.

In 1994, a TV commercial solidified the myth further. The ad featured children blowing plastic flutes and enjoying their candy, with Park Myung-Soo’s familiar voice ending with, "Don’t play the flute when everyone is sleeping, or the snakes will come out." That line became iconic, and the story of the flute and the snake soon became ingrained in popular culture.

A few months later, the legend took another bizarre turn. There was a story of a child who, while playing the flute, accidentally inhaled a centipede from inside the instrument, leading to a near-death experience. It was only when an old monk helped that the child miraculously recovered. That incident further mystified the already strange tale of the flute and the snake.

Perhaps the legend was just that— a legend. But hidden within it was an important lesson: sometimes, there is something beyond what we know and believe. That night, the students of the music club, lost in their music, couldn't shake off the uneasy thought that the story of the flute and the snake might hold a deeper mystery. Yet, they continued to play, as if the music itself had the power to banish all fears.