When I was a kid growing up in Nigeria, there were many things I believed without asking questions. At that age, if an older person told me something confidently, I accepted it immediately. I did not need evidence, research or Google. The confidence in their voice was enough.
One of the funniest things I believed was that if I whistled at night, a snake would come looking for me. I don't know who started this story, but Nigerian children seemed to know it very well, especially in my area, that Adamawa/Borno.
Whenever evening came and I started playing outside, someone would warn me, “Don't whistle. It is already night.”
Naturally, I would ask, “Why?”
The answer was always simple. “Because a snake will hear you and come.”
That was enough to silence me, because when i was a kid i was scared of snake at night. I became extremely careful with my mouth after sunset. I could sing, laugh, shout and make all kinds of noise, but whistling was forbidden.
One evening, I was outside with some other children. We were playing and having fun when one of them started whistling.
I immediately became worried.
Stop! I shouted.
He looked at me and laughed.
“Why?”
“Don't you know a snake will come?”
Instead of stopping, he whistled even louder.
At that point, I was no longer enjoying the game. I started looking around the compound.
I checked under the car.
I looked near the wall.
I looked at the grass.
I even looked behind me every few seconds.
But i couldn't find anything.
Then I heard a sound from the bushes.
Shhhhhh!
My heart nearly jumped out of my chest. I grabbed my friend's arm. Still that wasnt enough, i climbed untop of a car.
“Did you hear that?” He started laughing.
But I was completely serious.
“The snake is coming!”
We ran toward the house.
Looking back now, the funny part is that I had no idea how the snake was supposed to know where I was. I imagined that snakes had some kind of special hearing system. I was thinking all animals have special senses and brain like human.
In my mind, the snake would be somewhere far away, relaxing under a tree.
Then I would whistle:
“Fiiiiiuuu!”
The snake would suddenly open its eyes. Someone is whistling. Then it would ask itself: “Where is that child?” And somehow, it would follow the sound directly to me.
I believed this so strongly that I avoided whistling at night for years. Even when I became older and started realizing that some childhood stories were not true, I was still careful. I will also pass that to my children when they grow 😅
One night, I was alone outside and accidentally whistled.
I immediately stopped.
I looked around. There was nothing, i waited, Still nothing.
I whistled again, still nothing.
That was when I finally started questioning the whole story.
If whistling really attracted snakes, I thought, why had nobody in the neighbourhood been attacked by a snake simply because they whistled, my immediate neighbours sings with whistling and nothing have ever happened to him?
That was my first scientific investigation. Unfortunately, I did not publish the results, joking.
As I grew older, I learned that many childhood warnings were not necessarily meant to be scientific facts. Sometimes parents and older people used scary stories to make children behave, especially when they wanted us to stay indoors at night.
And honestly, it worked perfectly on me.
Today, whenever I remember how seriously I took the snake-whistling story, I laugh.
I was not afraid of darkness.
I was not afraid of mosquitoes.
I was not even afraid of the occasional lizard running across the wall.
Now I know better.
But if I hear something moving in the bushes at night while someone is whistling, I am still going inside. Childhood beliefs may disappear, but some habits refuse to retire. 😂
In Nigeria we have so many of this childhood funny believe but i decided to sharr this
THANK YOU FOR READING
