Fishing It Out or Lost Forever...

Outhouses... - Outhouses...
@twoey68 (13627)
United States
September 25, 2008 7:24am CST
In the days of outhouses, which thankfully we don’t live in anymore, ppl would occasionally drop things down the hole by accident. Sometimes kids would be playing and one would throw the shoe of another in the hole…of course the shoe would be lost forever and the kid would usually end up with a spanking. I was thinking about this the other day…outhouses, losing things…and it got me to wondering…is there anything that I’d actually dig out of an outhouse if we still used them. Even though I grew up in the ‘70’s and ‘80’s one of my relatives still used an outhouse and when we visited we had to use it too. It was spooky, smelly and always had bugs in it…not to mention that I was terrified something would come out of hole after me. It would have to be something majorly important to me to get me to fish it out…and then I’d probably get someone else to help me. If you dropped $100 down an outhouse hole would you go after it? What about your wedding ring? Is there anything you’d be willing to fish out of an outhouse? [b]**AT PEACE WITHIN** ~~STAND STRONG IN YOUR BELIEFS~~[/b]
8 people like this
32 responses
@winterose (39887)
• Canada
28 Sep 08
well I guess I would try if it was something of real importance, but I never had an outhouse, I was always lucky enough to have a toilet, I think once or twice growing up I may have been at a camp that had an outhouse so I do remember the creepiness of it and that god awful smell.
2 people like this
• Australia
28 Sep 08
We had that little building outside but ours had the can ,that had to be emptyed by me and mum when I was a kid and some of it always slopped over not nice ,won't mention the flies .The few times I've had the pleasure of using the dug out one I would wonder how deep did it go and if one fell down there would anyone hear me calling and what lived down there,they were always quick trips as I was afraid the seat might give way lol. Oh yes always checked for red back spiders but never saw any till I moved to the city go figure hey.
2 people like this
• United States
25 Sep 08
What a hard question. Most of us would automatically say yuck and not get anything out of the hole. I have never thought of what I would get out of the hole, I guess it depends upon how much paper and dry stuff is on top or if it was a swampy mess down there.
• United States
12 Oct 08
No, don't think so. Though, I was thinking about it and I think they still use outhouse/porta potty units at some state parks and job construction sites. I wouldn't go fishing after anything that fell into that filth. Too many diseases can be caught from doing that. But, I would make sure to empty my pockets or take off my jacket before going in, so that nothing could fall out and be lost forever. I'm hoping that would exempt me from having to fish around in something like that for my keys. Oh, who am I fooling! I would just call a lock smith and he would come out and get me a new set of keys for my car. Best $60 ever spent, I'll bet! And, no risk getting hepatitis that way!
1 person likes this
@carmelanirel (20942)
• United States
25 Sep 08
Probably not, like you said, they are smelly and buggy and ewwwww!!! I also remember my Grandmother having on of these, I hated using it and would only use it if absolutely necessary..I also didn't bring anything in with me to get lost, I would leave any toy outside the outhouse or in the home, I think I knew that once it went down that hole, it was gone forever..
@CatsandDogs (13963)
• United States
1 Oct 08
A pair of thick plastic gloves and a bottle of antibacterial lotion on them is the only way I'll reach inside the outhouse doom area to retrieve something and it would have to be pretty darned important for me to do so because, like you, I don't like the idea of something hiding in dark places not to mention the filth below.
1 person likes this
• Canada
16 Nov 09
If it goes down the hole, it's lost forever. If someone is reckless enough to be in a position to drop something important down the hole, then it is their pproblem for losing it. LOL
@slickcut (8141)
• United States
28 Sep 08
You will never believe this,but when i was very small we lived in Louisana and we had an out house,i remember it well even though i was young...We had a cat,ok one day i am not really sure what lead to this but i dropped that cat down the outside outhouse in the hole where the poop is....Well they had to fish that cat out of the toilet..Now since i was small i do not remember it precisely but i do remember it falling & my daddy fishing it out,so the cat did not die but it was a gross thing to happen....We later moved to Houston Texas where we have been ever since..So i would say a cat is worth fishing out,but i cannot think of another thing i would fish out.................
@BarBaraPrz (47308)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
25 Sep 08
Hmmm... outhouses... haven't used one since I don't know when, unless you count port-a-potties... My grandmother told us of a young woman she knew when she herself was young (early last century)... went to use the outhouse and out popped the baby...
1 person likes this
@tyc415 (5706)
• United States
25 Sep 08
Oh gross. hahaha I have used outhouses in my time also. I never did lose anything in one. Off hand I can't think of anything that I would safe if it fell in. The money? nah, I hear it is illegal to launder money. hahahaha The wedding ring, nope, it is not the same one I got on the day I married, that one is put up. To me, what goes in the "hole" in an outhouse stays in the outhouse. LOL
1 person likes this
@shaggin (72131)
• United States
25 Feb 11
I dont think there is a single thing that I own that I would go down an outhouse hole to get lol. The only thing I would save would be my kids or an animal. I cant even stand the thought of having to get something out of an outhouse. If it was just my poop and my kids poop it might not be as awful but if it like something that others had used it would just be all the worse.
@vicki2876 (5636)
• Canada
25 Sep 08
My partner had an outhouse growing up in rural canada. I however never did or either my father who are from a very large city and had indoor plumbing earlier. I think if it was my partner answering this question I am sure he would fish anything out of it no problem. He is more rustic than I for sure. For me no I wouldn't pick out anything from an outhouse so matter what. That is what my partner is for. LOL Vicki
1 person likes this
@cream97 (29087)
• United States
31 May 11
Hi. twoey68. I think that I would have to let the $100 or wedding ring stay down there. If I ever will have to go inside one of these places, I would make sure that I don't carry anything valuable with me in here. I will also make sure that I don't wear any jewelry either. An outing seems very disgusting and nasty. It would just have to be lost forever, I am so sorry.
@Barb42 (4214)
• United States
25 Sep 08
You have to be kidding! Nothing is worth fishing out of an outhouse! We had one when I was very young and we had no running water. When it came to our town, we had a bathroom. Thank the Lord for bathrooms! There were plenty of dark nights spent running down to the outhouse! Always had to have someone to go with me - Daddy or a brother. That is one thing I'm glad my kids never had to experience - but wait a minute! I guess they know what one is because my husband's parents still had one when my kids were small. They lived on a farm and didn't have running water then.
@mtdewgurl74 (18151)
• United States
26 Sep 08
Outhouses are still around where I live here in Kentucky they are quite a few still around and in use. I used one a few times last year till November. My mom lived in a house for 4 months with no bathroom till November of last year. She is now living in a trailer. But I hated using that outhouse it scared me, all I could think of while using it was snakes,bugs or falling in..lol. I try not to drop anything cause if I did I don't think I would go fishing for it. Yuck! I doubt we'd ever get the scent off..lol Well, a hundred dollars is alot but I wouldn't be putting my hands in there to get it I would tell someone else to get it and I would give them some of it., a wedding ring is not something that can be replaced well it can but the memories with that ring can't. I would have someone fish that out for sure. but it would be sterilized repeatedly for sure.
@stephcjh (38473)
• United States
26 Sep 08
Oh my gosh. If I ever lost something down in the outhouse toilet, it would be lost forever because that is just gross. I would never want to fish it out. Ewwww.
@arkaf61 (10881)
• Canada
26 Sep 08
Hmmm I don't really know. I guess it would depend on how much I needed those $100 and how reachable they were :) Personally even as a kid I had only a very few experiences with outhouses which suits me fine because I am not even sure I could do anything properly and in peace if it was something I had to do in a regular basis LOL I would probably try to find something that would help me fishing it out without having to get that close :)
• United States
27 Sep 08
oh yuck. it'd have to be really valuable to me for one reason or another to bother. that's just too gross.
@walijo2008 (4644)
• United States
26 Sep 08
I don't know, I don't know if there is any amount of money or jewelry that would make me want to dig around in a outhouse for, have you smelled those things? It would make me sick to do it, I have a pretty solid stomach when it comes to most things, but smells, I'm pretty weak at, if I smell something bad it makes me sick.
@mands61123 (2098)
26 Sep 08
I'd fish my cat out if she got stuck down there lol The $100 (£50) for me depends how skint i was if i was skint yes if not no, wedding ring yes if i thought i could find it. I unblocked the toilet on holiday with a plastic bag over my hand twice because it was warm and we didn't want to wait for the maid. Poo doesn't bother me as much as sick and i like carrots! as long as it didn't come near my mouth i can manage. My mum was one of the first people on her street to get a toilet indoors sooooo glad i missed all that! i do know people who still have them out there but don't use them.