Halloween is just around the corner and with that comes Trick or Treating — even though, as we’ve discussed in the past, Trick or Treat ain’t what it used to be. I’ve mentioned that when I was a kid, one of the “have-to-do” tricks on Halloween was to turn over people’s outhouses.
Of course today, most people don’t even know what an outhouse is…. so, I though it might be interesting to talk about this icon that holds an important place in the history of civilization.
Prehistoric man didn’t have much need for privacy, so bodily functions were simply relieved behind a tree or shrub, or sometimes they dug a hole in the ground and then covered it.
Actually, this practice is described in the Bible, specifically the Old Testament (Deuteronomy 23:12-13.) “Designate a place outside the camp where you can go to relieve yourself. As part of your encampment, have something to dig with, and when you relieve yourself, dig a hole and cover your excrement.”
Later, when communities began to form, it brought about the need for greater privacy. Many years, probably centuries, passed without significant improvement in methods for dealing with human excrement. My extensive research discovered that the flush toilet was invented in 1596 by Sir John Harrington, but it turned out to be an idea before its time and didn’t catch on. I was never really able to come up with where, when, and whose idea the first “outhouse” turned out to be. The American colonists, especially the wealthy ones, had their “necessaries” — another name for an outhouse. Outhouses remained in use in cities, as well as the country well into the 20th century.
You’ve probably noticed that when you see a picture of an outhouse, they almost all have holes cut in the doors — often in the shape of a moon. One theory is that the holes in the door were designed to let light from a lantern shine out at night. This would alert everyone that the outhouse was occupied. Another explanation is that the doors were commonly marked with either a crescent shaped moon or a circle-star design — the shape denoted the intended users. The crescent moon, symbol for the Roman moon goddess, Luna, indicated a ladies’ outhouse. The circle or star was symbolic of the sun and the Greeks’ male sun god, Apollo. A more popular belief is that the crescent shape was simply a way to open and close the door from the inside, because using expensive latching hardware would be a waste on such a humble structure… but even later, when latches were added, the crescent Moon tradition lived on. I don’t think there were ever any specifications, or building codes, for outhouses but they were usually 3 to 4 feet square by 7 feet high with no window or heat. A well-built outhouse had a vent along the roof to vent out the chamber and a pipe from the box through the ceiling to vent out the gasses. To avoid the odor reaching the home, most outhouses were built between 50 and 150 feet from the main house, often facing away from the house. They had either one or two chamber holes inside — one for the adults and a smaller one for the children.
During the Roosevelt administration, the President was noted for the Works Progress Administration — the WPA — a program that employed millions of out-of-work men. Many of these men worked on teams that built a lot, if not most, of the outhouses in rural areas. The WPA was not without controversy — its critics complained of wasteful government spending. But some praised the outhouse building program for helping to create better standards of hygiene in the rural areas.
In the 1880s, outhouses were built discretely behind homes. An old joke said that outhouses were “too close in the summer, too far in the winter.” Sears and Roebuck and Montgomery Ward catalogs did double duty in the outhouse — serving as both reading material and toilet paper. (Toilet paper was not commonly used until the 1920s, and it was first sold in packs of sheets, rather than on rolls.) A lot of colloquial terms for outhouse became popular: the throne, head, office, library, loo, privy, latrine, WC, shithouse, reading room, can, john, crapper, lavatory, toilet, pisser, potty, jakes, tollhouse.
Most two-hole outhouses were built with a smaller hole for children. A major phobia of children in the 1900s was fear of falling into the dark hole, which probably seemed like a portal to horror to them. In fact, over the years, outhouses sometimes did conceal horrific secrets — murder weapons, bottles of poison, axes, guns, knives, and sometimes even victims themselves.
Throughout the 1800s, new toilet technologies were being developed, but even in 1900, a bowl, pitcher, and chamber pot kept in a cabinet called a “commode,” were still standard in most homes.
Near the end of the 1800s, cholera, typhoid fever, and bacteria began to be associated with unsanitary conditions and women’s magazines like House Beautiful and Better Homes and Gardens began promoting indoor toilets and plumbing, not only for convenience but for health reasons. By 1910, most new house plans included an indoor bathroom and plumbing. But — indoor plumbing didn’t become commonly retrofitted in existing city homes until the 1920s. Rural areas lagged way behind, and didn’t get indoor toilets until the 1930s and some as late as the 1950s or 1960s. My grandparents didn’t get an indoor bathroom until the mid-1950s.
Once indoor plumbing began to become popular, many outhouses remained in back yards until they fell apart, were damaged by pranksters, or were removed.
If you’ve kept up with this blog, you know that I talk, whine, complain every year about the porta-potty our neighbors sit in front of their house for their annual July 4th party. So you only have to come here around the 4th of July to see a modern day version of this age old amenity — of course this one is made of plastic and it resides in the front — not “out back.”
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