The portable toilet is at the heart of many weird and wonderful stories. Some are disgusting. Some scary. Some even heart-warming.
What they all have in common is entertainment and more often than not, some frankly absurd quotes from those involved.
We have pulled together five of the best stories involving portable toilets for you to enjoy. And maybe even learn from (i.e: do not dive feet first into a portable toilet without being certain you can get out of it).
Man gets stuck in portable toilet trying to retrieve mobile phone
How much do you like your best friend? Enough to jump into a portable toilet to try and retrieve a mobile phone they dropped after trying to text whilst urinating?
Fair play to 20-year-old Norwegian man Cato Berntsen Larsen, who did just that for one of his mates in Drammen, a city just outside of Oslo.
Mr Berntsen Larsen was chosen for the task because he was slim enough to fit inside the toilet if he jumped down feet first. He told the press that as an amateur diver, he did not think twice about leaping into action.
There was a slight problem, however – Mr Berntsen Larsen was not slim enough to get back out the same way he had gone in.
He therefore spent an hour stood in thigh-high wastewater within the holding tank of the portable toilet until the fire brigade arrived on the scene. According to reports, it took firefighters 10 minutes to disassemble the toilet and remove Mr Bernsten Larsen.
Local police chief Kristine Hoibraaten confirmed it was the first time his force had been notified of any stories involving a human becoming stuck in a portable toilet. “This is a very sad incident. Normally it shall be very difficult to fall into this toilet,” she said.
Mr Bernsten Larsen was surprisingly happy to recount his version of events. He told local media outlet VG: “It was disgusting as hell. The worst thing I have ever experienced. Animals were down there too.”
“I will never enter a toilet again. Now my body hurts, and I will go home and get some rest.” Probably a good idea, Cato.
Woman travels across festival site in portable toilet
Newlyn Fish Festival in Cornwall found itself the centre of attention in 2015 for giving the world one of the all-time great stories involving a portable toilet.
The festival had not officially opened when one woman felt the call of nature and went into a portable toilet.
Little did she know that the facility was not yet in its final destination. And little could the man operating the forklift truck charged with getting it to said location have known a woman was inside when he began moving it.
The end result being the woman stepping out of the portable toilet the other side of the harbour from where she had entered it.
Harbourmaster Rob Parsons told BBC Radio Cornwall: “She got in the loo and then it was picked up and taken to the other side of the harbour with her in it.”
“I think she was suffering from a bit of shock, or she thought she had teleported across to the other side of the harbour.”
World War II bomb found in Stockport outdoor toilet
In 2014, police in Stockport found themselves answering a somewhat unusual 999 call involving a strange device discovered in an outdoor toilet.
To their shock, said device was an unexploded World War II bomb. 10 houses had to be evacuated and a 100 metre cordon said up around the portable toilet until a bomb disposal team arrived.
Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, a British Army spokesman said of the incident: “It was an old three-inch World War II mortar, which was live.”
“We did what we do in these situations and moved it to a safe area and carried out a controlled explosion.”
That safe area was nearby Reddish Vale Country Park, where the bomb was detonated. Imagine the damage and the subsequent portable toilet repair bill had it gone off in its original location.
Portable toilets become dangerous weapons in Moscow wind
An unexploded World War II bomb is not the only example of a portable toilet becoming a deadly threat. 2017 saw powerful winds sweep through Moscow, turning a street close to Red Square into something resembling a scene from Doctor Who.
Just a video of people fleeing portable toilets in a Moscow rain storm pic.twitter.com/CNNrQKLzLz
— Ben Phillips (@benphillips76) July 1, 2017
A number of blue portable toilets were sent whizzing around, forcing pedestrians to run for cover. More than one Twitter user likened the toilets to Daleks attacking humanity.
Australian cleaner makes $76,000 cleaning portable toilet
Don’t worry, not all stories involving a portable toilet are disgusting, dangerous or a combination of both. Take the Australian cleaner for example, who discovered $93,000 in a portable toilet facility in 2011.
Showing remarkable honesty, Chamindu Amarsinghe handed the cash into police. When the authorities were unable to suitably explain where the money had come from or who it belonged to following a three year investigation, it was down to magistrate Michael Smith to decide what happened to it.
“There’s no reason why such honesty should go unrewarded,” said Mr Smith when awarding $76,000 of the haul to Mr Amarsinghe. The remaining $18,256 went to the state of Victoria.
The investigating office on the case agree with the award. Detective senior constable Daniel Thorne told The Herald Sun: “All the guys in the office felt the same. Mr Amarsinghe is a struggling student who straight-up didn’t even think of pocketing it.”
When Mr Amarsinghe was told the news, he was by then studying for an IT qualification in New Zealand. He was left speechless. “I just want to spend my life in a normal way, find a job in IT and carry out that dream,” he said.
“I’m really, really lucky. I’m not going to waste it,” he added. Mr Amarsinghe said some would go to helping disabled people and some to a Buddhist temple in Berwick, a suburb of Melbourne.
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