Misplaced Pages

Talk:Toilet-related injuries and deaths

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Dimadick (talk | contribs) at 13:28, 14 November 2015. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Revision as of 13:28, 14 November 2015 by Dimadick (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
This page is not a forum for general discussion about Toilet-related injuries and deaths. Any such comments may be removed or refactored. Please limit discussion to improvement of this article. You may wish to ask factual questions about Toilet-related injuries and deaths at the Reference desk.
Media mentionThis article has been mentioned by a media organization:
This article has not yet been rated on Misplaced Pages's content assessment scale.
It is of interest to the following WikiProjects:
Please add the quality rating to the {{WikiProject banner shell}} template instead of this project banner. See WP:PIQA for details.
WikiProject iconSanitation Low‑importance
WikiProject iconThis article is within the scope of WikiProject Sanitation, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Sanitation on Misplaced Pages. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.SanitationWikipedia:WikiProject SanitationTemplate:WikiProject Sanitationsanitation
LowThis article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.
WikiProject iconDeath
WikiProject iconThis article is within the scope of WikiProject Death, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Death on Misplaced Pages. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.DeathWikipedia:WikiProject DeathTemplate:WikiProject DeathDeath
???This article has not yet received a rating on the project's importance scale.
WikiProject iconTechnology
WikiProject iconThis article is within the scope of WikiProject Technology, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of technology on Misplaced Pages. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.TechnologyWikipedia:WikiProject TechnologyTemplate:WikiProject TechnologyTechnology
WikiProject iconArchitecture
WikiProject iconThis article is within the scope of WikiProject Architecture, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Architecture on Misplaced Pages. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.ArchitectureWikipedia:WikiProject ArchitectureTemplate:WikiProject ArchitectureArchitecture
???This article has not yet received a rating on the project's importance scale.
WikiProject iconHome Living
WikiProject iconThis article is within the scope of WikiProject Home Living, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of home-related articles on Misplaced Pages. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Home LivingWikipedia:WikiProject Home LivingTemplate:WikiProject Home Livinghome
???This article has not yet received a rating on the importance scale.
A fact from Toilet-related injuries and deaths appeared on Misplaced Pages's Main Page in the Did you know column on 31 October 2005. The text of the entry was as follows: A record of the entry may be seen at Misplaced Pages:Recent additions/2005/October.
Misplaced Pages


Unrelated references to article on injuries

This article is about injurys related to toilet usage. How is "Famous toilet-related deaths" relevant to this? It says:

What does having a heart attack while on the toilet have to do with a toilet injury? If someone dies of a heart attack while on a chair, is that a chair-related injury? Similarly what does this and the others listed in "Possible occurences" have to do with a toilet-related injury?:

There is a separate article, List of people who died in the bathroom that covers such references as to place of death. - Ted Wilkes 17:50, 5 November 2005 (UTC)

They are both related to the toilet as they happened on the toilet. George II didn't die of a heart attack, as that is totally separate to an aortic dissection. The strain of using the toilet could have been a cause. Don Simpson was found dead on the toilet, and that is thus toilet-related too. Please don't start a vendetta just because you are annoyed about the Elvis reference. violet/riga (t) 20:32, 5 November 2005 (UTC)


To User:Violetriga - First, don't make false accusations or attempt to belittle my sincere contributions by claiming "vendettas" or I'm "annoyed." It is unwarranted and immature. And, you have avoided the facts of the matter: the article is about toilet injuries. Dying while on the toilet (as you allege happened to George II & Presley) is not a toilet injury. And, for the record, the George II reference appears to be based upon the book by Clifford Brewer, which provided no proof, was never subjected to a peer review, and was published by a tiny British firm in paperback only who "publish books on dialect and slang - and priced to match." This is not encyclopedic and contradicts Misplaced Pages:Reliable Sources policy. Cute, interesting or sensational are not encyclopedic. As a matter of interest, most major writings, state George II died of a stroke. - Ted Wilkes 23:03, 5 November 2005 (UTC)

There are many references that state that he died on the toilet. You also seem to confuse "toilet injury" with a toilet-related injury, which is clearly a different thing. As for the vendetta comment, it is obvious that you have a problem with onefortyone and this is just an offshoot of that. violet/riga (t) 23:10, 5 November 2005 (UTC)


User:Violetriga: Would it not be better to be adult enough to apologize when you insult someone instead of adding further accusations? The only problem I have with Onefortyone is his deliberate fabrications to serve his agenda as the Arbitration Commitee enunciated. And, I repeat, dying on the toilet is not a toilet ot toilet-related injury. And, those supposed "many references that state that he died on the toilet" are in fact 99.9% from Misplaced Pages mirrors or a quote from the same unacceptable Brewer book. When I say "mayor" writings, that means reliable sources acceptable to Misplaced Pages. - Ted Wilkes 23:24, 5 November 2005 (UTC)

Please don't patronise me to imply that I only looked at mirrors. As for my accusation, I'm sorry but I stand by it. You cannot deny that a death on the toilet is toilet-related - do please note that this article includes "toilet-related deaths". violet/riga (t) 23:30, 5 November 2005 (UTC)


You continue to talk in circles. Please deal with ther facts. This article is titled: Toilet related injury. Presley and others were not injured while (allegedly) on the toilet. Misplaced Pages doesn't allow Original research by anyone or personal opinions. Please quote your Misplaced Pages:Reliable sources for George II's death - after you deal with the issue as clearly stated above by me. Thank you. - Ted Wilkes 23:36, 5 November 2005 (UTC)

A large proportion of this article is about death too (note toilet-related death redirects here) and they clearly died on the toilet, at least according to some sources. I will add references for the George II entry as and when I have the time and inclination to do so. violet/riga (t) 23:39, 5 November 2005 (UTC)

I'm sorry, but a redirect to this article doesn't alter the fact that a large part of the content, as I clearly stated above, is not appropriate to this article about toilet-related injuries. Also, I find it incredulous that you would be so callous about leaving unsubstantiated gossip in Misplaced Pages until "you are inclined" to support your claims. That, is irresponsible and is precisely what drove away dedicated and sincere contributors and, if you read the mailing list what another valuable contributor talked about that caused the mess at the Bill Gates and Jane Fonda articles when they "gave up" against people editing in that manner . - Ted Wilkes 23:54, 5 November 2005 (UTC)

I disagree with most of that. violet/riga (t) 23:56, 5 November 2005 (UTC)
A quick search for books that state about his death on the toilet...
  • Title The Rough Guide to London
  • Author(s) Rob Humphreys
  • ISBN 1843530937
  • Title The Long Fuse
  • Author(s) Don Cook
  • ISBN 0871136619
  • Title Well , Duh !
  • Author(s) Bob Fenster
  • ISBN 0740741764
Perhaps not all massively reputable, but non-Misplaced Pages-based examples nonetheless. violet/riga (t) 00:07, 6 November 2005 (UTC)


And again we agree, but in part. "Not reputable" is only a part of it. The exact contents of the writings referred to are not easily accessible for verification, and as such cannot be used at Misplaced Pages. In fact, there are no records as to the details of King George II's death and that is why many reliable sources such as Encarta and Britannica simply state he died in 1760. Credibility is a deadly serious issue for Misplaced Pages because without it, all those who have and do make sincere contributions and donate much time and effort will have done so in vain. And, posting speculation, gossip and rumour guarantees rampant abuse resulting in Misplaced Pages along with all those sincere people being completely discredited. - Ted Wilkes 00:30, 6 November 2005 (UTC)

You haven't heard of Google Print then, on which you can read (the relevant parts of) those books. I am fully aware of credibility, and it's an easy get around - stating that it's a belief and giving relevant citations. Note the plural, as one reference is not enough but numerous ones lend creditability. violet/riga (t) 07:44, 6 November 2005 (UTC)

We seem to be agreeing more and more, the single largest frustration at Misplaced Pages that I constantly run into is either claims with no CREDIBLE citations, citations that are worthless, and the most famous "it's a belief" which is no more than an attempt to insert a rumor or gossip tied to an agenda. If you think there has been difficulty with this on the Elvis Presley article, I dread opening up the Treaty of Versailles and the massive other articles with a similar agenda. - Ted Wilkes 17:46, 6 November 2005 (UTC)


Actually, I will disagree with part of your last statement that says: "Note the plural, as one reference is not enough but numerous ones lend creditability." - I find that many of these (and likely in the 3 instances cited) are in fact quotes either direct or a disguised variation from one party's writing (such as Brewer). And I say that because none of the most reputable of sources don't mention it. For travel guides and other "prmoting", it is no more than harmless hype but not encyclopedic. I actually found a University Professor's website quoting a complete fabrication from Misplaced Pages which is of course the situation that happened last September (04) at the Washington Post. - Ted Wilkes 19:59, 6 November 2005 (UTC)

Toilet-related death of King George II

Here is a direct quote from vol. 2 of the famous Memoires of the Last Ten Years of the Reign of George the Second by Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford:

On the 25th of October he rose as usual at six, and drank his chocolate; for all his actions were invariably methodic. A quarter after seven he went into a little closet. His German valet de chambre in waiting heard a noise, and running in, found the King dead on the floor." (p. 454) Onefortyone 21:49, 6 November 2005 (UTC)

Toilet-related death of Elvis Presley

Here is what reputed Elvis biographer Peter Guralnick says about Elvis Presley's death:

The only thing that appeared to have been missed, aside from the empty syringes, was the book that Elvis had in the bathroom with him when he died, a study of sex and psychic energy that correlated sexual positions with astrological signs. Warlick found a stain on the bathroom carpeting, too, that seemed to indicate where Elvis had thrown up after being stricken, apparently while seated on the toilet. It looked to the medical investigator as if he had "stumbled or crawled several feet before he died." ... nine pathologists from Baptist cond acted the examination in full knowledge that the world was watching but that the results would be released to Elvis' father alone. ... Francisco announced the results of the autopsy, even as the autopsy was still going on. Death, he said, was "due to cardiac arrhythmia due to undetermined heartbeat." ... But there were in fact at that time no results to report. The autopsy proper went on for another couple of hours. Specimens were collected and carefully preserved, the internal organs were examined and the heart found to be enlarged, a significant amount of coronary atherosclerosis was observed, the liver showed considerable damage, and the large intestine was clogged with fecal matter, indicating a painful and longstanding bowel condition. The bowel condition alone would have strongly suggested to the doctors what by now they had every reason to suspect from Elvis' hospital history, the observed liver damage, and abundant anecdotal evidence: that drug use was heavily implicated in this unanticipated death of a middle-aged man with no known history of heart disease who had been "mobile and functional within eight hours of his death." It was certainly possible that he had been taken while "straining at stool," and no one ruled out the possibility of anaphylactic shock brought on by the codeine pills he had gotten from his dentist, to which he was known to have had a mild allergy of long standing. The pathologists, however, were satisfied to wait for the lab results, which they were confident would overrule Dr. Francisco's precipitate, and somewhat meaningless, announcement, as indeed they eventually did. There was little disagreement in fact between the two principal laboratory reports and analyses filed two months later, with each stating a strong belief that the primary cause of death was polypharmacy, and the BioScience Laboratories report, initially filed under the patient name of "Ethel Moore," indicating the detection of fourteen drugs in Elvis' system, ten in significant quantity. Codeine appeared at ten times the therapeutic level, methaqualone (Quaalude) in an arguably toxic amount, three other drugs appeared to be on the borderline of toxicity taken in and of themselves, and "the combined effect of the central nervous system depressants and the codeine" had to be given heavy consideration. See Careless Love:The Unmaking of Elvis Presley (1999), pp. 651-652. Onefortyone 22:03, 6 November 2005 (UTC)

Almost anything could be 'toilet related'

I think the scope of the article should be limited to: "injuries caused by or suffered as a result of use or misuse of a toilet", even though this is not explicit in the article name.

One could easily create an article: "Shoe related injuries", which documents instances of "injuries sustained while wearing or in vicinity of shoes". Quite silly yes, because in such a case one could easily list all assasitantions where the victim wore shoes for example, or even didn't wear shoes to somehow associate not wearing shoes with the injuries. In this case proper examples would include pointe shoe related injuries and injuries caused by stiletto shoes and maybe even incidents related to improper footwear in sports.

I think this article ("Toilet-related injury") should be recommended for deletion, or at least pruned. 211.28.78.115 02:23, 18 March 2006 (UTC)

Famous toilet related deaths

Not a single one of these is toilet related except in that they all took place on the toilet. A toilet-related death is a death in which a fatal injury was sustained as a result of the toilet, not a heart attack that just happened to occur when one was sitting on the toilet. James Callahan 00:01, 7 April 2007 (UTC)

Firstly, that's why it is "toilet-related". Secondly, many of them happened directly because they were using the toilet, either they were pushing a little too hard or they were attacked while very vulnerable. violet/riga (t) 05:50, 7 April 2007 (UTC)

King Eglon?

Those of you who watch this article might consider adding King Eglon, who is mentioned in the old scriptural Book of Judges. I've seen translations that indicated that Ehud killed King Eglon in his bathroom and left him there. The attendants waited "to the point of embarrassment" before finally discovering his corpse. Anyone with a good scholarly study bible could adequately cite this, I imagine. Dunkelweizen (talk) 23:42, 8 September 2008 (UTC)

The story you are referring to is found in Judges 3:15-26. The vernacular used is archaic, so I cannot conclude that Eglon died in the bathroom. We would need an expert in Israeli history and language of that time period to advise us. -- Warren Gaebel.

Un-encyclopedic caption

The caption "The toilet: friend or foe?" has no encyclopedic value. It gave me a good laugh, however. I hope it remains and opine that it should. --Boston (talk) 02:06, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

I'm sorry, but...

Is this article a joke or something? I stumbled upon it quite by accident, but it seems like the kind of thing I'd read to get a cheap laugh. It seems out-of-place on teh wiki. Or perhaps toilet humour is such that those who are fans of that kind of humour jumped at the prospect of a wiki page devoted to unusual toilet-related injuries? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 131.227.222.88 (talk) 21:58, 17 January 2010 (UTC)

Chris Hedley??

"Chris Hedley jumping out of the bowl and nibbling on mens genitals" Who or what is Chris Hedley?? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.191.50.81 (talk) 14:10, 8 October 2010 (UTC)

The King

I think this is disrespectful to the King Elvis Presley as there is more evidence to say he didn't die from a toilet-related injury than that he did. Elvis died on the floor below a leather commode/chair for reading and other such activites, NOT a toilet. Both can be called commodes which is where I believe the story started. The maps of the upper floor of Graceland show this. To get to Elvis' office you had to go thru the bathroom and there was a reading chair in Elvis' bathroom. If he had died straining to poop there would have been poop everywhere, but no, there was none according to the offical police reports of the scene. Either do some Goddamn research or get this the Hell off the page. Hell, there's more proof Elvis isn't dead at all and is living in my attic than he died taking a poop and that's saying something. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 58.179.213.80 (talk) 10:47, 10 August 2011 (UTC)

According to Peter Guralnick's mainstream biography of Elvis, the investigators "found a stain on the bathroom carpeting ... that seemed to indicate where Elvis had thrown up after being stricken, apparently while seated on the toilet. It looked to the medical investigator as if he had 'stumbled or crawled several feet before he died.' " The author adds that "the large intestine was clogged with fecal matter, indicating a painful and longstanding bowel condition. ... It was certainly possible that he had been taken while 'straining at stool,' and no one ruled out the possibility of anaphylactic shock brought on by the codeine pills he had gotten from his dentist." See Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley (1999), p.651-652. As early as 1980, Robert Lawrence Holt wrote, "Dr. George Nichopoulos, Elvis Presley's private physician, revealed that his patient had suffered from chronic constipation and further stated, 'I felt it probably related to a long history of laxative abuse.' " See Hemorrhoids: A Cure and Preventive, p.116. Furthermore, Nichopoulos is of the opinion that Elvis's death on the toilet was related to his straining at stool because of his chronically clogged colon. According to his autopsy, the singer's colon was 5 to 6 inches in diameter, nearly twice the size of the average person. It was also 8 to 9 feet long, compared with the normal 4 to 5 feet. "We found stool in his colon which had been there for four or five months because of the poor motility of the bowel." Therefore, Nichopoulos and Dr Dan Warlick (who examined Elvis's body at autopsy) conclude that Presley died in his bathroom at Graceland from a Valsalva maneuver that "caused the heart to stop when the body strained. 'When the body senses a vascular occlusion or blocked major artery—the heart is signaled to stop creating the pressure in the vessel. When Elvis compressed his abdominal aorta by straining, his heart, in response, went into arrhythmia and quit working suddenly. All of the information from the scene investigation is completely consistent with this theory,' Warlick told me." See George C. Nichopoulos, The King and Dr. Nick: What Really Happened to Elvis and Me (2010), p.137. From a medical point of view, there can be no doubt that, in the case of Elvis, the Valsalva maneuver is clearly related to constipation. According to Barry B. White, the main causes of Valsalva Maneuver are: 1. Straining at stool due to constipation. 2. Straining to urinate. 3. Straining to raise up in bed or to get in or out of bed... See Barry B. White, Therapy in Acute Coronary Care (1971), p.65. According to Sharon Mantik Lewis, Margaret McLean Heitkemper and Shannon Ruff Dirksen, “Valsalva maneuver … occurs during straining to pass a hardened stool.” “If defecation is suppressed over long periods, problems can occur, such as constipation or stool impaction. Defecation can be facilitated by the Valsalva maneuver. This maneuver involves contraction of the chest muscles on a closed glottis with simultaneous contraction of the abdominal muscles.” See Sharon Mantik Lewis, Margaret McLean Heitkemper, Shannon Ruff Dirksen, eds., Medical-Surgical Nursing: Assessment and Management of Clinical Problems, 6th edition, Volume 2 (2004), p.951. Gladys Nite and Frank Neal Willis write that it has been pointed out “that the danger of a Valsalva maneuver is increased by constipation.” See Gladys Nite and Frank Neal Willis, The Coronary Patient: Hospital Care and Rehabilitation (1964), p.164. As Nichopoulos, in his book, extensively writes about Elvis’s colon condition, and that there was evidence of a clogged colon, concluding that Elvis died of Valsalva maneuver that “caused the heart to stop when the body strained”, the singer’s death on the toilet is clearly related to constipation. Onefortyone (talk) 17:05, 3 September 2011 (UTC)

I am grateful to 141 and violet/riga since I have just been diagnosed with an enlarged aorta and I was trying to figure out why, when I remembered my past history of constipation due to wheat intolerance. I then searched and found this article. Thanks much! Anerares — Preceding unsigned comment added by Anerares (talk • contribs) 20:32, 18 August 2012 (UTC)

Snakes, too

Regarding rats coming up through the toilet bowl and venomous spiders lying in wait under the rim, someone with access to back issues of Texas Monthly should add citations to their various stories about snakes entering people's bathrooms via that route. It used to be a mainstay of their annual "Bum Steer Awards". --Yngvadottir (talk) 13:20, 28 September 2012 (UTC)

Number of recalled units in Canada

Hi... I'm Ryan and I work for Edelman, the agency that represents Flushmate, which produces the Flushmate III. Flushmate is currently working with the Consumer Product Safety Commission on a voluntary recall of the Flushmate III. This recall is referenced in this Misplaced Pages entry, but the claim that there are nine million Flushmate devices under the recall in Canada is not true. The Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a press release in June 2012 showing that the number of recalled units in Canada was about 9,400.

Here is the relevant link:

CPSC press release: http://www.cpsc.gov/en/Recalls/2012/Flushmate-Recalls-Flushmate-III-Pressure-Assisted-Flushing-System-Due-to-Impact-and-Laceration-Hazards/ — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ryancudneyedelman (talk • contribs) 15:45, 29 May 2013 (UTC)

Just a note that, given this guideline, I have made the above change. --Ryancudneyedelman (talk) 21:29, 12 June 2013 (UTC)

News about this article

report --Horcrux92 (talk) 22:52, 12 May 2014 (UTC)

Trivia section

I've removed a few items from the "Trivia" section in this article, and want to expalin why. First, they are unsourced and in many cases (somewhat self-evidently) entirely trivial. Second, and more importantly, But more importantly, they are not "toilet-related injuries" in the sense of the article - that is, injuries sustained through the regular use of a toilet. Instead they are:

  • unrelated injuries that occur in a place that also has a toilet in it (for example the death of Tywin Lannister), or
  • injuries caused by other means, but happening to involve the random involvement of parts of a toilet (for example people killed by bits of toilets blown up in explosions).

I have moved them here for review purposes, but would ask they not be re-added without some discussion on how they are "toilet-related injuries" rather than "injuries tangentially involving topilets" - and alos without appropriate and reliable sourcing. It would also be necessary to argue the significance of these incidents - how have they contributed to popular understanding of this topic?

The removed items include:

  • In the 1985 film Back to the Future, Doc Brown comes up with the idea of the flux capacitor (which is what makes time travel possible) after slipping from his toilet while attempting to hang his clock and then bumping his head. The idea comes to him in a vision he has after being knocked out.
  • In Alan Moore's 1986-1987 graphic novel Watchmen, Rorschach kills a prison attacker by breaking his cell's toilet and electrifying the pool of water once his assailant steps into it.
  • In the 1987 film Street Trash, a character dies while sitting on a toilet in a junkyard after drinking "Viper", a cheap alcohol that causes him (and others in the film) to melt or explode after consumption.
  • In the 1991 film Nothing But Trouble, the character of Miss Purdah dies while sitting on the toilet in the outhouse, which falls into a fiery hole caused by an underground coal fire.
  • In the 1992 film Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, Harry Lyme (Joe Pesci) has his head lit on fire, then attempts to put out the flames by sticking his head in a toilet bowl, unaware that it is filled with paint thinner.
  • In the 1994 film Pulp Fiction directed by Quentin Tarantino, bathroom breaks punctuate chapters of the film: Mia Marcellus (Uma Thurman) overdoses on heroin, a diner is robbed, and, in his final ill-fated trip to the toilet, Vincent Vega (John Travolta) is shot with his own gun which Vincent left carelessly on a kitchen counter while waiting in the home of a man he was sent to kill (Bruce Willis).
  • In the 2000 novel A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin, Tyrion Lannister kills his father Tywin Lannister with a crossbow while Tywin is sitting on a privy.
  • In the pilot episode of the 2000-2005 comedy-drama series Dead Like Me, the main protagonist Georgia's life is cut short when a toilet seat from the Mir space station drives her into the pavement.
  • In the Curb Your Enthusiasm episode "The Weatherman", Larry David urinates sitting down in order not to turn the light on when he gets up to use the toilet at night. However, he injures himself one night after his wife, Cheryl David (played by Cheryl Hines), forgets to put the seat down.
  • In a 2012 episode of South Park called "Reverse Cowgirl", a character named Clyde Donovan left the toilet seat up and his mother was killed after falling in and flushing the toilet, which sucked out all her organs.


  • In the X-Files episode War of the Coprophages, a man is apparently attacked and killed by cockroaches while using the toilet, though Dana Scully suggests he may in fact have suffered from an aneurysm while straining.
  • In the short film Rollover Training FA Style, two American soldiers knock over a portable toilet while one of their comrades unknowingly sits inside. The film, produced by a US Army unit deployed in Operation Iraqi Freedom and distributed over the internet, parodies military instructional materials.
  • In Eli Roth's 2005 movie Hostel, Paxton hears the voice of the Dutch businessman, follows him to a public restroom and throws the Elite Hunting's card under his stall. When the Dutch businessman reaches down to pick it up, Paxton cuts off two of his fingers, then kills him.

Other views welcome as always. Euryalus (talk) 05:40, 19 July 2014 (UTC)

Edits

Hi, I'm Josh and I am starting a company called CrapMap. Through this, I have come across many bits of information, that I would like to propose being used to change this article, by expanding on things and offering different points of view. Sorry that this is a bit formal, but this is the first edit I have made on Misplaced Pages. Here are my changes.

These recent fears have emerged from a series of hoax emails originating in the Blush Spider hoax, which began circulating the internet in 1999. Spiders have also been reported to live under seats of aeroplanes, however, the cleaning chemicals used in the toilets would result in an incompatibility with spider's survival. http://spiders.ucr.edu/debunk.html http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2082/do-poisonous-spiders-lurk-under-toilet-seats

However, many rat exterminators do not believe this, due to that pipes, at generally six inches (15 centimetres) wide, are too large for rats to climb and are also very slippery. Reports can be attributed to by some janitors that cases are always on the top floor, and could involve the rats being on the roof, entering the soil pipe through the roof vent, lowering themselves into the pipe and then into the toilet. http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/29/can-rats-swim-up-through-the-urk-toilet

Toilet related injuries are also surprisingly common, with some estimates ranging up to 40 000 deaths in the US every year. In the past, this number would have been much higher, due to the material toilet paper was made of. This was shown in a 1935 Northern Tissue advertisement which depicted splinter free toilet paper. http://factspy.net/40000-toilet-related-injuries-in-the-us-every-year/ http://qi.com/infocloud/lavatories http://nobodys-perfect.com/vtpm/exhibithall/informational/tphistory.html

In 1945, the German submarine U-1206 was sunk after a toilet malfunctioned, resulting in water coming in to the submarine, which when coming into contact with a battery, created chlorine gas, meaning the submarine had to resurface. At the surface, they were sunk by Allied Forces. This case may not be a case of the toilet malfunctioning, due to the incredible complexity of the pressurised flushing system in the U-Boats, which required a training course to operate. http://qi.com/infocloud/lavatories

I also cannot remove this reference to SouthPark, not sure why it is there. — Preceding unsigned comment added by JoshMuirWikipedia (talk • contribs) 06:45, 25 October 2015 (UTC)

Thanks, Please respond to this. — Preceding unsigned comment added by JoshMuirWikipedia (talk • contribs) 06:44, 25 October 2015 (UTC)

Elvis's death on the toilet

One user has removed a passage from this article that dealt with Elvis Presley. This is not OK, as many independent sources say that Elvis died on the toilet. Concerning the death of Elvis, here is a clear statement by Greil Marcus from his study, Dead Elvis: A Chronicle of a Cultural Obsession (Harvard University Press 1991): "Elvis died on the toilet" (p.154). Some other sources:

Dylan Jones, Elvis Has Left the Building: The Day the King Died (New York and London 2014), chapter 2: The Day Elvis Died: "Elvis Presley died aged fortytwo on August 16th, 1977, in the bathroom of the star's own Graceland mansion in Memphis. Sitting on the toilet, he had toppled like a toy soldier and collapsed onto the floor, where he lay in a pool of his own vomit. His light blue pyjamas were around his ankles."
Joel Williamson, Elvis Presley: A Southern Life (Oxford University Press 2015): "For some reason—perhaps involving a reaction to the codeine and attempts to move his bowels—he experienced pain and fright while sitting on the toilet. Alarmed, he stood up, dropped the book he was reading, stumbled forward, and fell face down in the fetal position. He struggled weakly and drooled on the rug. Unable to breathe, he died." (p.18)
Victor Pross, "Elvis Presley: Universal Rock Icon", in Icons & Idols: Pop Goes the Culture (Bloomington, IN 2009): "Elvis Presley died, at age 42, in 1977 in Memphis. It was an ignominious tumble off a toilet into a pool of vomit, but it heralded perhaps the most glorious resurrection in pop culture history." (p.11)
Joel Williamson, "Graceland", in William E. Leuchtenburg, American Places: Encounters with History (Oxford University Press 2000): "It was … a wall-to-wall red rug in an upstairs bathroom with threeinch pile in which Elvis died face down, having risen from his reputedly wallhung black ceramic toilet with a seat padded in imitation black leather and having collapsed in the proximity of teddy bears, empty syringes, and an illustrated book of Asian derivasion that coordinated the birth dates of men and women with certain cosmically optimal sexual positions."
Frank Coffey, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Elvis (1997): "Hospital officials present at the autopsy later admitted that Elvis died from polypharmacy— multiple drug ingestion. Other examinations of the evidence have yielded other plausible causes of Elvis' death, including: a phenomenon called the Valsalva maneuver (essentially straining on the toilet leading to heart stoppage — plausible because Elvis suffered constipation, a common reaction to drug use); anaphylactic shock (caused by either an extreme allergic reaction or reaction to potent — i.e., street — drugs); even suffocation (after blacking out) on the thick carpeting of his bathroom." (p.247)
Charles Reagan Wilson, "The Death of Southern Heroes: Historic Funerals of the South," Southern Cultures, Volume 1 (Duke University Press, Fall 1994), p.17: "Presley died at Graceland of massive drug abuse that led to heart failure while he sat on the toilet reading a book on the Shroud of Turin. He was discovered face down on the plush red carpet."
John Voelz, King Me (Littleton, CO 2010): "I was a kid when The King died on his throne. On August 16th, 1977, Elvis Presley died in his Graceland mansion. On the toilet. Well, on the floor. After he fell off the toilet. Not a very “kingly” way to go." (p.10).
Warren Allen Smith, Who's who in Hell: A Handbook and International Directory for Humanists, Freethinkers, Naturalists, Rationalists, and Non-theists (Barricade Books 2000): "Two who literally died 'on the throne', as the toilet stool is sometimes called, were singers Judy Garland and Elvis Presley." (p.1098) Onefortyone (talk) 00:56, 6 November 2015 (UTC)

Last but not least, here is what reputed Elvis biographer Peter Guralnick says about Elvis's death at Graceland:

Warlick found a stain on the bathroom carpeting, too, that seemed to indicate where Elvis had thrown up after being stricken, apparently while seated on the toilet. It looked to the medical investigator as if he had "stumbled or crawled several feet before he died." ... the large intestine was clogged with fecal matter, indicating a painful and longstanding bowel condition. The bowel condition alone would have strongly suggested ... that drug use was heavily implicated in this unanticipated death ... It was certainly possible that he had been taken while "straining at stool" ... See Peter Guralnick, Careless Love:The Unmaking of Elvis Presley (1999), pp.651-652.

This latter source was quoted by me. I do not understand what should be wrong with this source. However, I have now changed the wording of the said paragraph, using quotations from other sources. Interestingly, but understandably, the people around Elvis tried to hide the real cause of his death. In her book, Elvis Aaron Presley: Revelations from the Memphis Mafia (1995), Alanna Nash cites Billy Smith, Elvis's first cousin: "we never really wanted to say this, but Elvis was actually sitting on the toilet, with his pajama bottoms down. His colon was bothering him. And he fell over, and, best I understand, he crawled several feet. So this was not an instantaneous death. Or a painless one. They know that from all these little hemorrhages he had from the waist up, where the blood vessels had burst after he fell. That goes along with a drug death." (p.719) In her book, Elvis & Ginger: Elvis Presley's Fiancée and Last Love Finally Tells her Story (New York: The Berkeley Publishing Group 2014), Ginger Alden says: "Elvis looked as if his entire body had completely frozen in a seated position while using the commode and then had fallen forward, in that fixed position, directly in front of it. ... It was clear that, from the time whatever hit him to the moment he had landed on the floor, Elvis hadn't moved." It should be noted that Alden was the first person to find Elvis dead. So her version of the story is an eyewitness account. Onefortyone (talk) 01:22, 6 November 2015 (UTC)

  1. "Reverse Cowgirl", South Park Studios.com
Categories: