Gong farmer: The people whose job it was to remove human effluent from privies and cesspits in Tudor England. Operating at night to avoid the public, they were generally shunned. (en.wikipedia.org)

submitted 5 months ago by 58008@lemmy.world to c/creepywikipedia@lemmy.world

1 comments fedilink hide all child comments

One notable incident occurred in 1326, when a gong-farmer named Richard the Raker fell into a cesspit whose ceiling had rotted, and drowned while collecting feces.

Possibly the worst death on the job ever?

all 2 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[-] PrincessLeiasCat@sh.itjust.works 13 points 5 months ago

Much of what is known about London's privies during the 17th and 18th century comes from witness statements describing what had been discovered among the human excrement, such as the corpses of unwanted infants.

It somehow got worse.

this post was submitted on 24 Feb 2024

40 points (97.6% liked)

Creepy Wikipedia

3704 readers

27 users here now

A fediverse community for curating Wikipedia articles that are oddly fascinating, eerily unsettling, or make you shiver with fear and disgust

Guidelines:

Follow the Code of Conduct
Do NOT report posts YOU don't consider creepy
Strictly Wikipedia submissions only
Please follow the post naming convention: Wikipedia Article Title - Short Synopsis
Tick the NSFW box for submissions with inappropriate thumbnails.
Please refrain from any offensive language/profanities in the posts titles, unless necessary (e.g. it's in the original article's title).

Mandatory:

If you didn't find an article "creepy," you must announce it in the thread so everyone will know that you didn't find it creepy

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

decadentrebel@lemmy.world

CoachDom@lemmy.blahaj.zone