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Event organizers often see porta potties, those bright blue, portable, and durable polyethylene units, as perfect toilet solutions. They are also extensively used in the construction industry and rented by cities for public parks.
It’s likely that many of us have relied on a porta potty during urgent moments. However, as these 10 unusual discoveries show, these portable restrooms sometimes provide more than just relief.
10. Undelivered Mail
In December 2016, residents of Macomb Township, Michigan, were shocked when a construction worker found their missing mail inside a porta potty. The USPS delivery person had bypassed mailboxes and instead placed the letters into the portable restroom.
Hundreds of people missed out on checks, holiday cards, coupons, and more. The mail, discarded in mid-November, had turned blue from absorbing the toilet's odor-neutralizing chemicals.
A USPS investigation revealed the responsible letter carrier, who resigned and now faces felony charges for mail theft. Some of the recovered mail was cleaned and delivered, while other items required reissuing.
9. Meth Lab
In February 2013, a foul odor emanating from a golf course porta potty in Purcell, Oklahoma, raised alarms. Employees noticed suspicious sports drink bottles filled with chemicals and alerted the police. It was discovered that someone had turned the portable restroom into a small-scale meth lab, using the 'shake-and-bake' method to produce the drug.
Three bottles were recovered, though two had already exploded before authorities arrived. Detective Corporal Scott Stephens of Purcell warned that if someone had been inside during the explosion, they could have been injured by the flying plastic and hazardous chemicals.
Although the porta potty's interior was damaged, investigators managed to recover fingerprint evidence, providing a crucial lead. Authorities suspect that multiple individuals may be involved in both the illegal drug production and the vandalism of the property.
8. Drugs And Drug Paraphernalia
In August 2016, a man walking his dog in Rogue River, Oregon, discovered several large marijuana plants inside a porta potty near the tennis courts at Anna Classick Park. He stumbled upon the plants after using the public restroom.
Police Chief Ken Lewis speculated on why the marijuana was hidden in the porta potty: “Perhaps someone stashed it there. They might have been illegally transporting it and left it for someone else to collect.” He confirmed that the plants, placed inside the restroom between 6:00 AM and 9:00 AM, were seized by authorities.
A porta potty filled with heroin-related items was removed from Don Samuel Torres Park in Rochester, New York, located near a public school. Julie Oldfield discovered the paraphernalia while photographing the area in December 2016 and immediately reported it to the police.
Mayor Lovely Warren had previously asked the community for help in combating drug use in the area. It was uncertain if the porta potty belonged to the city, but officials directed work crews to remove all city-owned portable toilets for the winter season.
7. Fireworks
In July 2015, a smoking porta potty emitting the smell of burnt powder caught the attention of passersby in Ottawa, Canada, suggesting a possible fire. Firefighters arrived to discover “remnants of firework paper,” according to Ottawa Fire Chief Jeff Carner.
However, no active fire was found. Carner noted that it was “clear someone had set off some kind of firework inside the porta potty.” No suspects were ever identified.
6. Camera
On October 10, 2015, James Francis Mazor unintentionally captured selfies while hiding a camera inside a coffee cup placed in a porta potty at Wiard’s Orchards and Country Fair in Ypsilanti Township, Michigan. These images later served as evidence of his crimes.
Mazor was arrested and charged with felonies for installing a device to eavesdrop and surveil an unclothed person. The porta potty was only in use for a day, and the only person recorded by his camera was himself.
5. Suspicious Package
An employee cleaning a porta potty along the Canalside waterfront in Buffalo, New York, discovered a suspicious package on June 15, 2016. A police robot was deployed to retrieve it, leading to the park's closure as the HAZMAT team and the police bomb squad investigated the situation.
The package was found to contain an unidentified liquid, but no explosives were detected. Canalside reopened by 2:00 PM, just in time for a scheduled evening concert.
The HAZMAT team was unable to determine the contents of the package. Police reviewed security camera footage to identify who left it in the porta potty and to uncover their motives. Authorities are still seeking answers about the package's purpose and origin.
4. Pipe Bomb
In July 2013, a sanitation worker in Lakewood, Washington, discovered an explosive device inside a portable toilet, prompting police to evacuate 50 people from nearby homes and businesses. The pipe bomb was safely neutralized after it failed to detonate due to the fuse burning out.
3. Corpses
Multiple deceased individuals have been discovered inside porta potties over the years.
Behind the Chapaton Pumping Station at the Lake St. Clair boat ramp in Michigan, a decomposing body was found inside a porta potty on April 20, 2014. The man’s identity and cause of death remain unknown, but officials suspect he may have been a homeless individual who sought refuge in the toilet during the harsh winter.
In October 2015, a construction worker at Cincinnati’s Paul Brown Stadium discovered the body of an unidentified man in one of the venue’s porta potties. This prompted increased emergency staffing. Earlier that week, a fan had collapsed in another restroom at the stadium and later died at a nearby hospital.
In May 2007, the badly decomposed body of 21-year-old Meaghan Bosch, a Southern Methodist University student who had gone missing days earlier, was found in a construction site porta potty in Hewitt, Texas. Initially, police believed she died from a drug overdose and was placed there afterward.
However, further investigation led police to suspect foul play, including possible murder and rape by James McDaniel, an ex-convict she may have been involved with. Her body was moved 158 kilometers (98 miles) from Dallas to the Hewitt construction site and left in the porta potty. Only her cell phone, shoes, and purse were missing.
2. Newborn
Candy Vigneri gave birth to her baby inside a porta potty at Long Wharf Park in Cambridge, Maryland. Afterward, she asked a construction worker for a cigarette and smoked it at a nearby picnic table. She also warned a passerby not to use the restroom, stating, “I just had a baby in there.”
The passerby called 911 while Vigneri retrieved her newborn from the toilet’s waste. The baby, covered in a blue antibacterial chemical, was unresponsive when emergency medical personnel arrived.
Vigneri, who claimed she was unaware of her pregnancy, was arrested on July 1, 2009, and charged with child abuse and reckless endangerment. The baby survived and was placed under the care of the county’s social services after being discharged from the hospital.
1. Fetus
On June 11, 2008, in Weld County, Colorado, a sand-and-gravel company employee’s vacuum pump stopped working while cleaning a porta potty after encountering a third-trimester fetus inside. The portable toilet was one of two at the company’s remote location near the Wyoming border.
It is unclear how long the fetus had been in the toilet, but the unit had last been serviced two weeks prior. Authorities are awaiting autopsy results to determine if the fetus was stillborn or born alive. Regardless, Weld County officials stated that the mother could face criminal charges.
