There’s a statistical inevitability that says, were you to become immortal, your chances of being trapped somewhere forever would eventually reach 100%. Now usually these trappable locations are viewed as cave-ins, or getting your arm stuck in a boulder, or… you know, getting sucked into a black hole when the sun inevitably collapses in on itself in billions of years. But, what if you were to get trapped somewhere closer to home? Somewhere you visit every day? Maybe somewhere like … the bathroom? And with that out of the way… So you might be thinking, “How common can getting stuck in a bathroom be?” Aside from situations like an earthquake or other disaster where someone is confined by outside causes. Grill: Stuck? In a bathroom. It’s more likely than you think. Really? In fact, allow me to illustrate how shockingly common this situation is. Ahem. November 2010, a 69-year-old pensioner living in Paris, France spent 20 days trapped in her bathroom after the lock to the door jammed. She survived off of warm tap water while tapping on the pipes in an attempt to alert her neighbours, who realized that they hadn’t seen her in some time and alerted authorities who managed to rescue her. December 2013, a senior assistant for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in Washington DC was locked in the office restroom for 8 hours and resorted to using a metal pole she found in the rafters to chisel a hole in the wall large enough to reach through and open the door from the outside. September 2019, a United Airlines flight was delayed by more than two hours after it was forced to make an emergency landing after the lock on a washroom jammed trapping a woman inside. Alright so what, that’s just like people getting locked into the bathroom... August 2016, a Norwegian man was trapped in a public outhouse for an hour after his friend’s phone fell into it. Jumping in, the man was stuck in the waste within and reported that he could feel animals crawling over him until the toilet was broken by emergency services and he was rescued. He... Didn’t even get the phone back. Grill: Once again I am both disappointed in, yet unsurprised by the failings of man. In fact, according to statistics released in 2016, British firefighters responded to over 12,000 calls to help people — or dogs — who had become trapped in bathrooms across a three-year period. While figures seem to have dropped since then, there were still a reported 659 washroom related calls between 2016 and 2019. But so far, we’ve only seen short term cases. Grill: How is 20 days short term? I’m so glad you asked Grill. Because for two women, the bathroom was their home for TWO YEARS. Grill: Wait, no. I didn’t want an answer! February 2008, deputies in the Kansas town of Ness City responded to a call by one Kory McFarren. McFarren had said that he believed something was wrong with his girlfriend, but that didn’t quite convey the exact scene inside. Two years prior, McFarren’s girlfriend, Pam Babcock, went to the washroom and hadn’t left since. And, more disturbingly, by the time emergency services arrived she’d been sitting on the toilet for over a month with her pants around her legs, resulting in her skin somehow growing around the toilet seat,requiring it to be surgically removed. According to Ness County Sheriff Bryan Whipple, there was a “terrible smell about the house, obviously coming from where she was at.” So what happened, and why did it take McFarren two years to call anyone? Well, according to McFarren himself, Babcock viewed the washroom as a place of safety after a harsh childhood. Following her mother’s death, Babcock was apparently beaten by her father, and according to James Ellis, a neighbor who knew Babcock since childhood, “It really doesn’t surprise me,” as she was usually kept inside by her father when she was young. “What surprises me is somebody wasn’t called in a bit earlier.” So why wasn’t someone called in earlier? According to McFarren, he’d just gotten used to it. Excuse me? But how exactly do you get used to someone living in your bathroom!? Well, by McFarren’s account, it was because it was such a long process. Or, in his words: “It just kind of happened one day; she went in and had been in there a little while, the next time it was a little longer. Then she got it in her head she was going to stay – like it was a safe place for her,” But it’s also not as if he just… left her in there. McFarren is reported to have brought her food and water, changes of clothes, and carried out a normal relationship with her. Just, you know, in the bathroom. By his account, he even asked her to come out on a daily basis, only to get the same answer: “Maybe tomorrow.” In fact even when emergency services were called, Babcock initially didn’t want to leave the bathroom and had to be convinced, and remained uncooperative with both police and medical staff after the fact. And there may have been some issues recognizing how serious the situation was on McFarren’s part. In the words of Sheriff Whipple, "The unfortunate thing is this truly is a case of two people, in my opinion, with diminished mental capacity," Ok, I guess that makes sense, but dearest Brew. I would like to inquire about HOW A TOILET SEAT GOT SO STUCK THAT IT HAD TO BE SURGICALLY REMOVED! Ah, yes, well it turns out sitting in the same spot for over a month has some drastic health effects. Sitting immobile with constant pressure upon part of your body for prolonged periods of time can create ulcers commonly known as bedsores. This is caused by pressure cutting off bloodflow causing the skin to die and become necrotic. In Babcock’s case, these sores then scabbed over into the toilet seat, according to Discovery magazine, fusing body and seat together. That is horrifying. It is, and unfortunately it gets worse. Babcock’s wounds became infected and caused damage to the nerves in her legs, leaving her needing a wheelchair. In fact, doctors doubted that she’d ever walk again, which seems warranted given that the hosts of “Where Is The Line” podcast found pictures of Babcock still in a wheelchair as recently as 2019. McFarren was charged with mistreatment of a dependent adult and given six months probation. But other than that, Babcock seems happy, healthy enough, and has even started bowling according to the podcast hosts. So good for her! Chill: That is good, isn’t that swee- wait… Wait a second, you said that happened twice? I did! Though the second case happened more than a decade earlier and on the opposite side of the planet. In 1991, a Singaporean woman by the name of Leong Mee Yan started making longer and longer visits to the bathroom after her sister pressured her for money, according to her husband Ong Kian Ann. And much like Babcock, one day she just never left. According to Leong, she felt a “"felt a force holding me down" and feared that she would be sprayed with cold water and have rocks thrown at her were she to leave the safety of the washroom. Leong spent the entire ordeal naked, was fed by her husband and had only 18 showers over 902 days. She got food and water from her husband, who incidentally was the only person she would speak to. She even ignored her 27-year-old son. Despite attempts to coax her out of the washroom, Mr. Ong was unable to convince her. After 902 days he decided he had enough and called the authorities who took her to a mental health facility where it was discovered she had been suffering from hallucinations. The ordeal took a toll on her body, leaving her half the weight she started at and unable to walk. Since then, Leong has spent her days in a reclining chair in their home, unable to take more than a few steps. So what happened? Why would two mature adults choose to stay in their washrooms for over two years each? Well according to Gerald Schonewolf, PhD, the culprit may be Agoraphobia. As described by the Mayo Clinic, Agoraphobia is, “a type of anxiety disorder in which you fear and avoid places or situations that might cause you to panic and make you feel trapped, helpless or embarrassed.” Going a bit more in depth, agoraphobia causes a fear of situations where they feel unable to escape—specifically in public spaces and often causes them to stay somewhere safe. Or at least somewhere they perceive to be safe, oftentimes the person’s home. According to Better Health Victoria, Agoraphobia generally begins small as a fear of a specific incident then grows into a fear of feeling “unsafe”, pushing those suffering from it into adopting avoidance behavior. Agoraphobia may start with a panic attack in a grocery store, and then over time the fear extends from grocery stores, to shopping, to even going outside. So given Babcock’s history, in the words of Dr. Schonewolf, it’s “Little wonder then that she developed agoraphobia”. Just for Babcock and Leong, instead of feeling unsafe to leave home, they were afraid to leave their bathrooms. Thankfully, Better Health Victoria lists Agoraphobia as responding well to a number of treatments, including medication, support groups, and exposure therapy - which we talked about in our Trypophobia episode. In the case of Pam Babcock and Madam Leong, the issue was that of mental health. The important thing is that both women seem to have recovered. When it comes to getting stuck physically, there are certain levels of risks we can avoid, and situations we can’t. For example, not jumping down a public outhouse is a good way to avoid getting trapped in one, but there’s not much you can do to stop the lock on a door from jamming. And if you are feeling trapped mentally, there’s no shame in seeking out a professional and take the first steps towards feeling safe again.
