# The Pit and the Pendulum - what was in the pit? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 15, 2014, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pit-and-the-pendulum-what-was-in-the-pit/693196 "2014-07-15T18:58:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pit-and-the-pendulum-what-was-in-the-pit/693196/1 "2014-07-15T18:58:10Z")
The story by Edgar Allen Poe - “The Pit and the Pendulum” - it’s never explicitly stated what the pit contains, but it is stated that the main character is so terrified of what he sees in it that he decides that any other death would be preferable. This is what we know of it: The main character, in complete darkness, throws a small piece of rock into the pit: > [@](#): > > \*At the same time my forehead seemed bathed in a clammy vapor, and the peculiar smell of decayed fungus arose to my nostrils. I put forward my arm, and shuddered to find that I had fallen at the very brink of a circular pit, whose extent, of course, I had no means of ascertaining at the moment. Groping about the masonry just below the margin, I succeeded in dislodging a small fragment, and let it fall into the abyss. For many seconds I hearkened to its reverberations as it dashed against the sides of the chasm in its descent; at length there was a sullen plunge into water, succeeded by loud echoes. At the same moment there came a sound resembling the quick opening, and as rapid closing of a door overhead, while a faint gleam of light flashed suddenly through the gloom, and as suddenly faded away… > > …Shaking in every limb, I groped my way back to the wall; resolving there to perish rather than risk the terrors of the wells, of which my imagination now pictured many in various positions about the dungeon. In other conditions of mind I might have had courage to end my misery at once by a plunge into one of these abysses; but now I was the veriest of cowards. Neither could I forget what I had read of these pits – that the sudden extinction of life formed no part of their most horrible plan.\* The main character glimpses into the pit: > [@](#): > > \*I shrank from the glowing metal to the centre of the cell. Amid the thought of the fiery destruction that impended, the idea of the coolness of the well came over my soul like balm. I rushed to its deadly brink. I threw my straining vision below. The glare from the enkindled roof illumined its inmost recesses. Yet, for a wild moment, did my spirit refuse to comprehend the meaning of what I saw. At length it forced – it wrestled its way into my soul – it burned itself in upon my shuddering reason. – Oh! for a voice to speak! – oh! horror! – oh! any horror but this! With a shriek, I rushed from the margin, and buried my face in my hands – weeping bitterly… > > …“Death,” I said, “any death but that of the pit!”\* So there’s liquid in the pit, a mechanical sound like something shutting, and a flash of light. Suggests some contraption. But maybe the water wasn’t meant to be there; perhaps it just seeped in as groundwater because the deep pit was like a well. What do you think was in the pit? ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pit-and-the-pendulum-what-was-in-the-pit/693196/2 "2014-07-15T19:05:19Z")
Miley Cyrus. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pit-and-the-pendulum-what-was-in-the-pit/693196/3 "2014-07-15T19:06:35Z")
I haven’t read it for a while but my impression was that the pit was teeming with rats and if he fell into it he would be eaten alive. I could well be mistaken though, as I said it’s been a while since I read it. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pit-and-the-pendulum-what-was-in-the-pit/693196/4 "2014-07-15T19:13:37Z")
> [@](#): > > at length there was a sullen plunge into water, succeeded by loud echoes. At the same moment there came a sound resembling the quick opening, and as rapid closing of a door overhead, while a faint gleam of light flashed suddenly through the gloom, and as suddenly faded away… I understood this to mean that when the rock splashed down, his captors opened a door to check on him. They were listening. I never thought there was anything but water in the pit, and he was afraid of drowning. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pit-and-the-pendulum-what-was-in-the-pit/693196/5 "2014-07-15T19:28:57Z")
Sheeesh. I always took it to be some unimaginable horror, the worst thing you could imagine, and so Poe left it to the reader’s imagination. Giant spiders? Snakes? Slime and bog? Cannibals? Politicians? whatever. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pit-and-the-pendulum-what-was-in-the-pit/693196/6 "2014-07-15T19:31:54Z")
> [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](#): > > Politicians? Yikes! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pit-and-the-pendulum-what-was-in-the-pit/693196/7 "2014-07-15T19:52:43Z")
One year, before Halloween, Dr. Demento played a special recording: a dramatic reading of this story by Nelson Olmsted. He pulled out all the stops! ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pit-and-the-pendulum-what-was-in-the-pit/693196/8 "2014-07-15T20:12:21Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > One year, before Halloween, Dr. Demento played a special recording: a dramatic reading of this story by Nelson Olmsted. He pulled out all the stops! So what did they say was in the pit? ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pit-and-the-pendulum-what-was-in-the-pit/693196/9 "2014-07-15T20:48:45Z")
Just Olmsted, and a dish of flesh for him to eat. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pit-and-the-pendulum-what-was-in-the-pit/693196/10 "2014-07-15T21:22:34Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > I haven’t read it for a while but my impression was that the pit was teeming with rats and if he fell into it he would be eaten alive. I could well be mistaken though, as I said it’s been a while since I read it. That’s my impression also. The story never says, but rats make sense. Now, yeah, it might have been a pustule of Shub-Niggurath. Or Pee-Wee Herman… ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pit-and-the-pendulum-what-was-in-the-pit/693196/11 "2014-07-15T21:53:26Z")
> [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](#): > > Sheeesh. I always took it to be some unimaginable horror, the worst thing you could imagine No, you’re thinking of \*our \*Pit. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pit-and-the-pendulum-what-was-in-the-pit/693196/12 "2014-07-15T21:54:42Z")
An oubliette perhaps? Basicall a deep pit that could either be just a pit, a pit of water, a pit of spikes or a pit spiked or not that ground water seeped into and filled, or in one case, the oubliette was filled from an angular channel from one of the guarderobes [castle toilets]. Yuck. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pit-and-the-pendulum-what-was-in-the-pit/693196/13 "2014-07-15T22:05:28Z")
A basket with a bottle of lotion in it. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pit-and-the-pendulum-what-was-in-the-pit/693196/14 "2014-07-15T22:45:52Z")
Comfy chair ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pit-and-the-pendulum-what-was-in-the-pit/693196/15 "2014-07-15T22:48:11Z")
A [vug](http://kindertrauma.com/images/art/pantsvugtrauma2.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![neofishboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/neofishboy/32/444_2.png) [@neofishboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neofishboy)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pit-and-the-pendulum-what-was-in-the-pit/693196/16 "2014-07-15T22:50:30Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > Comfy chair [!!!](http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/1622/gilliamredbig1ss.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Octarine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pit-and-the-pendulum-what-was-in-the-pit/693196/17 "2014-07-15T23:40:49Z")
If Poe hadn’t been relatively nonreligious, I would have guessed the pit led to Hell - and the whole story could be symbolic of someone trying in vain not to sin. Failing that, I think he just banked on the fact that the human imagination is a scary, scary place. Whatever horrors the reader comes up with will scare them more than anything he could have said. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pit-and-the-pendulum-what-was-in-the-pit/693196/18 "2014-07-15T23:54:33Z")
I’m going to say it’s [whatever’s](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=728296) squirting on **kambuckta’s** laundry. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pit-and-the-pendulum-what-was-in-the-pit/693196/19 "2014-07-16T00:30:54Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > No, you’re thinking of \*our \*Pit. “The BBQ Pit and the Pendulum”…hmmmmmm… ---
**Author:** ![Octarine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pit-and-the-pendulum-what-was-in-the-pit/693196/20 "2014-07-16T01:02:10Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > “The BBQ Pit and the Pendulum”…hmmmmmm… - I threw my straining vision below. The glare of the computer screen in the dark room illumined its inmost recesses. Yet, for a wild moment, did my spirit refuse to comprehend the meaning of what I read. At length it forced – it wrestled its way into my soul – it burned itself in upon my shuddering reason. – Oh! for fingers to type! – oh! horror! – oh! any horror but this - the sight of a 9-page argument based on a 16-page GD thread debating the exact definition of the word “legal”!\* [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pit-and-the-pendulum-what-was-in-the-pit/693196.md?page=2)