# What's this thing that came out of my toilet? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 13, 2025, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-that-came-out-of-my-toilet/1015534 "2025-03-13T15:09:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![colinfred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colinfred/32/21338_2.png) [@colinfred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colinfred)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2025, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-that-came-out-of-my-toilet/1015534/1 "2025-03-13T15:09:24Z")
[![](https://images4.imagebam.com/ea/5e/93/ME10AOWI_o.jpg) ](https://images4.imagebam.com/ea/5e/93/ME10AOWI_o.jpg) [![](https://images4.imagebam.com/2f/71/b6/ME10AOWH_o.jpg) ](https://images4.imagebam.com/2f/71/b6/ME10AOWH_o.jpg) So my toilet had a block and I reached in as far as I could and this came out. It’s like a circle of flexible and somewhat strong cottonlike material, that’s been saturated with poo. I am pretty certain it didn’t come from my bathroom, I don’t recognise what it is and I’m pretty sure nothing that large has ever gone down. Any ideas what this is and if it’s important? ---
**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:** [March 13, 2025, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-that-came-out-of-my-toilet/1015534/2 "2025-03-13T15:12:12Z")
A tampon? A hair scrunchie? ---
**Author:** ![colinfred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colinfred/32/21338_2.png) [@colinfred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colinfred)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2025, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-that-came-out-of-my-toilet/1015534/3 "2025-03-13T15:13:02Z")
I’m male and the only person who ever uses the toilet. Edit, that was a reply when tampon was only listed option in preceding post. ---
**Author:** ![colinfred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colinfred/32/21338_2.png) [@colinfred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colinfred)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2025, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-that-came-out-of-my-toilet/1015534/4 "2025-03-13T15:16:25Z")
I’m pretty sure it didn’t come from my bathroom. I’ve been here 14 years now and never flushed anything that big, and nobody else has ever used it in that time. I was just wondering if it may have been something with an actual purpose that I dislodged. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2025, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-that-came-out-of-my-toilet/1015534/5 "2025-03-13T15:24:46Z")
Single family home, townhouse, condo, what are we talking about here? ---
**Author:** ![rockdoc1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rockdoc1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rockdoc1)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2025, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-that-came-out-of-my-toilet/1015534/6 "2025-03-13T15:26:02Z")
Possibly [oakum](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oakum)? Used to caulk joints in iron pipe such as sewer lines before more modern ABS pipe was adopted. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2025, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-that-came-out-of-my-toilet/1015534/7 "2025-03-13T15:28:06Z")
Perhaps a cleaning rag that fell in unnoticed and got flushed. Any plumber will tell you in no uncertain terms that “flushable wipes” aren’t. It might be one (or more) of those. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2025, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-that-came-out-of-my-toilet/1015534/8 "2025-03-13T15:36:29Z")
> [@colinfred](#): > > So my toilet had a block and I reached in as far as I could and this came out. I admire your bravery, sir. > [@DCnDC](#): > > Single family home, townhouse, condo, what are we talking about here? That was one of my first thoughts, that the object somehow traveled from adjacent pipes, e.g. a neighboring apartment. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2025, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-that-came-out-of-my-toilet/1015534/9 "2025-03-13T16:21:16Z")
Is it at all possible that it’s a wad of excess toilet paper compacted together? ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2025, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-that-came-out-of-my-toilet/1015534/10 "2025-03-13T16:36:11Z")
Something from a previous tenant. Has the toilet been a difficult flush? I’m thinking disposable diaper. ---
**Author:** ![colinfred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colinfred/32/21338_2.png) [@colinfred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colinfred)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2025, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-that-came-out-of-my-toilet/1015534/11 "2025-03-13T17:36:09Z")
It seems to be too strong to be toilet paper unless there’s a way it hardens and strengthens. I’ve never used “flushable” wipes. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2025, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-that-came-out-of-my-toilet/1015534/12 "2025-03-13T18:03:24Z")
The general nature of plumbing in a multi-family building is that there’s a solitary line serving your toilet that eventually joins the common manifold carrying everyone’s sewage away. The length of your personal line will be at least a couple of feet. In a multi-story building it’ll be 15 or 20 feet since it will join the common manifold not just below your floor, but somewhere below the floor of the apartment beneath yours. So 1-1/2 stories below you. And for anyone else’s “stuff” to get up to your toilet requires a large uphill movement. Stuff and water don’t tend to flow uphill. If the OP reached into his toilet by hand, the farthest his hand or arm could have followed the curved flow path is a few inches, 1 foot absolute max. So nowhere near the merge. Even if he took the stool up off the floor and reached directly into the soil pipe, arms still aren’t long enough. Now if he used a closet snake or power snake or some such, ran the end umpteen feet in, and then reeled out this interesting sewerfish, well that’s different. Tools like that can easily reach past the individual / common join. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2025, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-that-came-out-of-my-toilet/1015534/13 "2025-03-13T18:57:44Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > I admire your bravery, sir. Above and beyond the call of dooky. ---
**Author:** ![Kedikat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed655f/32.png) [@Kedikat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kedikat)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2025, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-that-came-out-of-my-toilet/1015534/14 "2025-03-13T22:37:18Z")
Was there flooding in your area lately? At first glance I thought it might be the gasket where the toilet joins the pipe. But I can’t think how that could be backed up into the toilet so far. Unless water came up. They are also usually a waxy type of material. Have not seen ones with fibers in them. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2025, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-that-came-out-of-my-toilet/1015534/15 "2025-03-13T22:45:37Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Even if he took the stool Let’s not give the guy ideas. ---
**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:** [March 14, 2025, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-that-came-out-of-my-toilet/1015534/16 "2025-03-14T01:04:08Z")
I admit, I clicked on this thread in hopes that the thing had a face. 💩 ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-that-came-out-of-my-toilet/1015534/17 "2025-03-14T01:15:57Z")
Surely you’d be more impressed if it were just a perfect sphere to be rolled around… ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-that-came-out-of-my-toilet/1015534/18 "2025-03-14T01:24:54Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > I admit, I clicked on this thread in hopes that the thing had a face. 💩 I was hoping it would **eat** someone’s face. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-that-came-out-of-my-toilet/1015534/19 "2025-03-14T02:19:05Z")
When the leopards begin emerging from toilets late at night to rampage through the house eating faces … welll … the terrorists have surely won. ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-that-came-out-of-my-toilet/1015534/20 "2025-03-14T12:05:08Z")
Well, leopards eating _faces_ is better than leopards eating _fec_…uhh… Yeah. The OP is very brave! On my phone, the item seems to have the texture of some kind of wipe, or maybe one of those ‘flushable’ toilet bowl scrubbers that were really popular years ago. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-that-came-out-of-my-toilet/1015534.md?page=2)