# Woman forgets the "...get off the pot" part **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 12, 2008, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-forgets-the-get-off-the-pot-part/441154 "2008-03-12T20:34:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2008, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-forgets-the-get-off-the-pot-part/441154/21 "2008-03-12T23:42:36Z")
[QUOTE=alphaboi867] Did the toilet somehow go **2 years** without getting clogged? :dubious: This is even weirder than that Nip/Tuck episode where the fat lady fused to her couch. [/QUOTE] I now feel it necessary to mention that this character was based on a [real person.](http://www.wftv.com/news/3643877/detail.html) . She’s the first person I thought of when I read this story. It boggles the mind. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2008, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-forgets-the-get-off-the-pot-part/441154/22 "2008-03-12T23:56:08Z")
[QUOTE=Antinor01] Perhaps, but the article indicates that she stayed where she was because she wanted to. He fed her and encouraged her to come out daily. I can’t imagine choosing to stay on the toilet for two years, but I don’t think I would call the police for something like that. After a few hours or a day I would be calling friends or the like to help encourage her to leave though. [/QUOTE] I think I would call the EMTs before the day was out. Seriously, if someone is just sitting on the can for hours and hours on end, but yet saying they are physically fine, then something must be wrong mentally (or they’re lying about nothing being physically wrong.) Either way, it would seem good for them to get medical attention. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-forgets-the-get-off-the-pot-part/441154/23 "2008-03-13T00:05:47Z")
I can’t stop thinking about this. Two years! Two years ago, I wasn’t yet pregnant with Whatsit the Youngest. When I was at Whatsit Jr.'s t-ball games… this woman was on the toilet. When I went on vacation to Seattle… she was on the toilet. My entire pregnancy with WtY… on the toilet. Summer came, then fall, then winter, spring, summer again… on the toilet. WHAT THE HELL. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-forgets-the-get-off-the-pot-part/441154/24 "2008-03-13T00:53:36Z")
If J.G. Ballard, John Waters and Marcel Duchamp all collaborated on a screenplay, I think it would go something like this. ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-forgets-the-get-off-the-pot-part/441154/25 "2008-03-13T01:48:44Z")
It had to have been bad mexican food ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-forgets-the-get-off-the-pot-part/441154/26 "2008-03-13T02:13:40Z")
\*She was afraid to come out of the bathroom, on the toilet she sat, day and night, she was afraid to come out of the bathroom, now the growth on her bum is a fright. She’s got an itsy-bitsy white and shiny toilet seat stuck to her hiney…\* ---
**Author:** ![Tenar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@Tenar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tenar)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-forgets-the-get-off-the-pot-part/441154/27 "2008-03-13T02:18:31Z")
I know this is the Dope, and most anything is fair game, but I have to admit that I find nothing at all funny about this. That poor, poor woman. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-forgets-the-get-off-the-pot-part/441154/28 "2008-03-13T03:01:11Z")
> [@Jake](#): > > At least she didn’t have to wait to use the bathroom. She WAS the bathroom! I didn’t think this happened in Germany. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-forgets-the-get-off-the-pot-part/441154/29 "2008-03-13T03:28:00Z")
> [@](#): > > “We pried the toilet seat off with a pry bar and the seat went with her to the hospital,” Whipple said. “The hospital removed it.” “…but it’s the first time I’ve ever seen one _Framed!_” ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-forgets-the-get-off-the-pot-part/441154/30 "2008-03-13T03:38:05Z")
I don’t get how she slept without slipping off it, even the first night let alone the next 700 or so. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-forgets-the-get-off-the-pot-part/441154/31 "2008-03-13T03:40:14Z")
What could they possibly charge the boyfriend with? She’s an adult, and it doesn’t say anywhere that he was her caregiver. She chose to sit on a toilet for two years; obviously, she needed serious psychiatric help but failing to refer someone to a mental health professional is not a crime. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-forgets-the-get-off-the-pot-part/441154/32 "2008-03-13T03:48:23Z")
There was a similar case of Genie, b. 1957, who "During the day…was tied to a child’s potty chair in diapers; " until the age of 13. > **[Genie (feral child)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genie_(feral_child))** > > Genie (born 1957) is the pseudonym of an American feral child who was a victim of severe abuse, neglect, and social isolation. Her circumstances are prominently recorded in the annals of linguistics and abnormal child psychology. When she was approximately 20 months old, her father began keeping her in a locked room. During this period, he almost always strapped her to a child's toilet or bound her in a crib with her arms and legs immobilized, forbade anyone from interacting with her, pr Psyc... ---
**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:** [March 13, 2008, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-forgets-the-get-off-the-pot-part/441154/33 "2008-03-13T03:48:54Z")
This source has more information: [http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-woman-in-bathroom,1,6748357.story](http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-woman-in-bathroom,1,6748357.story) ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-forgets-the-get-off-the-pot-part/441154/34 "2008-03-13T04:07:20Z")
[QUOTE=Musicat] There was a similar case of Genie, b. 1957, who "During the day…was tied to a child’s potty chair in diapers; " until the age of 13. > **[Genie (feral child)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genie_(feral_child))** > > Genie (born 1957) is the pseudonym of an American feral child who was a victim of severe abuse, neglect, and social isolation. Her circumstances are prominently recorded in the annals of linguistics and abnormal child psychology. When she was approximately 20 months old, her father began keeping her in a locked room. During this period, he almost always strapped her to a child's toilet or bound her in a crib with her arms and legs immobilized, forbade anyone to interact with her, provide Psych... [/QUOTE] Is this really all that similar, though? Genie was feral, abused, a child, etc…this is more like a woman who just wouldn’t leave the bathroom. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-forgets-the-get-off-the-pot-part/441154/35 "2008-03-13T04:36:28Z")
I wonder what Christmas was like? Did the guy put a tree up in the bathroom and leave her a present under it? ---
**Author:** ![Brynda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Brynda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brynda)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-forgets-the-get-off-the-pot-part/441154/36 "2008-03-13T05:23:42Z")
It sounds like severe agoraphobia to me. Most agoraphobics won’t leave the house; for her, her safety zone was even smaller. Poor woman. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-forgets-the-get-off-the-pot-part/441154/37 "2008-03-13T05:35:00Z")
[QUOTE=cochrane] I wonder what Christmas was like? Did the guy put a tree up in the bathroom and leave her a present under it? [/QUOTE] Imagine what _she_ left under the tree… ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-forgets-the-get-off-the-pot-part/441154/38 "2008-03-13T05:40:31Z")
The second article lists the boyfriend at age 36 and says he’d been taking care of her for 16 years, meaning that there must’ve been some serious issues already (obviously). Not to mention the statements of her feeling “safe” in there and it regarding prior abuse, I would agree that there’s probably a large possibility that Ms. Babcock does indeed suffer from mental illness. How very, very awful. I hope this means she’ll get the help she needs, as well as he does. It can’t be healthy to go through a situation like this, even from a bystander’s point of view. ETA: Or what **Brynda** said. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-forgets-the-get-off-the-pot-part/441154/39 "2008-03-13T08:52:39Z")
[QUOTE=alphaboi867] Did the toilet somehow go **2 years** without getting clogged? :dubious: This is even weirder than that Nip/Tuck episode where the fat lady fused to her couch. [/QUOTE] Hey, my toilets have gone for longer without being clogged. And no, I don’t scrub them weekly or anything, just “colored water” and the occasional dash of “WC Duck” (or whatever it’s called in English, I’ve only used the Spanish and French versions). At the bottom of the first article it indicates she sort of grew up imprisoned in her own house. That doesn’t make the even less bizarre, but it’s an indication of someone who can feel safer not moving at all than doing anything. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2008, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-forgets-the-get-off-the-pot-part/441154/40 "2008-03-13T16:46:46Z")
[QUOTE=susan] This source has more information: [http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-woman-in-bathroom,1,6748357.story](http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-woman-in-bathroom,1,6748357.story) [/QUOTE] I’m a little confused…the article says she lived in the bathroom, but moved around, and that they had a “normal” relationship. So when did she sit down and decide not to stand up again? I hate to think that during the time she refused to come off the toilet he insisted on “relations.” :eek: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-forgets-the-get-off-the-pot-part/441154.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-forgets-the-get-off-the-pot-part/441154.md?page=3)