“Cesspools for human wastes were frequently placed under the floors (often made of wood) of castles. In 1183, when the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire held a Diet in the Palace of Efurt, the floor of the main hall broke; many of the dinner guests fell into the cesspool and drowned; luckily, the Emperor survived. A similar event occurred in England in 1326: Richard the Raker had just been seated for a meal when the wood floor gave way — drowning him.”
Suffolk County, Long Island, A.D. 2006:
“A simple shortcut in Andrew Palladino’s routine nearly cost him his life. It happened Sunday morning when the 71-year-old chose to cut through his front lawn after picking up a copy of Newsday and — instead of cozily flipping through the pages of the newspaper — found himself falling into a cesspool. ‘I disappeared,’ a still shaken Palladino said yesterday. ‘Everything caved in.’”