Oh god. Oh god. It's so gross.

April 5, 2006 12:21 PM

Gross Filter: I remember hearing a couple years ago about a couple incidents involving swimmers and badly maintained swimming pool filters wherein the swimmer would be sitting on the bottom of the pool, on the filter, and the filter cover would give out, resulting in the most horrific situation I can think of.

Namely, the expulsion of a portion of the intestine through the anus due to the suction through the filter. No joke, this idea haunts me for DAYS at a time. Is this an urban myth or can anyone find any online evidence? My google skillz fail me here.

posted by heavenstobetsy to sports, hobbies, & recreation (22 comments total)

It might be from this story: Guts by Chuck Palahniuk.
posted by driveler at 12:23 PM on April 5, 2006

Driveler: I actually did read that story prior to hearing about these incidents. Partly what motivated the post, actually.
posted by heavenstobetsy at 12:26 PM on April 5, 2006

That's the precise scenario that John Edwards rode to fortune and vice-presidential candidacy. Scroll on down to the Legal Career section of his Wiki page for details.
posted by schoolgirl report at 12:28 PM on April 5, 2006

probably an urban myth. there's also the one about the lining (or intestines or whatever) being pulled out if a guy donkeypunches a girl.
posted by misanthropicsarah at 12:31 PM on April 5, 2006

I've heard of something like this, but not involving pools. It involved obese people and toilets.
posted by adamrice at 12:32 PM on April 5, 2006

I've seen a few references on the internet to the fact that this phenomenon (without the pool, just the inversion) is documented in a few pornographic movies.
posted by rxrfrx at 12:33 PM on April 5, 2006

MeFi user mediareport actually has a page of details of that Valerie Lakey and John Edwards story.

I wish this was just an urban legend.
posted by smackfu at 12:34 PM on April 5, 2006

there's also the one about the lining (or intestines or whatever) being pulled out if a guy donkeypunches a girl.

Ah yes, the pink sock (Text NSFLunch).
posted by ludwig_van at 12:35 PM on April 5, 2006

its real. I also remember seeing a special about this on 20/20 or Dateline or some other lovely specimen of investigative journalism.
posted by gatorae at 12:38 PM on April 5, 2006

Who cares about that when you drown due to being stuck on the bottom of the water? That does happen. The expulsion of the intestines scenario sounds like an urban legend though.
posted by caddis at 12:40 PM on April 5, 2006

caddis, read the abstract gatorae linked... sounds real enough
posted by rxrfrx at 12:42 PM on April 5, 2006

Ughh. It does appear to have happened, at least according to some of the links posted above. Gross, but again, what do you car? You are dead from drowning anyway. What, you want to leave a nice looking corpse?
posted by caddis at 12:45 PM on April 5, 2006

Rectal prolapse is real -- the connective tissue that holds your rectum "in place" is actually pretty delicate and minimal. Weightlifters have been known to suffer from the condition, as well.

Certain parasites can cause it, too. Bad infestations of pinworms in children can lead to prolapse.

The procedure to correct it is fairly simple and involves minimal stitching.
posted by kaseijin at 12:51 PM on April 5, 2006

It's real. There were TV news specials about this long before Palahniuk's story came out—my dad saw one and freaked out about swimming pool drains, making sure to explain to us what could happen if we got too close to one.
posted by limeonaire at 12:51 PM on April 5, 2006

Addendum: Ugh, after reading Gatorae's linked abstract, that sounds like more than simple prolapse. Ick.
posted by kaseijin at 12:53 PM on April 5, 2006

caddis: The girls in the Edwards case survived.

heavenstobetsy: Y'know, a prolapse is not that bad. I saw a frog with one once. A vet just, like, popped it back in. And off the frog went. [Of course, the frog wasn't at the bottom of a swimming pool, and even if it had been, it's a frog etc etc.]
posted by beniamino at 12:54 PM on April 5, 2006

"girl"
posted by beniamino at 12:56 PM on April 5, 2006

A real event. It was a three year old girl, North Carolina 1991. Documented here, in the CDC's MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report). It has to do with the absence of a vortex drain cover.
posted by jasper411 at 1:28 PM on April 5, 2006

This reminds me of the weight-lifter prolapse story/picture that went around. I found a copy on snopes. WARNING: The link includes a NSFW picture that rivals goatse/tubgirl in my mind. The snopes article is here.
posted by joelr at 1:30 PM on April 5, 2006

jasper411 writes "A real event."

Not just a real event. By the time of the Lackey trial (1996), it had happened at least 12 times. The medical term is "transanal intestinal evisceration", which is very descriptive.

caddis writes "Who cares about that when you drown due to being stuck on the bottom of the water?"

I'm guessing in most cases, this has happened to young children in shallow water, and drowning has not been an issue.
posted by mr_roboto at 3:34 PM on April 5, 2006

I'm pretty damned sure this happened to a little girl in Aus a couple of years ago, IIRC. Can't find an online reference to it though...

I believe the filter intake she was sitting in was on the side of the pool, not underwater.
posted by pompomtom at 6:28 PM on April 5, 2006

re: drowning, the suction is strong enough to suck out your intestines, but it is not so strong that you cannot unstick yourself before you drown. Apparantly your intestines come out relatively easily. Yick. Good to know though... I guess.
posted by gatorae at 8:57 PM on April 5, 2006