Legends & Rumors: Two-Story Outhouses (Vietnam War Era Cartoons)

A two-story outhouse sounds like a terrible idea, but some were actually built, typically with a conduit in the upper level that funneled waste between the walls. Non-authentic double-decker outhouses, often sporting signs on the doors depicting the social inequality between the upper and lower users, are part of a still active humorous tradition. A well-known example is located at Hole N’’ the Rock, a tourist attraction near Moab, Utah. The upper story of this fake outhouse is reserved for the mine boss; the miners, forced to sit below, are literally shit on.

The symbolic two-story outhouse also features in cartoons and copylore. In nearly every case, the structure alone is shown; no person is shown inside or outside, and the users must be inferred from the signs on the doors. No full-bowelled rebel is shown defiantly climbing the stairs or ladder to the upper level, or even trying to burn down or otherwise destroy the outhouse. The overall impression one gets is of resignation to how an unfair system operates.

An example from the college humor magazine USC Wampus appears in "Collegiate Whimsey," Mad magazine #34, August 1957, p. 31. Referring to fraternities, it shows outhouse doors labelled “Actives” and “Pledges.”

A cartoon depicting a double-decker outhouse for “Landlords” and “Tenants” appears in the Ann Arbor Sun, vol. 2, no. 4, February 22-March 8, 1974, p. 4.

A version from 1980 showing entrances for “Management” and “Employees” is included in Alan Dundes & Carl Pagter, Never Try to Teach A Pig to Sing (1991), 227.

As would be expected, underground and anti-war G.I. newspapers in the latter half of the Vietnam War era often carried such cartoons symbolizing the rigid hierarchies of the military services. A selection follows.