Erfurt Latrine Disaster

Date: July 26, 1184 • Location: Erfurt, Germany

Approximately 60 local nobles died when the floor of a building collapsed in Erfurt, causing them to fall through the ground floor into a latrine cesspit below.

On 26 July 1184, in the German city of Erfurt, approximately sixty local nobles died when the floor of a building collapsed through the ground floor and into the latrine cesspit below. They were attending a Hoftag conducted by King Henry VI when their combined weight caused the floor of the building to collapse. Some of the attendees drowned in human waste after falling into the cesspit.