10 Bizarre & Heartbreaking Stories Straight from the Restroom

No matter what you call the bathroom—the latrine, loo, john, lavatory, or powder room—one thing is for certain. The bathroom is one of the most crucial places in our homes. It’s where we get ready before work, school, or a date, the place where we can take a hot shower or bath and unwind after a long, stressful day, and a secluded space where we can do our business in private. And fear not, should there be a last-minute need to freshen up or a rush call even when one is not at home, thankfully, a bathroom can seemingly be found in almost any public space.

While the restroom is most often distinguished by the fact that its amenities and purpose are unlike any other area in a home or place of business, this mundane space has also become the center of some rather peculiar news headlines. In these stories, rather than simply serving as a place to practice good hygiene and self-care, the bathroom has transformed into the setting for some of the most wacky, sinister, and extraordinary events.

Here are ten bizarre and heartbreaking news stories straight from the restroom.

Related: 10 Odd and Bizarre Things People Have Found in Old Houses

10 Unexpected Union: Couple Married in Gas Station Bathroom

While many couples choose a more traditional wedding venue—a church, a beach, a backyard, or even the local courthouse—for their special day, 23-year-old Tiana Ailstock of Dry Ridge, Kentucky, knew that she didn’t want to go the traditional route. Instead, Tiana and her fiancé, Logen Abney, knew they wanted something fun, something unique, and something that would not only reflect their personalities and the unconventional journey they had shared but also something they would one day be able to tell their children about. Just as the couple hoped for, they ended up with a wedding that was truly unlike any other.

After Tiana and Logen’s plans to get married on the Fourth of July had to be canceled, Tiana, who worked at a HOP Shops gas station, came up with “a crazy idea” while joking with her district manager about using the gas station as a wedding venue. It was then that the couple decided they had indeed found the perfect venue for their special day—the gas station’s bathroom.

Why the men’s bathroom in a gas station, of all places? You see, the HOP Shops don’t have just any ordinary bathrooms. With the push of a button, the facilities are transformed into a disco-centric scene, complete with a glittering disco ball, colorful lights, and music.

Despite what might seem like an odd request, the company was, in fact, delighted by the idea of Tiana and Logen wanting to get married in the store’s restroom and was more than willing to oblige the couple’s request. (Link 4) So, HOP Shops District Manager (and ordained minister) David Biery and Human Resource Manager Ann Gilbert quickly got to work planning what would be the most memorable wedding bash of the year.

On February 14, 2024, Tiana walked down the slushy aisle of the HOP Shop in Verona, Kentucky, surrounded by family, friends, coworkers, and customers. The ceremony was held inside the restroom (and yes, it was cleaned prior to the ceremony), where the couple exchanged vows, and Biery pronounced them husband and wife. Amid cheers and applause from family and friends who stood outside the bathroom in the hallway, Tiana and Logen sealed their love with a kiss. The newlyweds then pushed the restroom’s red button, which activated the disco lights and played Randy Travis’s “Forever and Ever, Amen” as the couple shared their first dance.^[1]

9 Suicide or Murder? Bathroom Door Lock Becomes Key Piece of Evidence

At 2:50 a.m. on December 16, 2022, Matthew Phillip Ecker called 911, stating that his girlfriend had shot herself in the head about four minutes prior. When officers with the St. Paul Police Department arrived at the downtown apartment building in St. Paul, Minnesota, they found 32-year-old Alexandra Pennig dead, lying on her back in the bathroom with a gunshot wound to the left side of her head.

Ecker claimed that Pennig grabbed his gun out of his backpack, put it to her head, backed into the bathroom, and locked the door. Moments later, a single shot rang out, so Ecker broke open the bathroom door, only to find Pennig lying on the floor with a gunshot wound to her temple. Ecker also claimed that Pennig was still breathing when he got the door open, so he put pressure on her head in an attempt to plug the bullet wound and stop the bleeding and also performed CPR.

Inside the apartment, detectives found alcohol and six bottles of prescription medications, including antidepressants and amphetamines, all prescribed to Pennig. While this evidence, along with Pennig’s previous struggles with depression, addiction, and a failed suicide attempt, would certainly suggest that Pennig took her own life, other things didn’t seem to add up in Ecker’s account of what happened, specifically, the position of Pennig’s body, the dried blood in the bathroom, and the lack of blood on Ecker’s hands. This led detectives to question whether Pennig really committed suicide.

For example, police noted that the blood in the bathroom had “already dried and coagulated” by the time they arrived, despite Ecker claiming that Pennig had shot herself just four minutes earlier. Additionally, even though Ecker claimed he attempted to plug Pennig’s wound, his hands were clean. While Ecker told police he washed his hands with soap prior to calling 911, they noticed that the sink was “very dry.” Pennig’s legs were also straddling the bathroom door, indicating that the door was likely open when she was shot. Unfortunately, even with these inconsistencies and other later findings, Ecker had no visible blood on his body or clothes and had no gunshot residue on him, making it much harder to prove whether he in fact played a role in Pennig’s death.

So, what exactly happened prior to the shooting that would supposedly lead Pennig to take her own life? And, why exactly had Ecker brought his gun along on his visit to Pennig in the first place? Ecker claimed that as he was heading to work on December 15, 2022, he received a frantic call from Pennig asking him to come over because she was “being abused by her other boyfriend.” Her other boyfriend? You see, Pennig was not only dating a man named Shane Anderson, but she and Ecker also had an open relationship despite the fact that Ecker was married and had four children. In fact, Ecker had also been paying Pennig’s bills and unethically writing prescriptions for her for Valium and Prozac—he was a nurse practitioner. However, Ecker claimed the only reason he went with the gun was to protect Pennig.

Given that Anderson was not at Pennig’s apartment when Ecker arrived, he and Pennig spent the evening of December 15, 2022, going out to a few bars and later running into Anderson. Naturally angry at seeing his girlfriend with another guy, a heated exchange between the three ensued, and Anderson decided to throw a punch, hitting Ecker in the face. Although Anderson was kicked out of the bar, Ecker and Pennig stayed for approximately another hour, drinking and chatting. Pennig was last seen alive at 2:30 a.m. on surveillance footage, walking through the lobby of her building and up to her apartment with Ecker, just 20 minutes before the 911 call.

Unfortunately, even with the surveillance footage, detectives were no closer to understanding why or if Pennig took her own life. That is until they received a call from the forensic unit that changed everything. As they were processing the scene, they found a round piece of metal under where Pennig was lying, which was later determined to be part of the lock from the bathroom door. For detectives, this discovery proved Ecker lied about breaking the door open after hearing the shot. Instead, they suspected that Pennig and Ecker had an argument, and she had locked the bathroom door in an attempt to get away from him. They believe Ecker then broke open the door, causing the metal piece to fall to the ground, and he then shot Pennig, causing her to land on top of the lock. They also believe that Ecker reached around the bathroom door while he forced his way in and fired the shot, shielding him from any blood splatter.

On December 19, 2022, Ecker was charged with second-degree murder. On April 3, 2024, he was sentenced to 30 years in prison. Ecker, however, maintains his innocence and is appealing his conviction.^[2]

8 Life-Saving Bathroom Trip

One of the most frustrating things that can happen when watching a movie is realizing you need to go to the bathroom, especially when you’re watching a really good film or have just gotten to the most pivotal part. However, for one college student, the “call of nature” ultimately saved two lives and his parents’ home.

Just after midnight on October 27, 2024, Alex Perry and his friend, Gavin Miceli, were watching a movie inside the Conesville, New York, home when Perry got up to use the bathroom. Imagine his surprise to realize that the backyard was on fire.

To make matters worse, there was no faucet for a hose on the side of the house, making it much more difficult to attempt to put out the fire. However, thanks to some creative thinking, Perry decided to connect two garden hoses to the water pressure tanks in the basement and then ran the hoses up to the backyard. In a team effort to battle the blaze, Perry used the hoses while Miceli used a fire extinguisher. Despite the fact that neither of the young men had placed a call to 911 until after the fire extinguisher ran out, thankfully, the Conesville Fire Department was able to reach the home quickly.

Naturally, Perry was incredibly thankful not only for the fire department’s quick response but also for the fact that he had to go to the bathroom, stating, “If I didn’t have to go to the bathroom, I would have gone right to sleep and knocked out. And who knows what would have happened.”

The Conesville Fire Department is still investigating the cause of the fire, but Perry and Miceli said they believe it started due to leaves sparking in the chimney.^[3]

7 Lost Wallet Found in Bathroom Wall 65 Years Later

The Plaza Theater in Atlanta, Georgia, is the oldest and continuously operating independent theater in the city. Designed by architect George Harwell Bond, the Plaza Theater opened its doors in 1939 as a 1,000-seat art deco cinema and live theater. However, by the 1970s, the cinema operated as an X-rated adult cinema and burlesque theater until the entire shopping center was later renovated. In 1983, the theater was purchased by George LeFont, who was the first to bring independent cinema to Atlanta. From there, the theater continued to change ownership and undergo renovations before being purchased by Chris Escobar in 2017.

Once Escobar had taken ownership, he planned a $4 million renovation that would not only return the theater to its former glory but would also give it some much-needed 21st-century updates. While the construction crews had come across items such as old popcorn displays with marquee letters and bottles of spirits no longer in fashion during the renovation, nothing could have prepared them for what they would find in October 2023 as the crews began restoring the theater’s bathroom.

Tucked away behind a bathroom wall, under a mountain of dust, lay a withered burgundy wallet, frozen in time. The wallet contained an identification card belonging to its owner, Floy Culbreth, and was truly a tiny time capsule of her life and 1950s Atlanta. Among the wallet’s treasures were a gas receipt showing Culbreth paid $3.26 for 10 gallons, a special photo of her father, raffle tickets to win a 1959 Chevrolet, a library card, and a PTA card. As Escobar examined the wallet’s contents, he realized it had been lost sometime in 1958.

From there, Escobar was determined to return the wallet and immediately got to work trying to locate Culbreth. Escobar also enlisted the help of his wife, Nicole, who he referred to as an “internet sleuth,” to assist him in the search. Unfortunately, they discovered that Culbreth died in 2005 at the age of 87, and her husband Roy died four years later, in 2009. However, the Escobars didn’t give up their search.

Further research revealed that Floy and Roy’s grandchildren started a charity golf tournament called “The Culbreth Cup” in 2011 to honor their grandparents. After gathering information about the Culbreth’s grandchildren from the golf tournament website, the Escobars were then able to reach out to their family via social media, sharing photos to let them know what they had found at the theater.

On November 19, 2023, Culbreth’s daughter, Thea Chamberlain, was able to get a piece of her mother back. She and other family members went to pick up the wallet 65 years after Floy lost it while attending the theater to watch Around the World in 80 Days with her husband Roy in 1958.^[4]

6 Freak Accident Claims the Life of High School Student

Seventeen-year-old Brianne Marie Rapp, a junior at Butler Area High School in Butler, Pennsylvania, loved her family, singing, and painting and was described as “someone who was always there for her friends and never put herself first.” Unfortunately, Rapp’s young life was tragically taken in a freak bathtub accident while she was getting ready for school.

Rapp got up to take a shower before school in the early morning hours of June 1, 2018. Rapp’s mother, Kimberly Schultz, had woken up later than her daughter that morning, and by the time she got up, she noticed the bathtub was overflowing. When Schultz went into the bathroom to investigate, sadly, she discovered Rapp’s body lying in an overflowing bath.

So, what exactly happened? Rapp’s father, Michael, stated that his daughter had a thyroid problem and was on medication for it. Unfortunately, the medication had caused Rapp to blackout in the past. While it was uncertain if the condition led to Rapp’s death, it is believed that she either slipped or fainted in the shower, where her long hair then seemingly blocked the drain, causing the water in the tub to dam up, ultimately drowning her. However, no official cause of death was released.^[5]

5 Chess Grandmaster Expelled after Phone Found Hidden in Bathroom

Twenty-two-year-old Kirill Shevchenko is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster who earned his title at the age of 14 years, none months, and 23 days old, placing him on the list of the youngest grandmasters in history. However, Shevchenko later switched to represent Romania and is currently 69th in the chess world rankings. While his greatest achievements include winning both the European Team Chess Championships and the individual Lindores Abbey Blitz in 2021, Shevchenko most recently sent shockwaves through the chess world when he became the most high-profile player ever to be under investigation for suspected cheating.

During the 2024 Spanish Team Championship, which took place in Melilla, Spain, from October 12–18, 2024, Shevchenko aroused suspicion after taking extended bathroom breaks during the opening rounds of the tournament. It was then that his second-round opponent, Grandmaster Francisco Vallejo, complained about the matter to the arbiter. When confronted by the arbiter about his extended absence away from the board, Shevchenko initially claimed that he was feeling unwell, hence the trips to the bathroom. However, despite a warning from the arbiter that Shevchenko had to ask for permission before leaving the playing area, the unannounced bathroom visits continued.

The arbiter then asked members of the organizing committee to inspect the toilet cubicle that Shevchenko had been visiting. It was there that they discovered a cell phone with a note that read, “Don’t touch! This telephone has been left so the owner can answer it at night!” The handwriting on the note also matched Shevchenko’s.

The phone was then confiscated by officials, and the bathroom was locked. However, even after the cubicle had been locked, Shevchenko was observed on more than one occasion entering the bathroom and waiting for that particular cubicle, even though others were available. Janitorial staff also revealed that a similar phone had been found in the same bathroom the previous day, but it had been turned into the reception and went unclaimed.

In light of the accusations, Shevchenko was expelled from the competition. As a result of his expulsion, his draw against Grandmaster Bassem Amin in round one and his win over Grandmaster Francisco Vallejo in round two were turned into defeats by competition authorities. The International Chess Federation has also issued Shevchenko a temporary 75-day suspension while an investigation takes place.^[6]

4 No Bathroom Breaks on Company Time

In Switzerland, a country that is famous for its watchmaking industry and expensive timepieces, time is quite literally money. However, due to what has been referred to as “a labor-law loophole” in the rich Alipne country, one employer is taking that phrase to heart, telling its workers that when nature calls, they must clock out and use the restroom on their own time.

Is this really legal, and has this policy been challenged? Actually, it is, and it has been. You see, in 2021, the Office of Labor Relations and Conditions (ORCT) in Canton Neuchâtel carried out a COVID compliance check at the company in question, watchmaker Jean Singer & Cie SA. It was during their investigation that officials also discovered that the staff at the company’s site in Boudry were required to clock out every time they visited the bathroom. The bathroom breaks were timed and treated as non-working hours.

Then, in January 2022, the ORCT referred the case to the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, demanding that the watchmaker eliminate this practice. Jean Singer & Cie SA, however, rejected the request and later chose to take the issue to court, stating that the policy was being misunderstood. The watchmaker claimed that its workers have “a great deal of freedom” when they clock out and can also use that time for a wide variety of purposes aside from using the bathroom—meals, making a phone call, or going on a nature walk. The company also stated that the lengths of those periods are up to the employees, and they are under no pressure to explain their reasoning for clocking out.

In June 2024, a regional court in Neuchâtel ruled in favor of Jean Singer & Cie SA, stating that “Swiss law does not mention the right of employees to go to the toilet, even though it is a basic physiological need.” While ruling that the requirements to clock out was not illegal, the court did, however, ask the watchmaker to change its policies, noting that it could be discriminatory to women.^[7]

3 “Little Nugget” Delivered in McDonald’s Bathroom

At around 3 a.m. on November 23, 2022, Alandria Worthy began experiencing contractions. Given that the contractions were approximately 15 to 20 minutes apart at that time, Worthy decided to hold off on going to the hospital in hopes of avoiding being there laboring for hours. However, by 7:30 a.m. that morning, the contractions had progressed, prompting her fiancé, Deandre Phillips, to rush Worthy to the hospital.

While on their way to the hospital, Worthy asked Phillips if he could pull over somewhere so she could use the bathroom. Phillips stopped at a local McDonald’s in Atlanta, Georgia. Little did the couple know that what began as a quick bathroom break would ultimately turn into a speedy delivery.

Once inside the bathroom, Worthy noticed that her water had broken, and she began yelling for help. Thankfully, her cries for help were heard by the General Manager, Tunisia Woodward. Upon realizing that Worthy was in labor, Woodward notified two colleagues, Sha’querria Kaigler and Keisha Blue-Murray. Kaigler called 911, hoping that the ambulance would get there in time, but unfortunately, the employees quickly realized that Worthy would be having her baby there in the restaurant’s bathroom. The three women, who were all mothers, quickly sprang into action, ready to help Worthy deliver.

By this point, Phillips realized that Worthy was taking much longer than expected. He ran inside, only to find Worthy surrounded by the three female employees. However, just three pushes and less than fifteen minutes later, Worthy gave birth to a healthy little girl, Nandi Ariyah Moremi Phillips, who the McDonald’s crew promptly nicknamed “Little Nugget.”

On November 30, 2022, Worthy and Phillips brought their baby girl back to the McDonald’s location, where they were surprised with a baby shower hosted by the restaurant staff. The restaurant was decorated with streamers, balloons, and flowers, and the couple was given baby essentials such as diapers, wipes, and clothes, along with a generous gift from the restaurant owner/operator. The efforts of the McDonald’s employees, however, did not go unnoticed.

The McDonald’s owner, Steve Akinboro, also awarded the heroic crew members with $250 gift cards as part of the company’s Thank You Crew Initiative—a program that recognizes outstanding McDonald’s crew members and managers who go above and beyond.^[8]

2 Grocery Store Employees and Customers Save Teen from Assault

On September 18, 2022, an unnamed 16-year-old girl went to the restroom inside a Stater Bros grocery store in Whittier, California, when a man followed her inside and locked the door. The man then pushed the girl to the ground and got on top of her; however, the teenager fought back and began screaming for help.

Upon hearing her cries for help, the young girl’s mother also began screaming, alerting employees and customers in the store of the situation. Store employees rushed to open the bathroom door while some other customers ran in and pulled the teenager away from the man. Three men then pinned the suspect down on the restroom floor and held him there until law enforcement arrived.

The suspect, who was later identified as 38-year-old Steven Magdaleno—a homeless man who is known to hang out in the grocery store’s parking lot—was charged with felony assault to commit rape, false imprisonment by violence, and attempted escape from custody. Magdaleno was also charged with a misdemeanor count of giving false information to authorities after giving deputies his cousin’s name, Ramos. The teenage girl was given medical treatment for her injuries at a local hospital.^[9]

1 Diamonds Are Forever

When Nick Day proposed to his wife Shaina, he did so with a diamond engagement ring. Unfortunately, before the couple ever had the chance to say “I do,” Nick’s token of love went down the toilet, literally!

The couple was at Nick’s parent’s house in Lakeland, Florida, when Shaina was cleaning water off the bathroom counter with some toilet paper. Shaina’s ring also just so happened to be on the counter, and she believes that she accidentally grabbed the ring with the toilet paper before accidentally flushing it down the toilet.

The couple went to great lengths to try and find the lost engagement ring, even going so far as to climb down into the septic tank, pumping it through a strainer. Unfortunately, the couple never found the ring, and it would spend the next 21 years in the depths of porcelain obscurity.

Then, in November 2022, Nick’s mother, Renee, hired a local plumber to replace her toilet, and he discovered the ring lodged inside, proving diamonds really are forever.

After a good cleaning, Nick’s parents wrapped up the ring as a surprise Christmas gift for the couple, leading to a very emotional reaction. However, Nick and Shaina said they plan to either incorporate the diamond into a new piece of jewelry or pass it on for a future generation to enjoy.^[10]