The Outhouse Scare
 One of the funniest
experiences I had at Bean Blossom involved the old double three-holer
outhouse. (Photo on Jim Moss' website: http://www.mossware.com/music.html).
The men's and the lady's facilities adjoined and were separated
by a wall. The men's entrance was on the stage side and the women's
on the opposite side.
In the early 1970s I had a small, self-contained
camper with a rather small sewage holding tank. Because the festival
lasted several days, I would get up very early in the morning
every other day and drain the trailer sewage holding tank into
a portable 5 gallon plastic tank and carry it over to the three-holer
and dump it down a hole.
One morning I got up at about 6:00 a.m.,
(in those days some of the jam sessions lasted until the sun
came up, so not many people were up and stirring at 6:00 a.m.).
On this particular day it was very quiet. The early morning mist
was hanging about 8 feet off the ground, being fed by several
still-smouldering campfires, and the only noise was from the
birds and little woods critters getting ready for another day.
No thumping bass fiddles, just nature's early morning quiet.
I drained the holding tank into the portable
tank, screwed on the lid, and proceeded to carry it over to the
three-holer, about 50 yards away. Nobody was in sight. I entered
the men's side quietly, unscrewed the cap and poured the contents
down one of the holes. It made a horrendous splash and immediately
the morning quiet was pierced by a blood-curdling woman's scream,
OH MY GOD!!! Unknown to me, there was a lady using the other
side.
Soon, the door slammed and I could hear footsteps
scurrying away. I waited several minutes before I came out because
I didn't want the startled stranger to see who had nearly scared
her to death. The next day I told Bill Monroe about this experience
and he had a good belly laugh.
Jim Peva
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