Have anyone ever heard of the old timers using corn husks in the outhouse?

Yeah, yeah, this is a corny question, but the topic did come up today so I thought I’d ask to see if any of you had ever heard of such a thing. I KNOW people used corn cobs and if you ever felt one after the corn was removed, you might opt for the cob, too. And they were easy to store in a gunny sack.

Um….I can see husks as toilet paper before corn cobs.

I think the corn cobs were used for “other things”.

My grandfather always said he used the Sears catalog.

By the time I was born, my Gram & Gramps had graduated up to the Sears Roebuck catalog or occasionally a JC Penney’s catalog. They would make you appreciate even the roughest toilet paper that we have today. I did hear my Gramps telling stories about his family using corn cobs & husks back when he was a kid. There were 16 children in his family & the lucky ones got to use the husks. Whichever child had been bad for the day was punished by only having the choice of using the cob. One brother always had to use the cob. I always assumed that Gramps corn cob/husks stories were kinda like my Dad’s stories about walking 20 miles to school in the snow that was a foot deep & it was uphill both ways!!!

When I was in high school, a lot of the kids went hiking & they swore they picked leaves off the trees when they had to go in the woods. They always warned to never pick the leaves of 3 or you’d be sorry!!!

Your friend may have confused the cobs with the husks; however, maybe Gramps was telling the truth!!!

Yep, pretty common knowledge in the Ozarks. There are still outhouses in some areas that choose a more natural way of living with less of a carbon footprint.

@KNOWITALL Sooooo…do they use cobs or husks?

@kritiper Cobs are for smoking pipes, husks can be used for tp.

haha, things you never think you’ll say.

@KNOWITALL Those who’ve never had the experience won’t understand. Those who have been there at some point in their life will understand completely!!!

One of my elderly cousins hosted a reunion and built one new for a joke. It was fully functional and the kids had a blast using it.

@LadyM Right!! Lol