Dung in the dorms: Serial pooper strikes Abbott Hall laundry room
October 25, 2017
A bowel movement bandit has been prowling the lower level laundry room in Abbott Hall, leaving several residents to find fecal matter on clothes they left in washing machines.
“We heard about the pooper two weeks ago, two or three weeks ago,” Khiyah Ransom, a sophomore living in Abbott Hall studying industrial design, said.
Ransom said she found out about the fecal fiend through a group chat that mentioned a student living on the second floor found excrement on her clothing in the washing machine.
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The excrement was found after the student’s clothes had gone through a complete cycle, Ransom said. After hearing of the first incident, Ransom said maintenance cleaned the machine.
Ransom said as far as she knows, only one student has told their RA about finding poop on their clothes, so maintenance has only come to clean the machines once.
However, at this point, residents say there have been eight confirmed excrement encounters in the laundry room of Abbott, two of which happened during the 2016-17 academic year.
“Now I’m, like, terrified to wash in Abbott,” Ransom said. “I was really upset about it, but I was like, I’m just wondering who’s doing this pooping.”
Ransom said she thinks the poop perpetrator might be striking when residents take too long to get their clothes out of the washers.
The laundry room in the lower level does not have any cameras, so Ransom said one proposed solution is to lock the laundry room and keep a resident assistant at the door to let students in.
Alternatively, Ransom said housing may just lock the door and allow no one to wash their clothes in that laundry room.
“I don’t think it’s really funny,” Ransom said.
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Residence assistants and their supervisors declined to comment on the dorm droppings.
Brian Piller, a freshman studying industrial design from Downers Grove, said he fell victim to the pooper last week.
“I went down into the laundry room to wash my clothes and I opened one of the washers and noticed that it smelled like someone had taken a dump in there,” Piller said.
He said his initial reaction was not that someone had intentionally dropped dung on his duds.
“It kind of surprised me,” Pillar said. “I wondered if maybe someone had had an accident in their clothes or something. It never occurred to me that, you know, someone would poop on clothes in the laundry room.”
Sami Pierce, a sophomore studying interior design from Danvers, had a similar experience in September.
“This has been a problem for awhile,” Pierce said.
In every incident, the fecal matter was found in the rubber seal of the machine.
Pierce was getting her laundry out of the washer when she noticed feces around where one of her socks was caught.
“All the fun things get stuck in there,” Pierce said. “Where do you report it to, though? That’s not something you expect when you’re doing laundry.”
Erica Miller, a sophomore studying mortuary science from St. Louis, said he has found poop in his clothing three times since he began living in Abbott. Two of the incidents with his clothing occurred last year, he said.
“It’s about once every semester, I swear,” Miller said.
Miller, again, said he found the feces in the rubber seal inside the machine.
“I get my clothes out of the washer and there’s the smell,” he said. “That is what you encounter first, and then you find it. You see the actual feces, and it’s in the little rubber thing and you peel it back, and you’re like ‘No, thank you.’ And it looks like it’s been through a cycle.”
He said although the feces has never actually gotten into his clothing, it’s still too close for comfort.
“They were side by side and that was good enough for me,” Miller said.
Staff designer Josie Arnett can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @JosieArnett.
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C. Rappy • Jul 27, 2018 at 2:25 pm
MORE POOP MORE POOP
Patricia S. • Oct 28, 2017 at 2:45 pm
Having been an RA for two years, I can tell you that there’s no way an RA or Head Resident has the time to staff the laundry room. They have to make rounds throughout the building which means all the pooper needs to do is watch for when the staff isn’t there. The only way to ensure no one poops in the washer is for the person washing their clothes to stay down there the whole time. Bring their laptop or whatever device and park it for awhile.
Da Hamms Bear • Oct 28, 2017 at 12:34 am
I can’t help but be reminded of UIUC’s ordeal in the late 1960s – mid 1970’s with Michael H. Kenyon, a.k.a “The Illinois Enema Bandit”…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_H._Kenyon
Later immortalized by Frank Zappa in a 1976 song of the same title…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3nb9dDa-Qg
UIUC has tried for 50 years to bury the incident, but legends die hard.
DHB
UIUC grad from the 1980s.
Jody • Oct 27, 2017 at 12:57 am
It isn’t funny to me. It’s disgusting and a sign of serious pathology. Get a camera and find out what is happening.
Randawg02 • Oct 25, 2017 at 8:22 pm
DNA test the fecal matter and every student living in Abott Hall. Let the students in biology do it as a project. Everyone wins! Except the rogue pooper I suppose…
Bill Lamskovachia • Oct 25, 2017 at 8:17 pm
Wonder why he’s only doing #2 in the washer? I think a #1 in the dryer would be equally as effective…No?
AKCMark • Oct 26, 2017 at 4:40 pm
Only if it is powered on and running when they do it. Could prove to be a bit of an attention getter for the poopetrator however.
AKCMark • Oct 26, 2017 at 4:42 pm
…o wait that would be peepetrator in this instance.
Jimbob Stefanopolis • Oct 25, 2017 at 8:10 pm
Install cameras in the laundry room of a dorm in southern Illinois for “kids” safety? What you think this is? – prison? These “kids” could just as easily be raped and pillaged in the woods that encompass the entire campus. Install cameras there too? What a joke!
Lock the door? You ever think that maybe the person shitting in the washer is a student too? Jesus Christ
Bob Samkowski • Oct 25, 2017 at 7:00 pm
Oh cmon Mary who would want this to stop? This makes for a great laugh. I vote more poop!
A. R. • Oct 25, 2017 at 6:27 pm
I’d recommend staff lock the laundry room. It is unfortunate for those using the facility properly, but the person doing this needs to know there are consequences. You could also consider having staff sign people in in to use the laundry facility (having it locked and only unlocked when signed in). That way you at least have a list of names using it. Also, not sure if your res staff does building tours but that may help if they check the laundry room/are walking by it often.
Mary Wittenbrink • Oct 25, 2017 at 12:16 pm
Can’t they put cameras the laundry room?? Not only for this problem but for these kids protection! Please consider the cameras…thanks.