The Erfurt Latrine Disaster of 1184

It sounds like satire: a royal court, dozens of nobles, and a latrine floor that gives way beneath them. But this grotesque catastrophe actually happened. In the year 1184, during a political summit convened by the Holy Roman Emperor, a hall packed with German aristocrats collapsed into a cesspit below, killing many and reshaping imperial power in the process.

This is not a metaphor. It’s the story of how some of the most powerful men in medieval Europe drowned in human waste—and how that moment exposed the rot beneath the empire’s surface.

VAULT is a documentary podcast that uncovers real but nearly forgotten events—strange, disturbing, and too often left out of the official record.

🕯️ THE FORGOTTEN RECORD. OPENED.