This was supposed to be a easy job!

[@chargermopar]

That's a cesspool. We have them around here but they are never that big. Probably was part of a farm at one time. The idea was to have the waste go in and then percolate out, they were replaced by septic tanks starting in the 1950's.

[@srmcontracting]

Thanks for the info! You're right it probably was a farm.

[@commodoresixfour7478]

I think my girlfriends rental has one and I think the basement drain still uses it, while everything else goes to a newer septic tank. I say this because behind the house is a cement lid poking out of the ground.

[@jeremymerrix6236]

Yeah there are still some old septic cesspools around my area. I'm a septic guy for 20years so I guess you can say I've seen some shit in my time.

[@KevinMurano]

What’s crazy was how big it was and the lack of thought or maybe care for a collapse. The rental company I work for lost a 60’ boom because the operator drove into the back lot and nothing was marked and there no knowledge, there was huge hole enough to swallow half the lift, the other half catapulted the operator straight out into a tree breaking his leg. It’s nuts what they used to do.

[@stfhaha1963]

I like how close to the lines the dump was

[@pootle5096]

Aw, that's a shame. A bunker would have been great! About 20 years ago a hole appeared in the playground of my old junior school and when it was excavated, it DID turn out to be a WWII bunker! It was very exciting being able to go down and have a look - the perks of knowing the headmaster! :-)

[@jamesbizs]

@Repent and believe in Jesus Christ go to hell

[@jamesbizs]

Would have been a very useless bunker, if the roof caved in that easily lol

[@carmium]

Or they could stopped part way up and hard a nice koi pond! What a waste!

[@heavensophia9382]

This ain't no bunker, it's where the previous owner used to keep the girls and the lotion.

[@carmium]

HAD a nice

[@k.b.tidwell]

It's a septic cistern. There's one behind my grandparent's house that my uncle coincidentally uncovered and cleaned out three weeks ago because his granddaughter is now living there. Built the same as this one with sheet steel on top back in the late '50's or early '60's. My grandparents were born around 1920 and this used to be a normal thing.

[@nottheone582]

the granddaughter is living in the cistern??

[@leoorona1482]

There is a septic cistern in my backyard, similar built but not that big.

[@nighthawkarts]

@@nottheone582 yes everyone in our town calls her the poop girl.

[@Scruit]

So basically a 1970's-era gravity septic system, but without the leach field? Did they ever get the solids pumped out? Or did they assume they would not poop that much for the rest of their lives?

[@rng8891]

If that house was once a bus terminal, and we assume it's a septic tank... then it's size makes sense. A whole lotta poop and pee has to go somewhere when the bus stops...

[@abramknight9496]

I grew up in a old ranch house and had to do some exploratory digging for our septic, only to discover a straight cast iron pipe going into a square box made of old railroad ties and covered with old rotting piece of plywood. Its a wonder we never fell in all those years playing back there. Would explain why the apple tree in the back grew so well without being watered.

[@joy-to7dx]

Cool did y'all keep it

[@abramknight9496]

@@joy-to7dx We moved away after my father retired, but as far as I know its still there running like a champ!😆

[@aspenlm]

lol

[@srmcontracting]

It's crazy to me that so many of these underground voids exists. It's only a matter of time till they collapse. Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@buelowexcavating]

The first tank from the house would be a solid tank, also called a septic tank, for the solids to settle. The tank in the video is the second tank, also called a cesspool. The cesspool has holes in the walls of it to allow the effluent to disperse in the soil.

[@Bluenosegrows]

you shud up! its a mystery bunker.....

[@Yooper_eh]

I've also known the second tank to be called a dry well. After the solids are trapped in the first well, the liquid spills over into this tank and seeps into the ground. Today we typically send the liquid into a (relatively) horizontal drain field.

[@a.mathis9454]

That makes sense, especially if it was a bus station and it does look like one.

[@drlong08]

In Long Island they just used these as both the septic and seepage pit...now they have ground water issues and are struggling to upgrade those systems with an actual septic tank. Also a big issue with all the folks on meds that just pass through the body and drop into these systems.

[@Killastoned]

@@Bluenosegrows killroom kind sir. id be lookin at old snuff films for the wall/cinderblock background lol

[@InsideTheBaux]

The only reasoning I can think of for it being that large is in the history of the property being a former bus terminal. The restrooms would have been used more frequently by the public than a standard residential size pit would accommodate. It was likely forgotten about when being converted into a single-family home and with the introduction of modern plumbing. Glad that back deck didn't collapse on you guys! I held my breath at 4:24.

[@Mechknight73]

Personally I think it's a giant soakwell; somewhere for storm water to accumulate and drain away. Note the "open" blocks lining the walls. This is so that when it IS full of water, it will drain away into the soil. In Australia, these are usually like a big concrete pipe on itse end, with a few holes around the side, and often a dirt floor

[@Dani-it5sy]

So now he and his neighbours will have massive flood problems when a storm comes 😆 If this thing had this function 30 years ago it probably still has 🤨

[@GCSol]

I was thinking the same thing. When I was a kid our yard would flood everytime it rained. My dad built something very similiar to this and connected all the downspouts to it. No more flooding after that.

[@Mechknight73]

@@GCSol My father was a plumber. I can't speak for US standards when it comes to plumbing, but in Australia a septic tank is just that, an underground tank. It fills up with sewage and has to be pumped out now and again, instead of it leaching into the soil, which is actually toxic to the soil. If you were to use human waste as fertiliser, the organisms in it would get into whatever you're growing with it. Said organisms can potentially make you very sick

[@s00p3rman]

​@@Mechknight73yeah that's why this group is thinking it's a dry-well. Just an area for storm water to gather and then dissipate slowly. The wall is covered in holes to allow the water to come in and drain out slowly.

[@secrets2youth]

Mechanites oh, do you think it was better to leave it? Do you think now there could be flooding

[@Wolvespiritt]

Cesspool with a baffle. When we put in our new septic tank a couple years back, while running the new drain field we uncovered a round cesspool. The one we uncovered was 12' diameter 8' deep. It also had a concrete top, though it was supported in the center with a banjo rear from a Ford model a/aa that was being used as a post.

[@Gdji5fv]

Why would any company build a house on top of a sink hole. It doesn't make sense. Within years, it could have corroded and the house cave into the hole. Like all others home fallen in a sink hole, no different.

[@reneehawkins1936]

I would say they didn't know it was there! They said it was a bus terminal originally. And it isn't a sink hole, it's man made.

[@williamkowalchik572]

Drain field for a septic tank. Had a round on in California we lived in the dessert.

[@thenusjudice5756]

One of my grandparents built their septic tank for his home during the 50’s. Covered it with a large sheet of steel, covered the whole area with new dirt, lasted for decades. This is incredible for living the gulf coast area.

[@brendarobbins8832]

My great grandparents farm house had one between the driveway and kitchen door. It had a small manhole with a cracked cement cover. An adult would not have fallen very far with the lid gone but a child would have disappeared. My cousins and I would dare each other to jump on the lid. We’d all take turns jumping once then twice, 3, 4, times. We didn’t think about it being dangerous if someone fell through, just the thrill if that happened. Some grown up would eventually come out and fuss at us to play somewhere else. Sometimes I marvel at the thought of surviving my childhood.

[@twodigitscout9800]

Me too... in the 80s as a kid (and pretty much any time before that for anyone else), I really dont know how I'm still here with all the stupid things I did and survived.

[@desertcandle1]

Me too, my sister's and I used to swim in alligator infested waters. I still get the heebee geebies when I think what could have happened to one of us. Thank goodness we survived.

[@AlanPeery]

​@repentandbelieveinJesusChrist4Why not ask Quijoo the effervescent? He's more forgiving, and equally powerful.

[@tigrehermano]

I used to jump across a gap in two bridges over 6 meters of fast water coming from the mountains, full of logs and debris. Of course raining. We were dumb.

[@danvigue2238]

Some type of storm shelter....

[@brianhiggins7599]

It's drywell. This is how it was done before leach fields. This was very well done and would probably still work fine. My old house before the one I'm in had 2 of them one for just the toilet and the other for every thing else. They have been in use for 50+ years. There would still be a septic tank in line before this to deal with the solids. There are a huge number of these still in use.

[@PANZERFAUST90]

usage*

[@SocietalNarcissism]

That's exactly what it is. I realized it when he climbed in and I saw the french drains.

[@Paul0000ification]

I would've blocked up the pipes, rendered the walls, and turned it into an extra room!

[@wavydavy9816]

Wow! What an ace vid. Just watching this while I have morning coffee. Nice work. Cheers.

[@chad2886]

I'm surprised you didn't backfill with #1 stone then topsoil. My experience says you may be going back when it sinks and settles probably after a heavy rain storm. One thing is for sure you never know what you're gonna find in the ground when you start digging

[@timothymiller-9920]

Chad I would have to say that your absolutely right after it settles and a couple of hard rains it's going to start to sink. Definitely Definitely needed stone first.

[@dianaspears571]

I thought that also. We had a low spot in our yard after construction of our house. We filled it in twice for that very reason.

[@leethebee1560]

Good point made. This contractor is milking the job, dirt is expensive depending on area

[@Dysturbed-00]

Didn't even compact the soil. Just some light tamping with the bucket.

[@angustheterrible3149]

It was truly a botched job imo. Left a mess in their wake and even destroyed the concrete walk between three stairs. They haven't seen the last of that hole.

[@victoriabrown3836]

I once owned a home built in the late 1800's and it had a large septic tank that was oval just like this one. The only difference was that the walled sides were made out of large, natural stone, but had the same ability to allow the inflow to seep out into the ground. When it began to give us problems, we had septic experts come and open it and then fill it with a combination of rock and sand. It took a tremendous amount of sand/rock to fill it. Like this site, it was very close to our home and partly under what was a beautiful brick patio. YIKES! When we disturbed the overall tank, that part of the patio sank down about 6-8 inches. It was costly AND we were thankful that it had not collapsed or worse!

[@GHumpty1965]

Definitely a cesspool, helped fill one in at my Grandparents home back in the 80's. It was not as big as that, but if it was a Bus station that makes since. Looks like 1 side was solids and the other was fluids to leach out. Or they would compost 1 side and fill the other, dual composting system.

[@jesuselizondo8740]

Yes it was a septic or a waste tank usually because of the way the blocks are positioned for draining into the ground I've seen a lot of this in Mexico they are common over there

[@area51z63]

LOL if it were a septic tank, and idiot would be able to smell it even after a century

[@TrentCantrell]

Second this. It looks like, instead of a drain field, the water seeped into the soil through the horizontal blocks.

[@jesuselizondo8740]

That's exactly what I just said

[@slimbruh]

This is a cesspool

[@vwtazz]

It looks like a "Brick Seepage Pit" used to be common type of dry-well/sewage tank. I have found them at old farms and rural areas a few times.

[@systemsdevelopment95]

Yes, that was also my first thought: if you focus on the pattern formed by the cinder blocks, there are solid rows, and there are also rows with holes. That PVC pipe dumped gray water into one side, solids sunk to the bottom, and those holes acted like perforations, allowing the liquid levels higher up to seep into the adjacent tank. Also, there are similar perforations in the outer perimeter walls, which would allow normal seepage into the surrounding soil. My 2 cents, FWIW. Thanks!

[@Barbrook_Starsight]

I was going to say this as well. I have seen this before as an "over flow" tank off of a septic tank instead of a drain field.

[@bigoldgrizzly]

I've still got one.

[@bikerbobcat]

What a find! Glad it worked out okay with no major collapse or foundation damage. I have occasional discoveries doing HVAC but nothing like this!

[@peterszar]

Whoa...Man the collapse of that concrete, right up to the stairs, sure was a surprise. I feel for Sean. I took on a job, and while excavating we had a similar situation, except this was a 30X40 '50's>'60's era bomb shelter. Our collapse came within 18'' to a poured concrete foundation. Whew, our hearts were in our throats, ha ha.--

[@Lacey_Face]

Yep. A lot of ppl were digging bunkers in the 50'& 60's.

[@johnboy425]

It's an old cistern , I found one under a guys garage when we started to put in a new driveway...we pumped it full of slurry...funny that there was a garage on top of half of it , where they actually parked a car over it . The concrete on the top of it was only a few inches thick and was reinforced with an old chain link fence !!

[@srmcontracting]

It sure was! I'm glad it didn't extend under the deck or any closer to the house for that matter. That bomb shelter sounds pretty cool. Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@kath3832]

If I thought I'd found a bunker in my garden I certainly wouldn't be filling it!!! Even a cesspool like that would be cool to have as a kind of bunker lol

[@cwm7930]

I had the same exact situation. Bought a home that was built before the city had plumbing and found a brick tank. The guy I paid to fill it in was nerding out about it being close to 100 years old and still in good enough shape to be put in operation.

[@AhJodie]

I have an old cistern, the walls are lime plaster, they were used for rainwater collection for washing clothes etc. This is probably what everyone else is saying about a dry septic system, that allows stuff to drain into the ground. It is so intact that I would probably put stairs in it and a roof on it to use as a interesting structure in my yard. It seems way too cool to just fill in. Someone probably hand dug and lined that a long time ago, they did a great job! I thought the way you guys dug into that cement was dangerous though, because you didn't know how far back it went....

[@mikep490]

I was thinking the same. I'd wonder if, when it was a turkey farm, it was used for water runoff from the roof and "yard". With the cinder blocks set like they are, it'd collect rainfall and allow water to drain into the ground. Cisterns are making a comeback to collect winter rainfall then use it to water their gardens in summer... though most use above ground water tanks.

[@AhJodie]

@@dezimiller8144 What goodies? Mine were great!

[@Lindenbum]

It’s a cesspool Notice the cinder blocks laid side ways for effluent drainage. The solids would settle lower to be pumped.

[@AhJodie]

@@Lindenbum I looked it up after I read your comment and found the history very interesting. I have heard the term often to describe a bad place, but now it makes more sense. Thank you for your knowledge and sharing.

[@pete_lind]

Industrial size of rain water collection , pipe was a bit under dimensioned for that . Apartment house near by had same problem there are 4 collector wells , those are dangerously deep , over 15´ , we did try to figure why there are 4 , one was waste water , one for rain water , so for what were the other two for ? Blue prints did not help , city records did not help , when we were finally able to find the correct file . Just in 50 years info why were there 4 deep collector wells build , when there has never been use for more than 2 , just as with all other similar apartment houses in area . It was last of the apartment houses to be ready , so maybe they just had extra concrete well rings left over and decided to put them there .

[@rickhinojosa5455]

My first thought was a septic tank from the blocks of concrete that were used as walls. I ran into one similar to that years ago. Nice job that they did.

[@johnyromondt9770]

This is exactly the way we build septic tanks upto date in The netherlands antilles When it fills up we let them pump it empty And it will take a couple of years to fill up again. Greetings from Curacao the jewel of the carribean ❤

[@f.k.burnham8491]

A cistern would have solid walls and not built so the water would run out. I would agree that it is either a dry well for gray water or runoff. It possibly could be an old septic tank, but based on the one that was found on my property when I had an old growth tree removed, it would still smell after decades and there would be sludge still in the bottom. Mine stunk horribly when the ground gave way over the top of it. The one I found was likely put in in 1932 or before . Still smelled bad enough to gag a maggot.

[@louskunt9798]

How do you know it wasn’t installed in 1933? Honest question.

[@toberman3914]

@@louskunt9798 Wow...

[@SirUncleDolan]

​@@louskunt9798 lmao they probably started doing it differently in 1933. Someone took a look at it and went "ah. This's clearly a model from before '33. You can tell by the... holes." Or it said like ©1932 on the side of it idk

[@tja3495]

@@OliverMoore1973 That is a very old saying, "Gag a maggot".

[@quarkquinn8468]

​@327 chev I remember that one from High School. Northern California 1980's. Made me laugh😊.

[@bustersgarage]

In Ireland, that's called a soakaway, but you wouldn't have left it hollow because of the risk of collapse. They like for you to plan/build for centuries rather than decades. First, we dug two 3sqm holes. One off each corner of my shed a couple meters away from the slab. Lined each hole with a silt-blocking membrane and then filled it with clean large gravel. and ran a drain pipe from the end of each downspout (with a grate/trap/clean-out because of leaves and dirt). Then covered it all up. My shed roof covers a carport as well, so fairly large. So we doubled up the soak-away requirement by planning. And funny enough, we had one of the wetest springs in Ireland's history and when the rest of the back garden starting turning into a flood zone and had standing water, the area by the shed was well drained and the soak aways weren't spilling over. So result!

[@fireballglamm]

Few years ago digging up my garden in the backyard without a cistern. When we did our patio over the top of it we had to fill it in. Took 40 yards of rock to fill it in. Give or take some of it we use to help for the patio.

[@84gibsonexp]

Probably a cistern for water storage before city water. They usually caught rain water from the down spouts. As a 7 yr old kid my family rented an old farm house (1960s) that had one. It was the only source of water that supplied the house. Hard telling what kind of microscopic creatures we were drinking. There was a big concrete slab over it that also was used as a patio. It had a steel manhole lid I guess to keep an eye on the water level.

[@Jawstaysun]

Cisterns do not use cinder block for construction. The water stays in a cistern until it is removed.

[@cantcomeupwithausern]

@@Jawstaysun they used brick, right?

[@dwh5512]

Every cistern I have seen or removed was concrete

[@Big_Island_Boi]

@@dwh5512 So... what did they use to build cisterns before concrete? Because they've been around for centuries.

[@barrellcooper6490]

So has concrete, the Romans built a lot of infrastructure including roads with it.

[@ganggreen9012]

The old farmhouse we lived in from the mid 1970's to mid 1990's had a bank barn that had been built in the 1850's. We had the barn removed before my parents sold the property because it was starting to fall apart. After the barn was gone we hired bulldozer to smooth out the barn site and while he was leveling the bank out the operator hit an old cistern that we didn't know was there. It was brick lined, about 10 feet in diameter and still full of water. The barn must have had a rain water catchment system that was still functional enough to top off the cistern without us knowing it was there. The dozer operator wasn't happy when he almost dropped into the pit. We knew about a separate cistern that had provided water to the house at one point. It was on the hill above the barn and there was a pipe from the spring to the cistern and another pipe from the cistern to the house.

[@Bonzi_Buddy]

In Australia two vehicles were driving in a mining operation and the ground just fell out from underneath them. The ground gave way to the stope dug out beneath them. Not really sure all the details as journalists don't understand mining terms and what exactly happened. I'm not sure if a void opened up under the stope and took material that had been filled into it away leaving a further void or they just fell into a collapsed area. 2 people in one vehicle died while the other one was able to have the single driver rescued. My guess is that there was a stope that was back-filled with materials and somehow during that process the rocks caught and made it appear the stope was filled but it wasn't filled but only at the top and eventually it loosened and all the material dropped to the bottom of the stope taking the vehicles on top with... one vehicle went all the way in and the other got caught and didn't plunge the whole way down. Crazy stuff. A stope is the part of a mine where the ore is and it is dug out following the path of that ore. The "levels" are tunnels to reach the stope at the level they're being dug out. Interesting stuff.

[@theewelder]

"top off the cistern " = future sinkhole..

[@Quidditch54321]

What a shame to destroy that old barn. It is a part of history and it is rare. Please keep old buildings repaired in a like for like way.

[@PrimoLife2]

We found one under our old back porch pad. The house is circa 1960 and in the middle of farm land. It has a well to support the house. The cistern is a cinder block lined. Designed to hold run off water that could be used as a water holding tank. We had to have a county engineer come and help us design a safe structure to rebuild a laundry room over it vs spending tons of money to fill it with dirt or concrete.

[@privatepilot4064]

I’ve built septic tanks out of cement blocks. Still working great after 40: years!

[@tomearnest198]

I worked construction for 50 years. I came across a couple of similar setup. Not that big or built like a bomb-proof shelter but it's definitely a septic system of some type. Maybe a farm or commercial or industrial setup of some kind.

[@TheGoodTheBadTheRowdy]

Very cool! On our ranch and nearby farm, we found under ground an old armory, rfls, clothing/uniforms, canon balls, money, letters, journals, alcohol, cooking equipment, swords, knives, shoes, jewelry and watches. Our son bought a property that had a hidden bunker from prohibition days. Found alcohol, 5 modified cars, old pew pews, clothing like suits and daily work wear, vintage furniture, booths, beautiful clocks, guess it stopped being used a little after ww2 for storage, as there are news papers, and other items from that period in there as well. Also the Veteran who went to WW2 and came back, I guess hunted and took revenge on racist folks who murdered black people, guy kept a diary of folks and the evil they did. Pretty cool find on my sons property! He now uses his massive prop to train fellow law enforcement, mil, and private security entities. Son covets his privacy so he never made the discoveries known, but good lord, can you imagine stumbling on a bunch of prohibition stuff, then newer WW2 era stuff?

[@blueford8n]

Howdy. We used to have large chicken farms, and one thing that was always needed was a large hole in the ground with a metal roof over it with a small hole to get in/out. Not people, but dead chickens. They were burned inside the pit. Most old farms still have these things. So, it really looks like you have a turkey pit/ incinerator. Phil

[@hook585]

I agree. especially with evidence of soot on the brick. the pipes were likely air flow/exhaust for it.

[@thebluelunarmonkey]

If that was in my backyard, I'd connect all my rain downspouts to it and not have to worry about rain water near my foundation. Looks like it was still stable, no collapsing walls.

[@trevorforrester3142]

I know.. It seems like any time someone finds a wonderful gem like this in their yard or under their house... the first thing they think of is to blab to the entire world about it and then fill it in with dirt. They don't even attempt to use their imagination in the least. The place came with a dream come true and they wasted it. This could be used as a safe room...food storage... water storage.... and the list goes on and on. An entrance could be built in from the house to the room underground and no one would ever know.

[@thebluelunarmonkey]

@@trevorforrester3142 💯

[@jasongrisdale3084]

Well it's not your place so don't worry about it...they don't want it....heaven forbid someone does something to thier own fn property...

[@jimbeam-ru1my]

"Looks like it was still stable, no collapsing walls." Until the monkey with the tractor showed up.

[@thebluelunarmonkey]

@@jasongrisdale3084 You know, youtube is this neat video platform where people can post videos and other people can comment on them? Mine is don't let this dry well go to waste, even more, don't spend even more money burying it!

[@brentfisher6484]

It would appear to be divided into two chambers suggesting it is an old septic tank. Yes. In some areas of the US septic tanks were allowed to be built of masonry (block). Most building codes require exploration of areas where there was previous construction in order to make safe the conditions under grade (not visible) prior to more construction.

[@6panel300]

I remember when we were building on an old ww2 airbase, when they came across an unmapped underground command room which they had to fill with concrete, if I remember correctly it took about 6 loads (approx 36 cubic metres). A week later they dug up a 6 cubic metre concrete block which apparently was used as part of bomb blast shield wall. To get rid of it they dug another hole and came across 2 more.😂😂

[@robertpeacock1635]

We built a septic tank when working in Belize one week out of blocks. Concrete base and all the blocks were on end, not any on side, filled voids with concrete and rebar, then capped with concrete with an access hole. The inner walls were sealed with mortar as it went up but did not seal center dividing wall.

[@CarlosBarretoKeronas]

I'm not sure what can be but in México we built similar ones but are exclusive for rain water, we call them _Pozo de absorción_ "absorption well". They are build with cinder block or red bricks, a concrete top, and the bottom is fill with gravel or volcanic rock. They help to replenish the groundwater

[@dand33911]

Honeycomb drywell/gallery, cesspool ect. When my uncle passed we sold his house. No one knew anything about the septic, other than it worked for 60 years. When they found it at the inspection is was a honeycomb cinderblock cesspool. Just like that. But smaller. And it was bone dry. Never been pumped. And he raised 4 kids in that house. You could get away with building your own septic with cinderblocks back in the day. No board of health, perc tests, soil testing, special sands. And they worked better!

[@roberthughes2665]

Darn government regulations

[@dand33911]

@@roberthughes2665 Simply a justification to employ people for menial jobs. 95% of the government could be eliminated and no one would notice.

[@roystonrichards1556]

That's interesting. Do you know if it was it a twin chamber tank?

[@dand33911]

@@roystonrichards1556 No there was no tank. It was a single compartment cesspool. Every other course of cinder blocks was turned so water could flow through. About 8' round and 8' deep.

[@dand33911]

@jimrockford1283 Neat copy and paste A bunker is water tight. Doesnt have open cinderblock walls. Thanks for playing.

[@bobdobbins229]

It was a drywell, I remember we had one when I was just a kid. They used them instead of drain fields in modern septic systems

[@manicmarauder]

Makes sense, and with him saying it used to be a bus station then that explains the Drywell Of Unusual Size pretty well.

[@k34561]

My parents installed a drywell on Long Island back in the early 70's. In their case it was made out of precast concrete rings with rows of holes around the edge. I assume 8-9"feet in diameter so they could fit a truck. Usually they where 2-3 rings beside each other. In my parents case they got permission to stack them, so the drywell was 16 feet deep. They brought in a crane to dig the hole and lift the rings. There was also special drywell cement blocks a available. The blocks where designed to create a circular drywell. Overall they where curved with interlocking convex/concave curved ends. It was easy as stacking toy blocks to stack them in rings and add a top to create a deywell. My dad used them to build an underground well pump housing.

[@alandeon]

Yes, that's exactly what that is. It provided groundwater a place to go and would get absorbed into the ground over the following days after a rain. I have one in my back yard also, just more modern.

[@lesterawilson3]

@@k34561 Grew up in North Babylon - same thing when the original cesspool from 1950 when the house was built needed to be replaced in the mid 70's. 2 pre-cast rings stacked on top of each other.

[@midnightchannel111]

Looks like a cistern. Every home built in the 19th century had one... And they always had water for their vegetable gardens, no matter how dry a summer might be. Super smart. So, of course, they are no longer made.

[@deborahsherer1710]

Loved the “Super Smart, so of course they are no longer made”. Isn’t that the way it goes? How sad.

[@thombauer1721]

Septic tank. Building with the blocks turned with their webs facing inside helps with leaching. The circular shape helps prevent collapse. Surprisingly well constructed. Take care enjoy your work don’t compromise the existing home’s structures.

[@danajorgensen1358]

I was thinking if the house was old enough, that could have been a coal bunker, but way too big and no connecting hatch to the house. And I thought it was far too big to be the septic tank for a house until late in the video, it was stated that the house was once a bus terminal. Yeah, that large a cesspool would be needed to handle the public restrooms in a bus terminal. And the leeching field associated with it would have been about 15 time larger.

[@cynthiaclark8050]

Septic tank. The one on my property was from the late 1920's . My aunt and uncle lived here for years using it. I noticed the top begin to sink in 2019...would walk beside the lawnmower when passing over it. Spring 2020 I came out toa 6" hole. It was cinder block, with antique train rails (narrower gauge) over the top . Likely long gone boards and then the poured cement. That one was more than twice the size of here!

[@okjd159]

It's what is called a dry well. It was to control water run off. When I found it in your yard there was road construction in front of your house. I ask one of the contractors that was removing small gravel if the want to dump it in my dry well so that he didn't have to drive almost 50 miles to get rid of it. There was a Ford Model T and Model A frame was holding the top.

[@chasetholen262]

Septic yes indeed as a sewer technician for Roto-Rooter for over 23 years I've had the luxury of walking over the top of one and actually falling in up to my armpits still holding on to the lawn now the house was actually connected to sewer by that point but no one knew the old system was still there and we filled Arjun with number one drain rock as well

[@alexanderg-p3z]

Ever come aross any septic-system, old or new - that did not have a distinct smell? My bet is they would smell it if this was any kind of septic-system, even if it hadn't been used for decades.

[@zombiedmon]

My father actually put a “dry well” in line with the septic system to prevent over saturation of the old septic system. It helped prevent the ground from getting swamped out and backing up with waste water from doing laundry and such. He actually used cinder blocks and lightly back filled. I’m surprised it never collapsed as of yet because he never used anything to hold them together. It was probably 4 x 12’ from what I remember and still in their backyard holding up.

[@gordbaker896]

Since the holes in some rows point outwards, it is likely a form of Septic tank. Certainly not a Cistern which was meant to contain rain water. Professionally built. Some things are best left alone. Farmer hack using Transport trailer frames.

[@daveparsons7741]

We called them drywells, for gray water, not septic, the sideways blocks allowed water to drain thru the sides, I replaced one that had filled up on the old family farm in the 80's dug by hand was about 8x8 by 6 deep with PT wood as top

[@PeterBooher]

This seems more reasonable to me

[@jimpatterson3286]

You are exactly right. For all the water except sewage. Soap kills the bacteria that keeps septic tanks clean. If you have a septic tank you got a dry well.

[@thomasbailey7505]

That is an old cistern that was used to catch rainwater to be used to water livestock when the drought during the summer hit. I have seen many of these and with farm equipment theu=y were easy to put together. They really worked and gave a source of water for the animals when the wells started going dry!

[@reneehawkins1936]

It's actually a cesspool. This design would not hold water

[@marcoagarza]

That is an old style septic tank system. The sideways blocks help water filter into the ground. My grandma's home in Mexico had one built about 50+ years ago and never caved in.

[@bobmazzi7435]

I agree, a drainage pool of some type. If the pipes came from the turkey farm, that might have been a disposal pool for a slaughterhouse or large coop. It might also just have been drainage for roofs or a parking lot for a bus terminal. Having courses of block on their sides definitely identifies it as some sort of drainage. A test of the bottom soil might have shown old oils suggesting a parking lot drain. Interesting that it still held up your machine after being there for decades.

[@Goodvibes-Adventures]

Shhhhhh 🤭. The contractor if tested might have been liable to do mitigation clean up if chemicals were found ...But he would have smelled something.

[@beamonm29]

Grandpa built a few of these very very similar. Cinder block walls, I beams laid across, perforated aluminum sheets, aluminum chainlink fence and another layer of perforated aluminum sheet for top. covered over with fill dirt and sod. The are to help prevent flooding. Allows all the water to sit in there and be absorbed slowly. His property had a water flow issue going towards the house and a couple of these eliminated the flooding in his basement and cellar. One he used as a rainwater well with waterlevel meter and pump to water the garden and flowers.

[@kingklump]

Growing up my parents had a septic tank made from old railroad ties. They were great because they were very much resistant to rot. Makes me think it's very possible that this could be a septic tank too.

[@tramptramp5401]

We used to call them a dry well. That one is much larger then most for a regular home back in the day. It was for the liquid coming from a septic tank and then it would drain in to the ground while the solids stayed in the septic tank to be pumped out.

[@jenniferradtke9984]

He mentioned that this used to be a bus terminal, I’m assuming there were multiple toilets from public restrooms that necessitated this large of a cesspool.

[@silverhorder1969]

If it was an old bus terminal, the pipe running to it could actually be a grease trap drain for oil changes and other fluids to drain. Septic tanks don’t have open cinder block walls. Septic also has a concrete floor, not a dirt floor. Back in the day they just ran oil and fluids into the ground like that. Before they had laws against doing that.

[@spurs3483]

We have an old cesspool on our property that looks like that although not nearly that large. We abandoned it over 20 years ago because it quit leaching. The cinder blocks in the side of it were for leaching purposes.

[@southernyankeehomestead3230]

Ran onto that a couple years back on my first demo. The difference was the house we were demoing had built the the addition right across the top of the cesspool. To make it even better someone had plumbed the top of the cesspool into the city sewer sytem. So their crawlspace was actually over 3/4 of an active cesspool.

[@bikenut5282]

The house I lived in in the 60s had a smaller round one in the back yard. It was attached to what was originally a 2 bedroom Cape-cod house. It had no baffles in it, no drain fields, just the cinder blocks turned sideways. It ended up handling all of what became a four bedroom house. It had a 2 foot elevated top with a man hole cover on it. We always called it a Cesspool. In 14 years I only recall it getting pumped out once. It always worked pretty good, no smells, no wet spots. That is, it worked good until the city said we had to get on their system. $$$

[@richardbas2948]

I know what this is! My uncle and me made one years before he was connected to a suage(sorry) system! Translated to English it's a stacking pit! These holes make it possible for liquid to escape and when ground-water level rises, it is somehow selfcleaning😊

[@eether54]

Does the contract also cover returning to fix the inevitable sinkhole creating by not properly compacting?

[@porsche9144uify]

That is a very large dry well. Grey water from septic. Very common in our area until field systems became the norm. That is 3 times larger than we have. Notice its made on concrete block that are laid sideways. The holes allow the water to leach out and soak into the soil.

[@Daehawk]

Fascinating. You never know what history you'll find when you dig a hole. Glad you explored it and showed it to us before just filling it in. I love stuff like this. What was it . Why did they put it there. What was it used for . When was it built. That sorta stuff.

[@Quidditch54321]

Ok but people need to research properly first! Look at old maps, go to a history centre or library, ask around! Look at title deeds before you dig.

[@patmcbride9853]

I'd be tempted to keep it if the walls are good. Nice, cool, underground storage.

[@kreigrastalovich2577]

Either that or a pool.

[@copernicusvanstruselclit9508]

Yeah for real. Why pay thousands of dollars to fill it?

[@dougdobbs]

@@copernicusvanstruselclit9508 Because it's full of human waste?

[@copernicusvanstruselclit9508]

@@dougdobbs Why do you assume that? Even if it did have some human waste in it, how is burying it going to change anything? It would still be in the ground and leach into the soil.

[@SlumberBear2k]

I'd have done something with it. probably legal red tape though, like zoning permits or something. and it might just end up a mud pit. but if you have a big hole you're filling you may as well put some sort of tank down there while filling it. always good to have a secret hiding spot for people or things.

[@tatonkatatonka]

🙋‍♀️ Totally impressive A big job and you kept the yard still very clean throughout the whole breakdown of cement Be proud of your work Watching from Alberta Canada

[@wlh227]

I live in in a home that had a septic tank very much like that but not nearly as large. When city sewer came through in the 1950's it was filled in but last year it settled a bit and I had to ad about a cubic yard of dirt to keep it level with the surrounding yard.

[@rustyaxelrod]

It’s a cistern for rain water collection and storage. A septic tank is part of the sewage system associated with water leaving the house from toilets and sink drains. Pretty common in older homes in the northern part of the country that drew their potable water from shallow, hand dug wells that supplied limited water. The rainwater was used for utility purposes and not normally plumbed into the water supply to the home. Once quite common, it’s interesting that modern people would see this and be puzzled.

[@JerGossett6]

Just had one filled in at my house... not near as big but same concept!!

[@dougdobbs]

With all due respect, this isn't a cistern. Notice the rows of block set on their side every few courses in the walls? Those are to let effluent soak into the soil. A cistern would be lined and sealed to retain water. My dad was a building contractor and I own a house that had "one of each" when we bought it. Cess pits (like this one) were the fore runners of septic tanks. They took bathroom, kitchen and toilet water and put it underground to mitigate smells, etc. They were one small step up from an outhouse. They also tended to pollute the local underground water supply big time. I was trying to figure out why this was so big and it clicked when you said that that used to be a bus station. Heavy usage, with possibly a diner or restaurant attached. What a find! It would be interesting to see if you could date this. My guess would be it's early 20th Century. Probably 1920-1935 time range.

[@adrianspeeder]

That is not a cistern.

[@BurntBillyofWV]

It’s not a cistern. Cisterns hold water and have sealed sides/top/and bottom. This has multiple levels of blocks laid sideways to allow water to drain out. It is a septic drain off like a drain field would be now. The primary tank caught the solids and this secondary tank would slowly seep the run off water into the ground. It can’t be a cistern if it has holes in the sides. I have seen these set ups multiple times. That’s why it only has one pipe draining into it at top coming from the house. Instead of multiple drain in pipes from the gutter system.

[@docholiday2538]

Yep here in Mississippi we use cinder blocks for septic tanks all the time. Im starting a series on building my new house from uncut land to the finished product and we're doing a cinder block septic tank. The series will start by the end of next month, check it out.

[@danielmcmindes5112]

cesspool's, my dad used to build them. they started as grey water but ended up as waste pools. we used to fill them with a lean concrete pumpable fill. you could have done this in two days and a concrete truck. look up controlled density fill (CDF).

[@joeshmoe9940]

Definitely septic tank with no leach field needed. Leaches right out the blocks. Back in the late 1960’s a neighbor had a system replaced in his yard and that’s exactly what they built. If the ground percs well, just that is all that’s needed.

[@cshannon7]

Cisterns in the back yard to hold excess rain water where common in older homes. I had one in my house that we never went in, and is still there outside the kitchen window. We sold the house years ago and it's still standing, but I have no idea if they discovered/did anything about the cistern. The basement was dry for many years, then after the concrete foundation started cracking and dropping we put a sump pit in the basement just inside from the cistern. It ran for a long time until it dried up. Then we had to seal all the cracks. We were told they stored rain water there but I don't know it there was anyway to use it. The lot sloped downhill from there and led to two levels in the back yard, and a huge field in the middle of the block which was mostly peat soil.

[@lanceverbose1763]

When I was a kid, my grandma had a giant hole next to the house. I had always figured it was septic but years later I met the grand-daughter of the original owner and she told me the hole had something to do with a pipe organ that the house used to have.

[@aliceklundt]

That is weird

[@JamesGarman-b1h]

That's a drywell. I've installed many thru the years. They're still acceptable in some areas (I live and work in Maryland and Pennsylvania) however if a new septic system was installed or if a public sewer system was connected it is mandatory to fill in the old system.

[@PoppaLongroach]

I live in west Virginia 5 miles from p.a line and 6 miles from m.d line in Preston County. Inherited my paps house and it had one of those. The top caved in and we filled it and left the old house to mother nature. No we'll or city water, spring dried up years ago.

[@hokeypokeypots]

Years ago, I worked as a gardener for a lady that had an old house with a beautiful circular perennial garden right in the middle of her back yard. One day, I came to do maintenance on the garden. It looked so nice when I was done and my customer complimented me about it. Next morning, I got a call from her that the garden had collapsed into the huge old cesspool that came with the house and that she and her husband were still using. I drove there to check it out...and it was a big, deep hole with the plants and soil from the garden right there in the bottom. I was thinking a day earlier and I could have been in there, too. She also had a garage built years ago that blocked access from the front of the yard to the back, so she couldn't have a septic system put into another part of the back yard 'cuz they couldn't get trucks or machinery back there, so they had to fill the hole and then dig up her front yard to put the septic system in. Since all of her drains in the house went to the big main drain in the basement that went to the cesspool in the back yard, all of the drain pipes had to be changed to head towards the septic system in the front yard. I hate to think of what all of that cost her. 😝

[@JLJ7802]

The title of this video should be. "We're dangerously incompetent, watch us prove it!"

[@jimlepeu577]

One of those armchair keyboard experts drive by a nanny state obviously.

[@MattyK1873]

​@@jimlepeu577na, just someone who has a bit of sense. Absolute cowboy setup, the people in this video..

[@JLJ7802]

@@jimlepeu577 lol, you know the Darwin award isn't the trophy you appear to think it is.

[@krisackerman8996]

I would say that it's drywell for an old septic system. A drywell worked like our modern day leach fields. The drywell came after the septic just like a leach field. I am guessing it was called a drywell because the liquids from the septic would drain off to the drywell and then leach into the ground. This was probably not a cesspool considering it looks like it only had a small line coming into it, a cesspool was instead of a septic tank and leach field. People used to flush yeast to eat the solids.

[@bobcougar77]

That makes a lot more sense and accounts for how clean the tank looks.

[@thehairywoodsman5644]

I've installed aerobic septic systems for about 12 years , we've dug up several old septic tanks like what have here . some even older with old red brick for walls and just dirt on the bottom.

[@angies.4961]

Congratulations 🎊 on 1.9 million views on this video! Great Job to all involved!!

[@jimklyman9602]

I agree - not a septic or sewage storage, as these need solid sides to collect solids and allow settling, then top skim off the top overflow. The concrete top and corrugated roof does make this look similar to cesspools I've seen installed, but nothing that large (and I think you would have smelled the difference). Wondering about how the soil "perc" level is in this area for water return. The orientation of the hollow tile blocks indicate some type of dry well to me, but WOW that is big. I don't know about a cistern water storage, as this would have been pretty curdy water this close to the surface. This is why I'm thinking "dry well" to slowly release water after a large rain event. Just my best guess here, noting professional or educated about it.

[@alexanderg-p3z]

Exatly. With this being an old train-station, the drywell was probably put there for good reason. They might get a wet surprize on the surfae the next big rain.

[@markosmith8037]

great job. Regards from UK

[@lawrencebeeler6273]

Here in the Northwest they were common into the 1950's usually made out of brick . After about 40 or 50 years it was common for them to collapse

[@jt9498]

That was definitely an old septic tank system from back in the day. I've seen a few built like that up here in Canada.

[@TuckaBuck89]

Well done, Sir. Lessons for all, especially nowadays, do research and investigation before committing to a project, do have a well-written contract, specifically one that allows for renegotiation for encountering conditions not specified but very important.

[@driveman6490]

My guess is that it's a turkey "safe house". Back in the 1800's, before turkeys were freed, they developed what's known and the Underground Turkey Railroad. Turkeys would escape captivity, and be secretly transported north using a system of safe houses along the way. This one being placed next to a turkey farm may have been the last stop, a release point for turkeys to be integrated with the already freed turkeys, giving them a chance to blend in with the growing free turkey society. That's my guess anyway.

[@deborahsherer1710]

😂😂😂😂😂. You win !!! Best answer ever. Must have been the reason I felt the need to spend 45 minutes of my life reading comments. 😅

[@raimeyewens7518]

It would have been interesting if a family was down there like the movie Blast from the Past lol.

[@Beemer917]

Good to see you brought your big machine.

[@DumbCarGuy]

I used to hide my UFO in there when I visited Earth. That’s why the farmers always talked about seeing my in the sky.

[@GenderSkins]

Most likely it is a very early version of a septic tank, based off of it's construction I would say it probably dates back to around 1900. As that was a very common way of building septic tanks for indoor toilets prior to the advent of modern city sewer. You run into it a lot down in places like Texas with houses that date as far back as the 1800's, when people started getting away from out houses. As there was no code on how to build a septic tank on their size or construction back then, so people often built them out of bricks and even in some cases big flat rocks.

[@dianefiske-foy4717]

Interesting. Great job fellas 👏🏻👩🏻‍🏫🥰‼️

[@Quidditch54321]

It is always a good idea to look for old maps first. I don't want to sound too negative but if it had been an interesting historic feature eg a bunker, then ripping it up would have destroyed its significance!

[@backachershomestead]

Cistern. We had them on different farms at the house. The downspouts connected to bell tile and they connected to a Cistern.many time a hand pump was connected to pump water out to use. I've seen them partially built into part of a basement also and water was pull up with a pitcher pump at a sink.

[@dand33911]

Cisterns are generally to contain water for future use. The cinder blocks are layered with open ends to let fluids out. Its an old honeycomb cesspool.

[@Delosian]

It is an old stormwater soakdrain. We have one on our property to stop the low lying area of the property from turning into a lake, which turns the area into mud, killing the grass, and destabilising the ground. The open bricks allow the water to slowly drain into the ground when the storm has ended. The concrete and corregated iron on top is just so that people can walk on top of it safely. The pipes that go under the house probably are there to stop the piles from sinking into the ground during a storm when water is running under the house, or whatever was there before the house. Filling it in may result in the house collapsing in future as the ground shifts.

[@cy-fairclean8458]

Looks dangerous to have a pit right off the deck. I also wonder if the soil will sink after some time.

[@1nvisible1]

*Of course it will sink two inches within 18 mos.*

[@georgepadron7027]

I can’t believe you buried debris in the hole, you know it’s going to settle with time.

[@cshannon7]

not if it wasn't organic material.

[@aoksys31]

You can contact your county water and sewer department or building permits and see if they have an old chart that existed before your house got hooked up to the public sewer.

[@moman0166]

That is a septic tank that should be feed by gutter runoff. My grandparents had two huge ones and our farm house had a square one about the size of what you uncovered. It was used as a partial foundation to the house. I got a concrete saw and cut a doorway into it and it was dry as a bone so I stuccoed the walls with waterproofing plus the floor and ceiling. I found a two part safe door with a squeeze frame that weighed 1,800 lbs and the safe door was 2,200 lbs. You could run inside the safe room and if someone spun the combination to try to lock you in the door had a safety latch that you could open the door from the inside. I put up steel shelving for mom to put her canned goods from her 1 acre garden then I built a potato bin that held 700 lbs of potatoes from the garden and drying hooks onions that were bundled together. I bought a 25 cubic foot chest freezer that just fit taking the lid off then reinstalled it. I dug down from the outside and run wiring into it then buried wiring and water from the well house with a wind turbine that ran the deep freezer and would run a pellet stove. The pellet stove vent looked like a dryer vent and I could just turn a valve to have water at the valve on the wall inside. I had fake rocks over the carbon air vent. I had a few guns on the wall and two giant gun safes. I put a toilet in there with water and a lift pump to the existing sewer system. I had less than $500 in my shelter because the safe door was a deal if I took it out without damaging the door frame I could have it. I had the Mosler safe technician change the combination on the safe lock and he showed me a picture of the safe door for $25,000. When I moved away and I had built 2 new homes but the second one I made provisions to make me a safe room and moved the safe door, freezer and wood pellet stove to their new location. It has a bathroom, cooking stove and microwave. There are those darn guns also with a alternative power source and batteries with a 200 amp service that can run the whole house. I laughed when I put 800 lb of beef in the deep freezer and 385 lb of pork then 200 lb of chicken in my deep freezer. I did all this before the lumber crisis and the Covid Nightmare. Every six months I stay a week in there to make sure everything works perfect.

[@Smith53823]

It is definitely a septic tank built to collect rainwater I have lived in many houses that had 3 faucets the middle faucet was for the rainwater when I was a kid my room was built over top of one of these my aunt's dog went missing when she was visiting us and was missing for several weeks there was a trapdoor in my floor and my brothers tied a rope around my waist and let me down to rescue the dog I also found one on my property when I was digging the foundation for my garage

[@richardbas2948]

I wouldn't drink from this one if I were you! 🤮

[@philtucker1224]

Septic tanks are for poo and wee. Bacteria eventually digests it. Soakaways are for rainwater.

[@robertclark7185]

Could be a cistern?

[@scotsmanofnewengland7713]

My house was built in 1870 here in New England and after removing a dead tree stump I unearthed an old dry well. I knew I would open a can of worms so I covered the hole with a stainless sheet of metal. 35 years later still no yard caving in. I think that also was a dry well.

[@peepla7]

That's a dilapidated cess pool. I'm glad you got it safety resolved before the homeowner accidently fell in. The ground cover over it was kinda thin. Y'all did an excellent job!

[@priscillawagner6205]

Yeah, that 6 inches of concrete looked flimsy