San Francisco was recently dubbed the “Poop Capital of America” due to the high number of poop complaints reported in 2017. Local channel KRON reports that while dogs play a part, at issue is the number of homeless people defecating in streets and parks.

Could “privy demons” be a reason why down-and-outers find relief in an open park or on a public sidewalk? Cultures around the world offer numerous legends of gods, demons, and ghosts that lurk in the most private place of any building—the toilet. That’s right, not even restrooms are safe. The Babylonian Talmud Soncino Edition: Gittin 70a states, “On coming from a privy, a man should not have sexual intercourse till he has waited long enough to walk half a mile, because the demon of the privy is with him for that time; if he does, his children will be epileptic.”