Why do outhouses often have a crescent moon shape cut out of their doors?
That was a cartoon feature and not very common in reality. Yes there were sometimes cut outs in the doors and the idea was that you could have a bit of ventolation and see of somebody was bust or headed your way if you were using the outhouse. In my experience outhouses were always pretty well ventilated to begin with and the problem was actually with un-ventilating the suckers and screening them to prevent spiders and flies.
