Ronks, Pennsylvania - The Outhouse

A bomb, painted yellow and labeled "Mennonite Missile," hangs above the front door. A sign above a fake were-rat in a wood and chicken wire cage warns "Don't Pick Up Walter's Bone."

The Outhouse is the epicenter of Amish rustic, cornpone, harmless joshing humor. Bills itself as a wacky place ala Perry's Nut House, but, like that store/attraction, the quarter-sucking gag devices ("The Man Eating Chicken") are vastly outnumbered by the generic merchandise, the same gag gifts you'd find in a Cracker Barrel shop (Okay, maybe you wouldn't find a pair of XXXXL black underwear hanging in the bathroom at the Barrel).

Any place that devotes its entire second floor to selling cupolas and weather vanes isn't as knee-slapping as it might imagine. And the blind Amish man who used to race pigs next door has retired. [Roadsideamerica.com Team, 09/15/2005]

This place is your average tourist trap along the stretch of highway containing most of the traffic visiting Lancaster to see the Amish. There are a lot of fun, goofy things to do inside the store, which sells novelties and toys. There's a giant pair of underwear hanging up, which they call the largest in the world.

The most bizarre thing is the attraction across the parking lot next door. A blind Amish man puts on a racing pig show. I've been there several times, and it's always the same routine. The pigs run around a track in a fenced off area...they go down a slide and so forth...every few seconds is another gag...the routine is very tight and lasts about fifteen minutes. At one point he has a volunteer come up and feed one of the pigs a pretzel while the person is holding it in his lips. I'm not certain is affiliated with The Outhouse, but everyone who goes to there has to stop to see the pigs.... [Ryan Clark Johnson, 03/28/2004]

The Outhouse is a unique roadside attraction located in the heart of PA Dutch country. It is a store/ museum featuring the outhouse. A disturbing idea is that they offer a foot of chocolate shaped liked a ....

Located near Dutch Wonderland theme park and several outlet stores. Strasburg Railroad is less than 30 minutes away. [James Arrowood, 11/27/2003]

[RA: Their web site at outhousepa.com touts "Guaranteed Family Friendly Fun and Gifts" -- including Amish crafts, weathervanes, and a Puppet Ministry. The site notes there are things more important than laughter: "Life won't always be easy, but if you have a vital and vibrant relationship with Jesus, you can always have JOY. "]