History Main / DrowningPit

** Davos is being held by a lord with a castle by the sea, and he makes casual mention of the fate of those who might annoy him; being chained to the floor of his dungeon waiting for the tide to come in.

* In the Japanese mini-series ''The Days'', after the earthquake hits the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant workers are sent to investigate the damage. Two of them swipe into a couple of booth-like rooms only to find the doors have been damaged and won't open from the inside. They then look out the reinforced glass windows and [[OhCrap see a tsunami sweeping towards them]]. Water fills the booths up over their heads, only to recede again before they drown. Unfortunately, two other workers who were checking out the basement aren't so lucky.

* ''Series/DoctorWho''. Ace finds herself in such a predicament in an episode cliffhanger in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS26E1Battlefield Battlefield]]".

* Ace finds herself in such a predicament during the cliffhanger ending of one episode in the ''Series/DoctorWho'' serial "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS26E1Battlefield Battlefield]]".
* In the Japanese mini-series ''The Days'', after the earthquake hits the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, workers are sent to investigate the damage. Two of them swipe into a booth-like room only to find the doors have been damaged and won't open from the inside. They then look out the reinforced glass window and [[OhCrap see a tsunami sweeping towards them]]. Water fills the booth up over their heads, but recedes again before they drown. Unfortunately two other workers who were checking out the basement aren't so lucky.

* In the AlternateHistory novel ''K is for Killing'' by Daniel Easterman, the 1940s United States is ruled by a fascist government, including concentration camps and the Federal Bureau of Internal Security headed by J. Edgar Hoover. Hoover has a woman locked in a dark chamber that slowly fills with water, and is told her daughter is in another similar chamber (she's not). The woman gives Hoover the information he needs and is then left to drown.

* Subverted in ''{{Series/Tracker}}''. Cole looks into a case that one of the fugitives got mixed up in when he took over a con man’s body. It looks like a teenage girl has been kidnapped and locked b a tank of rising water, but it turns out to be fake. She’s using it to get money from her rich dad after he cut her off. Cole ends up using the tank to hold the fugitive and he nearly drowns because he had lied about his species and wasn’t actually a water-adapted Nodulian.

* In ''Series/TheAdventuresOfSuperman'' episode "[[Recap/TheAdventuresOfSupermanS1E2TheHauntedLighthouse The Haunted Lighthouse]]", a variation occurs when ComicBook/JimmyOlsen's evil cousin and a friend lock him into a cave as the tide is coming in. According to Creator/JackLarson, this happened rather often ("they were always trying to drown me and the water was very cold").

* ''Manga/Amakusa1637''

** Done by a murderer in one episode. In this case, sitting the AssholeVictim in a ''very'' deep bathtub, then leaving the faucet slowly running till the water reaches a point where the victim ended up drowning due to being BoundAndGagged. And done in such a way that filling the tub will take ''hours''. [[AndIMustScream Aaaaaaaaargh!]]

* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'':
** Naturally, Franchise/{{Batman}} has escaped a number of these traps. One of the best is created by the Riddler in "The Primal Riddle"; Batman is caught between drowning and electrocution, and the solution he comes up with is so nerve-wracking that it only works because his soul happens to be outside his body at the time, leaving him emotionally deadened (and thus immune to fear).
** During Creator/PaulDini's run on ''Detective Comics'', ComicBook/TheJoker shoots ComicBook/{{Zatanna}} in the throat so she can't recite her spells, and seals her in a water tank while strapping Batman into an ElectricTorture device. Batman manages to break free of his bonds and free Zatanna from the tank. Zatanna had healed her wound by writing the words "Laeh Em" ("Heal Me" spelled backwards) on the lid of the water tank [[BloodMagic with her own blood]].
** In ''ComicBook/DeathOfTheFamily'', [[spoiler:Catwoman is first trapped in a centrifuge by the Joker. Just as she's about to escape it, the centrifuge gets filled with water, turning the trap into this. She escapes that too]].
* Proteus tied ComicBook/TheCreeper to the grating of a storm drain that would soon be completely filled with water.
* In ''ComicBook/EndsOfTheEarth'' there isn't an actual pit, but Silver Sable faces the threat of drowning when Rhino, feeling he has no reason to live, places one of his legs on top of her with the intent of [[TakingYouWithMe taking her down with him]] once Octavious's lab starts filling with water. According to Madame Web, she survived but we haven't seen her since.
* The "Watery Grave" arc of ''ComicBook/Superboy1994'' follows S.B. while he tries to help take down a criminal organization in their ocean floor base that is being flooded section by section causing him to deal with multiple rooms and chambers as they fill with water while trying to prevent that water from entering the next dry area he's located. He gets to almost drown ''a lot''.
* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': Queen Clea decides to have a bunch of Navy men who refused to submit to her put in a cage and lowered into a deep column of water for entertainment while she eats dinner. Franchise/WonderWoman saves them.
* Done to ComicBook/{{Storm}} of the ''ComicBook/XMen'', with the added cruelty of the victim being severely claustrophobic. This would normally have been a stroke of twisted genius, but considering it was Arcade who did it, it was more likely just dumb luck. Amusingly, and further cementing Arcade's ButtMonkey status as a supervillain, this was one of the few instances where Storm found herself in such a situation, and her claustrophobia ''didn't'' incapacitate her. (This trap was later adapted for one of Storm's missions in an X-Men/Spider-Man video game where Arcade was the villain.)

Another variant involves the villain placing the hero inside some kind of non-buoyant container, a steel drum, vehicle, etc. and then tossing that into a large body of water. If the vehicle is a car, it's TrappedInASinkingCar.

** Another one was used in the past. [[spoiler:More exactly, the jealous magician Motoyasu Tsukumo ''killed his own disciple'' Yashiro Kinoshita via transforming the water tank he was performing in into one of these, then leaving Yashiro to drown ''[[FatalMethodActing in public]]''. Everyone thought it was an unfortunate accident since the trick was already ''very'' dangerous... but Yashiro's younger sister Mako didn't buy it. And 20 years later, she killed Tsukumo himself.]]

* In ''Manga/GokuMidnightEye'', the title character turns being in this situation into a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome when he is trapped in a hallway section that has been sealed off and is being filled with water. Using his cybernetic eye, he doesn't just open a door to either escape or drain the area, but he waits for a sufficient amount of water to fill in while closing and opening certain other doors on the floor, while the villains in the control room wonder what he is doing. Suddenly, Goku opens one door of his section and the water is rushed out towards the control room. The villains realize to their horror that he is directing the water and in effect turning the death trap into a ''weapon'' heading right for them!

* In an early episode of ''Anime/TheMysteriousCitiesOfGold'', the kids are locked up for theft in the hold of a ship which is rapidly sinking, and Mendoza must manage to break the chain, let them out, and help them swim to safety. The second time Esteban tries to come up for air, the hold has completely filled and he hits his head on the ceiling.

* Saori and [[spoiler: Gemini Kanon]] from ''Manga/SaintSeiya'' were locked in pits like these in respectively the Poseidon arc and a flashback therein. Saori was in hers by Poseidon after rejecting his WeCanRuleTogether offer, [[spoiler: Kanon was locked in his' by Saga after a huge disagreement. And it was through the pit that Kanon reached for Poseidon's realm, summoned him and then became ManBehindTheMan. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Nice job breaking it, Saga]]!]]

* Done to ComicBook/{{Storm}} of the ''ComicBook/XMen'', with the added cruelty of the victim being severely claustrophobic. This would normally have been a stroke of twisted genius, but considering it was Arcade who did it, it was more likely just dumb luck. Amusingly, and further cementing Arcade's ButtMonkey status as a supervillain, this was one of the few instances where Storm found herself in such a situation and her claustrophobia ''didn't'' incapacitate her. (This trap was later adapted for one of Storm's missions in an X-Men/Spider-Man video game where Arcade was the villain.)

* ''WesternAnimation/AsterixVersusCaesar'': The Roman prison Asterix is thrown in after his capture unintentionally becomes one when, during a severe rainstorm, a lightning destroys part of the roof, allowing water to freely enter the cell (which is below ground level). Obelix saves him just in time.

* Subverted in ''Film/{{Delicatessen}}''. The heroes are trapped in a bathroom which is slowly filling up with water, but [[spoiler:they use it to wipe out the villains who are chasing them.]]

* ''Film/TheDrowningPool'' starring Creator/PaulNewman builds up to this. The hero tries find a way for him and a woman who is trapped in a locked room (actually a large swimming pool) to escape, by clogging the drain at the bottom, then setting off the sprinklers so they can reach the windows at the top of the room, only to discover as they rise to the ceiling, that the windows are sealed shut, and he can't get the rag out of the drain. The villains come to investigate the captives who have been locked up all night, open the door, and are [[OpeningTheFloodGates swept away by thousands of gallons of water]].

** ''Film/NoTimeToDie'': On the ship where Bond, Felix Leiter and Logan Ash meet after the Cuba scene, Ash reveals himself as a traitor, shoots Leiter and locks him and Bond in the ship's hold then causes an explosion to sink it, filling the ship with water. Leiter succumbs to his gunshot wound and Bond manages to escape.

* ''Film/TheReturnOfTheMusketeers'': Four of the Duke of Beaufort's supporters are chained to benches in a pit of water up to their neck and forced to operate a pump that will keep the water at that level as long as all four never stop pumping. This is treated as a FunnyBackgroundEvent.

* ''Literature/EternityRoad''. The protagonists have located a library of pre-Apocalpyse lost knowledge. However by forcing the door open they've exposed the ElaborateUndergroundBase to a sudden tidal change. They find themselves trapped in the library, trying to [[RisingWaterRisingTension haul the books to higher shelves so they won't be damaged]], while also plugging every hole in the ceiling so an air bubble will be created and they won't drown.

* In the AlternateHistory novel ''K is for Killing'' by Daniel Easterman, the 1940's United States is ruled by a fascist government, including concentration camps and the Federal Bureau of Internal Security headed by J. Edgar Hoover. Hoover has a woman locked in a dark chamber which slowly fills with water, and is told her daughter is in another similar chamber (she's not). The woman gives Hoover the information he needs, and is then left to drown.

* In ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', much is made of the ruthlessness of Tywin Lannister and his slaughter of House Reyne of Castamere is often mentioned, although never entirely explained. Then ''Literature/TheWorldOfIceAndFire'' came out and revealed that Tywin essentially used this trope. After having defeated the main Reyne army, the household fled into [[ElaborateUndergroundBase a series of underground mines]] that would cost Tywin an absurd number of soldiers if he tried to storm it, hoping they could convince Tywin to negotiate. Instead Tywin sealed the mines and divert a nearby river into them, turning the entire thing into a drowning pit.

* In ''Series/{{Alias}}'', Vaughn is trapped in a room rapidly filling with water that occured as a side effect of something Sydney did earlier in the episode. He eventually [[spoiler:escapes by swimming to the ceiling of the room and unscrewing a hatch in the ceiling with a ''screwdriver he just happened to have'']]. This same trope is then subverted with the same miniplot as it turns out that [[spoiler:though Vaughn didn't drown, he ''did'' get poisoned by the nuclear quality of the water.]]

** Another victim is trapped in a sealed room which slowly fills with cold water, subjecting her to hypothermia. The team locate and rescue her just in the nick of time.

* ''Series/DueSouth'': In the second-season episode "Vault", Ray and Fraser are locked in a bank vault which is slowly filling with water from its broken sprinkler system. In a twist, ''Fraser'' broke the sprinkler -- he knows the bank robbers are drilling through the door, and he figures the water will distract them once they manage to get into the vault. Of course, that means they have to worry about drowning if the robbers don't break in fast enough...
* ''Series/{{Eureka}}'': Jack and Allison were trapped in an experimental submarine which was rapidly filling with water. They combined this trope with AltarTheSpeed, as they decided that, if Henry's idea to transport them off the sub didn't work, they wanted to get married before they drowned.

* ''Series/HoratioHornblower'', "Mutiny": Crazy Captain Sawyer orders Marines to arrest his three lieutenants Bush, Hornblower and Kennedy because he thinks they conspire against him. Sawyer then gets the ship aground and under heavy fire from a Spanish fort they were supposed to storm. The Spanish start using heated shots and the ship gets holed. The prison below deck starts quickly filling with water...

* ''Series/{{JAG}}'': In "Cabin Pressure", Harm, along with the ship’s sergeant-at-arms and an enlisted sailor accused of murder, are trapped below deck on a ship that ran aground. The DirtyCop left Harm and the sailor to drown before getting rescued, claiming that they were already dead; but in this show TheHero never dies…

* ''Series/MissFishersMurderMysteries'': In "Death Defying Feats", Phryne is performing the 'The Miraculous Mermaid": a version of Houdini's water trap escape. The killer sabotages the act leaving Phryne trapped in a glass tank filled with water.

** In the episode "[[Recap/StargateSG1S6E3Descent Descent]]", O'Neill and Carter are trapped in a corridor of a Anubis' Mothership that is now deep in the Northern Pacific Ocean. The corridor starts to fill up with water. Fortunately, Thor is able to override the command and let them out before they run out of air.

* Subverted in ''{{Series/Tracker}}''. Cole looks into a case that one of the fugitives got mixed up in when he took over a con man’s body. It looks like a teenage girl has been kidnapped and locked b a tank of rising water, but it turns out to be fake. She’s using it to get money from her rich dad after he cut her off. Cole ends up using the tank to hold the fugitive and he nearly drowns because he had lied about his species and wasn’t actually a water adapted Nodulian.

** In the Season 6 episode "No Way Out," Alex and Trivette are kidnapped by one of Walker's enemies (Caleb Hooks, who was previously captured by Walker but has escaped from prison) and and thrown into one of these. Adding insult to injury, the water is ice cold, putting them at risk for hypothermia as well. [[spoiler: Walker, of course, shows up JustInTime, moments after both have been completely submerged (Walker has to perform [=CPR=] on Alex and successfully revives her) ... and things end moments later with an EverybodyLaughsEnding.]]

* You have to invoke this in the old computer game ''[[VideoGame/{{Transylvania}} The Crimson Crown]]''. After the Vampyr has you and your companion Sabrina thrown into a pit to rot, [[MoonLogicPuzzle you whistle to summon an owl you had befriended earlier, who leaves a tree branch and a beehive with you. Inside of the pit with you is a constantly draining water source; you use the beehive to plug the hole, causing the pit to fill up with water, and then hold onto the tree branch to eventually climb your way to the top of the pit and escape.]]
* ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry2DiddysKongQuest'' has this trope in the final but not very final area of the game, just before the final but not really final boss, in a level called "Toxic Tower." The Kongs get transformed into a bouncy snake and must bounce up the tower and away from the ever rising toxic waste that continuously rises until the level ends. Nice.
* ''VideoGame/DwarfFortress'': Behind the [[DroppedABridgeOnHim Dwarven Atom Smasher]], a Drowning Pit is probably the second most common trap players start designing. Can be combined with LavaPit for further obsidian-producing lulz. It is also possible, by capturing and relocating dangerous aquatic creatures, to turn a Drowning Pit into a SharkPool, possibly with Lethal LegendaryCarp if the player so desires. However, actually getting that done is a challenge in its own while not substantially increasing the lethality of the trap, making it something of a [[DifficultButAwesome Difficult But Awe]][[AwesomeButImpractical some But Impractical]] option.

* In the first installment of the ''VideoGame/FancyPantsAdventures'' Flash game series, you find an orb that grants you a wall clinging power-up... if you can make it to the top of a pit before rising black goop does.

* ''[[VideoGame/FinalFight Final Fight 2's]]'' continue screen depicts your bound character (either Haggar, Maki or Carlos) trapped in one of these.

** ''VideoGame/HalfLifeOpposingForce'' combines this with a LavaPit in the form of a room trap early in the game. As you try to cross the room, a fuse shorts out, blows open a tank of biowaste then proceeds to disintegrate the floor bit-by-bit. After you climb up to the catwalk, you notice the G-Man staring at you from the control room... the electrified waste is still rising... it's almost to your feet... then he opens the nearby maintenance door at the last second.

* ''VideoGame/SpiderTheVideoGame'' have several pits of water that kills you in an instant, ranging from overflowing sinks to water puddles and filled basins. It helps that you're playing as an andromorphic, regular-sized spider.

* WebVideo/OneyPlays- In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoEy8Wpg8WM episode 2]] of the channel's VideoGame/SuperMario64 Let's Play (featuring Chris/Oney, Ding Dong and Julian), the trio joke about the secret water level being called "The Drownhouse" and that they humanely kill people in Texas by putting people in it and dropping it down from several feet high above the ground ("If the drownin' don't kill ya, the gravity will!"). Later on, they joke that Satoru Iwata died because he asked Nintendo for "all the water they had", prompting them to leave him in the Drownhouse.

* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'': In the episode "Tear Jerker", a spoof of James Bond films, the title villain (played by Roger) has one of these in his lair to dispose of minions who fail him too often. It even fills via two eye shaped water spouts so as to look like crying. Unfortunately Roger's contractor for his lair was so inept the slide that was supposed to deliver the victim to the vat is too narrow and said victim invariably gets stuck before making it to the vat, necessitating another minion to use a broom to dislodge them.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePlagueDogs'' has a variant in the beginning in which one of the two dogs is dipped in a pool and timed to see how long he can swim before starting to drown, as some kind of experiment. It doesn't fill up with water but there's no way for the dog to escape.

->'''Dr. Drakken:''' First, you will be sealed inside a reinforced, titanium box. Next, you will be dropped into this bottomless chasm. Then, the chasm will be filled with water. ''Then'', man-eating sharks and a giant squid will then be released into the water!
->'''Shego:''' Huh? Wait -- if the chasm is "bottomless", how can you fill it with water?
->''[{{Beat}}]''
->'''Dr. Drakken:''' IT'S '''''VERY, VERY DEEP''''', ALL RIGHT?

* In episode 42 of ''Anime/MegamanNTWarrior'', [[KidHero Lan]] and the Net Agents (Commander Beef, Mysteriyu, Black Rose) are trapped in a room that's filling up with water by Gauss Magnets. [[spoiler:Thankfully, Ms. Madd decides that [[WouldntHurtAChild killing Lan goes too far]] and sends her Navi, [=ColorMan=], into the computer system to open the room's drain and help Megaman beat Gauss' Navi [=MagnetMan=].]]

* One of the treasures in ''VideoGame/WarioLand: The Shake Dimension'' says this (a message in a bottle) about a ''bottle factory'' filling up with water.

* The 2009 movie ''Film/WalledIn'' uses a variant of this in which a famous architect imprisons residents (including children) of his apartment building inside hollow columns that are quickly filled up with cement.

* In ''Literature/TheKingdomKeepers'', Maleficent enchants the ''[[Ride/DisneyThemeParks The Many Adventures of]]'' ''[[WesternAnimation/TheManyAdventuresOfWinnieThePooh Winnie the Pooh]]'' ride in an attempt to drown [[TheChick Willia]] and [[TheBigGuy Charlene]].

* ''Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet5TheDreamChild'': Alice is taking a shower when it turns out she is dreaming and Freddy Krueger makes the shower stall lock and start filling with bloody water. Before she can drown, she escapes through a portal, but this just leads to another dangerous situation.

* The ''Series/StargateSG1'' episode ''Recap/StargateSG1S6E3Descent'', O'Neill and Carter are trapped in a corridor of a Anubis' Mothership that is now deep in the Northern Pacific Ocean. The corridor starts to fill up with water. Fortunately, Thor is able to override the command and let them out before they run out of air.

* In ''VideoGame/BlueGuardianMargaret'', at one point, Margaret is captured and wakes up [[ShamefulStrip naked]] and tied up in a glass tank filling with water while the villains watch and taunt her as she struggles. She passes out from lack of air, only to wake up in a cell, still naked. She must then break out and sneak through the base to recover her clothes and weapons. However, if she gets caught again, she'll be put in the tank again, this time until she drowns for real.

* The 2009 movie ''Film/WalledIn'' uses a variant of this in which a famous architect imprisons residents (including children) of his apartment building inside hollow columns that are about to be filled up with cement.

* The 2009 movie ''Film/WalledIn'' uses a variant of this in which a famous architect imprisons residents (including children) of his apartment building inside hollow columns that are then filled up with cement.