A 77-year old man found himself stuck upside-down in his septic tank, in what he described as the worst Christmas Eve he had ever experienced.

"It wasn't good, I'll tell you what," said Robert Schoff, recalling how his head was in the tank and his feet were kicking in the air.

Schoff reportedly reached into the tank Monday to pull out a plug, when he teetered and fell into the tank. He found himself unable to free himself, and started screaming for help.

The AP said that it was Schoff's wife who discovered him wedged in the tank's opening, when she walked by the window and saw his feet frantically kicking in the air.

"I saw these kicking feet and ran out, but couldn't get him out," said Toni Schoff, who then called 911.

"I thought it was the end of my life," said Schoff. "Thank God my wife saw me. I don't think I could have stood staying in there much more."

The firefighters who were dispatched to the scene managed to pry Schoff out after an hour, and extracted the man who was by then covered in sewage. Schoff was not injured, but firefighter Matt McBride surmised that the old man did not plan to spend his holiday face down in the tank.

"Not where you want to be on Christmas Eve," McBride said,.