Many of you may be familiar with hoarders because of the TV shows depicting the lives of people who hoard their belongings until it’s nearly impossible to live in their homes anymore. Even though the media has only recently brought it to light, hoarding is not a new phenomenon. According to the Mayo Clinic, “Hoarding disorder is a persistent difficulty discarding or parting with possessions because of a perceived need to save them. A person with hoarding disorder experiences distress at the thought of getting rid of the items. Excessive accumulation of items, regardless of actual value, occurs.” Hoarding has been going on for as long as people have been alive, but many of these people have been forgotten. Here are some of the most famous examples of hoarders from history.
The Collyer Brothers Literally Passed Away In Their Hoard of Stuff
Two of the most famous hoarders in history were brothers Homer and Langley Collyer. Both of them were very accomplished in life. They attended Columbia University, where Homer earned a degree in law and Langley studied engineering. Their father was a wealthy gynecologist, so the family had a lot of money. These brothers never married, and lived with their mother in the family’s Harlem brownstone until she passed. One of the first things they began collecting was newspapers, because Home went blind temporarily, and Langley wanted to let him catch up with the news. As time went on, Harlem became increasingly dangerous. This caused Homer and Langley to become isolated in their home. They would only go out food shopping at midnight, and pick up trash they found on the side of the road to add to their “treasures”.
Years later, the police received an anonymous tip that there were bodies in the Collyer house. When the police and fire department arrived, they found so much trash that the brothers had built tunnels to crawl around from room to room. They discovered the first brother, Homer, had succumbed to starvation and heart disease. The second brother, Langley, was found three weeks later buried in trash just 10 feet away from Homer’s body. He had met his end by asphyxiation. Police theorized that Langley was trying to crawl through a tunnel to bring food to Homer when the trash fell and crushed him. The estate was split up, and the house was torn down. Today, the site of their home has been turned into a small park.