I read a book a while ago called 'Ghosty Men: The Strange but True Story of the Collyer Brothers, New York's Greatest Hoarders: An Urban Historical', a very descriptive title indeed. These very wealthy brothers lived in a townhouse in Harlem (5th and 128th). They seemed to share a hoarding problem, packing the entire house from floor to ceiling, fortified with booby traps. Becoming recluses, the house eventually led to their unfortunate and rather grisly demise. This left the enormous problem of the packed house on the hands of the city. The excavation turned up a massive list of things ranging from a Model T Ford to decades of newspapers and drew quite a crowd.
A couple years after I read this book I had the pleasure/horror of visiting a property being cleared of a life time of hoarding. It brought home how sad this behavior is. Fascinating nonetheless. Some of my pictures below.
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