Compulsive Hoarding....Do You Know Someone LIke This?

Too_Many_Tools wrote:
> I do...many of my fellow friends who have shops overflowing with "good
> stuff".
>
> In my own case, I see it as a very slippery slope....one great thing
> after another can follow you home until the doors to the shop won't
> shut.
>
> Sometimes...no many times...you just have to say "No".
>
> Your thoughts?
>


I have this problem in only one respect: scraps.

I just cannot bring myself to throw away a beautiful piece of hardwood
even if it is a scrap, even if it is too tiny ever to be used for
anything.

My scrap bin overfloweth............

>
> My scrap bin overfloweth............
>

You are not aloneth....the reason why I copied rec.woodworking on this
post is that many of my fellow woodworkers are hoarders in disguise.

Estate auctions of woodworkers always have tons of wood scraps neither
touched.

TMT


Gus wrote:
> Too_Many_Tools wrote:
> > I do...many of my fellow friends who have shops overflowing with "good
> > stuff".
> >
> > In my own case, I see it as a very slippery slope....one great thing
> > after another can follow you home until the doors to the shop won't
> > shut.
> >
> > Sometimes...no many times...you just have to say "No".
> >
> > Your thoughts?
> >
>
>
> I have this problem in only one respect: scraps.
>
> I just cannot bring myself to throw away a beautiful piece of hardwood
> even if it is a scrap, even if it is too tiny ever to be used for
> anything.
>
> My scrap bin overfloweth............

I too hoard scraps, but every once in a while I tend to just sort them
out and what I haven't used or plan to use in the future, gets made
into kindling for our wood stove.
Gus wrote:
> Too_Many_Tools wrote:
> > I do...many of my fellow friends who have shops overflowing with "good
> > stuff".
> >
> > In my own case, I see it as a very slippery slope....one great thing
> > after another can follow you home until the doors to the shop won't
> > shut.
> >
> > Sometimes...no many times...you just have to say "No".
> >
> > Your thoughts?
> >
>
>
> I have this problem in only one respect: scraps.
>
> I just cannot bring myself to throw away a beautiful piece of hardwood
> even if it is a scrap, even if it is too tiny ever to be used for
> anything.
>
> My scrap bin overfloweth............

bdeditch wrote:
> I too hoard scraps, but every once in a while I tend to just sort them
> out and what I haven't used or plan to use in the future, gets made
> into kindling for our wood stove.

And the fact you can actually part with above mentioned scraps proves
you're just an average pack rat...a "real" hoarder would have a panic
attack trying to sort through or throw away the scraps.

Then again...I've seen what appear to be packrats on TLC's Clean Sweep
who break down sobbing over letting go of some pillow they've had since
childhood. But they do it....eventually.

Gus wrote:

> I just cannot bring myself to throw away a beautiful piece of hardwood
> even if it is a scrap, even if it is too tiny ever to be used for
> anything.


Don't say that. A friend used hardwood scraps as backing for his
handmade trophies. One of a kind stuff. You might offer yours to a
trophy maker if you aren't interested in getting into the business. Or
turn them into individual bookends. Or offer to some woodworking type
at a craft show.

LOL....I know of several companies that are now spending millions of
dollars to recreate a product they had but lost the recipe to because
they purged their files.

The retirees that they have had to rehire at expensive contractor rates
are very appreciative of the management's stupidity to enforce a "clean
desk" policy. They are very happy to participate in the "purge".

Of course those responsible for this stupidity received promotions for
their ideas.

TMT

Lew Hodgett wrote:
> Too_Many_Tools wrote:
>
> > I do...many of my fellow friends who have shops overflowing with "good
> > stuff".
>
> <snip>
>
> I received some great training in this regard.
>
> As a matter of company policy, once a year had to go thru the files
> and throw away anything over one year old with tax records and
> engineering documents excepted.
>
> After completing this task, had to sign off that you actually had done it.
>
> Was told the lawyers were the reason for the policy.
>
> Something to the effect that if it doesn't exist, it can't come back
> to haunt you.
>
> Had customers with similar policies.
>
> Sort of sets the mood not to hoard things.
>
> Also, a move every 5 years or so, gets rid of a lot of "stuff".
>
> Lew

You may also find this article of interest.....

TMT

Langley Collyer: The Mystery Hoarder Of Harlem
Fred Penzel[1], Ph.D
On March 21st, 1947, at 8:53 a.m., the New York City police department
received a phone call from a man giving the name of Charles Smith,
notifying them that he believed a man was dead inside a decaying
building on Fifth Avenue in Harlem. Officers arrived on the scene by 10
a=2Em., and cordoned off the house in order to hold back the crowd that
had gathered. The police removed an iron grill-covered basement door
from its hinges, only to find the entrance completely sealed off by a
solid mass of debris. Thus was thrust before the public one of the
best-known and most mysterious compulsive-hoarding cases of all time.

Compulsive hoarding is a form of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), a
neurobiological condition, most likely genetically based. OCD comes in
a wide variety of forms, of which hoarding is only one. Compulsive
hoarders may collect only certain types of things, or they may
indiscriminately save everything. We are not talking here about
collecting things that are valuable or important such as art, coins, or
stamps.

Hoarders tend to save things of little or no value...
Hoarders generally tend to save things that are of little or no value,
or if the things they save do have real value, they tend to save them
in ridiculously larger quantities than would ever be necessary. One of
the main obsessive thoughts that causes sufferers to do this is their
worry that if they throw a particular item away, it will be lost
forever, and they may one day be in need of it in order to be able to
use it, to be able to remember it, or do something connected with it.

They seem to have difficulty discriminating between what is or will be
useful, and what is not. Some hoarders can freely admit that the things
they are saving are currently broken or damaged and unusable. They will
stubbornly insist, however, that they will someday repair or refurbish
the items and either make use of them or give them away.

Throwing away something is seen as being irresponsible...
Another reason for hoarding resembles the type of thinking seen in
hyper-responsible obsessions. It is the idea that each thing they save
and/or repair might be useful to others (rather than themselves), and
that the hoarder would be responsible (and therefore blameful and
guilty) for another person not having this vital item should the need
arise. They may also rationalize that what they are doing is actually
"recycling," and are performing a community service by conserving
resources. Throwing away something that could possibly be reused is
seen as being highly irresponsible. In actuality, there really is no
need for what they have saved, there is no one to give the items to,
and the only result is that the hoarder is burdened with a house full
of junk.

Some of the things most commonly saved include newspapers, magazines,
lists, pens, pencils, empty boxes, pamphlets, old greeting cards, junk
mail, old appliances, outdated books and even assorted labels, string,
rubber bands, plastic containers, bottles, and bottle caps. In the most
extreme cases, people have been known to save such things as empty
matchbooks, used tissues, old cigarette butts, bird feathers, old cars,
discarded paper cups, used aluminum foil, paper towels, lint, and
hairs. Some of these sufferers will even rummage through other people's
trash, and bring home obvious junk that to them, seems quite useful or
repairable.

Accumulate things create fire or health hazards...
Compulsive savers can accumulate large amounts of things, creating
storage problems and fire or health hazards. Their houses can take on
the appearance of having been ransacked, with floors waist-deep in
trash and debris, rooms filled wall-to-wall with overflowing paper bags
and cardboard boxes. Many sufferers can only make their way around
their homes by creating aisles around and through the trash. Problems
with municipal authorities are not uncommon, and hoarders are sometimes
evicted or charged with violation of zoning or public-health laws.
Ironically, the majority of people who save things compulsively rarely
use or look at these things. Their security comes from merely having
the things around "just in case" and in not having to make what seem
like difficult decisions about what to discard.

Let us now return to our story.

The Collyers were part of one of New York's oldest families...
Its main figures are two brothers, Homer Lusk Collyer (b. Nov. 6th,
1881), and Langley Collyer (b. October 3rd, 1885). The Collyers were
part of one of New York's oldest families, a branch of the well-known
Livingstons. Their ancestors had come over to America on the ship
"Speedwell" in 1664, about a week after the Mayflower. The family had
been members of the congregation of Trinity Church since 1697. Their
father, Dr. Herman L. Collyer was a successful and renowned
gynecologist, and his father, William Collyer, was said to have been
one of the leading shipbuilders in America. In 1909, Dr. Collyer moved
his family from Murray Hill to a fine upper-middle-class home in
Harlem. It was a three-story brownstone located at 2078 Fifth Avenue
(at 128th Street). Beyond his fame as a physician, the doctor was known
to be a bit eccentric, paddling a small canoe to work each day at City
Hospital on Blackwell's Island in the East River. He would subsequently
paddle home at the end of his day, and then carry the boat on his head
back to his house.

Dr. Collyer's two sons seemed destined for successful lives of their
own. Both attended Columbia University, where Homer earned a law
degree, and his younger brother graduated with a degree in mechanical
engineering and chemistry. Homer went on to practice admiralty law, but
Langley, so far as is known, never held employment, and spent his time
playing the piano. He is reputed to have won prizes as a concert
pianist, but this cannot be verified. Perhaps Langley's inability to
establish a career was an early sign of personal difficulties he may
already have been experiencing.

In 1917, the brothers had their telephone disconnected...
It was probably a warning of things to come when in 1917, the brothers
had their telephone disconnected, after being billed for long distance
calls they claimed to have never made. This may have been the beginning
of what would become a growing isolation from the outside world. Six
years later, in 1923, Dr. Collyer died. Several years prior to his
death, for reasons unknown, he had moved from his Fifth Avenue home to
one at 153 West 77th Street. His sons remained at the family home with
their mother. It is possible that a family breakup may have occurred.

Life seems to have taken an abnormal turn for the two brothers in the
year preceding the death of their mother in 1929. It appears that their
gas was shut off in 1928, and they also seemed to have given up the
convenience of running water and steam heat, and began using kerosene
to light their home and to cook with. Water was obtained from a public
fountain four blocks from their home. This was all clearly out of step
for people of their education and social status.

No one was ever permitted to enter their house...
Despite all this, nothing appeared out of the ordinary to those in the
outside world. The brothers were said to be courteous, cultured, and
shy. The only sign that something might be amiss was that no one was
ever permitted to enter their house. Around 1928, Homer worked for
another attorney, John R. McMullen, who later became the family legal
advisor. Homer next worked for City Title Insurance doing research in
the New York City Hall of Records. He was described, at the time, as
being courtly, and dressing in 19th century attire, presenting a rather
Victorian appearance. He was said to resemble a gentleman of the
1880's.

In 1932, Homer purchased a building across the street at 2077 Fifth
Avenue for $8,000. He planned to divide it into apartments and to rent
them. This plan was never realized, as he suffered a stroke in 1933,
becoming blind as the result of hemorrhages in both of his eyes. With
one exception, he was reportedly never seen outside of his home again.
Langley then gave up his music to take on the job of nursing his
brother back to health. No physician was ever consulted. Langley
apparently believed that the cure for his brother's blindness was for
him to eat 100 oranges a week, and to keep his eyes closed at all
times, in order to rest them. The brothers possessed a large library of
medical books, and it would seem that Langley felt he had the
information and knowledge necessary to treat his brother.

An intact Model-T Ford was discovered in the basement...
At some point in the 1930's, the West 77th Street home where their
father had lived was sold, and the new owner, a Mrs. Peter Meyer,
discovered an intact Model-T Ford in the basement. It is not clear how
it got there. Mrs. Meyer is said to have paid a workman $150 to
disassemble the car and put the pieces in the street. This somehow came
to Langley's attention, and for reasons known only to him, he carried
the car piece-by-piece back to the basement of his Fifth Avenue home.
It would appear that along with the loss of their other utilities, the
brothers had no electricity, as Langley apparently tried to connect a
generator to the car's engine in order to provide power, but was
unsuccessful.

The brothers eventually came to the attention of the general public
when they were mentioned in an article written by Helen Worden, a
reporter for the World-Telegram. A real estate agent named Maurice
Gruber was attempting to buy some farmland in Queens that belonged to
the brothers. Their refusal to respond to his letters or to answer the
door when he tried to see them in person resulted in Gruber keeping a
vigil at their home. In her article, Worden referred to Langley Collyer
as "the mystery man of Harlem," and included in it, a whole range of
sensational rumors that had been circulating about the brothers and
their home. It was said to contain all sorts of rich furnishings, a
vast library of books, and huge amounts of money that Langley would not
trust to banks.

The brothers were depicted as wealthy hermits...
Worden, herself, kept a watch on the Collyer's home, and finally caught
up with her elusive quarry one night, as he was leaving the house to go
on what was one of his regular after-dark shopping trips. She
questioned Langley about a boat (his father's) and the Model-T Ford
said to be in their basement. Langley confirmed these stories. Rather
than clearing up the mystery, Ms. Worden's article seemed to have only
increased the speculation and rumors about the brothers, and during the
1930's other articles were written about the brothers in the New York
papers. The brothers were depicted as wealthy hermits, living in a
storehouse of money and valuables. People visited the house, banging on
the doors or attempting to see them, while neighborhood children
committed various acts of vandalism that included breaking windows. As
windows were smashed, Langley systematically boarded them up instead of
replacing them.

Throughout this time, and most likely the result of a case of
compulsive hoarding, Langley was hard at work filling the once
attractive home with huge amounts of newspapers, cardboard boxes,
barrels, metal cans, tree branches, scrap metal, and other assorted
trash. In the case of the newspapers, it is said that he believed that
his brother Homer would someday regain his vision, and would then want
to catch up on the news he had missed. He was known to prowl the
streets at night, gathering items from curbside trash piles and
bringing them home. No one knows how many years he had been actively
engaged in this collecting. His foraging resulted in all three floors
of the house being filled with literally tons of things he had
collected. Perhaps it was his knowledge of engineering that enabled him
to arrange the boxes and packing cases in interlocking arrangements
that concealed a maze of tunnels that only he knew.

The home became a fortress with booby-traps...
Langley was said to harbor fears of being burglarized, and there had,
in fact, been several attempted break-ins over the years by those
perhaps lured by the tales of stockpiled riches. The home became a sort
of fortress for the brothers, with booby-traps constructed of great
piles of debris rigged with the aid of trip wires to fall on
unsuspecting intruders. This, of course, only served to increase the
brothers' growing isolation. If their goal was to keep the world out,
they were succeeding.

Although the brothers were by no means poor, Langley is also said to
have regularly rummaged through garbage cans seeking food. He went
begging at butcher shops for scraps, and was known to have walked as
far as Williamsburg, in Brooklyn to purchase stale bread at the lowest
possible cost. The Collyers again appeared in the newspapers in April
1939, when, armed with a court order, a city marshal together with
representatives of the Consolidated Edison Company entered the
brother's two fifth avenue buildings and removed the gas meters, which
had been in a state of disuse since 1928. A crowd said to be as large
as 1,000 people gathered outside their home to see what was happening.

Homer's last appearance outside the house is said to have occurred a
number of months later on January 1st, 1940. Sgt. John Collins, a city
policeman from the 123rd street station who was familiar with the
Collyers, spotted the two brothers carrying a large tree limb from
across the street into their basement. Langley guided the branched end,
while Homer held up the other end.

Not paying taxes was a symptom of their reclusiveness...
Although the brothers did everything they could to avoid public
scrutiny, it had its own way of intruding into their solitude.
Ironically, it was their reluctance to encounter the outside world that
continually brought the world to their doorstep. It appears that not
paying taxes and other bills was a symptom of their reclusiveness, and
it caused them no end of trouble. The most highly publicized example
occurred in August of 1942, when the Bowery Savings Bank foreclosed on
a mortgage that amounted to $6,700 plus interest (no interest had been
paid since 1940).

After going to state Supreme Court, the bank obtained permission to
evict the brothers from their home. The very same day, however, the
Collyer's attorney, John R. McMullen, met with bank officials with an
offer by his clients to repurchase the property. As the house was seen
to be in very poor condition, it appeared that the Bowery Savings Bank
was not all that eager to repossess it. Mr. McMullen had never actually
been allowed in the brothers' house, so instead, Langley, who almost
never appeared in daylight, had walked all the way to his attorney's
office on Park Row to discuss the matter. Mr. F. Donald Richart, vice
president in charge of real estate for the bank, consented to give the
brothers "a generous amount of time" so that they could work out the
details of the repurchase.

Growing rumors that Homer had died...
There were growing rumors on the street, around this time, that Homer
had died and that his body was still in the house. Sgt. Collins of the
123rd street station (mentioned earlier), took it upon himself to look
into the matter. He encountered Langley, and somehow got his
permission, despite some reluctance, to enter the house through the
basement door. In a surreal journey through a labyrinth of tunnels in
the trash and homemade booby-traps that lasted a half hour, Langley led
the officer to the bedroom where Homer was to be found. What happened
next is told in Sgt. Collins own words. "I switched on my flashlight,
and there was Homer sitting up like a mummy. He was on a cot, a burlap
bag beneath him and an old overcoat on the foot of the cot, and he
spoke directly to the officer. "I am Homer Collyer, a lawyer. I want
your shield number. I am not dead. I am blind and paralyzed." Langley
subsequently made a complaint to the police department about the
incident, but no action was ever apparently taken on the matter.

In the matter of the Bowery Savings Bank, it seems that no repurchase
offer was ever worked out, so in October, Supreme Court Justice Bernard
Botein signed an order permitting the city sheriff to evict the
brothers from their brownstone. This same judge's decision, which had
been issued in August, was now about to be carried out. The bank, still
trying to not have to resort to force, repeatedly mailed eviction
notices to the brothers, who never responded.

The Bowery Savings Bank was not to be put off indefinitely. As the new
owner of the building, they were required by the city to make repairs
to the property according to the city's building and sanitary codes. At
the end of September, they dispatched a crew of workmen to the house to
begin carrying out the repairs that had been ordered by the Department
of Health. A number of police officers and patrol cars were sent to the
scene to manage the inevitable crowd that had gathered, as it always
did whenever any activity took place at the Collyer home. As the
workmen went about repairing a falling stone cornice, replacing missing
window panes, and removing piles of junk from the rear of the property,
Langley Collyer called out to them from an upper-story window,
demanding to know by what right they were trespassing on his property.
The contractor was then forced to stop work and obtain a copy of the
city order, in order that the repairs might continue.

The city sheriff carried out the eviction order...
On November 19th, following the brothers' repeated refusal to respond
to various notices, the bank requested that the city sheriff carry out
the eviction order and enter the house by force, if necessary and
remove the brothers. In short order, at 10 o'clock, there showed up at
the Collyer's door two deputy sheriffs, Herman A. Murray and Gillespie
Anderson, police captain Christian Zimmer of the 128th street police
station, Dr. Marshall Rose, sheriff's physician, John Redfield of the
Bowery Savings Bank, and Joseph and Herman Cohen, a father and son,
respectively, who were both locksmiths. Mr. McMullen, the Collyer's
attorney met them there. The group took turns pounding on the door for
over an hour, but the only answers were echoes. A crowd collected on
the sidewalk, hoping to get a glimpse of what was going on at the
"haunted house," as it had come to be known in the neighborhood.

The locksmiths then tried for another hour, in vain, to force the lock
on the large wooden front doors, but were unsuccessful because of all
the rust and corrosion. Going to the rear of the house, they were able
to remove an iron grille-covered door leading to the basement with the
help of the two deputies. Here, they found themselves stymied again, as
they found their way barred by a mass of wire netting, behind which was
a solid mass of crates, barrels, and large tin canisters from floor to
ceiling. Seeking another entrance, they next moved on to another rear
door, and tore away its rotted boards, only to find a further wall of
garbage cans, trunks, crates, and pieces of rusted iron. Breaking in
yet another rotted door next to this one, they were met with a similar
obstruction.

Covered with dust, and feeling frustrated, the team returned to the
front of the building to form a new plan of action, and decided to now
make their way into the building via a window. One of the locksmiths,
Joseph Cohen, swung up from the top of the front stoop and made his way
to the ledge of one of the building's high north windows, where he
forced open the shutters. He then broke a windowpane with a hammer, and
climbed in through the now empty frame. His son Herman stood outside
the window on the ledge and peered in at his father, who by this time
was half-choked with dust.

The room was filled to overflowing...
As with the other parts of the house encountered thus far, the room was
filled to overflowing with various and sundry items - heaps of old
sheet music, gilded picture frames, Christmas ornaments, broken plaster
cherubs, piles of books, garden baskets, etc. Joseph Cohen finally
managed to work his way downstairs to the front entrance where he and
deputy Murray were able to open a path near the door. Clouds of choking
dust enveloped them, making the going difficult, and breathing an
effort. They eventually opened a parlor door and made it into a hallway
where they encountered further barricades. Suddenly, they were greeted
by a weary voice from out of the gloom, asking, "What is the meaning of
this?" Deputy Murray replied, "I have an eviction notice." Langley then
asked him, "Is Mr. McMullen here?" McMullen, who had by now worked his
way to the barricade called out to his client, "They will put you out,
Mr. Collyer, unless your keep the agreement." Langley replied, "Do what
you think best." Following his attorney's advice, Langley then borrowed
a pen from the deputy, and signed a check for the full amount, thus
ending the invasion.

But the Collyer's troubles were not yet over.

The IRS was now pursuing Homer for income tax arrears...
They came in for some further unwanted attention in February 1943, but
this time from the Internal Revenue Service. The IRS was now pursuing
Homer for what it claimed was $1900 in income tax arrears plus interest
that had accumulated over the previous twelve years. Homer was notified
that unless this sum was promptly paid, the house he owned at 2077
Fifth Avenue would be sold at auction on February 3rd. This was the
building across the street he had purchased with the intent to divide
into rentable apartments. The ever-patient Mr. McMullen hoped his
client would come through at the last minute, as had happened
previously, although the attorney had been unsuccessful in his attempts
to contact the brothers.

On the day of the auction, the IRS representatives waited for over an
hour beyond the scheduled auction time, and finally, the property was
put up for bid. When no bids were offered, and with Mr. McMullen
present, the government took possession, although it was not eager to
do so due to the poor condition of the property. It was so rundown,
that it hardly seemed worth the effort. Beyond the building being of
little worth, there were also the problems of the cost of the auction
itself, not to mention the $3,000 in back taxes on the property owed to
the City of New York that had been unpaid since 1938. According to the
rules, the government would have to hold onto the property to allow
Homer the chance to pay what he owed and get his property back. He
never paid, and it does not appear that the government ever went any
further in the matter of taking possession of the building, as will be
seen.

Over three years later, the Collyers once again found themselves in the
news.

The reclusive Langley refuesed to cooperate...
On July 23, 1946, two police officers, Daniel Pesek and John Killoran,
while on radio car patrol, heard noises coming from 2077 Fifth Avenue.
Upon further investigation, the officers discovered two men stealing
plumbing and electrical fixtures from the building. The two patrolmen
tussled with the vandals, capturing one of them, a homeless man named
George Smith, aged 25. Officer Killoran hurt his leg when he fell
through a hole in the floor. The officers then attempted to contact
Langley in order to get him to swear out a complaint against the thief,
but speaking to them through his locked door, he refused to do so.
Despite his lack of cooperation, Langley was named as the complainant,
and notified that if he did not appear in court, the city would issue
him a subpoena. He still refused to cooperate, but after officer Pesek
tried several times to serve him with the subpoena, he relented. It
seems that time and again, only the threat of legal action could pry
loose the reclusive Langley from the decrepit building he and his
brother called home.

On July 27th, dressed in turn-of-the-century garments, he appeared in
the city's Felony Court as complainant against Smith. What was
particularly unclear about all this was that technically, the Collyers
no longer owned 2077 Fifth Avenue. Langley clearly did not accept all
this, and prior to signing the complaint, he stated, "My invalid
brother, Homer Lusk Collyer, and I still own that house and we have the
keys to it." He added, "The government seized the property on the
contention we did not pay income taxes, but we are going to sue and get
that property back, because the government can't demand income taxes
from us when we had no income." The brothers had, in fact, never
surrendered the keys to the building. He went on to relate that this
was the third incident in which he had had to go to court to swear out
a complaint against criminal intruders at his home.

The brothers owned two land parcels in Queens County...
The last time either of the Collyer's was seen alive, was the result of
yet another tax problem with New York City. It seems that the brothers
owned two land parcels in Queens County, which they had inherited from
their father. The city had wanted this land for new streets and other
purposes, and Langley, together with Mr. McMullen, had a meeting about
this with the city's corporation counsel the previous October. After
Langley refused two summonses to testify before Supreme Court Justice
Charles C. Lockwood, the land was condemned by the city, and the
brothers were awarded $7500, which was substantially less than its
appraised value. Unfortunately, they would see none of this award, in
any case, as the city claimed the brothers owed it $27,000 in back
taxes. Interestingly, a news article about this in the New York Times
mentions that the brother's only regular means of contact with the
outside world was a crystal radio set.

Which brings us back to the beginning of our story on the morning of
March 21st, 1947, with the police receiving the phone call from the
mysterious Mr. Charles Smith.

An officer was was unable to open the front door...
The police had received a number of such calls over the years, but as
usual, they were obliged to respond. An officer was dispatched to the
scene, but was unable to open the front door. He then put out a call to
Police Emergency Squad 6, which arrived on the scene at 10:00 a.m. They
began by cordoning off the Collyer's house in order to hold back the
crowd of curious onlookers, which grew as large as 600 people. The
officers began their search by using crowbars and axes to try to force
an entrance into the house. They broke their way through an iron
grille-covered door to the basement in the front of the house, but as
had happened in the past, they immediately found themselves confronted
by the usual floor-to-ceiling wall of crates, newspaper, furniture, and
odd pieces of junk.

Officers found the emaciated body of a white-haired man...
For their second attempt to gain entry, the officers obtained ladders
from the Fire Department and tried the windows on the upper floors.
Unfortunately, many of the shutters on the windows couldn't be opened,
and it wasn't until 12:10 p.m. that a patrolman William Barker was able
to make his way through a second story window. Patrolman Barker was not
seen for several minutes, and on his return to the window, called to
his fellow officers, "There's a DOA here." In response, Detective John
Loughery made his way up the ladder in order to view the body, as other
officers began to batter in the wooden front doors with axes. They were
again faced with another massive obstruction of neatly tied bundles of
newspaper, as well as cardboard boxes filled with assorted contents.
Although they tried to tear down the wall of debris, they were forced
to admit defeat. Meanwhile, Detective Loughery related what he had seen
- the emaciated body of a white-haired man dressed in a tattered gray
bathrobe, sitting upright, and tentatively identified as Homer Collyer.
The medical examiner, Arthur C. Allen, arrived at 3:45 p.m., and
declared that the individual had been dead for approximately ten hours.

The next order of business was to locate Langley, who was nowhere to be
found on the premises. It was reasoned that if he were within the
house, he would have made an appearance by this time, as he usually
did. Police were perplexed about how Langley was able to enter and
leave the building, but neighbors stated that he regularly entered and
left on his daily shopping trips via the front basement's iron-bound
door. After their own struggle to enter, the officers refused to
believe that this was possible.

The entire house was packed with debris of various kinds...
According to the New York Times, the entranceway past the basement door
contained "... an old stove, several umbrellas, numerous packages of
newspapers, a gas mask canister, an old stove pipe, and a broken
scooter." There were also numerous rats seen darting around and through
the piled trash. An inspection of the rest of the premises through
various windows and around the second floor where they had entered
revealed that the entire house was packed with debris of various kinds.
It appeared that the building was riddled with a maze of tunnels
through which Langley had moved, pulling bales of newspaper in behind
him, to prevent intruders from entering. The police also found tin cans
and piles of heavy debris wired together to form booby traps, in which
the cans would sound an alarm, and a mass of junk would fall on the
unsuspecting invader.

.=2E.newspapers lying around that dated back to 1915.
Homer Collyer's body was taken away in a body bag to the police van
that would transport it to the morgue. An autopsy was to be conducted
to determine the cause of death, although foul play was not suspected.
The crowd, milling around on the sidewalk hoping to see what was going
on inside, and trading stories about their unusual neighbors, and the
fabled wealth that was rumored to be hidden in the house. Some believed
the numerous cardboard boxes that filled the house were stuffed with
cash. As they searched further, police found newspapers lying around
that dated from as far back as 1915. Strewn everywhere were such things
as hats, boxes of Christmas cards, a folding chair, a broken sled, and
automobile seat, part of a piano frame, etc.

The police were careful to put everything back in place, including the
materials they had removed to be able to enter the building. They then
boarded up the house at 5 p.m., at which time, Attorney McMullen
arrived on the scene. He took charge of all papers, notes, and letters
discovered there by the police, and stated to the press that he was
sure his elderly client would soon be in touch with him. He also quoted
Langley as having said that they were entitled to live their own lives.

No one had any idea of where Langley might be found...
The next day's papers puzzled over the missing Langley. No one had any
idea of where he might be found, with the exception of Mr. McMullen,
who told reporters, "Your guess is as good as mine, but I think he is
in the house, myself." Detectives from the 123rd street station thought
that he might still be out on one of his shopping trips to Brooklyn.
These were sometimes known to last as long as twenty-four hours,
because he made the trip on foot. Deputy Inspector Christopher
Salsieder announced that if Langley did not show up by 1 p.m. on March
24th, a missing person's alarm would be issued. In the meantime, it was
decided to not perform an autopsy, as the cause of death was believed
to be the result of "ateriosclerotic heart disease," which, it was
said, could be determined by external examination. Later reports seem
to indicate, though, that an autopsy was finally performed.

Of course, the usual publicity-seekers were quick to come out of the
woodwork.

William Rodriguo, a sometime Democratic politician from Harlem, came
forward, claiming to be the "Charles Smith" who had phoned the police,
touching off this latest incident. He stated that he had used a false
name due to not wanting to get involved, but had later changed his
mind. He added a further touch of mystery to the story, telling police
that he had been told of the Collyers' deaths by an unknown man he had
met in front of their house the morning of his phone call. The next
day, on the 23rd, the crowd outside the decaying brownstone had grown
to several thousand people. Langley had still not appeared, and the
curious were hoping for a glimpse of him, or failing that, his remains.

A stream of autos crawled by the building...
One man showed up with a shovel and began digging in the building's
front yard, but was removed by the police. A stream of autos from as
far away as New Jersey and Connecticut crawled by the building in a
regular procession. The daily papers thirsted to know about the
contents of the house, rumored for years to contain numerous grand
pianos, a Model T, and a boat.

Inspector Joseph Goldstein of the Tenth Division speculated that a
thorough search of the entire house would occupy a police emergency
squad for three weeks. They were to begin work later that day,
following an inspection by the Department of Housing and Buildings and
the Board of Health. The strategy would be for police officers to begin
with a search of the top floor, dumping the contents into the backyard.
It was decided that the items removed would not be taken away until the
public administrator or an heir of the Collyers gave approval. A
relative of the brothers, William Collyer of Yonkers, turned up at the
house that day, relating to reporters that his mother and sister had
visited the brothers in 1928, and noted that the house, at that time,
contained no furniture, but was already filled with quite a bit of
debris.

The clearing of the building began the next day on the 24th. This first
stage of the operation, the clearing of the top floor, began that
afternoon, headed by Inspector Goldstein.

Officers broke open several skylights to enter the building...
After Mr. McMullen declared Langley missing at 1:15 p.m., and after
officials from the two city departments declared the building safe to
enter, the officers of Emergency Squad 6 began their task by sending
over a ladder from an adjoining rooftop. After climbing across, they
broke open several skylights and a roof trapdoor, through which they
entered the building. Once inside, they smashed windows in order to get
some badly-needed ventilation. A large crowd, whose numbers now ran as
high as 2,000 watched the spectacle from the street, windows, fire
escapes, and rooftops, cheering each time a sizable object was thrown
into the yard below. Among these items were a gas chandelier, the
folding top of a horse-drawn carriage, a rusted bicycle, a child's
chair, an automobile radiator, dressmaking dummies, a sawhorse, a
rusted bedspring, a kerosene stove, a doll carriage, a checkerboard,
and numerous bundles of newspapers. A team of sixteen men inspected
each object as it was thrown out, looking for valuables and important
papers to be saved. They found enough ledgers, correspondence, and
legal documents to fill eight crates which were taken to the West 123rd
street station to be looked over by someone from the public
administrator's office.

Over 2,000 dust-covered volumes and five pianos...
At 3 p.m., Inspector Goldstein called off the search for Langley for
that day, and sent his men to check out the basement. They found the
walls lined with ceiling-to-floor bookcases containing over 2,000
dust-covered volumes, among them numerous books on the law and
engineering. Reporters and a family member were allowed to have a look
around, and among the newspapers and cardboard boxes there were as many
as five pianos. With much effort, the officers cleared a path to a
stairway, but were unable to open up the stairway itself. While
clearing this area, they stumbled on a generator, which may have been
used to produce electricity.

Some of the debris removed was piled in the front areaway, and included
a kiddy car, three women's hats, a box of curtain rings, a green toy
bus, some lead pipes, and a Metropolitan Opera program from 1914. At 4
p=2Em., the Emergency Squad forced their way into the first floor. Aided
by searchlights powered by a portable generator, they made out a
mahogany mantelpiece containing a large cracked mirror resting against
a wall, an old RCA radio in a corner, and a large pile of furniture
covered with dust standing in the middle of the floor. The windows were
covered with a filthy green drapery.

At this point, the search was ended for the day, with the police
boarding up the windows, and piling the collected debris in a section
of the yard surrounded by a tall iron fence. Langley had still not been
found, but the police were determined to return and finish their
search.

March 26th, still no sign of the missing brother...
The following morning at 10 a.m., the officers resumed their search. It
was now March 26th, with still no sign of the missing brother. The day
was particularly windy, blowing some of the old newspapers down the
street, where they were snatched up by the ever-present crowd as
souvenirs. The overwhelming mass of debris the police removed from the
house consisted largely of old newspapers, cardboard boxes, magazines,
and pieces of wood. Among the other assorted things uncovered that day
included a nursery refrigerator, a beaded lampshade, a box of toy tops,
and a toy airplane.

In the basement, they found the chassis of the fabled Model-T Ford,
thus confirming one rumor. Important documents and papers continued to
turn up, and these were removed to the 123rd street station. Any
useless material that could be combustible was carted away in two
truckloads by the Department of Sanitation, to be burned in its
incinerators. The first load weighed 6,424 pounds, and the second a bit
less.

A further maze of tunnels and several new booby-traps...
One rumor that was put to rest was the existence of a secret basement
tunnel connecting the brother's two buildings. In addition to
discovering a further maze of tunnels, several new booby-traps were
found, consisting of things such as cans, or large tree limbs (as large
as twenty inches in diameter), set to drop on unwary intruders.

The police were becoming increasingly convinced that Langley was not to
be found alive on the premises, but they were determined to continue
their search of the entire house. Inspector Goldstein stated that the
work would continue, "... until we are sure Langley Collyer is not in
there, dead or alive." One theory was that his body might yet be found
stuck in one of the booby-trapped tunnels. Assistant Chief Inspector
Frank Fristensky, Jr. told the press that it would take them several
more days before they had a clear picture of what the interior of the
building contained. Attorney McMullen had already become concerned
about the brother's tangled finances and their numerous bank accounts.
He estimated their worth to be in the six-figure range, not including
the real estate they owned.

Work continued on the 26th, much as it had the day before.

The Emergency Squad began work at 10:00 a.m., halting briefly at noon
when some confusion arose over whether proper legal authorization for
their work had been obtained.

.=2E.searchers tossed large amounts of material from the windows.
At 2:30 efforts to clear the top floor resumed, with the searchers
tossing large amounts of material from the windows. Relatives watching
the operation from the street complained to the police that they were
being less than careful in discarding things, and risked discarding
items of value, as well as important papers. This resulted in the
officers being somewhat less energetic in clearing things out. One
particular item that attracted attention was the discovery of a .22
caliber pistol and holster, along with ammunition of various types.
This was turned over to the Police Ballistics Bureau.

A report submitted to the public administrator of New York County by
Deputy Chief Inspector Conrad Rothengast stated that it was believed
that Langley Collyer was dead based upon the facts that the brother had
never been away from his home for more than twenty-four hours, and that
the death of Homer would certainly have been cause for him to have at
least contacted his attorney or his relatives.

The next day, the New York Times reported that the surrogate, a Mr.
James A. Delahanty, was unable to appoint Francis J. Mulligan, the
public administrator as temporary administrator of the Collyer
brother's estate. While everyone in the case agreed that Langley
Collyer was most likely dead, Mr. Delahanty felt that definite proof
was required for such a move to be made. Various affidavits from such
people as John R. McMullen and William Rodriguo were due to be
submitted to Mr. Delahanty.

March 27th, still no trace of Langley...
As of the 27th, police searchers still had been unable to turn up any
trace of the missing Langley, although they did turn up a cigar box
containing three more revolvers, a sixteen-gauge shotgun, a .22 caliber
rifle, a .30 caliber rifle, a two-foot long bayonet, and a three-foot
long cavalry saber. Near the spot where Homer's body had been
discovered, they found another old cigar box containing thirty-four
bank books from various savings banks. Eleven of them had been
canceled, and they showed savings totaling $3,007 dollars.

By March 28th, the police were having their hands full following up on
numerous tips they were receiving, concerning the whereabouts of the
missing Langley.

Officers were dispatched to the Borough Hall-Jay Street Station in
Brooklyn after a conductor reportedly saw him board the subway there.
They also searched a group of boarded-up summer hotels and bungalows in
Asbury Park, New Jersey; a place where the brothers had spent time
between 1901 and 1907, and where it was thought Langley might be
hiding.

In the meantime, surrogate Delahanty finally appointed Francis J.
Mulligan as temporary administrator of Langley's estate, in addition to
being made administrator of Homer's. Following these appointments,
police halted their intensive search for Langley in the Fifth Avenue
home, and decided, instead, to begin shipping the contents to an unused
school building at 67 Rivington Street on the 31st, where they would be
inspected for valuables and important papers. Items of obvious value
were to go to this location, while things that were obviously trash
would be removed by the Department of Sanitation.

Following leads in New Jersey...
On the following day, Mr. Mulligan, as administrator, visited the city
morgue to claim the body of Homer. Funeral arrangements were set for
April 1st, to be held at Cypress Hills Cemetery in Queens, where the
family owned a plot. Police were still hard at work tracking down
various leads. Their latest took them to New Jersey. A waitress in
Tuckerton reported to police that she had served food to a customer who
appeared to fit Langley Collyer's description, which by then, had been
widely distributed. She added that the man had subsequently boarded a
bus headed for Atlantic City. Police in that city then proceeded to
make a sweep of hotels and rooming houses.

Police recommenced their search on the 31st as planned, beginning at
8:30 in the morning. It appeared that they would be able to clear about
one room per day, and there were an estimated twelve rooms in the
building. The workforce at the house now consisted of two detectives
and five laborers hired by Mr. Mulligan. Their work concentrated on the
front basement room, which was found to hold 3,000 books, numerous
telephone directories, a Steinway piano, a horse's jawbone, a Model-T
Ford's engine block, numerous campaign buttons, and large amounts of
newspaper, as usual, tied up neatly in bundles.

Homer Collyer's funeral held on April 1st...
Homer Collyer's funeral was held on April 1st, but of the fifty-three
people who were present, only two actually knew him. Both were
neighbors. Seventeen cousins of the Collyers were also in attendance.

John R. McMullen also attended, hoping that perhaps that Langley would
appear at last. Said Mr. McMullen to the press, "I had hopes until the
last minute that Langley would be here if he were alive." When
questioned if he believed Langley was still alive, he replied, "One
guess is as good as another." The police search for the missing brother
continued. They sent out 500 pictures of him to every New York City
police precinct, and also to the police in eleven states. Efforts to
clear the house were now in the second day. The detectives and laborers
continued their methodical work. By the end of that day, nineteen tons
of trash and objects had been removed. The bulk of this came from the
first floor hallway.

It was decided by the public administrator that Langley's estate would
pay for the use of a school building where valuable items from the home
were being stored. The Department of Housing and Buildings, meanwhile,
ruled that the house would eventually have to be repaired or
demolished. On the 3rd, it was thought that the mystery of Langley's
whereabouts had been solved when a body resembling his description was
discovered floating in the East Bronx in Pugsley's Creek, but the
excitement ended abruptly when the body was identified as an elderly
man who had recently disappeared from a houseboat.

April 7th: 103 tons of rubbish removed to date ...
By the 7th of April, workers had removed approximately 103 tons of
rubbish from the home, with twenty-two tons having been removed on that
day alone. Among the more interesting items found at that point were
five violins that were to be sent for appraisal. It was estimated by
the supervising detectives that it would take another week to ten days
to clear out the structure.

Down at the Missing Persons Bureau, Detective Charles Meyers offered
the theory that "Everything points to Langley being dead in the
building." He added that the results of an autopsy on Homer indicated
that there had been no food or liquid in the invalid's stomach.
Detective Meyers concluded that, "Homer died for lack of care." It
simply did not add up that Langley would have allowed his brother to
die unattended, or simply not show up at his funeral.

April 8th: Langley's body finally discovered...
It would ultimately turn out that Detective Meyers was correct, as on
April the 8th, Langley's body was finally discovered, pinned by one of
his own booby-traps in that same room on the second floor where Homer's
body was previously found.

The work of clearing the house that day had proceeded as usual, with
workers from the public administrator's office and police working their
way through the second floor. By 3:30 that afternoon, about seventeen
tons of material had been removed and loaded onto Department of
Sanitation trucks. Shortly afterwards, a detective, Joseph Whitmore
emerged from the building and asked reporters waiting on the scene to
follow him. He led them to a corner drugstore. Placing a call to his
headquarters, he reported, "We've got him." He went on to explain that
he, and detective John Loughery, had located Langley's body. Loughery
added, "We were scraping around in the rubbish when we saw a foot
sticking out."

Within an hour, as word spread of the discovery of the body, a crowd of
around 500 locals who had gathered to watch the day's work at the
house, swelled to over 2,000.

Police higher-ups, including Commissioner Arthur W. Wallander, soon
arrived on the scene. The commissioner commended detectives Whitmore
and Loughery for their work in the investigation. Thomas A. Gonzales,
the medical examiner, spent a half hour examining the corpse. He
estimated that Langley had been dead at least two weeks, and possibly
as long as four, and that the cause of death was either starvation or
suffocation.

Langley died, trapped in debris...
Langley's body lay on its right side, inside one of the two-foot-wide
tunnels that was part of the maze he had created, his head turned
toward the area where his brother's cot had been, only eight feet away.
The room, itself was filled with piles of newspapers, books, old
furniture and tin cans. The materials that had apparently trapped
Langley were a suitcase, three metal bread boxes, and bundles of
newspapers. One particularly unpleasant detail was that the numerous
rats that infested the house had gnawed at his partially decomposed
body.

Jacob Iglitzen, who also happened to be the druggist from whose store
the phone call had been placed, subsequently identified the body. He
stated that he was able to recognize Langley's face, although it was
somewhat decomposed. He also identified Langley's clothes. Overall, the
evidence appeared to indicate that Langley had been killed by falling
debris, and that his invalid brother, Homer, died from dehydration and
malnutrition.

Attorney McMullen, told the press that he planned to confer the next
day with Joseph A. Cox, an attorney for the city's public
administrator, concerning the handling of the brother's assets, which
were now estimated to be in the range of $100,000 distributed among
various bank accounts and real-estate holdings. This finally laid to
rest the popular notion that the brothers were multimillionaires.

Langley had died a month before his brother...
The next day, on April 10th, the medical examiner concluded that
Langley Collyer had been smothered by the debris, which had collapsed
upon him, and had been dead for at least a month before his brother,
Homer. A funeral was held the next day on the 11th at Cypress Hills
Cemetery in Brooklyn. The Reverend Dr. Charles T. Bridgeman, the
assistant pastor of Trinity Church presided. There were forty persons
in attendance, including many cousins. The saga of Langley Collyer was
not quite finished, however.

A month later, the Commissioner of Housing and Buildings, Robert F.
Wagner, Jr., announced that the house at 2078 Fifth Avenue still
contained substantial filth and garbage, and that it remained "a
distinct menace to health." He requested that the public administrator
in charge of the brother's estate, Francis J. Mulligan, clear out the
building, in order that the property could be surveyed. Findings would
then be sent to the state Supreme Court so that the city could receive
permission to demolish the building. On June 30th, Supreme Court
Justice J. Edward Lumbard signed the order for demolition.

Collyer home to be demolished...
An inspector from the Department of Housing and Buildings had noted
that the "roof beams were water soaked, rotted, and defective," and
that all the floors throughout the entire building are sagging and
defective." The city would next seek bids on the demolition of the
building, and sometime after, the Collyer mansion was no more.

.=2E.and the property finally auctioned.
As a final chapter, the lot at the corner of 128th Street was publicly
auctioned on March 1, 1951.

Unfortunately, Langley Collyer lived in an era when problems such as
compulsive hoarding were regarded as eccentricities, something to be
laughed at or ridiculed. Assuming that even had he been able to come to
grips with the fact that he had a serious problem, there is little that
would have been done for it at that point in history. Back in the first
half of the 20th century, problems such as OCD were treated with
psychoanalytic-type talk therapies, which produced little in the way of
results.

Even today, we still read reports of individuals whose trash-filled
properties have been condemned, or who were forced by law to clean up
dwellings, which have been declared public nuisances or even health
risks. Municipal governments and the media still seem to not understand
what is going on in these situations, and that these are individuals in
serious need of help. Sufferers of O-C disorders can be found to have
varying degrees of insight. They may differ in their ability to
recognize that they have a disorder, or that their behaviors are not
those of the average person. It would appear that Langley Collyer, if
he in fact had OCD, might have been one of those with a lower level of
insight into his problem. It may well be that he believed his hoarding
behaviors served a valuable purpose of saving money an ironic notion,
considering that the brothers were relatively well off for the era they
lived in.

It would also seem that in terms of reclusiveness, Langley and his
brother became caught in an insidious loop. That is, as their behavior
moved further and further away from the norm, and people's reactions to
them became more critical and judgmental, they pulled in their
boundaries and cut themselves off even more. This, in turn, would most
likely have served to make them seem even more abnormal to outsiders,
resulting in even more harsh treatment by the outside world.

Compulsive hoarding now regarded as treatable...
Nowadays, compulsive hoarding is regarded as treatable via behavioral
therapy and medication. Sufferers can learn to clean up their
dwellings, and to keep them that way.

In behavioral treatments for OCD, individuals are encouraged to
gradually confront situations that cause them to feel anxious, while at
the same time, resisting the performance of the compulsions they
ordinarily use to relieve their anxiety. This approach is known as
Exposure and Response Prevention.

In the case of hoarding, we are talking about gradually sorting out and
discarding things that have been accumulated. This may be done under
the direct supervision of a therapist working on the scene, or by
giving the individual weekly or daily homework assignments. Before the
actual work of therapy begins the therapist makes a thorough behavioral
analysis in order to determine what is being saved, how it is being
saved, and where it is being saved. This may involve either a home
visit by the therapist to directly observe the scene, or the patient
may bring in photographs showing views of all areas of the home.

Clutter and trash may be dealt with either by location or category, and
in either case, is approached by first working on things that are
easiest, and then working towards those that are more difficult. For
instance, the therapist may pick a particular room, closet, or area for
the individual to begin clearing out, and then, over time, assign tasks
designed to accomplish this. Alternatively, as some people tend to save
only certain types of things, therapy may start by earmarking these
particular items for removal, wherever they may be found.

One example would be people who save excessive quantities of
newspapers, magazines, etc. having to bundle and put out a certain
amount of them each week. Or in the case of those who have accumulated
large amounts of clothing (old or new), having to throw out or donate a
set number of articles between therapy sessions. In addition to this
activity, the therapist will work with the individual to establish a
set of rules for what can and cannot be saved, and in the case of saved
items, how to store or arrange them in a neat and organized fashion.

Some therapists will set up a rule governing how long an item may be
kept without being used, before it is considered in need of disposal.

With my own patients, I have always used what I refer to as my "Three
Year Rule." Under this rule, any item that has not been used in any way
during the previous three years must be discarded. There can be
exceptions, of course, as in the case of family heirlooms, antiques,
valuable collections, family photos, or useful tools, etc.

Where people's lives and dwellings have been disorganized for long
periods of time, these rules are necessary to establish some kind of
order, and to prevent the person from falling into chaos again. In all
cases, the ultimate goal is to get the sufferer to take personal
responsibility for the state of their dwelling, and to accept that they
really do have a problem.

Some people seem to think that the ultimate solution should be to
descend upon a sufferer's home, and forcefully clean the place out.
While this might remedy the immediate problem, nothing else really
changes, and within a period of time, the dwelling will fill up with
things again in the same way as before. In addition, the anger and
anxiety on the part of the sufferer that would result from such a
remedy would probably only push them away from seeking help in the
future.

The story of Langley and his unfortunate brother remains as a
cautionary tale - an example of just how serious hoarding can become
when left untreated. With appropriate therapies, however, such extremes
of behavior can be prevented from engulfing the lives of otherwise
intelligent and potentially productive human beings.




Too_Many_Tools wrote:
> I do...many of my fellow friends who have shops overflowing with "good
> stuff".
>
> In my own case, I see it as a very slippery slope....one great thing
> after another can follow you home until the doors to the shop won't
> shut.
>
> Sometimes...no many times...you just have to say "No".
>
> Your thoughts?
>
> TMT
>
>
> http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=3D2790669&page=3D1
>
> Medical Mystery: Compulsive Hoarders
> A Psychological Compulsion to Keep Everything, Even When It Ruins Your
> Life
> By CECILE BOUCHARDEAU
>
> Jan. 16, 2007- - We are all pack rats to some degree. We hoard,
> collect and buy more stuff than we have room to store.
>
> But what if something in our brains made us incapable of throwing
> things out? Janie Allocca and Lorraine Brennan both suffer from a
> psychological disorder called compulsive hoarding -- an urge to hold on
> to even the most mundane objects, even when they take over their lives.
>
>
> Watch "Primetime: Medical Mysteries" Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET, and go to
> ABCNEWS.com during the show to diagnose a real medical mystery.
>
> Lorraine Brennan has been hoarding for nearly 20 years. She lives in a
> two-story house in Massachusetts with her father, son and fianc=E9e.
> Most rooms in the house are cluttered, and some are even unusable. The
> bedroom-office that she shares with her fianc=E9e is overrun with stuff
> they tried unsuccessfully to get rid of at a yard sale. Lorraine's
> purse is bursting with junk mail and receipts.
>
> Brennan's hoarding is not only ruining her life, but affecting her
> entire family. Her son can't bring friends home from school. Brennan
> and her fianc=E9e have been engaged for eight years, but he hasn't been
> able to commit to marrying her because of the clutter.
>
>
> 'There's No Place to Sit Down'
>
> Many hoarders are also compulsive shoppers. Janie Allocca has
> accumulated so much stuff that she uses her own house as a storage
> facility and lives with her mother.
>
> "I remember collecting, and keeping, and hoarding things since I can
> remember," Allocca said. "And now I am just living around the piles and
> piles I need to get rid of."
>
> "I have so much stuff that my house is totally unlivable," she
> continued. "There's no place to sit down. I can't get to the kitchen. I
> can't have anyone over for tea even though I have everything for tea.
> My collecting is taking up the space where I normally would live."
>
> There's a fine line between simple clutter and extreme hoarding. Most
> hoarders, observers say, are physically incapable of throwing things
> out. They can't live in, or use, rooms like the kitchen for their
> intended use. They also experience extreme distress from their
> condition.
>
>
> The Brain of a Hoarder
>
> Hoarding is currently considered a subset of obsessive compulsive
> disorder, but that may soon change. New research is finding that
> hoarding may be a unique disorder completely separate from OCD.
>
> Dr. David Tolin, director of the Anxiety Disorders Center at the
> Institute of Living in Hartford, Conn., has devoted his career to
> studying what goes on inside the mind of a hoarder.
>
> "At the moment, compulsive hoarding hasn't been fully defined by the
> psychiatric and psychological communities," he said. "One of the things
> that we wanted to do was to understand some of the brain mechanisms
> behind compulsive hoarding."
>
> Allocca is part of a study Tolin is conducting to see which parts of a
> hoarder's brain become active when they are faced with making
> decisions. She is hooked up to a brain-scan machine and asked to look
> at pieces of her mail and decide whether she wants them to be thrown
> out. She then must watch the mail get shredded.
>
> At this point, two parts of a hoarder's brain become active. The
> brain's orbitofrontal cortex is involved in decision making and causes
> a hoarder to process this experience as a punishing one. At the same
> time, the hippocampus of a hoarder actively searches for memories about
> the object. The hoarder tries to remember the object: what it is and
> why they saved it in the first place. By contrast, people without
> hoarding problems just don't think about the object that much.
>
>
> 'A Painful and Effortful Process'
>
> "What we find is that the brain is acting very, very differently when a
> person hoards," Tolin said. "When the person is trying to make a
> decision about what to throw away, it seems that the person who is
> hoarding, is processing this activity as if it is deeply punishing."
>
> "The person who hoards is going through a very, very effortful search
> of their memory to try to think of as many things as they can about
> this item before they make the decision," Tolin added. "What this all
> amounts to then is a painful and effortful process of decision-making,
> that you and I might take for granted."
>
> There is no cure for hoarding, and there is no medication to treat the
> condition. Right now, cognitive behavioral therapy is the only way to
> help hoarders make decisions and deal with their emotions.
>
>
> Getting Help
>
> In Beth Johnson's "Clutter Workshop" in Hartford, hoarders and
> clutterers practice throwing out possessions they have grown attached
> to. Johnson also takes her clients on nonshopping -- or nonacquiring --
> trips to teach them not to buy things they don't need.
>
> "I try to help them see the larger picture and how this item won't fit
> into their life," said Johnson. "If you have a jam-packed house, if
> you're adding to it on a weekly or daily basis, you're basically
> defeating yourself."
>
> Dr. Randy Frost, a professor of psychology at Smith College in
> Massachussetts, focuses on helping hoarders make their homes
> clutter-free.
>
>
> "One of the things we know about hoarding is that the beliefs people
> have about their possessions are so powerful, that it's very difficult
> for them to get out of this behavior," said Frost, who is also author
> of the upcoming book "Buried in Treasures." "If the person throws
> something away and experiences distress, and does it again and again,
> eventually, they won't have that extreme emotional response, throwing
> something away."
>
> Frost held a one-on-one session with Brennan to see if he could help
> her. After a few hours, she was able to throw away receipts and a few
> pieces of junk, but, as with most hoarders, there is still a long road
> ahead.
>
> One major motivator for Brennan is the possibility of losing her
> fianc=E9e if she doesn't clean up her home. When asked if she thought he
> would really leave, Lorraine said, "I don't want to find out. I don't
> want to end my relationship. I want to do better. I want to make it
> work. I don't want to live like this anymore. I really don't."
>
> Dr. David Tolin and Professor Randy Frost are co-authors of a self-help
> book called "Buried in Treasures," to be published on February 5th.

Too_Many_Tools wrote:
> You may also find this article of interest.....
>
> TMT
>
> Langley Collyer: The Mystery Hoarder Of Harlem
> Fred Penzel[1], Ph.D
> On March 21st, 1947, at 8:53 a.m., the New York City police department
> received a phone call from a man giving the name of Charles Smith,
> notifying them that he believed a man was dead inside a decaying
> building on Fifth Avenue in Harlem. Officers arrived on the scene by 10
> a.m., and cordoned off the house in order to hold back the crowd that
> had gathered. The police removed an iron grill-covered basement door
> from its hinges, only to find the entrance completely sealed off by a
> solid mass of debris. Thus was thrust before the public one of the
> best-known and most mysterious compulsive-hoarding cases of all time.
>
> Compulsive hoarding is a form of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), a
> neurobiological condition, most likely genetically based. OCD comes in
> a wide variety of forms, of which hoarding is only one. Compulsive
> hoarders may collect only certain types of things, or they may
> indiscriminately save everything. We are not talking here about
> collecting things that are valuable or important such as art, coins, or
> stamps.
>
> Hoarders tend to save things of little or no value...
> Hoarders generally tend to save things that are of little or no value,
> or if the things they save do have real value, they tend to save them
> in ridiculously larger quantities than would ever be necessary. One of
> the main obsessive thoughts that causes sufferers to do this is their
> worry that if they throw a particular item away, it will be lost
> forever, and they may one day be in need of it in order to be able to
> use it, to be able to remember it, or do something connected with it.
>
> They seem to have difficulty discriminating between what is or will be
> useful, and what is not. Some hoarders can freely admit that the things
> they are saving are currently broken or damaged and unusable. They will
> stubbornly insist, however, that they will someday repair or refurbish
> the items and either make use of them or give them away.
>
> Throwing away something is seen as being irresponsible...
> Another reason for hoarding resembles the type of thinking seen in
> hyper-responsible obsessions. It is the idea that each thing they save
> and/or repair might be useful to others (rather than themselves), and
> that the hoarder would be responsible (and therefore blameful and
> guilty) for another person not having this vital item should the need
> arise. They may also rationalize that what they are doing is actually
> "recycling," and are performing a community service by conserving
> resources. Throwing away something that could possibly be reused is
> seen as being highly irresponsible. In actuality, there really is no
> need for what they have saved, there is no one to give the items to,
> and the only result is that the hoarder is burdened with a house full
> of junk.
>
> Some of the things most commonly saved include newspapers, magazines,
> lists, pens, pencils, empty boxes, pamphlets, old greeting cards, junk
> mail, old appliances, outdated books and even assorted labels, string,
> rubber bands, plastic containers, bottles, and bottle caps. In the most
> extreme cases, people have been known to save such things as empty
> matchbooks, used tissues, old cigarette butts, bird feathers, old cars,
> discarded paper cups, used aluminum foil, paper towels, lint, and
> hairs. Some of these sufferers will even rummage through other people's
> trash, and bring home obvious junk that to them, seems quite useful or
> repairable.
>
> Accumulate things create fire or health hazards...
> Compulsive savers can accumulate large amounts of things, creating
> storage problems and fire or health hazards. Their houses can take on
> the appearance of having been ransacked, with floors waist-deep in
> trash and debris, rooms filled wall-to-wall with overflowing paper bags
> and cardboard boxes. Many sufferers can only make their way around
> their homes by creating aisles around and through the trash. Problems
> with municipal authorities are not uncommon, and hoarders are sometimes
> evicted or charged with violation of zoning or public-health laws.
> Ironically, the majority of people who save things compulsively rarely
> use or look at these things. Their security comes from merely having
> the things around "just in case" and in not having to make what seem
> like difficult decisions about what to discard.
>
> Let us now return to our story.
>
> The Collyers were part of one of New York's oldest families...
> Its main figures are two brothers, Homer Lusk Collyer (b. Nov. 6th,
> 1881), and Langley Collyer (b. October 3rd, 1885). The Collyers were
> part of one of New York's oldest families, a branch of the well-known
> Livingstons. Their ancestors had come over to America on the ship
> "Speedwell" in 1664, about a week after the Mayflower. The family had
> been members of the congregation of Trinity Church since 1697. Their
> father, Dr. Herman L. Collyer was a successful and renowned
> gynecologist, and his father, William Collyer, was said to have been
> one of the leading shipbuilders in America. In 1909, Dr. Collyer moved
> his family from Murray Hill to a fine upper-middle-class home in
> Harlem. It was a three-story brownstone located at 2078 Fifth Avenue
> (at 128th Street). Beyond his fame as a physician, the doctor was known
> to be a bit eccentric, paddling a small canoe to work each day at City
> Hospital on Blackwell's Island in the East River. He would subsequently
> paddle home at the end of his day, and then carry the boat on his head
> back to his house.
>
> Dr. Collyer's two sons seemed destined for successful lives of their
> own. Both attended Columbia University, where Homer earned a law
> degree, and his younger brother graduated with a degree in mechanical
> engineering and chemistry. Homer went on to practice admiralty law, but
> Langley, so far as is known, never held employment, and spent his time
> playing the piano. He is reputed to have won prizes as a concert
> pianist, but this cannot be verified. Perhaps Langley's inability to
> establish a career was an early sign of personal difficulties he may
> already have been experiencing.
>
> In 1917, the brothers had their telephone disconnected...
> It was probably a warning of things to come when in 1917, the brothers
> had their telephone disconnected, after being billed for long distance
> calls they claimed to have never made. This may have been the beginning
> of what would become a growing isolation from the outside world. Six
> years later, in 1923, Dr. Collyer died. Several years prior to his
> death, for reasons unknown, he had moved from his Fifth Avenue home to
> one at 153 West 77th Street. His sons remained at the family home with
> their mother. It is possible that a family breakup may have occurred.
>
> Life seems to have taken an abnormal turn for the two brothers in the
> year preceding the death of their mother in 1929. It appears that their
> gas was shut off in 1928, and they also seemed to have given up the
> convenience of running water and steam heat, and began using kerosene
> to light their home and to cook with. Water was obtained from a public
> fountain four blocks from their home. This was all clearly out of step
> for people of their education and social status.
>
> No one was ever permitted to enter their house...
> Despite all this, nothing appeared out of the ordinary to those in the
> outside world. The brothers were said to be courteous, cultured, and
> shy. The only sign that something might be amiss was that no one was
> ever permitted to enter their house. Around 1928, Homer worked for
> another attorney, John R. McMullen, who later became the family legal
> advisor. Homer next worked for City Title Insurance doing research in
> the New York City Hall of Records. He was described, at the time, as
> being courtly, and dressing in 19th century attire, presenting a rather
> Victorian appearance. He was said to resemble a gentleman of the
> 1880's.
>
> In 1932, Homer purchased a building across the street at 2077 Fifth
> Avenue for $8,000. He planned to divide it into apartments and to rent
> them. This plan was never realized, as he suffered a stroke in 1933,
> becoming blind as the result of hemorrhages in both of his eyes. With
> one exception, he was reportedly never seen outside of his home again.
> Langley then gave up his music to take on the job of nursing his
> brother back to health. No physician was ever consulted. Langley
> apparently believed that the cure for his brother's blindness was for
> him to eat 100 oranges a week, and to keep his eyes closed at all
> times, in order to rest them. The brothers possessed a large library of
> medical books, and it would seem that Langley felt he had the
> information and knowledge necessary to treat his brother.
>
> An intact Model-T Ford was discovered in the basement...
> At some point in the 1930's, the West 77th Street home where their
> father had lived was sold, and the new owner, a Mrs. Peter Meyer,
> discovered an intact Model-T Ford in the basement. It is not clear how
> it got there. Mrs. Meyer is said to have paid a workman $150 to
> disassemble the car and put the pieces in the street. This somehow came
> to Langley's attention, and for reasons known only to him, he carried
> the car piece-by-piece back to the basement of his Fifth Avenue home.
> It would appear that along with the loss of their other utilities, the
> brothers had no electricity, as Langley apparently tried to connect a
> generator to the car's engine in order to provide power, but was
> unsuccessful.
>
> The brothers eventually came to the attention of the general public
> when they were mentioned in an article written by Helen Worden, a
> reporter for the World-Telegram. A real estate agent named Maurice
> Gruber was attempting to buy some farmland in Queens that belonged to
> the brothers. Their refusal to respond to his letters or to answer the
> door when he tried to see them in person resulted in Gruber keeping a
> vigil at their home. In her article, Worden referred to Langley Collyer
> as "the mystery man of Harlem," and included in it, a whole range of
> sensational rumors that had been circulating about the brothers and
> their home. It was said to contain all sorts of rich furnishings, a
> vast library of books, and huge amounts of money that Langley would not
> trust to banks.
>
> The brothers were depicted as wealthy hermits...
> Worden, herself, kept a watch on the Collyer's home, and finally caught
> up with her elusive quarry one night, as he was leaving the house to go
> on what was one of his regular after-dark shopping trips. She
> questioned Langley about a boat (his father's) and the Model-T Ford
> said to be in their basement. Langley confirmed these stories. Rather
> than clearing up the mystery, Ms. Worden's article seemed to have only
> increased the speculation and rumors about the brothers, and during the
> 1930's other articles were written about the brothers in the New York
> papers. The brothers were depicted as wealthy hermits, living in a
> storehouse of money and valuables. People visited the house, banging on
> the doors or attempting to see them, while neighborhood children
> committed various acts of vandalism that included breaking windows. As
> windows were smashed, Langley systematically boarded them up instead of
> replacing them.
>
> Throughout this time, and most likely the result of a case of
> compulsive hoarding, Langley was hard at work filling the once
> attractive home with huge amounts of newspapers, cardboard boxes,
> barrels, metal cans, tree branches, scrap metal, and other assorted
> trash. In the case of the newspapers, it is said that he believed that
> his brother Homer would someday regain his vision, and would then want
> to catch up on the news he had missed. He was known to prowl the
> streets at night, gathering items from curbside trash piles and
> bringing them home. No one knows how many years he had been actively
> engaged in this collecting. His foraging resulted in all three floors
> of the house being filled with literally tons of things he had
> collected. Perhaps it was his knowledge of engineering that enabled him
> to arrange the boxes and packing cases in interlocking arrangements
> that concealed a maze of tunnels that only he knew.
>
> The home became a fortress with booby-traps...
> Langley was said to harbor fears of being burglarized, and there had,
> in fact, been several attempted break-ins over the years by those
> perhaps lured by the tales of stockpiled riches. The home became a sort
> of fortress for the brothers, with booby-traps constructed of great
> piles of debris rigged with the aid of trip wires to fall on
> unsuspecting intruders. This, of course, only served to increase the
> brothers' growing isolation. If their goal was to keep the world out,
> they were succeeding.
>
> Although the brothers were by no means poor, Langley is also said to
> have regularly rummaged through garbage cans seeking food. He went
> begging at butcher shops for scraps, and was known to have walked as
> far as Williamsburg, in Brooklyn to purchase stale bread at the lowest
> possible cost. The Collyers again appeared in the newspapers in April
> 1939, when, armed with a court order, a city marshal together with
> representatives of the Consolidated Edison Company entered the
> brother's two fifth avenue buildings and removed the gas meters, which
> had been in a state of disuse since 1928. A crowd said to be as large
> as 1,000 people gathered outside their home to see what was happening.
>
> Homer's last appearance outside the house is said to have occurred a
> number of months later on January 1st, 1940. Sgt. John Collins, a city
> policeman from the 123rd street station who was familiar with the
> Collyers, spotted the two brothers carrying a large tree limb from
> across the street into their basement. Langley guided the branched end,
> while Homer held up the other end.
>
> Not paying taxes was a symptom of their reclusiveness...
> Although the brothers did everything they could to avoid public
> scrutiny, it had its own way of intruding into their solitude.
> Ironically, it was their reluctance to encounter the outside world that
> continually brought the world to their doorstep. It appears that not
> paying taxes and other bills was a symptom of their reclusiveness, and
> it caused them no end of trouble. The most highly publicized example
> occurred in August of 1942, when the Bowery Savings Bank foreclosed on
> a mortgage that amounted to $6,700 plus interest (no interest had been
> paid since 1940).
>
> After going to state Supreme Court, the bank obtained permission to
> evict the brothers from their home. The very same day, however, the
> Collyer's attorney, John R. McMullen, met with bank officials with an
> offer by his clients to repurchase the property. As the house was seen
> to be in very poor condition, it appeared that the Bowery Savings Bank
> was not all that eager to repossess it. Mr. McMullen had never actually
> been allowed in the brothers' house, so instead, Langley, who almost
> never appeared in daylight, had walked all the way to his attorney's
> office on Park Row to discuss the matter. Mr. F. Donald Richart, vice
> president in charge of real estate for the bank, consented to give the
> brothers "a generous amount of time" so that they could work out the
> details of the repurchase.
>
> Growing rumors that Homer had died...
> There were growing rumors on the street, around this time, that Homer
> had died and that his body was still in the house. Sgt. Collins of the
> 123rd street station (mentioned earlier), took it upon himself to look
> into the matter. He encountered Langley, and somehow got his
> permission, despite some reluctance, to enter the house through the
> basement door. In a surreal journey through a labyrinth of tunnels in
> the trash and homemade booby-traps that lasted a half hour, Langley led
> the officer to the bedroom where Homer was to be found. What happened
> next is told in Sgt. Collins own words. "I switched on my flashlight,
> and there was Homer sitting up like a mummy. He was on a cot, a burlap
> bag beneath him and an old overcoat on the foot of the cot, and he
> spoke directly to the officer. "I am Homer Collyer, a lawyer. I want
> your shield number. I am not dead. I am blind and paralyzed." Langley
> subsequently made a complaint to the police department about the
> incident, but no action was ever apparently taken on the matter.
>
> In the matter of the Bowery Savings Bank, it seems that no repurchase
> offer was ever worked out, so in October, Supreme Court Justice Bernard
> Botein signed an order permitting the city sheriff to evict the
> brothers from their brownstone. This same judge's decision, which had
> been issued in August, was now about to be carried out. The bank, still
> trying to not have to resort to force, repeatedly mailed eviction
> notices to the brothers, who never responded.
>
> The Bowery Savings Bank was not to be put off indefinitely. As the new
> owner of the building, they were required by the city to make repairs
> to the property according to the city's building and sanitary codes. At
> the end of September, they dispatched a crew of workmen to the house to
> begin carrying out the repairs that had been ordered by the Department
> of Health. A number of police officers and patrol cars were sent to the
> scene to manage the inevitable crowd that had gathered, as it always
> did whenever any activity took place at the Collyer home. As the
> workmen went about repairing a falling stone cornice, replacing missing
> window panes, and removing piles of junk from the rear of the property,
> Langley Collyer called out to them from an upper-story window,
> demanding to know by what right they were trespassing on his property.
> The contractor was then forced to stop work and obtain a copy of the
> city order, in order that the repairs might continue.
>
> The city sheriff carried out the eviction order...
> On November 19th, following the brothers' repeated refusal to respond
> to various notices, the bank requested that the city sheriff carry out
> the eviction order and enter the house by force, if necessary and
> remove the brothers. In short order, at 10 o'clock, there showed up at
> the Collyer's door two deputy sheriffs, Herman A. Murray and Gillespie
> Anderson, police captain Christian Zimmer of the 128th street police
> station, Dr. Marshall Rose, sheriff's physician, John Redfield of the
> Bowery Savings Bank, and Joseph and Herman Cohen, a father and son,
> respectively, who were both locksmiths. Mr. McMullen, the Collyer's
> attorney met them there. The group took turns pounding on the door for
> over an hour, but the only answers were echoes. A crowd collected on
> the sidewalk, hoping to get a glimpse of what was going on at the
> "haunted house," as it had come to be known in the neighborhood.
>
> The locksmiths then tried for another hour, in vain, to force the lock
> on the large wooden front doors, but were unsuccessful because of all
> the rust and corrosion. Going to the rear of the house, they were able
> to remove an iron grille-covered door leading to the basement with the
> help of the two deputies. Here, they found themselves stymied again, as
> they found their way barred by a mass of wire netting, behind which was
> a solid mass of crates, barrels, and large tin canisters from floor to
> ceiling. Seeking another entrance, they next moved on to another rear
> door, and tore away its rotted boards, only to find a further wall of
> garbage cans, trunks, crates, and pieces of rusted iron. Breaking in
> yet another rotted door next to this one, they were met with a similar
> obstruction.
>
> Covered with dust, and feeling frustrated, the team returned to the
> front of the building to form a new plan of action, and decided to now
> make their way into the building via a window. One of the locksmiths,
> Joseph Cohen, swung up from the top of the front stoop and made his way
> to the ledge of one of the building's high north windows, where he
> forced open the shutters. He then broke a windowpane with a hammer, and
> climbed in through the now empty frame. His son Herman stood outside
> the window on the ledge and peered in at his father, who by this time
> was half-choked with dust.
>
> The room was filled to overflowing...
> As with the other parts of the house encountered thus far, the room was
> filled to overflowing with various and sundry items - heaps of old
> sheet music, gilded picture frames, Christmas ornaments, broken plaster
> cherubs, piles of books, garden baskets, etc. Joseph Cohen finally
> managed to work his way downstairs to the front entrance where he and
> deputy Murray were able to open a path near the door. Clouds of choking
> dust enveloped them, making the going difficult, and breathing an
> effort. They eventually opened a parlor door and made it into a hallway
> where they encountered further barricades. Suddenly, they were greeted
> by a weary voice from out of the gloom, asking, "What is the meaning of
> this?" Deputy Murray replied, "I have an eviction notice." Langley then
> asked him, "Is Mr. McMullen here?" McMullen, who had by now worked his
> way to the barricade called out to his client, "They will put you out,
> Mr. Collyer, unless your keep the agreement." Langley replied, "Do what
> you think best." Following his attorney's advice, Langley then borrowed
> a pen from the deputy, and signed a check for the full amount, thus
> ending the invasion.
>
> But the Collyer's troubles were not yet over.
>
> The IRS was now pursuing Homer for income tax arrears...
> They came in for some further unwanted attention in February 1943, but
> this time from the Internal Revenue Service. The IRS was now pursuing
> Homer for what it claimed was $1900 in income tax arrears plus interest
> that had accumulated over the previous twelve years. Homer was notified
> that unless this sum was promptly paid, the house he owned at 2077
> Fifth Avenue would be sold at auction on February 3rd. This was the
> building across the street he had purchased with the intent to divide
> into rentable apartments. The ever-patient Mr. McMullen hoped his
> client would come through at the last minute, as had happened
> previously, although the attorney had been unsuccessful in his attempts
> to contact the brothers.
>
> On the day of the auction, the IRS representatives waited for over an
> hour beyond the scheduled auction time, and finally, the property was
> put up for bid. When no bids were offered, and with Mr. McMullen
> present, the government took possession, although it was not eager to
> do so due to the poor condition of the property. It was so rundown,
> that it hardly seemed worth the effort. Beyond the building being of
> little worth, there were also the problems of the cost of the auction
> itself, not to mention the $3,000 in back taxes on the property owed to
> the City of New York that had been unpaid since 1938. According to the
> rules, the government would have to hold onto the property to allow
> Homer the chance to pay what he owed and get his property back. He
> never paid, and it does not appear that the government ever went any
> further in the matter of taking possession of the building, as will be
> seen.
>
> Over three years later, the Collyers once again found themselves in the
> news.
>
> The reclusive Langley refuesed to cooperate...
> On July 23, 1946, two police officers, Daniel Pesek and John Killoran,
> while on radio car patrol, heard noises coming from 2077 Fifth Avenue.
> Upon further investigation, the officers discovered two men stealing
> plumbing and electrical fixtures from the building. The two patrolmen
> tussled with the vandals, capturing one of them, a homeless man named
> George Smith, aged 25. Officer Killoran hurt his leg when he fell
> through a hole in the floor. The officers then attempted to contact
> Langley in order to get him to swear out a complaint against the thief,
> but speaking to them through his locked door, he refused to do so.
> Despite his lack of cooperation, Langley was named as the complainant,
> and notified that if he did not appear in court, the city would issue
> him a subpoena. He still refused to cooperate, but after officer Pesek
> tried several times to serve him with the subpoena, he relented. It
> seems that time and again, only the threat of legal action could pry
> loose the reclusive Langley from the decrepit building he and his
> brother called home.
>
> On July 27th, dressed in turn-of-the-century garments, he appeared in
> the city's Felony Court as complainant against Smith. What was
> particularly unclear about all this was that technically, the Collyers
> no longer owned 2077 Fifth Avenue. Langley clearly did not accept all
> this, and prior to signing the complaint, he stated, "My invalid
> brother, Homer Lusk Collyer, and I still own that house and we have the
> keys to it." He added, "The government seized the property on the
> contention we did not pay income taxes, but we are going to sue and get
> that property back, because the government can't demand income taxes
> from us when we had no income." The brothers had, in fact, never
> surrendered the keys to the building. He went on to relate that this
> was the third incident in which he had had to go to court to swear out
> a complaint against criminal intruders at his home.
>
> The brothers owned two land parcels in Queens County...
> The last time either of the Collyer's was seen alive, was the result of
> yet another tax problem with New York City. It seems that the brothers
> owned two land parcels in Queens County, which they had inherited from
> their father. The city had wanted this land for new streets and other
> purposes, and Langley, together with Mr. McMullen, had a meeting about
> this with the city's corporation counsel the previous October. After
> Langley refused two summonses to testify before Supreme Court Justice
> Charles C. Lockwood, the land was condemned by the city, and the
> brothers were awarded $7500, which was substantially less than its
> appraised value. Unfortunately, they would see none of this award, in
> any case, as the city claimed the brothers owed it $27,000 in back
> taxes. Interestingly, a news article about this in the New York Times
> mentions that the brother's only regular means of contact with the
> outside world was a crystal radio set.
>
> Which brings us back to the beginning of our story on the morning of
> March 21st, 1947, with the police receiving the phone call from the
> mysterious Mr. Charles Smith.
>
> An officer was was unable to open the front door...
> The police had received a number of such calls over the years, but as
> usual, they were obliged to respond. An officer was dispatched to the
> scene, but was unable to open the front door. He then put out a call to
> Police Emergency Squad 6, which arrived on the scene at 10:00 a.m. They
> began by cordoning off the Collyer's house in order to hold back the
> crowd of curious onlookers, which grew as large as 600 people. The
> officers began their search by using crowbars and axes to try to force
> an entrance into the house. They broke their way through an iron
> grille-covered door to the basement in the front of the house, but as
> had happened in the past, they immediately found themselves confronted
> by the usual floor-to-ceiling wall of crates, newspaper, furniture, and
> odd pieces of junk.
>
> Officers found the emaciated body of a white-haired man...
> For their second attempt to gain entry, the officers obtained ladders
> from the Fire Department and tried the windows on the upper floors.
> Unfortunately, many of the shutters on the windows couldn't be opened,
> and it wasn't until 12:10 p.m. that a patrolman William Barker was able
> to make his way through a second story window. Patrolman Barker was not
> seen for several minutes, and on his return to the window, called to
> his fellow officers, "There's a DOA here." In response, Detective John
> Loughery made his way up the ladder in order to view the body, as other
> officers began to batter in the wooden front doors with axes. They were
> again faced with another massive obstruction of neatly tied bundles of
> newspaper, as well as cardboard boxes filled with assorted contents.
> Although they tried to tear down the wall of debris, they were forced
> to admit defeat. Meanwhile, Detective Loughery related what he had seen
> - the emaciated body of a white-haired man dressed in a tattered gray
> bathrobe, sitting upright, and tentatively identified as Homer Collyer.
> The medical examiner, Arthur C. Allen, arrived at 3:45 p.m., and
> declared that the individual had been dead for approximately ten hours.
>
> The next order of business was to locate Langley, who was nowhere to be
> found on the premises. It was reasoned that if he were within the
> house, he would have made an appearance by this time, as he usually
> did. Police were perplexed about how Langley was able to enter and
> leave the building, but neighbors stated that he regularly entered and
> left on his daily shopping trips via the front basement's iron-bound
> door. After their own struggle to enter, the officers refused to
> believe that this was possible.
>
> The entire house was packed with debris of various kinds...
> According to the New York Times, the entranceway past the basement door
> contained "... an old stove, several umbrellas, numerous packages of
> newspapers, a gas mask canister, an old stove pipe, and a broken
> scooter." There were also numerous rats seen darting around and through
> the piled trash. An inspection of the rest of the premises through
> various windows and around the second floor where they had entered
> revealed that the entire house was packed with debris of various kinds.
> It appeared that the building was riddled with a maze of tunnels
> through which Langley had moved, pulling bales of newspaper in behind
> him, to prevent intruders from entering. The police also found tin cans
> and piles of heavy debris wired together to form booby traps, in which
> the cans would sound an alarm, and a mass of junk would fall on the
> unsuspecting invader.
>
> ...newspapers lying around that dated back to 1915.
> Homer Collyer's body was taken away in a body bag to the police van
> that would transport it to the morgue. An autopsy was to be conducted
> to determine the cause of death, although foul play was not suspected.
> The crowd, milling around on the sidewalk hoping to see what was going
> on inside, and trading stories about their unusual neighbors, and the
> fabled wealth that was rumored to be hidden in the house. Some believed
> the numerous cardboard boxes that filled the house were stuffed with
> cash. As they searched further, police found newspapers lying around
> that dated from as far back as 1915. Strewn everywhere were such things
> as hats, boxes of Christmas cards, a folding chair, a broken sled, and
> automobile seat, part of a piano frame, etc.
>
> The police were careful to put everything back in place, including the
> materials they had removed to be able to enter the building. They then
> boarded up the house at 5 p.m., at which time, Attorney McMullen
> arrived on the scene. He took charge of all papers, notes, and letters
> discovered there by the police, and stated to the press that he was
> sure his elderly client would soon be in touch with him. He also quoted
> Langley as having said that they were entitled to live their own lives.
>
> No one had any idea of where Langley might be found...
> The next day's papers puzzled over the missing Langley. No one had any
> idea of where he might be found, with the exception of Mr. McMullen,
> who told reporters, "Your guess is as good as mine, but I think he is
> in the house, myself." Detectives from the 123rd street station thought
> that he might still be out on one of his shopping trips to Brooklyn.
> These were sometimes known to last as long as twenty-four hours,
> because he made the trip on foot. Deputy Inspector Christopher
> Salsieder announced that if Langley did not show up by 1 p.m. on March
> 24th, a missing person's alarm would be issued. In the meantime, it was
> decided to not perform an autopsy, as the cause of death was believed
> to be the result of "ateriosclerotic heart disease," which, it was
> said, could be determined by external examination. Later reports seem
> to indicate, though, that an autopsy was finally performed.
>
> Of course, the usual publicity-seekers were quick to come out of the
> woodwork.
>
> William Rodriguo, a sometime Democratic politician from Harlem, came
> forward, claiming to be the "Charles Smith" who had phoned the police,
> touching off this latest incident. He stated that he had used a false
> name due to not wanting to get involved, but had later changed his
> mind. He added a further touch of mystery to the story, telling police
> that he had been told of the Collyers' deaths by an unknown man he had
> met in front of their house the morning of his phone call. The next
> day, on the 23rd, the crowd outside the decaying brownstone had grown
> to several thousand people. Langley had still not appeared, and the
> curious were hoping for a glimpse of him, or failing that, his remains.
>
> A stream of autos crawled by the building...
> One man showed up with a shovel and began digging in the building's
> front yard, but was removed by the police. A stream of autos from as
> far away as New Jersey and Connecticut crawled by the building in a
> regular procession. The daily papers thirsted to know about the
> contents of the house, rumored for years to contain numerous grand
> pianos, a Model T, and a boat.
>
> Inspector Joseph Goldstein of the Tenth Division speculated that a
> thorough search of the entire house would occupy a police emergency
> squad for three weeks. They were to begin work later that day,
> following an inspection by the Department of Housing and Buildings and
> the Board of Health. The strategy would be for police officers to begin
> with a search of the top floor, dumping the contents into the backyard.
> It was decided that the items removed would not be taken away until the
> public administrator or an heir of the Collyers gave approval. A
> relative of the brothers, William Collyer of Yonkers, turned up at the
> house that day, relating to reporters that his mother and sister had
> visited the brothers in 1928, and noted that the house, at that time,
> contained no furniture, but was already filled with quite a bit of
> debris.
>
> The clearing of the building began the next day on the 24th. This first
> stage of the operation, the clearing of the top floor, began that
> afternoon, headed by Inspector Goldstein.
>
> Officers broke open several skylights to enter the building...
> After Mr. McMullen declared Langley missing at 1:15 p.m., and after
> officials from the two city departments declared the building safe to
> enter, the officers of Emergency Squad 6 began their task by sending
> over a ladder from an adjoining rooftop. After climbing across, they
> broke open several skylights and a roof trapdoor, through which they
> entered the building. Once inside, they smashed windows in order to get
> some badly-needed ventilation. A large crowd, whose numbers now ran as
> high as 2,000 watched the spectacle from the street, windows, fire
> escapes, and rooftops, cheering each time a sizable object was thrown
> into the yard below. Among these items were a gas chandelier, the
> folding top of a horse-drawn carriage, a rusted bicycle, a child's
> chair, an automobile radiator, dressmaking dummies, a sawhorse, a
> rusted bedspring, a kerosene stove, a doll carriage, a checkerboard,
> and numerous bundles of newspapers. A team of sixteen men inspected
> each object as it was thrown out, looking for valuables and important
> papers to be saved. They found enough ledgers, correspondence, and
> legal documents to fill eight crates which were taken to the West 123rd
> street station to be looked over by someone from the public
> administrator's office.
>
> Over 2,000 dust-covered volumes and five pianos...
> At 3 p.m., Inspector Goldstein called off the search for Langley for
> that day, and sent his men to check out the basement. They found the
> walls lined with ceiling-to-floor bookcases containing over 2,000
> dust-covered volumes, among them numerous books on the law and
> engineering. Reporters and a family member were allowed to have a look
> around, and among the newspapers and cardboard boxes there were as many
> as five pianos. With much effort, the officers cleared a path to a
> stairway, but were unable to open up the stairway itself. While
> clearing this area, they stumbled on a generator, which may have been
> used to produce electricity.
>
> Some of the debris removed was piled in the front areaway, and included
> a kiddy car, three women's hats, a box of curtain rings, a green toy
> bus, some lead pipes, and a Metropolitan Opera program from 1914. At 4
> p.m., the Emergency Squad forced their way into the first floor. Aided
> by searchlights powered by a portable generator, they made out a
> mahogany mantelpiece containing a large cracked mirror resting against
> a wall, an old RCA radio in a corner, and a large pile of furniture
> covered with dust standing in the middle of the floor. The windows were
> covered with a filthy green drapery.
>
> At this point, the search was ended for the day, with the police
> boarding up the windows, and piling the collected debris in a section
> of the yard surrounded by a tall iron fence. Langley had still not been
> found, but the police were determined to return and finish their
> search.
>
> March 26th, still no sign of the missing brother...
> The following morning at 10 a.m., the officers resumed their search. It
> was now March 26th, with still no sign of the missing brother. The day
> was particularly windy, blowing some of the old newspapers down the
> street, where they were snatched up by the ever-present crowd as
> souvenirs. The overwhelming mass of debris the police removed from the
> house consisted largely of old newspapers, cardboard boxes, magazines,
> and pieces of wood. Among the other assorted things uncovered that day
> included a nursery refrigerator, a beaded lampshade, a box of toy tops,
> and a toy airplane.
>
> In the basement, they found the chassis of the fabled Model-T Ford,
> thus confirming one rumor. Important documents and papers continued to
> turn up, and these were removed to the 123rd street station. Any
> useless material that could be combustible was carted away in two
> truckloads by the Department of Sanitation, to be burned in its
> incinerators. The first load weighed 6,424 pounds, and the second a bit
> less.
>
> A further maze of tunnels and several new booby-traps...
> One rumor that was put to rest was the existence of a secret basement
> tunnel connecting the brother's two buildings. In addition to
> discovering a further maze of tunnels, several new booby-traps were
> found, consisting of things such as cans, or large tree limbs (as large
> as twenty inches in diameter), set to drop on unwary intruders.
>
> The police were becoming increasingly convinced that Langley was not to
> be found alive on the premises, but they were determined to continue
> their search of the entire house. Inspector Goldstein stated that the
> work would continue, "... until we are sure Langley Collyer is not in
> there, dead or alive." One theory was that his body might yet be found
> stuck in one of the booby-trapped tunnels. Assistant Chief Inspector
> Frank Fristensky, Jr. told the press that it would take them several
> more days before they had a clear picture of what the interior of the
> building contained. Attorney McMullen had already become concerned
> about the brother's tangled finances and their numerous bank accounts.
> He estimated their worth to be in the six-figure range, not including
> the real estate they owned.
>
> Work continued on the 26th, much as it had the day before.
>
> The Emergency Squad began work at 10:00 a.m., halting briefly at noon
> when some confusion arose over whether proper legal authorization for
> their work had been obtained.
>
> ...searchers tossed large amounts of material from the windows.
> At 2:30 efforts to clear the top floor resumed, with the searchers
> tossing large amounts of material from the windows. Relatives watching
> the operation from the street complained to the police that they were
> being less than careful in discarding things, and risked discarding
> items of value, as well as important papers. This resulted in the
> officers being somewhat less energetic in clearing things out. One
> particular item that attracted attention was the discovery of a .22
> caliber pistol and holster, along with ammunition of various types.
> This was turned over to the Police Ballistics Bureau.
>
> A report submitted to the public administrator of New York County by
> Deputy Chief Inspector Conrad Rothengast stated that it was believed
> that Langley Collyer was dead based upon the facts that the brother had
> never been away from his home for more than twenty-four hours, and that
> the death of Homer would certainly have been cause for him to have at
> least contacted his attorney or his relatives.
>
> The next day, the New York Times reported that the surrogate, a Mr.
> James A. Delahanty, was unable to appoint Francis J. Mulligan, the
> public administrator as temporary administrator of the Collyer
> brother's estate. While everyone in the case agreed that Langley
> Collyer was most likely dead, Mr. Delahanty felt that definite proof
> was required for such a move to be made. Various affidavits from such
> people as John R. McMullen and William Rodriguo were due to be
> submitted to Mr. Delahanty.
>
> March 27th, still no trace of Langley...
> As of the 27th, police searchers still had been unable to turn up any
> trace of the missing Langley, although they did turn up a cigar box
> containing three more revolvers, a sixteen-gauge shotgun, a .22 caliber
> rifle, a .30 caliber rifle, a two-foot long bayonet, and a three-foot
> long cavalry saber. Near the spot where Homer's body had been
> discovered, they found another old cigar box containing thirty-four
> bank books from various savings banks. Eleven of them had been
> canceled, and they showed savings totaling $3,007 dollars.
>
> By March 28th, the police were having their hands full following up on
> numerous tips they were receiving, concerning the whereabouts of the
> missing Langley.
>
> Officers were dispatched to the Borough Hall-Jay Street Station in
> Brooklyn after a conductor reportedly saw him board the subway there.
> They also searched a group of boarded-up summer hotels and bungalows in
> Asbury Park, New Jersey; a place where the brothers had spent time
> between 1901 and 1907, and where it was thought Langley might be
> hiding.
>
> In the meantime, surrogate Delahanty finally appointed Francis J.
> Mulligan as temporary administrator of Langley's estate, in addition to
> being made administrator of Homer's. Following these appointments,
> police halted their intensive search for Langley in the Fifth Avenue
> home, and decided, instead, to begin shipping the contents to an unused
> school building at 67 Rivington Street on the 31st, where they would be
> inspected for valuables and important papers. Items of obvious value
> were to go to this location, while things that were obviously trash
> would be removed by the Department of Sanitation.
>
> Following leads in New Jersey...
> On the following day, Mr. Mulligan, as administrator, visited the city
> morgue to claim the body of Homer. Funeral arrangements were set for
> April 1st, to be held at Cypress Hills Cemetery in Queens, where the
> family owned a plot. Police were still hard at work tracking down
> various leads. Their latest took them to New Jersey. A waitress in
> Tuckerton reported to police that she had served food to a customer who
> appeared to fit Langley Collyer's description, which by then, had been
> widely distributed. She added that the man had subsequently boarded a
> bus headed for Atlantic City. Police in that city then proceeded to
> make a sweep of hotels and rooming houses.
>
> Police recommenced their search on the 31st as planned, beginning at
> 8:30 in the morning. It appeared that they would be able to clear about
> one room per day, and there were an estimated twelve rooms in the
> building. The workforce at the house now consisted of two detectives
> and five laborers hired by Mr. Mulligan. Their work concentrated on the
> front basement room, which was found to hold 3,000 books, numerous
> telephone directories, a Steinway piano, a horse's jawbone, a Model-T
> Ford's engine block, numerous campaign buttons, and large amounts of
> newspaper, as usual, tied up neatly in bundles.
>
> Homer Collyer's funeral held on April 1st...
> Homer Collyer's funeral was held on April 1st, but of the fifty-three
> people who were present, only two actually knew him. Both were
> neighbors. Seventeen cousins of the Collyers were also in attendance.
>
> John R. McMullen also attended, hoping that perhaps that Langley would
> appear at last. Said Mr. McMullen to the press, "I had hopes until the
> last minute that Langley would be here if he were alive." When
> questioned if he believed Langley was still alive, he replied, "One
> guess is as good as another." The police search for the missing brother
> continued. They sent out 500 pictures of him to every New York City
> police precinct, and also to the police in eleven states. Efforts to
> clear the house were now in the second day. The detectives and laborers
> continued their methodical work. By the end of that day, nineteen tons
> of trash and objects had been removed. The bulk of this came from the
> first floor hallway.
>
> It was decided by the public administrator that Langley's estate would
> pay for the use of a school building where valuable items from the home
> were being stored. The Department of Housing and Buildings, meanwhile,
> ruled that the house would eventually have to be repaired or
> demolished. On the 3rd, it was thought that the mystery of Langley's
> whereabouts had been solved when a body resembling his description was
> discovered floating in the East Bronx in Pugsley's Creek, but the
> excitement ended abruptly when the body was identified as an elderly
> man who had recently disappeared from a houseboat.
>
> April 7th: 103 tons of rubbish removed to date ...
> By the 7th of April, workers had removed approximately 103 tons of
> rubbish from the home, with twenty-two tons having been removed on that
> day alone. Among the more interesting items found at that point were
> five violins that were to be sent for appraisal. It was estimated by
> the supervising detectives that it would take another week to ten days
> to clear out the structure.
>
> Down at the Missing Persons Bureau, Detective Charles Meyers offered
> the theory that "Everything points to Langley being dead in the
> building." He added that the results of an autopsy on Homer indicated
> that there had been no food or liquid in the invalid's stomach.
> Detective Meyers concluded that, "Homer died for lack of care." It
> simply did not add up that Langley would have allowed his brother to
> die unattended, or simply not show up at his funeral.
>
> April 8th: Langley's body finally discovered...
> It would ultimately turn out that Detective Meyers was correct, as on
> April the 8th, Langley's body was finally discovered, pinned by one of
> his own booby-traps in that same room on the second floor where Homer's
> body was previously found.
>
> The work of clearing the house that day had proceeded as usual, with
> workers from the public administrator's office and police working their
> way through the second floor. By 3:30 that afternoon, about seventeen
> tons of material had been removed and loaded onto Department of
> Sanitation trucks. Shortly afterwards, a detective, Joseph Whitmore
> emerged from the building and asked reporters waiting on the scene to
> follow him. He led them to a corner drugstore. Placing a call to his
> headquarters, he reported, "We've got him." He went on to explain that
> he, and detective John Loughery, had located Langley's body. Loughery
> added, "We were scraping around in the rubbish when we saw a foot
> sticking out."
>
> Within an hour, as word spread of the discovery of the body, a crowd of
> around 500 locals who had gathered to watch the day's work at the
> house, swelled to over 2,000.
>
> Police higher-ups, including Commissioner Arthur W. Wallander, soon
> arrived on the scene. The commissioner commended detectives Whitmore
> and Loughery for their work in the investigation. Thomas A. Gonzales,
> the medical examiner, spent a half hour examining the corpse. He
> estimated that Langley had been dead at least two weeks, and possibly
> as long as four, and that the cause of death was either starvation or
> suffocation.
>
> Langley died, trapped in debris...
> Langley's body lay on its right side, inside one of the two-foot-wide
> tunnels that was part of the maze he had created, his head turned
> toward the area where his brother's cot had been, only eight feet away.
> The room, itself was filled with piles of newspapers, books, old
> furniture and tin cans. The materials that had apparently trapped
> Langley were a suitcase, three metal bread boxes, and bundles of
> newspapers. One particularly unpleasant detail was that the numerous
> rats that infested the house had gnawed at his partially decomposed
> body.
>
> Jacob Iglitzen, who also happened to be the druggist from whose store
> the phone call had been placed, subsequently identified the body. He
> stated that he was able to recognize Langley's face, although it was
> somewhat decomposed. He also identified Langley's clothes. Overall, the
> evidence appeared to indicate that Langley had been killed by falling
> debris, and that his invalid brother, Homer, died from dehydration and
> malnutrition.
>
> Attorney McMullen, told the press that he planned to confer the next
> day with Joseph A. Cox, an attorney for the city's public
> administrator, concerning the handling of the brother's assets, which
> were now estimated to be in the range of $100,000 distributed among
> various bank accounts and real-estate holdings. This finally laid to
> rest the popular notion that the brothers were multimillionaires.
>
> Langley had died a month before his brother...
> The next day, on April 10th, the medical examiner concluded that
> Langley Collyer had been smothered by the debris, which had collapsed
> upon him, and had been dead for at least a month before his brother,
> Homer. A funeral was held the next day on the 11th at Cypress Hills
> Cemetery in Brooklyn. The Reverend Dr. Charles T. Bridgeman, the
> assistant pastor of Trinity Church presided. There were forty persons
> in attendance, including many cousins. The saga of Langley Collyer was
> not quite finished, however.
>
> A month later, the Commissioner of Housing and Buildings, Robert F.
> Wagner, Jr., announced that the house at 2078 Fifth Avenue still
> contained substantial filth and garbage, and that it remained "a
> distinct menace to health." He requested that the public administrator
> in charge of the brother's estate, Francis J. Mulligan, clear out the
> building, in order that the property could be surveyed. Findings would
> then be sent to the state Supreme Court so that the city could receive
> permission to demolish the building. On June 30th, Supreme Court
> Justice J. Edward Lumbard signed the order for demolition.
>
> Collyer home to be demolished...
> An inspector from the Department of Housing and Buildings had noted
> that the "roof beams were water soaked, rotted, and defective," and
> that all the floors throughout the entire building are sagging and
> defective." The city would next seek bids on the demolition of the
> building, and sometime after, the Collyer mansion was no more.
>
> ...and the property finally auctioned.
> As a final chapter, the lot at the corner of 128th Street was publicly
> auctioned on March 1, 1951.
>
> Unfortunately, Langley Collyer lived in an era when problems such as
> compulsive hoarding were regarded as eccentricities, something to be
> laughed at or ridiculed. Assuming that even had he been able to come to
> grips with the fact that he had a serious problem, there is little that
> would have been done for it at that point in history. Back in the first
> half of the 20th century, problems such as OCD were treated with
> psychoanalytic-type talk therapies, which produced little in the way of
> results.
>
> Even today, we still read reports of individuals whose trash-filled
> properties have been condemned, or who were forced by law to clean up
> dwellings, which have been declared public nuisances or even health
> risks. Municipal governments and the media still seem to not understand
> what is going on in these situations, and that these are individuals in
> serious need of help. Sufferers of O-C disorders can be found to have
> varying degrees of insight. They may differ in their ability to
> recognize that they have a disorder, or that their behaviors are not
> those of the average person. It would appear that Langley Collyer, if
> he in fact had OCD, might have been one of those with a lower level of
> insight into his problem. It may well be that he believed his hoarding
> behaviors served a valuable purpose of saving money an ironic notion,
> considering that the brothers were relatively well off for the era they
> lived in.
>
> It would also seem that in terms of reclusiveness, Langley and his
> brother became caught in an insidious loop. That is, as their behavior
> moved further and further away from the norm, and people's reactions to
> them became more critical and judgmental, they pulled in their
> boundaries and cut themselves off even more. This, in turn, would most
> likely have served to make them seem even more abnormal to outsiders,
> resulting in even more harsh treatment by the outside world.
>
> Compulsive hoarding now regarded as treatable...
> Nowadays, compulsive hoarding is regarded as treatable via behavioral
> therapy and medication. Sufferers can learn to clean up their
> dwellings, and to keep them that way.
>
> In behavioral treatments for OCD, individuals are encouraged to
> gradually confront situations that cause them to feel anxious, while at
> the same time, resisting the performance of the compulsions they
> ordinarily use to relieve their anxiety. This approach is known as
> Exposure and Response Prevention.
>
> In the case of hoarding, we are talking about gradually sorting out and
> discarding things that have been accumulated. This may be done under
> the direct supervision of a therapist working on the scene, or by
> giving the individual weekly or daily homework assignments. Before the
> actual work of therapy begins the therapist makes a thorough behavioral
> analysis in order to determine what is being saved, how it is being
> saved, and where it is being saved. This may involve either a home
> visit by the therapist to directly observe the scene, or the patient
> may bring in photographs showing views of all areas of the home.
>
> Clutter and trash may be dealt with either by location or category, and
> in either case, is approached by first working on things that are
> easiest, and then working towards those that are more difficult. For
> instance, the therapist may pick a particular room, closet, or area for
> the individual to begin clearing out, and then, over time, assign tasks
> designed to accomplish this. Alternatively, as some people tend to save
> only certain types of things, therapy may start by earmarking these
> particular items for removal, wherever they may be found.
>
> One example would be people who save excessive quantities of
> newspapers, magazines, etc. having to bundle and put out a certain
> amount of them each week. Or in the case of those who have accumulated
> large amounts of clothing (old or new), having to throw out or donate a
> set number of articles between therapy sessions. In addition to this
> activity, the therapist will work with the individual to establish a
> set of rules for what can and cannot be saved, and in the case of saved
> items, how to store or arrange them in a neat and organized fashion.
>
> Some therapists will set up a rule governing how long an item may be
> kept without being used, before it is considered in need of disposal.
>
> With my own patients, I have always used what I refer to as my "Three
> Year Rule." Under this rule, any item that has not been used in any way
> during the previous three years must be discarded. There can be
> exceptions, of course, as in the case of family heirlooms, antiques,
> valuable collections, family photos, or useful tools, etc.
>
> Where people's lives and dwellings have been disorganized for long
> periods of time, these rules are necessary to establish some kind of
> order, and to prevent the person from falling into chaos again. In all
> cases, the ultimate goal is to get the sufferer to take personal
> responsibility for the state of their dwelling, and to accept that they
> really do have a problem.
>
> Some people seem to think that the ultimate solution should be to
> descend upon a sufferer's home, and forcefully clean the place out.
> While this might remedy the immediate problem, nothing else really
> changes, and within a period of time, the dwelling will fill up with
> things again in the same way as before. In addition, the anger and
> anxiety on the part of the sufferer that would result from such a
> remedy would probably only push them away from seeking help in the
> future.
>
> The story of Langley and his unfortunate brother remains as a
> cautionary tale - an example of just how serious hoarding can become
> when left untreated. With appropriate therapies, however, such extremes
> of behavior can be prevented from engulfing the lives of otherwise
> intelligent and potentially productive human beings.
>
>
>
>
> Too_Many_Tools wrote:
> > I do...many of my fellow friends who have shops overflowing with "good
> > stuff".
> >
> > In my own case, I see it as a very slippery slope....one great thing
> > after another can follow you home until the doors to the shop won't
> > shut.
> >
> > Sometimes...no many times...you just have to say "No".
> >
> > Your thoughts?
> >
> > TMT
> >
> >
> > http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=3D2790669&page=3D1
> >
> > Medical Mystery: Compulsive Hoarders
> > A Psychological Compulsion to Keep Everything, Even When It Ruins Your
> > Life
> > By CECILE BOUCHARDEAU
> >
> > Jan. 16, 2007- - We are all pack rats to some degree. We hoard,
> > collect and buy more stuff than we have room to store.
> >
> > But what if something in our brains made us incapable of throwing
> > things out? Janie Allocca and Lorraine Brennan both suffer from a
> > psychological disorder called compulsive hoarding -- an urge to hold on
> > to even the most mundane objects, even when they take over their lives.
> >
> >
> > Watch "Primetime: Medical Mysteries" Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET, and go to
> > ABCNEWS.com during the show to diagnose a real medical mystery.
> >
> > Lorraine Brennan has been hoarding for nearly 20 years. She lives in a
> > two-story house in Massachusetts with her father, son and fianc=E9e.
> > Most rooms in the house are cluttered, and some are even unusable. The
> > bedroom-office that she shares with her fianc=E9e is overrun with stuff
> > they tried unsuccessfully to get rid of at a yard sale. Lorraine's
> > purse is bursting with junk mail and receipts.
> >
> > Brennan's hoarding is not only ruining her life, but affecting her
> > entire family. Her son can't bring friends home from school. Brennan
> > and her fianc=E9e have been engaged for eight years, but he hasn't been
> > able to commit to marrying her because of the clutter.
> >
> >
> > 'There's No Place to Sit Down'
> >
> > Many hoarders are also compulsive shoppers. Janie Allocca has
> > accumulated so much stuff that she uses her own house as a storage
> > facility and lives with her mother.
> >
> > "I remember collecting, and keeping, and hoarding things since I can
> > remember," Allocca said. "And now I am just living around the piles and
> > piles I need to get rid of."
> >
> > "I have so much stuff that my house is totally unlivable," she
> > continued. "There's no place to sit down. I can't get to the kitchen. I
> > can't have anyone over for tea even though I have everything for tea.
> > My collecting is taking up the space where I normally would live."
> >
> > There's a fine line between simple clutter and extreme hoarding. Most
> > hoarders, observers say, are physically incapable of throwing things
> > out. They can't live in, or use, rooms like the kitchen for their
> > intended use. They also experience extreme distress from their
> > condition.
> >
> >
> > The Brain of a Hoarder
> >
> > Hoarding is currently considered a subset of obsessive compulsive
> > disorder, but that may soon change. New research is finding that
> > hoarding may be a unique disorder completely separate from OCD.
> >
> > Dr. David Tolin, director of the Anxiety Disorders Center at the
> > Institute of Living in Hartford, Conn., has devoted his career to
> > studying what goes on inside the mind of a hoarder.
> >
> > "At the moment, compulsive hoarding hasn't been fully defined by the
> > psychiatric and psychological communities," he said. "One of the things
> > that we wanted to do was to understand some of the brain mechanisms
> > behind compulsive hoarding."
> >
> > Allocca is part of a study Tolin is conducting to see which parts of a
> > hoarder's brain become active when they are faced with making
> > decisions. She is hooked up to a brain-scan machine and asked to look
> > at pieces of her mail and decide whether she wants them to be thrown
> > out. She then must watch the mail get shredded.
> >
> > At this point, two parts of a hoarder's brain become active. The
> > brain's orbitofrontal cortex is involved in decision making and causes
> > a hoarder to process this experience as a punishing one. At the same
> > time, the hippocampus of a hoarder actively searches for memories about
> > the object. The hoarder tries to remember the object: what it is and
> > why they saved it in the first place. By contrast, people without
> > hoarding problems just don't think about the object that much.
> >
> >
> > 'A Painful and Effortful Process'
> >
> > "What we find is that the brain is acting very, very differently when a
> > person hoards," Tolin said. "When the person is trying to make a
> > decision about what to throw away, it seems that the person who is
> > hoarding, is processing this activity as if it is deeply punishing."
> >
> > "The person who hoards is going through a very, very effortful search
> > of their memory to try to think of as many things as they can about
> > this item before they make the decision," Tolin added. "What this all
> > amounts to then is a painful and effortful process of decision-making,
> > that you and I might take for granted."
> >
> > There is no cure for hoarding, and there is no medication to treat the
> > condition. Right now, cognitive behavioral therapy is the only way to
> > help hoarders make decisions and deal with their emotions.
> >
> >
> > Getting Help
> >
> > In Beth Johnson's "Clutter Workshop" in Hartford, hoarders and
> > clutterers practice throwing out possessions they have grown attached
> > to. Johnson also takes her clients on nonshopping -- or nonacquiring --
> > trips to teach them not to buy things they don't need.
> >
> > "I try to help them see the larger picture and how this item won't fit
> > into their life," said Johnson. "If you have a jam-packed house, if
> > you're adding to it on a weekly or daily basis, you're basically
> > defeating yourself."
> >
> > Dr. Randy Frost, a professor of psychology at Smith College in
> > Massachussetts, focuses on helping hoarders make their homes
> > clutter-free.
> >
> >
> > "One of the things we know about hoarding is that the beliefs people
> > have about their possessions are so powerful, that it's very difficult
> > for them to get out of this behavior," said Frost, who is also author
> > of the upcoming book "Buried in Treasures." "If the person throws
> > something away and experiences distress, and does it again and again,
> > eventually, they won't have that extreme emotional response, throwing
> > something away."
> >
> > Frost held a one-on-one session with Brennan to see if he could help
> > her. After a few hours, she was able to throw away receipts and a few
> > pieces of junk, but, as with most hoarders, there is still a long road
> > ahead.
> >
> > One major motivator for Brennan is the possibility of losing her
> > fianc=E9e if she doesn't clean up her home. When asked if she thought he
> > would really leave, Lorraine said, "I don't want to find out. I don't
> > want to end my relationship. I want to do better. I want to make it
> > work. I don't want to live like this anymore. I really don't."
> >
> > Dr. David Tolin and Professor Randy Frost are co-authors of a self-help
> > book called "Buried in Treasures," to be published on February 5th.

That was quite the visual story alrighty. As I read it I could "see"
these two old guys in their brownstone. Wow. But the conclusion is
correct; telling a hoarder to "clean it up" or doing it for them when
they aren't there doesn't help. Thanks for sharing :)

Prometheus wrote:
[snip]
>
> Not a problem in my case- every 3-6 months, I rent a two yard
> dumpster, and anything that I haven't used since I rented the last one
> either goes in there, or is given away or sold if it is something that
> might be of value to someone.
>
> Never understood the concept of hording- if I'm not going to use it, I
> don't want it.

I'm with you. I have a client who owns a dumpster business and he lets
me have a 6 yard dumpster for a couple of weeks a cpl of times a year.
I pay to have it emptied, but that's not too bad. I have two boxes that
used to contain kitchen sinks. One is for pieces of wood for the kid's
wiener roast parties, the other for fine pieces of other woods/odd
coloured solid surface. The rest goes to the dump. It is hard for me to
get my head around throwing a (once) $ 3000.00 300 dpi laser printer in
the dumpster.... but I have. Once in a blue moon, I'll boot my 128K
macintosh.. that one is staying. I did finally toss a 2-gig Fujitsu
hard drive, the size of a breadbox, just couldn't afford the
electricity bills to spool it up. It suffered from the odd bout of
'sticktion', we all know what that feels like.

Time for another 6 yard bucket.

Its interesting that when true hoarders collect things that are
actually valuable, they usually manage to make them worthless by the
time somebody else gets em.

There was guy down near Centralia Washington that collected cars- at
his peak, he had something like 2000 of em. He was sure every one was
"valuable" and would never sell. And as they sat, they rotted, tires
grew thru the hoods, paint and chrome peeled, engines rusted solid, and
when he finally died, and the family had to dispose of them, virtually
none of them were worth anything, even as parts.

I have seen this same thing happen with tool collectors- the old guys
are so sure that the stuff is worth a fortune, they routinely chase
away people who would actually reuse, restore, or understand their
tools, and want to pay reasonable prices for them- and so, in the end,
it all becomes scrap.

There was a famous junkyard in Richmond Virginia, where the old guy
saved Steam Railroad engines, and other huge machines. He never would
sell, convinced he was sitting on a gold mine. Well, when he died, the
relatives found he was- and it was the real estate. The land itself was
worth a lot, the scrap metal on it was just that- scrap metal. A
foundation was set up to save the oldest engines, and the relatives
gave them away for free- and if it had happened 20 or 30 years earlier,
there would have been a lot more to save- age, weather, and vandals had
taken a severe toll. While alive, he cagily quoted prices of a hundred
thousand dollars for a steam engine, and when he died, they were free
for the hauling. Assuming you could afford to haul something that was
80 feet long and weighed 20 tons.

Gary Heston wrote:
>IIn other news, my late neighbor was apparently hoarding staircase
> spindles--his survivors gave me about 500 this past weekend, about
> 430 of them the same size. They're overhead in the garage, now,
> awaiting a project.
>

Don't you mean, they are awaiting your survivors to give them to
someone else? LOL

Although I shouldn't talk.. I got a great deal on some Oak 2 x 2 at
habitat.. 25 cents each for pieces
4 feet long.. too good to pass up, so of course I had to buy all of
them (about 40).. Haven't figured out a use
for them yet, although I convince myself that I will eventually LOL.

Oh lets not go there. I am get scared walking into the Habitat shops.
Thank God I don't have a bigger Truck or I would buy them out of wood
at times.
bf wrote:
> Gary Heston wrote:
> >IIn other news, my late neighbor was apparently hoarding staircase
> > spindles--his survivors gave me about 500 this past weekend, about
> > 430 of them the same size. They're overhead in the garage, now,
> > awaiting a project.
> >
>
> Don't you mean, they are awaiting your survivors to give them to
> someone else? LOL
>
> Although I shouldn't talk.. I got a great deal on some Oak 2 x 2 at
> habitat.. 25 cents each for pieces
> 4 feet long.. too good to pass up, so of course I had to buy all of
> them (about 40).. Haven't figured out a use
> for them yet, although I convince myself that I will eventually LOL.

Lew Hodgett wrote:
> bf wrote:
>
> > Although I shouldn't talk.. I got a great deal on some Oak 2 x 2 at
> > habitat.. 25 cents each for pieces
> > 4 feet long.. too good to pass up, so of course I had to buy all of
> > them (about 40).. Haven't figured out a use
> > for them yet, although I convince myself that I will eventually LOL.
>
> A gallon of glue, some clamps, some time, and you have enough material
> for a small table for a bedroom, hallway, etc.
>
> Of course, now you are going to need a table lamp for it<G>.
>
> Lew

That's a pretty good idea.. I may do that when I get some time..LOL.
Too big of a backload of projects now. I turned down a pretty good deal
on about 150 board feet
of Mahagony.. because I know it would sit in the shop for a few years
before I figured out what to make with it.
I guess I'm on the road to recovery.

Leuf wrote:
> On Wed, 17 Jan 2007 14:19:34 -0600, Ignoramus18435
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>
> >I agree 100%.
>
> So do I. In fact, I've decided to print this entire thread and store
> it just in case I develop a hoarding problem later in life.
>
LOL.. Be sure to never throw away that print out. After all, you might
never be able to replace it, and someone might really NEED it later.

In article <[email protected]>,
Ignoramus16071 <[email protected]> wrote:
>My hoarding problem is this. I have a lot of valuable stuff left over
>from my ebay dealings. Like little T6061 aluminum plates and bars for
>example. Or super nice strong stainless painted steel handles. Super
>high quality. I may use a few "one day". In fact I will use some on my
>trailer project. Or a few pulleys. But, despite being valuable, they
>are not economical to try to sell them. Too little money, too much
>hassle, and quite possibly they would not sell at all. But I cannot
>throw them away in good conscience.

Are any of your aluminum plates 1/4" thick and big enough to cut 18"
triangles out of? I need some, and McMaster-Carr wants over $100 for
a piece of plate big enough for two. As I'd like six or eight, their
price is prohibitive. I might be interested in your pulleys, too,
depending on the size and configuration.

In other news, my late neighbor was apparently hoarding staircase
spindles--his survivors gave me about 500 this past weekend, about
430 of them the same size. They're overhead in the garage, now,
awaiting a project.


Gary

--
Gary Heston [email protected] http://www.thebreastcancersite.com/

Astronomers have developed a definition of "planet" which excludes Pluto.
I'm developing a definition of "scientist" which excludes astronomers.

In article <[email protected]>,
Ignoramus16071 <[email protected]> wrote:
>On Wed, 17 Jan 2007 02:27:22 -0000, Gary Heston <[email protected]> wrote:
>> In article <[email protected]>,
>> Ignoramus16071 <[email protected]> wrote:
>>> [ ... ] Like little T6061 aluminum plates [ ... ]

>> Are any of your aluminum plates 1/4" thick and big enough to cut 18"
>> triangles out of?

>No, they are little square 5x5 plates, about 1/8" thick.

>I do, however, have 3/8" about 8x14 plate and 1/2" 8x13 or so. Also
>aluminum.

Any way to weld them together? I don't mind going thicker, I need these
for decking in my antenna tower. I see a new rotator and thrust bearing
in my future.

>Also I have big Al heatsinks, with which I can part very cheaply.

Regrettably, I don't need any at the moment.

>> I need some, and McMaster-Carr wants over $100 for
>> a piece of plate big enough for two. As I'd like six or eight, their
>> price is prohibitive. I might be interested in your pulleys, too,
>> depending on the size and configuration.

>IIRC, I have one about 5" pulley with 1 3/8" shaft hole with keyway
>and special tightening screws. I have more, but those I may need.

Price? You can email me; the address you see is valid.

>> In other news, my late neighbor was apparently hoarding staircase
>> spindles--his survivors gave me about 500 this past weekend, about
>> 430 of them the same size. They're overhead in the garage, now,
>> awaiting a project.

>scary stuff.

I have no idea what they were intended for. I'm checking with some of
my friends who do woodworking and home fixup projects who might be
interested in some of them. Stacking two of the 36" size (the 430 items)
would be a good height for a childrens' play gazebo or something of that
sort. Maybe build up sets of three for table legs, but they'd need to be
cut down a bit.

Othewise, they were headed for the curb and didn't cost me anything.


Gary

--
Gary Heston [email protected] http://www.thebreastcancersite.com/

Astronomers have developed a definition of "planet" which excludes Pluto.
I'm developing a definition of "scientist" which excludes astronomers.

In article <[email protected]>,
Ignoramus18435 <[email protected]> wrote:
>On Wed, 17 Jan 2007 03:32:31 -0000, Gary Heston <[email protected]> wrote:
>> In article <[email protected]>,
[ ... ]
>>>IIRC, I have one about 5" pulley with 1 3/8" shaft hole with keyway
>>>and special tightening screws. I have more, but those I may need.

>> Price? You can email me; the address you see is valid.

>$10 will take it, shipping is $8.10 priority mail flat rate box.

Sounds good. Would you prefer a check or money order? Email an address
to send payment to and I'll get it on the way.


Gary

--
Gary Heston [email protected] http://www.thebreastcancersite.com/

Astronomers have developed a definition of "planet" which excludes Pluto.
I'm developing a definition of "scientist" which excludes astronomers.

On 16 Jan 2007 17:36:00 -0800, "Seerialmom" <[email protected]>
wrote:

>That was quite the visual story alrighty. As I read it I could "see"
>these two old guys in their brownstone. Wow. But the conclusion is
>correct; telling a hoarder to "clean it up" or doing it for them when
>they aren't there doesn't help. Thanks for sharing :)

*WOW*

Normally, I try to avoid pointing things like this out, but was it
really *necessary* to re-quote almost 1200 lines of text for this 4
line gem?

I think I could organize my tools purchased in a compulsive hording
craze, but my compulsive eating, computer, and TV habit is getting in
the way.

Or in my case the wife! she has a monthly clean up, and asks me make
coasters out of the scrap for the kids.
Eddie

"George Max" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Tue, 16 Jan 2007 20:38:49 GMT, Lew Hodgett
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>>Lew
>
> If *you* don't throw it out, eventually your kids will.

Count me in. And proud of it I might add.

I've always had an interest in electronics, even at a tender age.
Not having much money to spend to build stuff, I had to
cruise the neighborhood on trash day looking for discarded
TV's and radios that I could use for parts. A couple of friends
got into the act as well. This was a fun way to support a fun,
and ultimately very profitable hobby.

Fast forward 40+ years, and I still have the stash of tubes I
accumulated as a kid (and added to over the years). If I come
across something that might be useful for free or cheap, I'll
bag it and figure out where to put it later on. Picked up an
old TV chassis a couple of weeks ago. Its an Admiral that
was built in 1951. The owner wanted to keep the case to
use in a high school play. A couple of hours of tinkering,
and I got it working. Watched the football playoffs last
weekend on a 17" black and white TV. The games were
good, but watching them on an old TV I saved from the
landfill, then repaired myself was a blast. Kept the shop
nice and warm too!

I suppose anything can be taken to exteremes, but its a fine
line. One persons trash is most certainly anothers treasure.

Steve

Ignoramus18435 wrote:
> On Wed, 17 Jan 2007 10:33:28 -0600, M Berger <[email protected]> wrote:
>> What makes them valuable if it's not economical to try
>> to sell them (and they take up your storage space)?
>
> Because I think that they well might be useful later. A few things
> that I have, are going into the trailer, such as steel handles,
> electrical box, a big handle, etc.

Not to pick on you personally, but that is exactly the thinking that
can lie behind hoarding things excessively. And the thing about
it is, it is TRUE. You might very well MIGHT find a perfect use for
that item later on.

The problem is when the thinking ends there. For it to be the best
decision to hold on to something, the fact that it might be useful
is, by itself, not enough. There are positives of keeping it, but
there are negatives too, and the positives need to outweigh the
negatives. One possible negative is reducing the amount of space
you have for other things, making it harder to walk around, harder
to work, and harder to find the stuff that truly is useful among
the sea of stuff. Another negative is if you wind up paying extra
money to rent a storage space. In a lot of cases, you could re-buy
every single item in a rented storage space for less than the
$75/month rental fees multiplied by however many years you keep
it. It just doesn't make sense to store $1000 worth of furniture
in a $75/month storage space for 2 years. And of course, there
are other negatives of storing things, too, like having to look
at clutter, the extra time out of your life it takes to deal with
all of it, and so on.

- Logan

Too_Many_Tools <[email protected]> wrote:

> I do...many of my fellow friends who
> have shops overflowing with "good stuff".

Yeah, very common.

> In my own case, I see it as a very slippery slope....
> one great thing after another can follow you home
> until the doors to the shop won't shut.

True, when I was building the house, I'd bring back quite
a bit of stuff from the dump. Some got used right away,
particularly discarded seedling trees etc, other stuff got
used later, particularly scrap wood and steel etc. Other
stuff never did get used like the VW beetle transaxel etc
that I considered turning into a dune buggy etc and never
did get around to. Tried to drag it out the front for the most
recent collection day but it was too heavy to move easily
so I took the easy way out and gave up till next time.

> Sometimes...no many times...you just have to say "No".

> Your thoughts?

I dont bother to get rid of most stuff that dies. I've still got
the hot water service that died, because the big white metal
square case is decent metal for making letterboxes etc.

Still got the washing machine I last used 35 years ago,
mainly for the decent motor and pump, should bin that
on the next collection day, its a bit hard to get out tho.

Still got the smaller upright freezer that is uneconomic
to repair, just because it seems such a waste of what
is a very decent little cabinet thing, might one day get
around to putting a beer brewing barrel into for easier
heater control in winter. I currently put a big wrap around
insulating foam pad around the barrel with a heater belt
with monster zip ties initially and once its bottled or when
I have two barrels brewing, I have a fan heater in the
smallest room in the house that doesnt get used as
a toilet since I have two of those.

> http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=2790669&page=1

> Medical Mystery: Compulsive Hoarders
> A Psychological Compulsion to Keep Everything,
> Even When It Ruins Your Life

Most of us are nothing like these pathetic wretches,
we dont keep discarded packaging etc much.

> By CECILE BOUCHARDEAU

> Jan. 16, 2007- - We are all pack rats to some degree.

Some people arent.

> We hoard, collect and buy more stuff than we have room to store.

I've got plenty of room.

> But what if something in our brains made
> us incapable of throwing things out?

There's no one that bad. If you threaten to kill them if they dont
throw it away, they wont refuse to part with it and die clutching it.

> Janie Allocca and Lorraine Brennan both suffer from a psychological
> disorder called compulsive hoarding -- an urge to hold on to even the
> most mundane objects, even when they take over their lives.

> Watch "Primetime: Medical Mysteries" Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET, and go
> to ABCNEWS.com during the show to diagnose a real medical mystery.

> Lorraine Brennan has been hoarding for nearly 20 years. She lives in
> a two-story house in Massachusetts with her father, son and fiancée.
> Most rooms in the house are cluttered, and some are even unusable.
> The bedroom-office that she shares with her fiancée is overrun with
> stuff they tried unsuccessfully to get rid of at a yard sale. Lorraine's
> purse is bursting with junk mail and receipts.

> Brennan's hoarding is not only ruining her life, but affecting her
> entire family. Her son can't bring friends home from school. Brennan
> and her fiancée have been engaged for eight years, but he hasn't
> been able to commit to marrying her because of the clutter.

> 'There's No Place to Sit Down'

> Many hoarders are also compulsive shoppers. Janie Allocca
> has accumulated so much stuff that she uses her own house
> as a storage facility and lives with her mother.

> "I remember collecting, and keeping, and hoarding things since I can
> remember," Allocca said. "And now I am just living around the piles
> and piles I need to get rid of."
>
> "I have so much stuff that my house is totally unlivable," she
> continued. "There's no place to sit down. I can't get to the kitchen.
> I can't have anyone over for tea even though I have everything for
> tea. My collecting is taking up the space where I normally would
> live."
>
> There's a fine line between simple clutter and extreme hoarding. Most
> hoarders, observers say, are physically incapable of throwing things
> out. They can't live in, or use, rooms like the kitchen for their
> intended use. They also experience extreme distress from their
> condition.
>
>
> The Brain of a Hoarder
>
> Hoarding is currently considered a subset of obsessive compulsive
> disorder, but that may soon change. New research is finding that
> hoarding may be a unique disorder completely separate from OCD.
>
> Dr. David Tolin, director of the Anxiety Disorders Center at the
> Institute of Living in Hartford, Conn., has devoted his career to
> studying what goes on inside the mind of a hoarder.
>
> "At the moment, compulsive hoarding hasn't been fully defined by the
> psychiatric and psychological communities," he said. "One of the
> things that we wanted to do was to understand some of the brain
> mechanisms behind compulsive hoarding."
>
> Allocca is part of a study Tolin is conducting to see which parts of a
> hoarder's brain become active when they are faced with making
> decisions. She is hooked up to a brain-scan machine and asked to look
> at pieces of her mail and decide whether she wants them to be thrown
> out. She then must watch the mail get shredded.
>
> At this point, two parts of a hoarder's brain become active. The
> brain's orbitofrontal cortex is involved in decision making and causes
> a hoarder to process this experience as a punishing one. At the same
> time, the hippocampus of a hoarder actively searches for memories
> about the object. The hoarder tries to remember the object: what it
> is and why they saved it in the first place. By contrast, people
> without hoarding problems just don't think about the object that much.
>
>
> 'A Painful and Effortful Process'
>
> "What we find is that the brain is acting very, very differently when
> a person hoards," Tolin said. "When the person is trying to make a
> decision about what to throw away, it seems that the person who is
> hoarding, is processing this activity as if it is deeply punishing."
>
> "The person who hoards is going through a very, very effortful search
> of their memory to try to think of as many things as they can about
> this item before they make the decision," Tolin added. "What this all
> amounts to then is a painful and effortful process of decision-making,
> that you and I might take for granted."
>
> There is no cure for hoarding, and there is no medication to treat the
> condition. Right now, cognitive behavioral therapy is the only way to
> help hoarders make decisions and deal with their emotions.
>
>
> Getting Help
>
> In Beth Johnson's "Clutter Workshop" in Hartford, hoarders and
> clutterers practice throwing out possessions they have grown attached
> to. Johnson also takes her clients on nonshopping -- or nonacquiring
> -- trips to teach them not to buy things they don't need.
>
> "I try to help them see the larger picture and how this item won't fit
> into their life," said Johnson. "If you have a jam-packed house, if
> you're adding to it on a weekly or daily basis, you're basically
> defeating yourself."
>
> Dr. Randy Frost, a professor of psychology at Smith College in
> Massachussetts, focuses on helping hoarders make their homes
> clutter-free.
>
>
> "One of the things we know about hoarding is that the beliefs people
> have about their possessions are so powerful, that it's very difficult
> for them to get out of this behavior," said Frost, who is also author
> of the upcoming book "Buried in Treasures." "If the person throws
> something away and experiences distress, and does it again and again,
> eventually, they won't have that extreme emotional response, throwing
> something away."
>
> Frost held a one-on-one session with Brennan to see if he could help
> her. After a few hours, she was able to throw away receipts and a few
> pieces of junk, but, as with most hoarders, there is still a long road
> ahead.
>
> One major motivator for Brennan is the possibility of losing her
> fiancée if she doesn't clean up her home. When asked if she thought he
> would really leave, Lorraine said, "I don't want to find out. I don't
> want to end my relationship. I want to do better. I want to make it
> work. I don't want to live like this anymore. I really don't."
>
> Dr. David Tolin and Professor Randy Frost are co-authors of a
> self-help book called "Buried in Treasures," to be published on
> February 5th.

George Max <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Tue, 16 Jan 2007 20:38:49 GMT, Lew Hodgett
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>
>>
>> Also, a move every 5 years or so, gets rid of a lot of "stuff".
>>
>> Lew
>
> If *you* don't throw it out, eventually your kids will.

Not necessarily, I kept quite a bit of what my dad had kept
and would have kept a hell of a lot more of it if I had been
living in the same city instead of on the other side of the country.

On Wed, 17 Jan 2007 14:19:34 -0600, Ignoramus18435
<[email protected]> wrote:


>I agree 100%.

So do I. In fact, I've decided to print this entire thread and store
it just in case I develop a hoarding problem later in life.



-Leuf

On 16 Jan 2007 12:14:42 -0800, "Too_Many_Tools"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>I do...many of my fellow friends who have shops overflowing with "good
>stuff".
>
>In my own case, I see it as a very slippery slope....one great thing
>after another can follow you home until the doors to the shop won't
>shut.
>
>Sometimes...no many times...you just have to say "No".
>
>Your thoughts?

Not a problem in my case- every 3-6 months, I rent a two yard
dumpster, and anything that I haven't used since I rented the last one
either goes in there, or is given away or sold if it is something that
might be of value to someone.

Never understood the concept of hording- if I'm not going to use it, I
don't want it.

On Wed, 17 Jan 2007 10:33:28 -0600, M Berger <[email protected]> wrote:
> What makes them valuable if it's not economical to try
> to sell them (and they take up your storage space)?

Because I think that they well might be useful later. A few things
that I have, are going into the trailer, such as steel handles,
electrical box, a big handle, etc.

> Ignoramus16071 wrote:
>> My hoarding problem is this.... But, despite being valuable, they
>> are not economical to try to sell them. Too little money, too much
>> hassle, and quite possibly they would not sell at all.
>>
>> i

My hoarding problem is this. I have a lot of valuable stuff left over
from my ebay dealings. Like little T6061 aluminum plates and bars for
example. Or super nice strong stainless painted steel handles. Super
high quality. I may use a few "one day". In fact I will use some on my
trailer project. Or a few pulleys. But, despite being valuable, they
are not economical to try to sell them. Too little money, too much
hassle, and quite possibly they would not sell at all. But I cannot
throw them away in good conscience.

i

On Thu, 18 Jan 2007 00:55:10 -0000, Gary Heston <[email protected]> wrote:
> In article <[email protected]>,
> Ignoramus18435 <[email protected]> wrote:
>>On Wed, 17 Jan 2007 03:32:31 -0000, Gary Heston <[email protected]> wrote:
>>> In article <[email protected]>,
> [ ... ]
>>>>IIRC, I have one about 5" pulley with 1 3/8" shaft hole with keyway
>>>>and special tightening screws. I have more, but those I may need.
>
>>> Price? You can email me; the address you see is valid.
>
>>$10 will take it, shipping is $8.10 priority mail flat rate box.
>
> Sounds good. Would you prefer a check or money order? Email an address
> to send payment to and I'll get it on the way.

Let me take a picture and measurements of it first, I do not want you
to be disappointed.

i

In article <[email protected]>,
[email protected] (known to some as Too_Many_Tools) scribed...

> I do...many of my fellow friends who have shops overflowing with "good
> stuff".
>
> In my own case, I see it as a very slippery slope....one great thing
> after another can follow you home until the doors to the shop won't
> shut.
>
> Sometimes...no many times...you just have to say "No".
>
> Your thoughts?

It occurs in varying degrees. I've always seen scrounging of
electronic goodies as more of a 'flow-thru' than a one-way path to my
lab. Much stuff, of course, does end up on a one-way path to my
workbench, but it's stuff that I constantly use (tools,
soldering/desoldering gear, test gear, etc.)

The trick is learning what to shed, and when and how to shed it.
Ham radio swap meets and Ebay are good paths.

Keep the peace(es).


--
Dr. Anton T. Squeegee, Director, Dutch Surrealist Plumbing Institute
(Known to some as Bruce Lane, KC7GR)
http://www.bluefeathertech.com -- kyrrin a/t bluefeathertech d-o=t calm
"Salvadore Dali's computer has surreal ports..."

Picture of the pulley is here:

http://igor.chudov.com/tmp/pulley.jpg

It has two grooves for V belts, 1 3/8" hole with keyway, and special
threaded holes that are called TAPER LOCK. The holes are 3/8" NC
threaded, I think, I found some bolt that looks like 3/8" and it fit
the threads. It came off a 7.5 HP three phase motor from which I cut off
its shaft a while ago. It has some rust on it, but not much.

i

On Wed, 17 Jan 2007 02:27:22 -0000, Gary Heston <[email protected]> wrote:
> In article <[email protected]>,
> Ignoramus16071 <[email protected]> wrote:
>>My hoarding problem is this. I have a lot of valuable stuff left over
>>from my ebay dealings. Like little T6061 aluminum plates and bars for
>>example. Or super nice strong stainless painted steel handles. Super
>>high quality. I may use a few "one day". In fact I will use some on my
>>trailer project. Or a few pulleys. But, despite being valuable, they
>>are not economical to try to sell them. Too little money, too much
>>hassle, and quite possibly they would not sell at all. But I cannot
>>throw them away in good conscience.
>
> Are any of your aluminum plates 1/4" thick and big enough to cut 18"
> triangles out of?

No, they are little square 5x5 plates, about 1/8" thick.

I do, however, have 3/8" about 8x14 plate and 1/2" 8x13 or so. Also
aluminum.

Also I have big Al heatsinks, with which I can part very cheaply.

> I need some, and McMaster-Carr wants over $100 for
> a piece of plate big enough for two. As I'd like six or eight, their
> price is prohibitive. I might be interested in your pulleys, too,
> depending on the size and configuration.

IIRC, I have one about 5" pulley with 1 3/8" shaft hole with keyway
and special tightening screws. I have more, but those I may need.



> In other news, my late neighbor was apparently hoarding staircase
> spindles--his survivors gave me about 500 this past weekend, about
> 430 of them the same size. They're overhead in the garage, now,
> awaiting a project.

scary stuff.

i

On Tue, 16 Jan 2007 20:38:49 GMT, Lew Hodgett
<[email protected]> wrote:


>
>Also, a move every 5 years or so, gets rid of a lot of "stuff".
>
>Lew

If *you* don't throw it out, eventually your kids will.

"Robatoy" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> get my head around throwing a (once) $ 3000.00 300 dpi laser printer in
> the dumpster.... but I have.

I feel the same way, but over the past year, I've been purging stuff that I
haven't looked at in years. It's tough putting it the garbage bin, but once
it's gone I soon forget about it. And, there's that feeling of satisfaction
from recovering floor space or shelving space from stuff that gets in the
way when I'm doing something else.

What makes them valuable if it's not economical to try
to sell them (and they take up your storage space)?

Ignoramus16071 wrote:
> My hoarding problem is this.... But, despite being valuable, they
> are not economical to try to sell them. Too little money, too much
> hassle, and quite possibly they would not sell at all.
>
> i

In article <[email protected]>, Leuf <[email protected]> wrote:
>On Wed, 17 Jan 2007 14:19:34 -0600, Ignoramus18435
><[email protected]> wrote:
>
>
>>I agree 100%.
>
>So do I. In fact, I've decided to print this entire thread and store
>it just in case I develop a hoarding problem later in life.

This storage thing is a tricky business. You don't want
to create any health and safety issues. I strongly
recommend you leave it to a professional, like my wife.

I printed a copy for her and it will still be here
on our kitchen countertop 100 years from now, just in
case you ever need to refer to it again.

--
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| Malcolm Hoar "The more I practice, the luckier I get". |
| [email protected] Gary Player. |
| http://www.malch.com/ Shpx gur PQN. |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(snip)In my own case, I see it as a very slippery slope....one great thing
after another can follow you home until the doors to the shop won't
shut.

When the shop runneth over, it's simply time for a bigger shop! --dave


"Rod Speed" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Too_Many_Tools <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> I do...many of my fellow friends who
>> have shops overflowing with "good stuff".
>
> Yeah, very common.
>
>> In my own case, I see it as a very slippery slope....
>> one great thing after another can follow you home
>> until the doors to the shop won't shut.
>
> True, when I was building the house, I'd bring back quite
> a bit of stuff from the dump. Some got used right away,
> particularly discarded seedling trees etc, other stuff got
> used later, particularly scrap wood and steel etc. Other
> stuff never did get used like the VW beetle transaxel etc
> that I considered turning into a dune buggy etc and never
> did get around to. Tried to drag it out the front for the most
> recent collection day but it was too heavy to move easily
> so I took the easy way out and gave up till next time.
>
>> Sometimes...no many times...you just have to say "No".
>
>> Your thoughts?
>
> I dont bother to get rid of most stuff that dies. I've still got
> the hot water service that died, because the big white metal
> square case is decent metal for making letterboxes etc.
>
> Still got the washing machine I last used 35 years ago,
> mainly for the decent motor and pump, should bin that
> on the next collection day, its a bit hard to get out tho.
>
> Still got the smaller upright freezer that is uneconomic
> to repair, just because it seems such a waste of what
> is a very decent little cabinet thing, might one day get
> around to putting a beer brewing barrel into for easier
> heater control in winter. I currently put a big wrap around
> insulating foam pad around the barrel with a heater belt
> with monster zip ties initially and once its bottled or when
> I have two barrels brewing, I have a fan heater in the
> smallest room in the house that doesnt get used as
> a toilet since I have two of those.
>
>> http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=2790669&page=1
>
>> Medical Mystery: Compulsive Hoarders
>> A Psychological Compulsion to Keep Everything,
>> Even When It Ruins Your Life
>
> Most of us are nothing like these pathetic wretches,
> we dont keep discarded packaging etc much.
>
>> By CECILE BOUCHARDEAU
>
>> Jan. 16, 2007- - We are all pack rats to some degree.
>
> Some people arent.
>
>> We hoard, collect and buy more stuff than we have room to store.
>
> I've got plenty of room.
>
>> But what if something in our brains made
>> us incapable of throwing things out?
>
> There's no one that bad. If you threaten to kill them if they dont
> throw it away, they wont refuse to part with it and die clutching it.
>
>> Janie Allocca and Lorraine Brennan both suffer from a psychological
>> disorder called compulsive hoarding -- an urge to hold on to even the
>> most mundane objects, even when they take over their lives.
>
>> Watch "Primetime: Medical Mysteries" Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET, and go
>> to ABCNEWS.com during the show to diagnose a real medical mystery.
>
>> Lorraine Brennan has been hoarding for nearly 20 years. She lives in
>> a two-story house in Massachusetts with her father, son and fiancée.
>> Most rooms in the house are cluttered, and some are even unusable.
>> The bedroom-office that she shares with her fiancée is overrun with
>> stuff they tried unsuccessfully to get rid of at a yard sale. Lorraine's
>> purse is bursting with junk mail and receipts.
>
>> Brennan's hoarding is not only ruining her life, but affecting her
>> entire family. Her son can't bring friends home from school. Brennan
>> and her fiancée have been engaged for eight years, but he hasn't
>> been able to commit to marrying her because of the clutter.
>
>> 'There's No Place to Sit Down'
>
>> Many hoarders are also compulsive shoppers. Janie Allocca
>> has accumulated so much stuff that she uses her own house
>> as a storage facility and lives with her mother.
>
>> "I remember collecting, and keeping, and hoarding things since I can
>> remember," Allocca said. "And now I am just living around the piles
>> and piles I need to get rid of."
>>
>> "I have so much stuff that my house is totally unlivable," she
>> continued. "There's no place to sit down. I can't get to the kitchen.
>> I can't have anyone over for tea even though I have everything for
>> tea. My collecting is taking up the space where I normally would
>> live."
>>
>> There's a fine line between simple clutter and extreme hoarding. Most
>> hoarders, observers say, are physically incapable of throwing things
>> out. They can't live in, or use, rooms like the kitchen for their
>> intended use. They also experience extreme distress from their
>> condition.
>>
>>
>> The Brain of a Hoarder
>>
>> Hoarding is currently considered a subset of obsessive compulsive
>> disorder, but that may soon change. New research is finding that
>> hoarding may be a unique disorder completely separate from OCD.
>>
>> Dr. David Tolin, director of the Anxiety Disorders Center at the
>> Institute of Living in Hartford, Conn., has devoted his career to
>> studying what goes on inside the mind of a hoarder.
>>
>> "At the moment, compulsive hoarding hasn't been fully defined by the
>> psychiatric and psychological communities," he said. "One of the
>> things that we wanted to do was to understand some of the brain
>> mechanisms behind compulsive hoarding."
>>
>> Allocca is part of a study Tolin is conducting to see which parts of a
>> hoarder's brain become active when they are faced with making
>> decisions. She is hooked up to a brain-scan machine and asked to look
>> at pieces of her mail and decide whether she wants them to be thrown
>> out. She then must watch the mail get shredded.
>>
>> At this point, two parts of a hoarder's brain become active. The
>> brain's orbitofrontal cortex is involved in decision making and causes
>> a hoarder to process this experience as a punishing one. At the same
>> time, the hippocampus of a hoarder actively searches for memories
>> about the object. The hoarder tries to remember the object: what it
>> is and why they saved it in the first place. By contrast, people
>> without hoarding problems just don't think about the object that much.
>>
>>
>> 'A Painful and Effortful Process'
>>
>> "What we find is that the brain is acting very, very differently when
>> a person hoards," Tolin said. "When the person is trying to make a
>> decision about what to throw away, it seems that the person who is
>> hoarding, is processing this activity as if it is deeply punishing."
>>
>> "The person who hoards is going through a very, very effortful search
>> of their memory to try to think of as many things as they can about
>> this item before they make the decision," Tolin added. "What this all
>> amounts to then is a painful and effortful process of decision-making,
>> that you and I might take for granted."
>>
>> There is no cure for hoarding, and there is no medication to treat the
>> condition. Right now, cognitive behavioral therapy is the only way to
>> help hoarders make decisions and deal with their emotions.
>>
>>
>> Getting Help
>>
>> In Beth Johnson's "Clutter Workshop" in Hartford, hoarders and
>> clutterers practice throwing out possessions they have grown attached
>> to. Johnson also takes her clients on nonshopping -- or nonacquiring
>> -- trips to teach them not to buy things they don't need.
>>
>> "I try to help them see the larger picture and how this item won't fit
>> into their life," said Johnson. "If you have a jam-packed house, if
>> you're adding to it on a weekly or daily basis, you're basically
>> defeating yourself."
>>
>> Dr. Randy Frost, a professor of psychology at Smith College in
>> Massachussetts, focuses on helping hoarders make their homes
>> clutter-free.
>>
>>
>> "One of the things we know about hoarding is that the beliefs people
>> have about their possessions are so powerful, that it's very difficult
>> for them to get out of this behavior," said Frost, who is also author
>> of the upcoming book "Buried in Treasures." "If the person throws
>> something away and experiences distress, and does it again and again,
>> eventually, they won't have that extreme emotional response, throwing
>> something away."
>>
>> Frost held a one-on-one session with Brennan to see if he could help
>> her. After a few hours, she was able to throw away receipts and a few
>> pieces of junk, but, as with most hoarders, there is still a long road
>> ahead.
>>
>> One major motivator for Brennan is the possibility of losing her
>> fiancée if she doesn't clean up her home. When asked if she thought he
>> would really leave, Lorraine said, "I don't want to find out. I don't
>> want to end my relationship. I want to do better. I want to make it
>> work. I don't want to live like this anymore. I really don't."
>>
>> Dr. David Tolin and Professor Randy Frost are co-authors of a
>> self-help book called "Buried in Treasures," to be published on
>> February 5th.
>
>

On 16 Jan 2007 12:14:42 -0800, "Too_Many_Tools"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>I do...many of my fellow friends who have shops overflowing with "good
>stuff".
>
>In my own case, I see it as a very slippery slope....one great thing
>after another can follow you home until the doors to the shop won't
>shut.
>
>Sometimes...no many times...you just have to say "No".
>
>Your thoughts?
>
>TMT

I have seen this problem.

it is completely over come by Ockleshaw's workshop principle.
Ockleshaw being the possesor of the most amazing workshop.

"if it looks useful it isnt.turf it out.

if it looks *really* useful keep it for a month.
if you havent touched it in that month turf it out.

If something is actually useful but hasnt been used in a year turf it
out.

that way you will have a workshop full of only the gear that you
actually need"


...of course ockleshaw had a second shed :-)

Stealth Pilot

On 17 Jan 2007 11:50:45 -0800, "Ries" <[email protected]> wrote:

>
>Its interesting that when true hoarders collect things that are
>actually valuable, they usually manage to make them worthless by the
>time somebody else gets em.
>
you see that all the time.
no preservation effort.
totally stuffed when someone can get access to it eventually.

Stealth Pilot
btw I know of two (once) very valuable aircraft that are sitting in
weeds almost totally stuffed because the owners didnt have the
intelligence to sell them at a realistic price when they found they
couldnt maintain them.

Posted and emailed.

i

On Thu, 18 Jan 2007 00:55:10 -0000, Gary Heston <[email protected]> wrote:
> In article <[email protected]>,
> Ignoramus18435 <[email protected]> wrote:
>>On Wed, 17 Jan 2007 03:32:31 -0000, Gary Heston <[email protected]> wrote:
>>> In article <[email protected]>,
> [ ... ]
>>>>IIRC, I have one about 5" pulley with 1 3/8" shaft hole with keyway
>>>>and special tightening screws. I have more, but those I may need.
>
>>> Price? You can email me; the address you see is valid.
>
>>$10 will take it, shipping is $8.10 priority mail flat rate box.
>
> Sounds good. Would you prefer a check or money order? Email an address
> to send payment to and I'll get it on the way.

Picture of the pulley is here:

http://igor.chudov.com/tmp/pulley.jpg

It has two grooves for V belts, 1 3/8" hole with keyway, and special
threaded holes that are called TAPER LOCK. The holes are 3/8" NC
threaded, I think, I found some bolt that looks like 3/8" and it fit
the threads. It came off a 7.5 HP three phase motor from which I cut off
its shaft a while ago. It has some rust on it, but not much.

i

On Wed, 17 Jan 2007 03:32:31 -0000, Gary Heston <[email protected]> wrote:
> In article <[email protected]>,
> Ignoramus16071 <[email protected]> wrote:
>>On Wed, 17 Jan 2007 02:27:22 -0000, Gary Heston <[email protected]> wrote:
>>> In article <[email protected]>,
>>> Ignoramus16071 <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>> [ ... ] Like little T6061 aluminum plates [ ... ]
>
>>> Are any of your aluminum plates 1/4" thick and big enough to cut 18"
>>> triangles out of?
>
>>No, they are little square 5x5 plates, about 1/8" thick.
>
>>I do, however, have 3/8" about 8x14 plate and 1/2" 8x13 or so. Also
>>aluminum.
>
> Any way to weld them together? I don't mind going thicker, I need these
> for decking in my antenna tower. I see a new rotator and thrust bearing
> in my future.

I doubt that.

>>IIRC, I have one about 5" pulley with 1 3/8" shaft hole with keyway
>>and special tightening screws. I have more, but those I may need.
>
> Price? You can email me; the address you see is valid.

$10 will take it, shipping is $8.10 priority mail flat rate box.

i

bf wrote:

> Although I shouldn't talk.. I got a great deal on some Oak 2 x 2 at
> habitat.. 25 cents each for pieces
> 4 feet long.. too good to pass up, so of course I had to buy all of
> them (about 40).. Haven't figured out a use
> for them yet, although I convince myself that I will eventually LOL.

A gallon of glue, some clamps, some time, and you have enough material
for a small table for a bedroom, hallway, etc.

Of course, now you are going to need a table lamp for it<G>.

Lew

Too_Many_Tools wrote:

> I do...many of my fellow friends who have shops overflowing with "good
> stuff".

<snip>

I received some great training in this regard.

As a matter of company policy, once a year had to go thru the files
and throw away anything over one year old with tax records and
engineering documents excepted.

After completing this task, had to sign off that you actually had done it.

Was told the lawyers were the reason for the policy.

Something to the effect that if it doesn't exist, it can't come back
to haunt you.

Had customers with similar policies.

Sort of sets the mood not to hoard things.

Also, a move every 5 years or so, gets rid of a lot of "stuff".

Lew

On Wed, 17 Jan 2007 13:52:48 -0600, Logan Shaw <[email protected]> wrote:
> Ignoramus18435 wrote:
>> On Wed, 17 Jan 2007 10:33:28 -0600, M Berger <[email protected]> wrote:
>>> What makes them valuable if it's not economical to try
>>> to sell them (and they take up your storage space)?
>>
>> Because I think that they well might be useful later. A few things
>> that I have, are going into the trailer, such as steel handles,
>> electrical box, a big handle, etc.
>
> Not to pick on you personally, but that is exactly the thinking that
> can lie behind hoarding things excessively. And the thing about
> it is, it is TRUE. You might very well MIGHT find a perfect use for
> that item later on.
>
> The problem is when the thinking ends there. For it to be the best
> decision to hold on to something, the fact that it might be useful
> is, by itself, not enough. There are positives of keeping it, but
> there are negatives too, and the positives need to outweigh the
> negatives. One possible negative is reducing the amount of space
> you have for other things, making it harder to walk around, harder
> to work, and harder to find the stuff that truly is useful among
> the sea of stuff. Another negative is if you wind up paying extra
> money to rent a storage space. In a lot of cases, you could re-buy
> every single item in a rented storage space for less than the
> $75/month rental fees multiplied by however many years you keep
> it. It just doesn't make sense to store $1000 worth of furniture
> in a $75/month storage space for 2 years. And of course, there
> are other negatives of storing things, too, like having to look
> at clutter, the extra time out of your life it takes to deal with
> all of it, and so on.
>
> - Logan

I agree 100%.

i