The Bizarre Story of the World's Greatest Hoarders

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  • เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 ต.ค. 2021
  • Thanks to Bespoke Post for sponsoring this video! New subscribers get 20% off their first box - go to bspk.me/brainfood20 and enter code BRAINFOOD20 at checkout.
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    This video is #sponsored by Bespoke Post.
    Sources:
    Bryk, William, The Collyer Brothers, The New York Sun, April 13, 2005, www.nysun.com/on-the-town/col...
    Collyer Brothers Park, NYC Parks, www.nycgovparks.org/about/his...
    Langley Kept Faith With Brother to the End, Died Under Junk Near Him in Their ‘Castle,’ The Pittsburgh Press, April 9, 1947, news.google.com/newspapers?ni...
    New Troubles Vex Collyer Brothers, Reading Eagle, January 18, 1943, news.google.com/newspapers?ni...
    Extreme Phobias: Collyer Brothers, Psychologist World, www.psychologistworld.com/iss...
    Collyer Mansion Will be Razed, St. Petersburg Times, July 1, 1947, news.google.com/newspapers?ni...
    Aged Hermits Pair May Now Enjoy Undisturbed Seclusion, The Free-Lance Star, November 19, 1942, news.google.com/newspapers?ni...
    Harlem House Mystery End; Tale of Love, Gettysburg Times, August 7, 1942, news.google.com/newspapers?ni...
    The Shy Men, TIME, April 7, 1947, web.archive.org/web/201003282...

ความคิดเห็น • 465

  • @TodayIFoundOut
    @TodayIFoundOut  2 ปีที่แล้ว +25

    Thanks to Bespoke Post for sponsoring this video! New subscribers get 20% off their first box - go to bspk.me/brainfood20 and enter code BRAINFOOD20 at checkout.

    • @acoffeewithsatan
      @acoffeewithsatan 2 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      Oh yeah, thanks, Sam! Right after a video about having your house piled with trash, all I want is a service delivering me a monthly box full of crap!

    • @llperlrll
      @llperlrll 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@acoffeewithsatan Whaaat? Are you one of those lesser people who don't order a mallet and a bag when they're out of ice (a substance not found anywhere in nature for free...) wow...

    • @Goldenkitten1
      @Goldenkitten1 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@acoffeewithsatan People like the sense of the unknown. It's kinda the same as Christmas when you don't know what a person has gotten you or could even be compared to gambling. You may or may not get something you actually enjoy but that's part of the fun. At least that's how my friend who subscribes to several put it, I prefer to buy something I actually know what I'm getting but I can understand the concept of getting enjoyment out of the unknown.

    • @acoffeewithsatan
      @acoffeewithsatan 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@Goldenkitten1 well, and keeping on with the joke, the same could be said about dumpster diving

    • @Goldenkitten1
      @Goldenkitten1 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@acoffeewithsatan Very true but useless as they probably seem to us I doubt you'll find a decent quality cleaver or leather bag in pristine condition in a dumpster which is probably why. Still yeah in my opinion you could certainly make better use of your money, I'm just saying I understand where people who enjoy this sort of thing are coming from.

  • @superspecky4eyes
    @superspecky4eyes 2 ปีที่แล้ว +812

    The irony of publishing a video about hoarding sponsored by a company that sends you a box of random crap you didn't know you needed every month.

    • @cleverusername9369
      @cleverusername9369 2 ปีที่แล้ว +100

      I like to think Simon is aware of the irony and is low key trolling us.

    • @BOYVIRGO666
      @BOYVIRGO666 2 ปีที่แล้ว +36

      @@cleverusername9369 If youv seen brain blaze you know thats what hes doing.

    • @norsagion1230
      @norsagion1230 2 ปีที่แล้ว +34

      random crap you don't need.

    • @superspecky4eyes
      @superspecky4eyes 2 ปีที่แล้ว +24

      @@norsagion1230 Well, I was trying to be polite 😅

    • @acoffeewithsatan
      @acoffeewithsatan 2 ปีที่แล้ว +8

      @@superspecky4eyes they aren't giving away their crap, so feel free to speak the truth

  • @Palitato
    @Palitato 2 ปีที่แล้ว +198

    God, poor Homer! Sitting there stuck, paralyzed and blind, unable to get out of the house, able to smell his brother decomposing nearby, able to hear the rats scuttling around him... that has to be one of the worst deaths I've ever heard of.
    How awful.

  • @MrEnjoivolcom1
    @MrEnjoivolcom1 2 ปีที่แล้ว +205

    The paralyzed brother had to sit there while his brother died just feet away. He was blind so he could not see it, but no doubt heard the noise and the calls for help from his brother.

    • @marsovac
      @marsovac 2 ปีที่แล้ว +13

      Paralyzed because he had to eat 11 oranges per day to "treat blindness" because they didn't need doctors :D

    • @mikehunt3688
      @mikehunt3688 2 ปีที่แล้ว +7

      @@d.e.waters883 I wonder if he may have smelled the decomposition

    • @riggs20
      @riggs20 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@d.e.waters883 Wow! I hadn’t thought about the details like that. That’s the stuff of nightmares. Assuming he didn’t die of the cold (not sure what NYC would be like in March), I guess he would have died of dehydration. Just awful.

  • @railgap
    @railgap 2 ปีที่แล้ว +27

    Fun fact: having studied the Collyers and watched all the hoarding TV shows and documentaries, I'm still stunned to admit that the Collyer's case is the ONLY ONE I've found that was worse than my mother's hoarding house in a big Victorian in Peoria, IL. Since the house was beautifully preserved when we moved in, this was heart-breaking and incredibly difficult to deal with. We made a heroic effort to clean it out, but ultimately we lost the house entirely. Many professional crime scene and disaster cleanup companies will clean out a meth lab or worse, but will not touch a hoarding house. And once you learn what to look for, you realize there is at least one in every. neighborhood. in every. city. in America. It is an enormous unreported epidemic. :(

    • @trawlins396
      @trawlins396 ปีที่แล้ว

      It's not unreported. There are tv shows dedicated to hoarders.

  • @valerierodger7700
    @valerierodger7700 2 ปีที่แล้ว +185

    The brotherly love and devotion is touching, the story in its entirety not so much - it is a tragic story of untreated mental illness

    • @pouncepounce7417
      @pouncepounce7417 2 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      Untreated is an two sided coin, if someone is outside the realm of "normal" first question is, is treatment beneficial to an degree worthwile.
      I think today the pendulum is a little to much on the treat everything no matter what side, for some time it was on the treat no one side.
      Booth is bad.
      The two probably would have benefitet from small intervention, but at large, they where probaly comfortable in there own world, so what? Because, public intervention in such matters is usual an very blunt instrument.

    • @cidb.212
      @cidb.212 2 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      It's too bad hoarding has been so stigmatized (not to mention sensationalized by TV), it must be an awful way to live.

    • @pouncepounce7417
      @pouncepounce7417 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@cidb.212 you can overdo it until your own trash heaps kill you, but i wonder if hoarding was not that belittled, would people go to such extremes.
      As soon people retreat and fear to have social interaction that hobby takes over to an unhealthy degree i think, kinda reinforcing it because of the stigma.
      If it was "yeah he like to hoard useless junk so what" I think most people would keep it to sane levels.
      There are examples of people hoarding very expensive things to extreme evels because they could afford it, but they are not insane, they just have that spleen you see?
      I think the stigma is an factor that makes it worse.

    • @cidb.212
      @cidb.212 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@pouncepounce7417 I'm glad we agree. (P.S. Cute dog:)

    • @Wooargh
      @Wooargh 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Because not wanting to have anything to do with society leads to an automatic diagnosis of mental illness.

  • @1003JustinLaw
    @1003JustinLaw 2 ปีที่แล้ว +42

    “We just want to be left alone!”
    “Why? What are you hiding? We must find out!”

  • @MissBlueEyeliner
    @MissBlueEyeliner 2 ปีที่แล้ว +112

    Oh dear god, paralysed and starving to death is officially on my list of “least favourite ways to die.”

    • @semaj_5022
      @semaj_5022 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      For real. I think I'd rather burn to death in a fire than that.

    • @Galiant2010
      @Galiant2010 2 ปีที่แล้ว +11

      Mere meters away from your dead brother. As he decays and you continue starving. Straight nightmare fuel for me.

    • @user-lv7ph7hs7l
      @user-lv7ph7hs7l 2 ปีที่แล้ว +9

      @@semaj_5022 Nope. I've had second degree burns. The pain is unimaginable. Accidentally touched glowing hot steel in the factory. Basically vaporized the skin that touched. Not as painful as electrocution. Got hit with 230 v, 16 amps in high humidity. Felt like burning but every cell in my body. Later realized the screaming I heard was my own. Luckily my heart was young back then.

    • @RainbowFlowerCrow
      @RainbowFlowerCrow 2 ปีที่แล้ว +8

      @@user-lv7ph7hs7l What have you been doing with your life?! Be careful, man!

    • @user-lv7ph7hs7l
      @user-lv7ph7hs7l 2 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      @@RainbowFlowerCrow I was unlucky with the electricity. I didn't realize the washing machine was powered by a multisocket with a suicide cable in the first slot going downstairs. Pulles the plug never expecting it to be live and it stuck to my hand. That was in a pretty poor country where suicide cable into a multisocket is a common type of extension cord lol...

  • @jad43701
    @jad43701 2 ปีที่แล้ว +66

    I have twice encountered a hoarder's home. First. when a neighbor who was a family friend, passed away. And second when I worked for a Time Warner Call Center. Part of our training was to spend a day in the field with installers. Gained a new respect for what those guys go through.

    • @Shayna11NM
      @Shayna11NM 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      I had a man work on my heater recently. Not knowing when he would arrive, I was sorting laundry in the living room and was frantically trying to hide it away and apologizing for the mess when he arrived. He laughed and told me that I should see some of the homes he goes to. My piles of laundry didn't even phase him.

    • @dandylionsloth446
      @dandylionsloth446 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      I'm not a hoarder (I don't fit the dx) but I have struggles that look the same to outsiders, I'm sorry you dealt with that. The times I've exposed people to my struggle that seems so easy to fix, I felt so guilty. That probably doesn't help, I just try to make sure the area they need is cleaned out and if cluttered all is sanitary.

    • @trawlins396
      @trawlins396 ปีที่แล้ว

      Why would they make call center workers accompany repair men!?

    • @jad43701
      @jad43701 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@trawlins396 To help understand what happens when we send out a tech to a customers homes. What all is required to get them back up and running. It helps by keeping unnecessary repair calls being sent out out for things that can be solved in house. Just wish the Techs could spend a day or so with our end.

  • @asb2106
    @asb2106 2 ปีที่แล้ว +72

    This is one of the saddest tales told on this channel. I feel bad for these brothers. Rip homer and Langley

  • @0BucketMask0
    @0BucketMask0 2 ปีที่แล้ว +130

    FINALLY a video on these guys that isn't like an hour long. I've been trying to get my mother to stop hoarding for years and I suspect these poor men's fate will scare her into at least hoarding a little less. But she refuses to watch videos more than like 15 minutes. Thank you for this. Might edit this comment later with results.
    Edit: the video didn't do much because she didn't realise I was trying to tell her something, but we've had a few serious conversations about them and her and she's agreed to go through a bunch of stuff to at least tidy her house more so long as I help. I'd rather not, but if that's what it takes I'm fine with it. I just want her to be healthy and in a clean house.

    • @MrMichaeljay1965
      @MrMichaeljay1965 2 ปีที่แล้ว +11

      Please do tell us how this goes. I wish you great luck with your mother.

    • @RainbowFlowerCrow
      @RainbowFlowerCrow 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      It's been a whole day; OP, how is your mom?!

    • @Aetherian1
      @Aetherian1 2 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      The irony that she has so much stuff and no patience tickles me

    • @felicitybywater8012
      @felicitybywater8012 2 ปีที่แล้ว +12

      My father was a hoarder. He was also an exceptionally unpleasant person so I left home early and left him to it.
      But good luck with your mother and good luck to all children of hoarders.

    • @rebekahlikesmusic2723
      @rebekahlikesmusic2723 2 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      Prayin for your mother's recovery and happiness💚🙏🏼

  • @TheQuickSilver101
    @TheQuickSilver101 2 ปีที่แล้ว +44

    I read a book about hoarding some years ago now and these brothers were the first story in the book. What an interesting and exceptionally sad tale.

  • @ROBYNMARKOW
    @ROBYNMARKOW 2 ปีที่แล้ว +132

    My mom used to say "This place looks like Caller's Mansion!"(how I heard it anyway) whenever she saw a messy room. I always thought that was one of her many expressions until I read about them. Yikes! 😱

    • @danielponder690
      @danielponder690 2 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      Heard my gran say that! I asked her one day and she just brushed it off without explaining…

    • @xbroadwaybx
      @xbroadwaybx 2 ปีที่แล้ว +8

      My Dad would say that every time we had to go to my grandparents “he’s living like a Collyer!”

    • @lp-xl9ld
      @lp-xl9ld 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      You too, huh...scarcely thought I was the only one, but still...

    • @ROBYNMARKOW
      @ROBYNMARKOW 2 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      @Marquis Brunson I think Collyer's Mansion was,for our parent's generation, the ultimate "Hoarding Horror Story".

    • @Vexarax
      @Vexarax 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      I am in my 30s and after watching Hoarders on TV I freak-out when the house is too messy and run around yelling "this house looks like it should be on Hoarders!!" ..I should start saying "this house looks like Collyers Mansion!" instead as that sounds much more sophisticated, heh.

  • @maniaemagna
    @maniaemagna 2 ปีที่แล้ว +21

    Hoarding is unfortunately connected to to loss of a loved one.
    Because objects may break or be damaged but they don't die.

    • @mcstabba
      @mcstabba 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Huh... Makes sense. I collect (hoard) a bunch of stuff and always somehat attributed that to my loneliness and melancholy. I lost my dear brother last year and I find it hard to throw away anything now.,

    • @maniaemagna
      @maniaemagna 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      @@mcstabba Well... Not only have I heard this from a few psychologists but our family has hoarding issues related to the loss of loved ones. If you look at the brothers story they lost their parents and one brother lost his independence.

  • @itsasecret3475
    @itsasecret3475 2 ปีที่แล้ว +199

    Such a heartbreaking story, both of them died awful deaths. Great video, very respectfully made.

    • @jackiec498
      @jackiec498 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      Spoiler! 😮

    • @purplefrog5470
      @purplefrog5470 2 ปีที่แล้ว +8

      All top commets are spoilers, I've noticed. From all channels.

    • @joshk.6246
      @joshk.6246 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      I was looking like what. I expected it to have some comedy. Then I realized I wasn't watching Business ( Brain ) Blaze.

    • @bartholomewmiller
      @bartholomewmiller 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Ikr. Just imagine Homer blind and calling out to his brother. He never got an answer and he probably died unaware of his brother's fate

    • @mitchellpatterson1829
      @mitchellpatterson1829 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Another channel, Brew, did this story in a lot more detail. It was even sadder than Simon let on.

  • @katemaloney4296
    @katemaloney4296 2 ปีที่แล้ว +53

    I'm a packrat, but I draw the line at human organs kept in jars.

    • @RainbowFlowerCrow
      @RainbowFlowerCrow 2 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      Yes we've got to draw the line somewhere

    • @mcstabba
      @mcstabba 2 ปีที่แล้ว +10

      Not even one little pickled kidney? Or maybe a couple of removed tonsils? An appendix in a jar perhaps could entice you to start collecting organs?

    • @clairekortbawi5659
      @clairekortbawi5659 2 ปีที่แล้ว +8

      Pfft. What makes you think you're better than the rest of us?
      * Shuffles Beloved Specimen Jars *

  • @Nevyn515
    @Nevyn515 2 ปีที่แล้ว +20

    This put me in mind of my dad, who for example still has the box and the receipt for a cordless phone he owned for 6 months in the mid-90’s. I know that for a fact as he digs it out every couple of years to show it off.
    It’s kept in the same room as the broken Furby, a coconut he’s owned for over 50 years, the Commodore 64 cassette tape computer, and its user manual, and over 200 assorted cables, most of which are for items that were replaced or upgraded up to a couple of decades earlier.
    I think 1 or 2 of the cables are for items he owns, but he can never find them among the cabinet full of assorted useless cables.
    Basically he keeps the box and receipt for every item he purchases, and still has all of them - though if anyone else bought anything or received a Christmas present he insisted the box be thrown out within minutes, so much so that more than once he threw out a box that hadn’t been opened and still contained the newly-purchased or received item, and twice a still-wrapped present.

    • @magical571
      @magical571 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      being nostalgic doesn't qualify as hoarding though, even with the boxes detail. it needs to truly get in the way of his day to day life (no, bothering you and showing off ain't enough and is ay this with a father that's exactly the same). People can show hoard-like (narcisist-like, deppressed-like, applies to basically any mental condition) attitudes without being full on hoarders.

    • @Zenithxblack
      @Zenithxblack 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      That coconut 🥥 sounds pretty cool, though. Have you asked its significance?

  • @rmglover3191
    @rmglover3191 2 ปีที่แล้ว +22

    Was born in Harlem Hospital and raised, literally, seven block north in Lincoln Projects, 135th and 5th - and never heard this story!
    Thankyou Simon and crew! Great work you all do.

  • @elfdream2007
    @elfdream2007 2 ปีที่แล้ว +14

    A Minor history note. The second ship to arrive in Massachusetts after the Mayflower was The Fortune, which arrived a year later. The Speedwell set sail from England but had to turn back and never made the Voyage.

    • @trawlins396
      @trawlins396 ปีที่แล้ว

      That's true. Thank you.

  • @milt6208
    @milt6208 2 ปีที่แล้ว +123

    I thought the English were the world's greatest hoarders. Their museums have everything.

    • @joshuarisker5525
      @joshuarisker5525 2 ปีที่แล้ว +8

      True shit

    • @jeffjohnson1966
      @jeffjohnson1966 2 ปีที่แล้ว +18

      Nice artifacts you've got there. We'll just hold on to it for safe keeping....

    • @christyfreeman5858
      @christyfreeman5858 2 ปีที่แล้ว +20

      Dont think its exactly hording if all the things are stolen 😂 ah liberated I mean lol

    • @michaelgallagher3640
      @michaelgallagher3640 2 ปีที่แล้ว +7

      Baa doom boom bash!!! 🥁

    • @DanCooper404
      @DanCooper404 2 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      *raiders

  • @lauramacclinic2252
    @lauramacclinic2252 2 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    ICD9 Code F42.3
    The ICD9 is the standard in America for Mental Health Care diagnosis terminology. International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) The International Classification of Diseases (ICD)
    I learned about the brothers in a workshop on mental health. Hoarding is listed in the ICD9 as a mental illness. In the USA, hoarding is officially & legally a mental illness. I feel this is important to state, because if you know someone like these brothers. They are suffering from a mental illness. And, should be treated with awareness & compassion.

  • @Yvolve
    @Yvolve 2 ปีที่แล้ว +8

    Homer died about 10 hours before he was found, if only someone had smelled it earlier. Such a heartbreaking story!

  • @dwm53w1k6
    @dwm53w1k6 2 ปีที่แล้ว +15

    Let me move the papers off my desk to the side table so I can watch this.

    • @WaddedBliss
      @WaddedBliss 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      I laughed out loud. 😂

  • @HeyLetsTalkAboutIt
    @HeyLetsTalkAboutIt 2 ปีที่แล้ว +8

    In the fire service, we used to call hoarding conditions “Collyer’s mansion conditions”. Now it’s just called “heavy fire load conditions”.

  • @spencerglenn-stone7551
    @spencerglenn-stone7551 2 ปีที่แล้ว +19

    Simon carving that chicken in the add made me really want to see him do something with Binging with babish. Maybe weird food facts while cooking? It would be fun to see babish with his British doppelganger.

  • @ryanatkinson2978
    @ryanatkinson2978 2 ปีที่แล้ว +12

    As a former mover, hoarding is incredibly sad to see. It's a very visual presentation of the troubles a lot of us go through, it's just people deal with it in more or less visible ways

    • @rebekahlikesmusic2723
      @rebekahlikesmusic2723 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Yeah it's like a reflection of their minds

    • @downtttempo
      @downtttempo 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      @@rebekahlikesmusic2723 This is true, and we should all take it to heart and examine our own homes and bedrooms. While not as extreme, the subtlety with which a messy bedroom can reveal encroaching depression is what often leaves it unnoticed until things have gotten much further out of hand than they would have if we had recognized the issue and taken action earlier. It also creates a sort of feedback loop where depression = messy living space and messy living space = more depression (and anxiety).

  • @JurisKankalis
    @JurisKankalis 2 ปีที่แล้ว +25

    So basically this video tells in the advert up front what to hoard (the mystery bespoke post), then tells the viewers what's expecting them if they do. Well done!

    • @magical571
      @magical571 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      is it hoarding if you drink the fucking thing then be done with it though? 🤔i don't think consumerism and hoarding are on the same venue, even if both are bad.

  • @BewareTheLilyOfTheValley
    @BewareTheLilyOfTheValley 2 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    I'm a bit torn on the way they lived their last years. On the one hand, I understand wanting to be left alone but on the other, the older brother was at the mercy of a clearly mentally unstable younger sibling. All communication happened only with the younger sibling and the younger brother kept anyone feom seeing the older brother, so who knows if the older brother really agreed with their living arrangement. Lots of hoarders are unfortunately very paranoid and then the shame of allowing someone to see the condition of their home or asking for help causes them to withdraw more. I don't know...all cases of hoarding are just really sad and unfortunate. I've seen enough episodes from the shows to know it never happens out of happiness but I suppose it's good they at least had each other.

  • @hannahhickenlooper7877
    @hannahhickenlooper7877 2 ปีที่แล้ว +42

    I wouldn’t go so far as to say this is a “touching story” of “brotherly love.” The love displayed for his brother was just so warped.

    • @BOYVIRGO666
      @BOYVIRGO666 2 ปีที่แล้ว +13

      I dont see it as warped, Unhealthy in their belief that they knew better than everyone else sure, but warped...eh. Theres no signs of it being anything other than taking it abit too far.

    • @mayhit
      @mayhit 2 ปีที่แล้ว +25

      Yeah, this video left me with a lot of (very sad, very disturbing) questions. On the one hand, it's possible this was a folie a deux situation in which they were both equally mentally ill with the same shared delusions, and were both in agreement on what they were doing. Which is plenty tragic and disturbing enough. But it's also quite possible that Homer was essentially being held captive by his well-intentioned but deeply mentally disturbed brother. Or it could've been some of both; a degree of shared delusion, combined with Langley becoming increasingly paranoid and controlling. Homer was blind and bedbound; he may well not have even been aware of the full extent of his brother's hoarding. He may well have had no choice but to follow the "diet" his brother was convinced would restore him to health. His brother wouldn't even let anyone see him, which _could_ have been at Homer's request, but that's a lot to assume, under the circumstances. Honestly, this is one of the most sad and disturbing real-life stories I've ever heard. And the uncertainty about _exactly_ what went on within that house and the minds of it's two occupants only makes the whole thing more haunting.

    • @98Zai
      @98Zai 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      I don't think so. Back in the day you relied on your family. Leaving your brother in a 1920's care home would have been a disgrace to your family. The affluent had to worry a lot about their status and pride. It's still like that in many parts of the world, Japan and the middle east for example.

    • @scarletamazon3455
      @scarletamazon3455 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      @@98Zai It didn't have to be a care home, they had more than enough money to have doctors come to the house and employ full time nursing staff

    • @98Zai
      @98Zai 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@scarletamazon3455 Considering what qualified as medicine and care during the course of their lives, I respect his decision, especially since they were wealthy. But he obviously took it too far.

  • @frankbieser
    @frankbieser 2 ปีที่แล้ว +14

    Certainly a tragic tale. One has to wonder if it's a tale of mutual brotherly devotion or a tragic case of wilful neglect from mental disorder. Did anyone besides Langley ever see or talk to Homer after his stroke?

    • @AveragePicker
      @AveragePicker 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      I think there were a couple of successful wellness visits…mostly from the fire department…and he was seen….but it’s been a long time since I read in depth about them and might be confusing it with something else.

  • @mbgrafix
    @mbgrafix 2 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    This story very fittingly reminds me of another true story. The story about the Ward brothers - Delbert, Roscoe, and Lyman. I'd include a link, but nowadays, it seems that comments with links get deleted immediately. But no problem, you can easily find it with a simple search.

  • @erichaskell
    @erichaskell 2 ปีที่แล้ว +10

    I have known two hoarders, one had Alzheimers, the other was ecologically oriented, just couldn’t get around to recycling.

  • @bigbird2451
    @bigbird2451 2 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    So if you want to be all the hoarder you can be, get a monthly subscription service to bring you more stuff Every month!

  • @Darkflowerchyld718
    @Darkflowerchyld718 2 ปีที่แล้ว +11

    I've seen so many shows depicting these brothers story. I had no idea it was based on real people!

  • @johnyoung4163
    @johnyoung4163 2 ปีที่แล้ว +33

    “We have no income and don’t want to pay income taxes!”
    *PAYS TAXES*
    Modern billionaires: “We have enormous income and we don’t want to pay taxes”
    *PAYS NO TAXES*
    🤔

    • @thepsychicspoon5984
      @thepsychicspoon5984 2 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      Haha. Peasants are funny.
      (Makes cash angels)
      JK. I ain't got shit to my name.

    • @TJDious
      @TJDious 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      This might be funny if it was in any way true

    • @rainbowsXregrets
      @rainbowsXregrets 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      Except the 1% of people with highest incomes pay over 40% of all taxes collected in the United States. The same 1% of people pay about 25% of their total income, while the lowest brackets pay about 4% of theirs...
      🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️
      I'm broke as hell, and paying taxes sucks whether your rich or poor, but it's a necessary evil for our economy and democratic systems to continue functioning. Try educating yourself with more than sensationalized nonsense posted on social media.

    • @thepsychicspoon5984
      @thepsychicspoon5984 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@rainbowsXregrets Not enough. It should be 90%.
      If they leave the country, then its treason.

    • @fyzzlefry
      @fyzzlefry 2 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      @@rainbowsXregrets WON'T SOMEONE THINK OF THE BILLIONAIRES?

  • @elkvis
    @elkvis 2 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    a brit using spices in their food? impossible!

  • @tomkzinti2760
    @tomkzinti2760 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Hearing all the sad details made my heart sick, but I couldn't bring myself to stop it. Thank you for this sad yet true historical story, and for all your work making so many videos, Simon.

  • @zeebest1004
    @zeebest1004 2 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    And HOW do you know the older brother was consensually kept healthy, happy and sanitary?

  • @ludwigiapilosa508
    @ludwigiapilosa508 2 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    Video starts at 1:40

  • @lavinamontoya8164
    @lavinamontoya8164 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Hoarding and reclusiveness (social anxiety and agoraphobia experienced in various degrees, sometimes extreme) usually go hand in hand. It's a devastating mental condition that affects not only the person affected but also their families and surroundings like neighbors because of the unpleasant smells and rodents, cockroaches and other infections, landlords because more often than not, they completely destroy the rented properties, the city council gets involved etc etc. It is a real problem for all involved specially if there are children living under those conditions. Really sad, difficult to treat and help the people affected. Moreover, apart from the hoarding itself, sometimes there are other aggravating issues like alcoholism and /or substance abuse.

  • @sendmorerum8241
    @sendmorerum8241 2 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    Privacy be damned, Homer needed professional care and people just let his brother essentially keep him hostage. God knows how much he suffered through the years, not just in his last days.

  • @riggs20
    @riggs20 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Aside from the hoarding and horrible deaths of course, I can relate to just wanting the world to leave you alone. I could easily become a hermit. The fact that I am not independently wealthy and have to go out and work has probably saved me from ending up this way!

  • @annahelms7753
    @annahelms7753 2 ปีที่แล้ว +8

    My parents say I am a hoarder. I disagree. Videos like this make me more sure I am correct and they just don't think my collections of books, board games, and art supplies (that I use and throw out when done) are actually of value. One mans trash is another man's mental health problem.

    • @mk1st
      @mk1st 2 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      You sound like a collector with specific tastes and knowledge of the things you have. Your parents saying you are a hoarder tells me they just don't have the same hobbies as you do. Hoarders tend to have no particular subject for what they accumulate and just can't get rid of anything once they get it into their space.

    • @Zenithxblack
      @Zenithxblack 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      Your stuff sounds like fun! 🌞

  • @stenkamx5406
    @stenkamx5406 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    If you're interested in learning more about this down the rabbit hole had a good longer video on the subject. But always nice to hear Simon narrate

  • @noobie64
    @noobie64 2 ปีที่แล้ว +28

    It's amazing that they were able to cram over 100 tons of material into a brownstone.

    • @juliadagnall5816
      @juliadagnall5816 2 ปีที่แล้ว +10

      Brownstones can be huge. The average is between 4000-5000 square feet and since their family was wealthy I doubt the had a small one. For scale the average American house built today is about half of that. Getting all that stuff up the stairs would have been the hard part

    • @draglorr5578
      @draglorr5578 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      @@juliadagnall5816 my worst enemy...stairs...

  • @Angel_1394
    @Angel_1394 2 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    A really interesting story. I'm sorry for both their lives ending so terrible. Glad even a small peice of good could come from it and that it's now a little park.

  • @Gholti6572
    @Gholti6572 2 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    How incredibly touching and sad, in equal measure.

  • @louiekat4477
    @louiekat4477 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Wish we could’ve seen the paintings the brother did of Homers visions of red buildings. Recon they got tossed with the trash though

    • @felicitybywater8012
      @felicitybywater8012 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      They had probably been buried and so rotted away. Like my family photos that fell victim to my father's hoarder crap.

    • @louiekat4477
      @louiekat4477 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@felicitybywater8012 I totally hadn’t thought about that 🙁

  • @kevinconrad6156
    @kevinconrad6156 2 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    Unbox, just what a hoarder needs.

  • @Mr.SLovesTheSacredHeartofJesus
    @Mr.SLovesTheSacredHeartofJesus 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    A very sad and tragic tale. But, as you said at the end of the video. This really is a story about two brothers who loved one another.

  • @blackmagemasher4031
    @blackmagemasher4031 2 ปีที่แล้ว +8

    I learned of these guys watching Fredrik Knudsen. Interesting and sad people

  • @khaightlynn5295
    @khaightlynn5295 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Would you cover Big Edie and Little Edie from Grey Gardens? Similar case of reclusive hoarders, but they had a lavish lifestyle decades before it went downhill. These eccentric brothers always remind me of that mother-daughter duo. Good video, fact boy 😊👍

  • @vustvaleo8068
    @vustvaleo8068 2 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    touching but sounds like a horror story at the same time.

  • @carloynwebb2896
    @carloynwebb2896 9 หลายเดือนก่อน

    My late husband was as a hoarder. I used to kid him about it telling him that he had to be closely related to the Collyer Brothers. Fortunately, 23 years before he died he finally realized that the junk he collected was more trouble than it was worth and he was glad to dispose the f it. I made a deal with him and kept my end of the bargain when I told him I would quit smoking if he got rid and f the junk, and both of us were better off.

  • @viscache1
    @viscache1 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Some people do difficult things simply for the discipline of it. I owned two nice cars and lived in a neighborhood with six buses every hour across town but chose to don boots and backpack full of stones and jog four miles uphill to work and walk the same way home. Discipline is what makes us strong. It is those that shut themselves off from the world and do nothing are weak and poor of spirit.

  • @Football__Junkie
    @Football__Junkie 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    “All we want is for people to leave us alone” …as they live in the middle of one of the world’s largest metro areas

  • @twocvbloke
    @twocvbloke 2 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    When having to move the uncle out of his last house, the evidence of his, and the other, deceased, uncle was really awful to deal with, to the point that a lot of his belongings were just left behind, cos there was no time or room to sort through it all, hoarding is a pretty bad state to get into, and an even worse one to get out of...

  • @theguest4516
    @theguest4516 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    I've never seen pictures of them or the inside of their house. Thank You for that. It was interesting. That picture of the chandelier looking like it was on the floor was eye-opening!!! I've heard this before but, the pictures were helpful!!! Take care and have fun!!! 😷😎☺️

  • @ladyk4940
    @ladyk4940 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Great vid, as always!

  • @therese369
    @therese369 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    I learned about this story in university, a friend was learning to become an actor and they made a play based on this story. It was one of the most gripping plays Ive seen

  • @user-hx5xq6tl9f
    @user-hx5xq6tl9f 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    This is so sad!! Came for a quick TH-cam sesh as I couldn’t sleep … and now I’m just a sad insomniac 😢

  • @Crangaso
    @Crangaso 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Geniuses are predisposed to mental illness.

  • @AllDayBikes
    @AllDayBikes 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    1:17 Can't wait for Simon's version of Binging with Babish coming soon, to a new channel near you.

  • @ddawe31635
    @ddawe31635 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    This story makes me so sad. Really a grievous tale. Unfortunately in this day & age I believe this happens a lot more. We've lost alour neighborly connections. Rest in peace.

  • @timothymills3864
    @timothymills3864 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Hoarding behavior is a danger to everyone. Retired code enforcement and have seen things no one else should see, smelled the stench that no one should have to smell. Last time I checked, rats don’t stay on site.

  • @IsaiahAmos017
    @IsaiahAmos017 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Anyone else find that's a little funny a video about hoarding has an advertisement for stuff you don't really need right at the beginning
    I'm not criticizing anyone I just think it's funny

  • @Zenithxblack
    @Zenithxblack 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    This was a truly sad, albeit fascinating, story.

  • @alexiskiri9693
    @alexiskiri9693 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    A acquaintance's mother died and some friends agreed to help clean out the house. I had never seen anything like it before. Everything filthy, junk piled everywhere with small paths like mice burrows between the junk. Horrible.

  • @gordonwallin2368
    @gordonwallin2368 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Very touching.

  • @lexilei191
    @lexilei191 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    I could listen to you talk all day, Simon :)

  • @kimhohlmayer7018
    @kimhohlmayer7018 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I’ve often wondered if they might not be related to my mom’s side of the family. Her maiden name was Colyer which is unusual. So Collyer seems like it could be a slightly different spelling of the old family name.

  • @Blaklege63
    @Blaklege63 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    This is always a fascinating story to me

  • @nomimalone7520
    @nomimalone7520 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    A touching, sad, yet strangely heartwarming story

  • @alphangelbug
    @alphangelbug 2 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    I’d love to know why the Snooze button on an alarm clock is 9 minutes. Who decided that? Why nine and not ten?

    • @laser31415
      @laser31415 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Just guessing, but it was probably cheaper to build it that way. In a time when every transistor counted on a circuit broad checking a single digit was cheaper then checking 2.

    • @calebbodiford5913
      @calebbodiford5913 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      On an analog clock, the gears make a full cycle every nine minutes. One snooze equals one gear cycle

  • @skilledwarman
    @skilledwarman 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    If anyone wants another video in these two, there's an episode of "Down the Rabbit Hole" that also covers the brothers

  • @goldensloth7
    @goldensloth7 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    i would LOVE to go through all that junk. bet there was some interesting stuff.

  • @yuyutubee8435
    @yuyutubee8435 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    "You're a crook, Captain Hook. Judge, won't you throw the book at the pirate..." - -Chareth Cutestory- Homer Collyer in elementary school, probably.

  • @meaghanpike2424
    @meaghanpike2424 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Perfect timing everything else looked me in my feed.

  • @laurabentzinger200
    @laurabentzinger200 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Bummer way for them to die. How wonderful they had each other. Many people feel this way its just more difficult today to be left alone

  • @catherinesanchez1185
    @catherinesanchez1185 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Work in the storage industry and unfortunately this is a part of our business. Watching people of limited means pay rent they can’t afford for stuff they’ll never use again and decays with each passing year

  • @fsj197811
    @fsj197811 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    That was really good!

  • @bexsy1988
    @bexsy1988 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    ‘Bought the house for $7k CASH’… ‘failed to pay the mortgage’ 🤩

  • @listenhere1623
    @listenhere1623 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    If the inside of those copper cups is actually copper acidic drinks can leach the copper and poison the drink

  • @shadowgb
    @shadowgb 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Man, that is wild.

  • @TheEvilCommenter
    @TheEvilCommenter 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Good video 👍

  • @justinspringstun5836
    @justinspringstun5836 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Very interesting guys.

  • @allisonharper1819
    @allisonharper1819 2 ปีที่แล้ว +16

    As I recall the brothers parents were cousins. 😬 Though they may have had cognitive intelligence they seem to have been on the spectrum in regards to other social and emotional aspects. Nicely covered bit of NYC less known history. 🙏

    • @EarthIsNotFlat
      @EarthIsNotFlat 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      That’s actually not at all uncommon historically. The human immune system is evolutionarily optimized for reproduction with someone at the second-cousin level of relatedness. Any closer relation results in some inbreeding depression. Any more distant relation results in some outbreeding depression. In fact in some parts of the world marrying cousins is the norm (albeit genetically suboptimal especially when this pattern is repeated generation after generation.)

    • @allisonharper1819
      @allisonharper1819 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@EarthIsNotFlat they were reported to be 1st cousins.

    • @EarthIsNotFlat
      @EarthIsNotFlat 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@allisonharper1819 right, 1st cousins is a single degree of relation closer than the evolutionary *ideal*. It’s actually really common for first cousins to marry around the world and historically. It’s only a problem genetically if it occurs generation after generation. If 1st cousin marriage is interspersed with 3rd cousin marriages every other generation you’d actually get the genetic optimum.

  • @fvckyoutubescensorshipandt2718
    @fvckyoutubescensorshipandt2718 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    1:43 for those that don't buy random junk they don't absolutely need.

  • @cleverusername9369
    @cleverusername9369 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Wow, Simon knows how to spatchcock a chicken! Didn't expect to learn that today

  • @deevee666
    @deevee666 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Without watching past the ads I’m going to say this looks like the collier bros.

  • @xirisx1988
    @xirisx1988 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Skip to 1.40 to see the actual video.

  • @joeyr7294
    @joeyr7294 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Surprised you weren't doing this about my great grandmother lol

  • @smokysky2547
    @smokysky2547 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    How many channels is this dude appearing in? :D always interesting, but I can't keep track of all the channels

  • @SAMX266
    @SAMX266 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    I read about this case over two decades ago, in a Reader's Digest book.

  • @yllanthrasblood9297
    @yllanthrasblood9297 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    9:36 "..appeared in court to testify against a young black man.." I understand you are probably quoting an original news story however I would put forward that the colour of the person was not a necessary detail to mention as it has no bearing on the story, "young man" would have been sufficient.

  • @weedfreer
    @weedfreer 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    smooth...top shelf goods from under the radar brands...noice.

  • @chibicheeks78
    @chibicheeks78 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    I only heard them referenced on an episode of Frasier. I had no idea this was a real event with real people.

  • @debshaw680
    @debshaw680 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Those poor gentlemen. How sad they’re ending was.

  • @OldHickoryTN
    @OldHickoryTN 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    This dude might be crazy but I can respect some of his logic

  • @PeterGregoryKelly
    @PeterGregoryKelly 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Simon starts off endorsing a line of products to *_hoard_*