I didn’t photograph anything today, even though there was ample opportunity.
But I did learn a new thing today. I wrote this earlier and shared it w some friends. Just now have decided to share it on the blog too.
I learned a new thing today, it is fantasically gothic, classical black humor, creepy yet fascinating, and also kind of sad.
The term Collyer Mansion is a term used in emergency service circles to describe a house in which a person of eccentric nature has hoarded things to the point that there are narrow pathways to access different parts of the house.
The eccentricity expresses at all different levels, of course. The term refers specifically to the Collyer Brothers of Manhatten. Google the term for their full story and to see pictures. The Collyer Brothers, Langley and Homer, lived in a brownstone in Manhatten in the early to mid 1900’s. In their later years, they became very recluse, emerging only to drive away neighbors who gave them trouble, or authorities trying to collect for bills, taxes, or mortgage. The inside of their home became a warren of tunnels with booby traps. Objects of all nature collected to support bundles of newspapers dating from the past few decades, and became part of a world the brothers rarely left. Homer, over time became bedridden and blind, depending on Langley to support him. Langley would emerge at night to collect water, rejected food from trash or closed bakeries, and bits of junk that caught his eye, returning to the house to support his brother.
The end came when Langley was caught under one of his own traps and died only ten feet from his incapacitated brother. Neighbors complaining of the smell intiated a search inside the house which led to discovery of the gruesome extent of the brothers’ eccentricities. Brother Homer was found curled in his chair, having just passed ten hours before from dehydration, and cardiac arrest. His brother, found three weeks later after an all out manhunt, was the source of the odor.
Authorities removed over 140 tons of stuff from the house.
My investigation of the term was spurred by something James mentioned in passing. It sparked the interest to learn something new, and also to lend a bit of love to the existence that is compelled to hoard to such an extent….
It also reminds me to clean out my purse, and stop stealing straws and napkins from McDonalds.
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