Collyer brothers Two American brothers who became victims of garbage Country: USA

1. The Collyer Brothers: Victims of Hoarding
2. A Life Surrounded by Trash
3. A Visit from the Police
4. The Collyer Brothers Syndrome

The Collyer Brothers: Victims of Hoarding

This is the story of two American brothers who became victims of hoarding. It was a highly unusual case that made headlines and perplexed even the most experienced police officers. Homer Collyer was born on November 6, 1881, and his younger brother Langley Collyer was born on October 3, 1885. Their father, Herman Collyer, was a respected gynecologist in Manhattan, and the family was considered well-off. Both Homer and Langley graduated from the prestigious Columbia University, but they were already seen as eccentric. Langley, an engineer, was known for his bizarre inventions, such as a vacuum device for piano internals, while Homer showed no interest in any activity or life in general.

In 1919, their parents got divorced, but it is unclear whether this event influenced what happened to the brothers later or if there were other factors involved. After their mother's death in 1929, Homer and Langley moved to their own house in Harlem and "closed the door" behind them. They became recluses, without friends or girlfriends. They even gave up hot water, gas, heating, and all the comforts of modern civilization. The only thing that interested the Collyer brothers was garbage. Every night, when Harlem, which was then a fashionable neighborhood, quieted down, the brothers went out on their "hunt." They brought back anything that could be of use to them, regardless of its condition. With each passing evening, the amount of junk in their house grew. Soon, rumors began to spread around the neighborhood about the two strange hermits, and their windows became targets for mischievous boys. Harlem slowly transformed from an upscale area into an unsafe place, which only made the Collyer brothers more suspicious and determined to isolate themselves even further.

A Life Surrounded by Trash

The only connection the brothers had with the outside world was through the newspapers they found on the streets and in garbage dumps. After reading them, they neatly folded the papers into stacks. It was, in fact, the enormous amount of old newspapers that eventually cost Langley his life, as they collapsed on him, trapping him under their weight. But that happened later. For now, the brothers continued their ominous way of life, instilling fear and hatred in the neighborhood.

Time passed, and at some point, Homer, the older brother, completely lost his sight. Langley took care of him as best he could, which meant they never sought medical help. They believed that since their father was a doctor and they had a considerable amount of medical literature at home, they could treat themselves. Langley put Homer on an "orange diet," and he consumed a substantial amount of the fruit every day. Initially, the brothers occasionally visited the supermarket, but later they relied solely on discarded food. Their diet consisted of leftovers and whatever else they could find in the garbage. They also found useful items for their home in the dumps.

A Visit from the Police

In 1942, the police arrived near the Collyer brothers' house after complaints from neighbors and the bank, which they had stopped making payments to. After forcefully entering the house, the police encountered a dirty, unkempt old man, who turned out to be Langley. They forced him to write a check, and then they left. The sight they witnessed in the house became a popular story within the police force.

On March 21, 1947, the police returned to the brothers' house after receiving a report of a corpse inside. Once again, no one opened the door for them. However, even if they wanted to open it, it would have been impossible, as it had long been barricaded with accumulated garbage. The scene that the police officers encountered after entering the house through a window was truly eerie. It could no longer be called a home; it was a gigantic landfill. The piles of trash exceeded all imaginable limits. After a long search, they found Homer sitting in a chair. He was dead. Langley's body was discovered later, buried under a massive pile of newspapers that likely caused his death. It was later determined that Homer, paralyzed, died of starvation a week after his brother's demise. Their estate was valued at over $100,000, but the Collyer brothers' house was eventually demolished as no one wanted to live there.

The Collyer Brothers Syndrome

Modern medicine refers to the condition the Collyer brothers suffered from as pathological hoarding, and its nature is still not thoroughly understood. It is known that seeking psychiatric help can alleviate the symptoms, but individuals like the Collyer brothers typically do not seek medical assistance or look for the cause of their afflictions. Instead, they build their own "trash tombs" to protect themselves from the outside world.