Man died in network of tunnels he made through house of rubbish[UK]

Telegraph ^ | 07 Jan 2009 | Telegraph

[BGHater]

'Police had to call in a specialist diving team because the smell from the house, Broughton, Buckinghamshire, was so overpowering.'

[Ancient Drive]

uncleanliness killed him.

[Tijeras_Slim]

Epic Collyer Brothers Fail

[frogjerk]

Beat me to it!

[GeronL]

no kids? no old folks home?

[ZirconEncrustedTweezers]

“Eccentric”? That doesn’t even begin to cover it.

[mvpel]

And just think, British taxpayers were paying for his healthcare.

[frogjerk]

“Eccentric”? That doesn’t even begin to cover it.

If you are rich you are "eccentric", if you are poor you are "crazy".

[mvpel]

They were too late for this guy, I guess.

[wildbill]

For those who don’t know about the collyer brothers:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collyer_brothers

[Tammy8]

If you are rich you are "eccentric", if you are poor you are "crazy".

Yep the old double standard- as a wealthy friend explained it to me years ago- if a girl from the wrong side of town is sleeping around she is a tramp- if she is from a "fine" family she is merely overly affectionate.

So the question is, did this man have enough money to be eccentric?

[SIDENET]

"He was slightly eccentric, but very clever.

Not clever enough, obviously.

[ZX12R]

Not clever enough, obviously.

"missed it by that much"

[DonaldC]

I have never seen a case like this where there wasn’t an underlying mental disorder, be it from old age, depression, or whatever. What a shame for someone to go out this way.

[Dionysius]

Thank you, the article was fascinating.

[Cowboy Bob]

For those who don’t know about the collyer brothers:

I remember hearing years ago (perhaps 20) that the last member of some wealth British family died, leaving the manor house to the government.

When the house was entered, it was discovered to be stuffed full of junk. Apparently over the centuries, the family horded everything. The would fill entire rooms with junk, and then seal the room.

I had heard that the government was going to document all of what was in the house, and then open it up to the public. Several times when visiting England, I asked members of the National Trust if they knew about the manor, and when it may be open to the public.

While only a few had ever heard about it, none knew when it would be open to the public. Has anyone else heard about this place?

[Zman516]

Similar mental disorder as those who have 175 cats in their house.

[Lurker]

Hoarding is a pretty common symptom of OCD. My grandmother had it.

When she died we hauled away 5 container loads of old newspapers she'd stored, some of them for decades.

You could barely move in her home when we started cleaning it up.

L