Comments on: Thriller Thursday: Hoarding, Buried Alive

By: Valentine Logar

Valentine Logar — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 10:51:58 +0000

My ex-mother-in-law, terrible, horrible and frightening. What was worse, she still had two children in the house. She was somewhat reclusive and so it was difficult to get her out of the house but we finally did over a two week period, sent her to her mother. We literally went in with shovels and cleared out rooms of years worth of trash, broken furniture, cat feces and other horrifying things. We tore up carpet, had the house fumigated, painted walls. It took several of us, her son and some friends, plus me. She was going to lose her home if we didn’t get it fixed. There was only one working bathroom in the house before we cleaned it up, the stove didn’t work, the refrigerator was filthy and unsafe.

When she came back she was furious. I thought she was going to kill us both. She did’t speak to either of us for months (no real loss). She did eventually get help and started to understand what she had done to her daughters and why (loss of husband). During my marriage to her son, her house never reverted, I don’t know what happened after. I had never seen her house while we were dating by the way.

By: Julie Glover

Julie Glover — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 02:29:52 +0000

Yes, I lived near a hoarder once. There was just a trail through the stuff to get to different places in the house. It was sad because she was very sweet, just clearly plagued by deeper issues. I couldn’t imagine ever living like that.

By the way, I’ve heard that a lot of people who went through economic crises later hid money. My grandmother experienced the Depression, and she had a habit of tucking cash here and there around her house. She didn’t hoard other stuff, just the money.

By: Melinda VanLone

Melinda VanLone — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 13:06:55 +0000

I can see how something goes so far wrong that it gets overwhelming to deal with, so they just don’t. Piles of crap (both sorts) would seem insurmountable after awhile. I was walking the other day and watched a woman stop in front of me. She picked up a button, brushed it off, secreted it in a pocket, and moved on. My first thought was “she’s a magpie.” She picks up shiny things to take back to the nest. I do wonder if she was a hoarder. I pictured her going to a little house stacked floor to ceiling with piles of buttons and old hair bows and things she found on the street.

I can’t watch that show…it always gives me the urge to clean heh.

By: Dana Delamar

Dana Delamar — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 07:15:39 +0000

One of my family members was a hoarder. Not to the point of filth or danger, but her house was jam-packed with stuff that should have gone in the recycling or the trash. All of it was clean, but there was just too much. No one needs hundreds of washed-out yogurt cups! And she wouldn’t toss out things that were broken beyond repair. I think the Depression left its mark on her.

By: J.L. Campbell

J.L. Campbell — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 21:15:52 +0000

Hi, Stacey,
I tend to keep books and paper, but like you, I watch Hoarding: Buried Alive and don’t understand the trash, feaces and vermin. Hadn’t heard about the cases you mentioned above. I imagine whoever all that money eventually belonged to would have been ecstatic.

By: tomwisk

tomwisk — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 19:04:54 +0000

Nice post, I was on my way to hoarding. Last Wednesday I had a bookstore owner come and remove in excess of 800 lbs. of books I’ve read and irrationally clung to. You have to start somewhere. Your examples, knew about all of them but never made the connection.

By: Kassandra Lamb

Kassandra Lamb — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 17:37:25 +0000

I know someone who is a hoarder. In her case it is definitely related to losses, during childhood and adulthood. Until recently her elderly aunt was living with her. The aunt kept her hoarding somewhat in check, but several rooms of their house were floor to ceiling with just a small path down the middle. Now that the aunt has passed, we worry that our friend might end up buried under her own chaos one day.

Changing hats to psychologist: Another theory regarding the cause of hoarding is that these folks may have a genetic predisposition to Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and that predisposition ends up being expressed as an obsession with keeping everything and anything. Throwing anything out creates tremendous anxiety in them.

Still, having said that, I don’t get the animal feces part. I guess eventually they go into so much denial about the mess they live in that even that doesn’t register on their radar.

Great post, Stacy!

By: Meradeth

Meradeth — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 16:51:19 +0000

That show totally freaks me out. I worry about certain family members at times (my great-grandmother was a hoader, though no where near the degree of some I’ve seen), but I don’t think it’ll ever get to the point of feces or filth!

By: Tiffany A White

Tiffany A White — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 15:06:51 +0000

Hoarders freak me out. I have a few people in my family who might just fall into this category… because of this, I throw so much stuff away or give to charity. It just makes me feel dirty. I can’t watch the show. Can’t do it. An episode of CSI focused on a hoarder and they couldn’t find all of the dead bodies in her house all at once. Yikes!

By: Stacy Green

Stacy Green — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 14:43:57 +0000

In reply to Lauralynn Elliott. It really is. From what little I know, it seems like it is usually triggered from some sort of trauma or loss in life. And we lived across the street from hoarders at our old place. They had chain link fence with tarp around their property by the time we moved, and the city was always after them.