I keep picturing Homer hearing the trap being sprung, and calling out to Langley a few times before realizing he's dead. Either that, or Langley realizing he's trapped and calling out to Homer and the two just...talking as they slowly died together. ...Now I'm sad.
Man . . . The fact that Langley painted stuff and collected reading material for his brother for "when he can see again" is really sad but touching . . .
@@housemouseshorts Why would it be madness? In today's world, plenty of families take care of family members who have fallen into a vegetative state, or are severely paralyzed. If that isn't madness, then why should this be? Sounds like you're the one who doesn't understand people friendo.
@@writershard5065 Do those people set deadly traps to kill people with? I don't think so..this guy died to one of his own deathtraps..thats maddness and irony.
@@housemouseshorts well to be fair, they were paranoid. People were kind of mean to them because of rumors of there home. And the police although justifiably did break into his home....so the traps make some sense
I’ll admit there’s nothing wrong with it if it’s rare enough, but the stigma exists for a reason. If it goes on for enough generations, the descendants start getting really messed up genetics. Which is also a problem with some purebred cats and dogs.
Íris It’s weird as fuck and the stigma exists for a reason. My dad’s sister married their first cousin and they had 7 kids. Go ahead and guess how many came out weird
Sort of explains why barricading isnt so irrational particularly when the cops bust in at the head of a torch mob. Refuse? Building material. Note to self: keep the traps out of the living quarters.
I can't imagine how awful Homer's death was. You can't move, you can't see, you only have one person helping you. One day you hear that person in trouble, so close to you. And then one day it just goes quiet. And then you slowly starve to death, smelling your loved one's body beginning to decay, before you die of either dehydration or starvation. What a horrible, miserable way to go. And Langley too; you're pinned down, unable to move, the only person in your vicinity completely unable to help you. I feel so awful for both of them. They just wanted to be left alone.
My anxiety and depression would send me into full blown panic attacks and meltdowns whenever I needed to get the mail. But then I realised that I never get important mail, so I stopped the daily drama and just collect the paper trash from my letter box each week, sometimes only once a month and throw it directly in the recycling bin. Except letters that look important like or which come from the government lol
I was a personal assistant to an elder lady from NYC. She told me all about the Collyers. She was over 100 yrs old but she never forgot them. So i went & looked them up. She was right, though it is unbelievable.
Just imagine - he had to listen to his own brother slowly dying while being completely helpless, knowing that that also inevitably leads to his own death. That's absolutely soul-crushing.
It's heartbreaking to think of how horrible Homer's last days must have been after his brother already died... I can't imagine such a terrible fate. Blind, paralyzed, probably knowing something awful had happened to the only other person in his life... the loneliness, suffering, maybe even a sense of abandonment.
"My brother dreams of beautiful buildings all in red and when he describes them to me I try to paint them to the best of my ability. When he regains his sight, I'll show them all to him." Gets me every time. Unbelievably tragic
Interesting story. I was a roofing salesman in Wisconsin and one day I was called to a house north of Madison to quote a roof. I was a 3 story+ old mansion and had a garage that was falling down. The owner and his wife were very reclusive and in their 70's. Believe it or not the inside was almost like this story. There was junk and boxes piled 6 ft. high everywhere. To get upstairs you had to navigate a path a couple of feet wide all the way to the top. In his bedroom there was junk piled and only a small path to his bed that probably hadn't been changed for a long time. Both of them were not healthy and hardly mobile. The yards were the same. The porch roof was loaded with so much stuff I couldn't believe it hadn't collapsed. Well, we got the job and I knew it was going to be rough. The insurance co. was paying otherwise I would have done it for cost. They were nice folks but only spoke when needed. In the end we took about 10 dumpsters of stuff, none from the inside as per his wishes. Moving everything took 3 days before we could start the roof. This story reminded me of them. i told the local authorities about them and was told they were aware of them and had a son looking out for them. A couple of years later I heard they had both died, I hope together.
@@starisesun7692 when you're slowly falling into mental illness, it's really hard to actually get yourself out of it. He had nobody else to give him rational wake-up calls, so he just kept getting worse and worse.
I don't know about you but a full human skeleton and human organs preserved in jars seems pretty awful to me. Also where did the body of a two headed infant even came from?
I thought Kapitanleutnant Thompson was the best acting of a drunk man in the beginning. The second position is tied between Jeff Bridges Rooster Cogburn in the true grit remake and nic cage in leaving las vegas.
@Cody Ingram "Besides, almost every idiot can trace their poor actions back to some form of mental illness nowadays." Yes, it's almost like harmful behaviour comes from broken minds. Who knew. Dismissing people as "freaks and idiots" as many so often love to do precludes a rational analysis of mental illness. If we knew back then what we know now, they may have been able to get the help they needed before it was too late. It's not about offending people, it's about understanding the human condition.
@Cody Ingram freak, noun: "a person or animal on exhibition as an example of a strange deviation from nature; monster." Yeah nothing dehumanizing or dismissive about literally referring to people as objects to gawk at. I'm sure they made freakshows illegal because they weren't profitable, or something. And that's ignoring the fact that hoarding and the other things on display here are perfectly natural parts of the human condition. (which we wouldn't know if we all thought like you)
@Cody Ingram They may have been freaks but I find them far more fascinating than those kids who threw stones through their windows. The Colliers have gone down in history because even though their behaviour was arguably appalling they were and still are fascinating individuals in the minds of many.
This was easily the most difficult video to make so far. Information on the brothers was often contradicted between sources, and the pool of images I could use was absurdly small. There was exactly one image of Homer Collyer that I could find. This also was the most difficult video emotionally. I slowly became attached to the brothers while I read. and I nearly broke down crying while doing my research. Still, it's a beautiful and fascinating story, and I hope that I did it justice.
That is an impressively obscure and fascinating piece of American history. Such an odd pair where tragedy and clearly some other growing conditions (I have NO psyche background so I won't even hazard a guess) just brought them so far down...Still, I'm glad you made this. It is something worth remembering and it is oddly satisfying that a park is on that land, ever commemorating the pair in a pleasant way without being gaudy or any such a thing.
@@maxdavis7722 If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off Now change the world "rifle" with "trap"
@@GeertPolo yeah maybe a bit much got an old timer. Personally i could put down a couple oranges and hour thru the day, but thatd probably be about all i ate if i did eat that many. Maybe he only ate oranges who knows
I don’t think they’re that strange, just sad. They were doing fine until their parents died. They couldn’t bare to throw out their parents stuff and so they kept it all. When his brother fell ill, Langley did his best to care for him, hoping he might return to health. People harassing them only added to their seclusion and inability to stop hoarding. He probably set traps to protect his frail brother from any would be burglars. Eventually he succumbed to his own trap and his brother starved. A tragic story of two close brothers.
I’m better than you i thought hard about it and I agree with you, sad for that to happen to such kind people, can only remember them for their pure love and caring they had for their parents and each other
The ending of this actually made me really sad. Despite the fact that the brothers were highly eccentric penny pinchers and hoarders who had an unhealthy sense of paranoia, they were still human at heart, and cared for each other deeply. I can’t even begin to imagine what Homer Collyer endured as he was forced to listen to his younger brother die, and the horrible realization that he too would die, paralyzed in a tomb of their own creation.
I can't imagine that even when his brother was alive that Homer's life was exactly fun. Blind and knees to chest from rheumatism, eating nothing but oranges. And I thought living with daily joint pain and migraines sucked balls. The worst part is, given their proclivities, I don't see any other way at all that their lives could have ended other than if Homer had happened to die first. This was as certain as the sunrise. But if you really want to be spooked by the end of it all, you have to know that in some way Homer knew what had happened. Being crushed by so much hoarded crap that you can't get out from under it would not have been quiet. *shivers
You can't imagine how free we feel gave me chills. Like I have some depressive and anxiety disorder tendencies and this whole pandemic thing just felt like an encouraged excuse to be my worst self and not do what I need to and it is freeing to just live ignoring everything in your own little world and it's just kinda viscerally upsetting if you know what he means.
I honestly feel bad for them. They just lost their parents, went through the great depression and then Homer had a stroke *before* they got bullied by their entire neighborhood. Because they honestly just seem like nice, sociable people put in a horrible situation. Poor Homer and Langley. :(
@Rose Fincher Here and in other comments you used the abusive as hominem fallacy by trying to discredit someone's statement by pointing out some personal detail which is not relevant to the topic at hand. Just now you used the circumstantial and hominem fallacy by trying to raise suspicion about the biases of the other party involved.
"The Collyers were descended from the Livingstons". If true, this is a key fact. The Livingstons ran the game when the Rockefellers were nobodies. I'm reading about them in "America's Secret Aristocracy". Would explain the cross-breeding too.
@Rose Fincher Look, I don't know who this nerd you keep talking about is or if he wants me to think cleaning my room with resolve my emotional baggage. I'm not concerned about that. I _am_ concerned my room might develop its own ecosystem.
@@jammccockin8304 that comment didn't even make any sense. That's what you'll say to someone if they was complaining about their legs. Not someone who's feeling empathy for a person's suffering. I bet you're an Incel that couldn't help but post a negative comment to a female.
@@tyrant7583 You're probably right, especially since we have no idea whether the original commenter was male or female and he just assumed for the sake of condescension. Ironic that we have someone like this commenting on a video about people who died in a lonely prison of their own creation.
Every time I think I’ve seen it all in my 67 years a story like this comes along. In my early 20s I worked at a department store in Altadena Ca. I delivered prescriptions and liquor. A lovely combination I’m sure! I was always fascinated when I had a delivery to this run down house and yard. An elderly lady with white hair that stood straight out would answer the door. I could see a pathway through the piles of newspaper and clothing. It went from the front door to the back of the house piled up to the ceiling. Every time I would leave I would think about her and how does this happen. Now that I think of it if every room in my house looked like my closets I would be one of those people. This story was fascinating. Just think of all the nic nacks and odds and ends that were thrown out. Today they would be worth a fortune.
Love for a brother is so strong. I Hate the thought of his brother waiting, starving, listening or smelling his dead brother 10 feet away unable to do anything.. it really cuts me deep.
"Why are these people staying locked away in their apartment? Why don't they come outside to society?" *Smashes windows by throwing stones* *Crowds outside apartment to gawk at the brothers* "I don't understand!"
mike sixx And I’m sure it’s sheer coincidence that centuries of systemic poverty and injustice left African Americans with next to no wealth, no ways of bettering themselves. No way did being shut off completely from the American Dream have any negative effects. Nah, the criminality is in the genes, definitely.
mike sixx I’m not African-American. What I am is incredibly lucky to be born into the upper middle class with a skin color that people believe is the standard for beauty, trustworthiness, and intelligence. You just flapped your fingers on the keyboard for nothing except telling the world what a racist shit you are.
"he walked to a town 6 hours away to buy bread, the reason for this is unknown" my fellow OCD sufferers know that dude was just thinking something about the nearby bread was wrong
More likely was social anxiety stemming from agoraphobia. And his need to not be recognized by locals as the entire story is of busybody neighbors hounding them endlessly. He probably walked further as to not have to answer endless questions.
I know a guy very similar to this. One guy, no running water, last time I spoke with him he had electric. Although he had the electric company service guy coming to get his payment each month. Most folks avoid him because of his odd behavior. Being adopted with his adopting family being wealthy, those around him helped squander his wealth. Partying, lude women and the likes. All this from conversations we had over the years. I would stay outside in the driveway unless it started raining. Then we would get under the front porch. What I could see as living quarters where similar to descriptions in this story. Extremely intelligent and I never forgot that at the times there. I found he like to try to play mind games at times. I admit at times I was lost and I know he knew this. I would always laugh it off or use a joke to sway the environment. Haven't been around him in years. I can tell you in the time I was around him, I know now he played me like a chess piece on a board. First time i realised it, was the last part of our friendship. My advice is if you befriend this type, be on your toes and alert at all times. Possibly lots to learn from them. Just don't let it be regretful. Just saying
I honestly think it had to do with the abundance of black people moving into town, think about it, black people opened businesses, fruit stands, Nickel and dimes, so he probably traveled 6 hours to buy bread from a white vendor. Guaranteed.
@@forbiddenbeard2210 really??? Isn't it weird that as soon as black people start moving in, they started secluding them selves. I think it's highly plausible they were massive racist and it makes sense, rich, white late 1930s/40s....yeah it all checks out.
I've heard that the psychology of hoarding is that it starts when someone suffers a great loss. Edit for clarity: all squares are rectangles, but not all rectangles are squares. Mental issues can be triggered by loss, but loss doesn't always (or even most of the time) trigger mental issues.
Many mental issues are triggered by a loss but that dose not have to be the sole reason for it. Infact i am of the opinion that most mental problems are result of long series of unfavorable events that stacks and stacks until person or in this case people breaks, and than it is essentially roll of dice how they treat the situation. Lacking any social support their avenues of getting better were limited and acquisition of items must seemed like a decent way of giving themselves any stimuli (at least i assume). Having gone through years of people suffering from not having enough they possibly decided that they will never allow such thing to happen to them and just hoarded.
@@MichaelJohnson-ln1in -,... I liked your thought on this,.. “ we are never truly free “,... but then I thought about it some more and how, actually realizing AND accepting this fact,... then sort of imparts and further degree of ,....well,...freedom. May see like circular logic to some,.. but I like to think of it as seeing something from a higher overview,... allows a full vision of the yin/yang of something. Just,... another,.. thought. Cheers. ;-)
Having family that mimic this to a shockingly fearful degree. The only thing I cant help but imagine is homer listening to his brother muffled crying knowing his death meant both of theres. Both helpless to help each other
Just imagine being pinned to the ground, unable to breathe, knowing that the closest person to you is your paralyzed, blind brother who literally can't help you in any way. God, that's a grim ending.
I can only imagine what went through homer's mind as he called out for his dead brother, in the darkness, completely alone, starving and unable to walk...
10:22 Charles Bonnet Syndrome. When vision is lost suddenly often visual hallucinations set in as the brain adjusts to the confusing lack of input, creating its own.
I think I'm going to take a weekend and clean my house. Update: Two years after posting this, I've finally gotten around to getting my house under control, as well as giving each room a fresh coat of paint.
They might have been insane, but the brotherly love that clearly tied them together is really sweet. And that death... I wouldn't wish it to my worst enemy
@@billyandrew the fact that the current DSM lists hoarding disorder as both a mental disability and a possible symptom for OCD. I was also using the term in a colloquial manner.
@@billyandrew do your homework before you shoot your mouth off, sport. Hoarding is a mental health affliction. If you don't like the word "insane" because it ruffles your delicate little feathers then you best get off the internet cuz you're gonna have a bad time here.
Langley's death sounds horrid. Crawling through the tunnels of all you own, following your daily routine of helping your brother, only for the tunnel to collapse, crushing you, and leaving you to rot.
@@rossfromfriends8468 To be fair though; If they weren't willing to keep paying for water and electricity, it's probably a safe bet that they let their T-Mobile bill slide too... I bet they were too cheap to get the newest touch screen phones and still had the flip-phones with the 2.5" LCD screens and buttons that actually click(yuck)...😂
I feel incredibly sick. This is a painfully sad story about two brothers who believed it was them against the world so much, it lead to their death. His last moments, watching his brother die and feeling the pain of starvation/dehydration must've been... indescribable. It's 1pm and I still feel like this will keep me awake tonight
A big ass house, tons of inheritance, economic Depression, looks outside window its Black Harlem, Bro is paralysed and blind, no water no electricity, Bank takes his property, people are all nosy and shit. Respect for the bro who cared for his own.
I don't know what's scarier, this story, or the fact I can see myself doing this. If someone I cared about were to go blind and I truly thought they'd somehow regain sight I would hoard stuff to show them later on. This whole thing breaks my heart, but at least both brothers died knowing they loved each other. I hope they're living happily in the afterlife.
If that ever happened to me, I’d have to keep telling myself that there’s always something else to see. Plus nowadays most interesting things are found on the internet, so if anything I’d have a ton of saved files for him to see
Same. Other people’s seemingly illogic behavior is uncomfortable to think about when you don’t understand their motives but it is downright terrifying when you could see small parts of yourself in them.
Finally someone who properly narrates such gloomy/spooky stories. You wouldn't imagine how many irritating "creepypasta"-like channels I had to go through to finally find myself here. Other such channels should learn from yours. Great story (must have taken a lot of research judging by how obscure it is), great presentation, you've kept me interested and focused through the whole vid. Thank you for this experiencre, Fredrik.
This story is terribly sad... I can't imagine how it would feel to die alone, unable to move or see, knowing your brother, your only companion and caretaker, is rotting on the floor a few feet away. Its a frightening thought
Very sad story. I can understand why they did what they did, but very disturbing how they went about keeping the world at bay and trying to protect themselves from imagined or real threats. Very sad indeed.
I was born in 1949, a few blocks from where the Collyer's had their home. On day when I was about 6 my aunt told me the story of the Collyer Brothers. Apparently the neighbors felt horrible for them and wanted to help. On a side note: that was the generation that survived the Great Depression. There were many many hoarders because the fear of being hungry never left some people. Some folks never, again, trusted banks and hoarded money in their homes. I had many relatives who had beautiful clean homes. However, their kitchen cabinets were filled with can goods. It looked like a grocery store. The fear of being hungry again, just never left them.
I call it bs. Humans are social animals, they were crazy and died horribly because of it. He could care for his brother without needing to hoard all that junk and being isolated from everyone.
What's the most heartbreaking is how they still had hope, even in the face of all realities "I hope to show them to him when he regains his sight". They really believed there would eventually come better days, but for all their optimism the world mercilessly crushed them.
As someone who suffers from OCD, hearing about the way they were remembered, with disgust and fascination, made my soul hurt. I'm not a hoarder, but I understand how extreme anxiety from OCD feels, I can't help but feel sorry for them and find it sad how they loved eachother and we're good people but still faced a harsh view by the public. Honestly it makes me wonder what their lives would've been like in the countryside rather than a small confined space in New York.
Interesting fact, a lot of people during that time that had some kind of mental illness always hated the big city, especially since it was very confined. I mean, look at Van Gogh, who always hated the city, but was forced to live there so he can be able to sell his art easily. But, honestly, I believe that the reason why they couldn't leave the city is because that house was the only place they could stay, and settled, especially since living at the country side was not the same in the 20th century than today.
Idk what's worse, suffocating to death while quickly realizing that your failure to bring your brother food would inevitable result in his death, or slowly starving to death while wondering what happened to your younger brother. Seriously, this story is really really sad, actually. Also, you wrote a book? I literally didn't know that until just now. I looked it up on Amazon so I could put it on my wishlist but the price seems to have skyrocketed to like $400 over the past few years. Not sure whats up with that, im assuming its out of print or something. Idk.
HammerMeister1999 ....and youve figured out the reason for his channel... and why he's so well informed. it's all for profit.. at the end of every vid he thanks his Paytreeon Payers.. is all a scam
@@jammccockin8304 He puts in a lot of work researching, recording, and editing his videos, all available to everyone for free. He's entitled to have a patreon page to comp him for his work if people so desired to contribute. How is that a scam?
i do find it weird that these guys who randomly made the equivalent of $100K payments only had $2000 worth of property... i think a lot of things just disappeared into searchers and investigators pockets..
When a hoard gets that bad, nothing is maintained and things will get broken and fall into disrepair. It’s not hard to imagine that anything they did have that was valuable was ruined from neglect
"where some saw suffocation, Langley and Homer saw freedom" maybe so, in life. But you gotta wonder... in their final moments of life, did they really believe it? One crushed under trash, another crippled and waiting to die... in those last moments, did they feel free, or were they regretful?
i think he's referring more to the way that the house was cramped, i.e a metaphorical "suffocation" that many people would think would be miserable but that the Collyer brothers were fairly content with
Hank J. Wimbleton it’s Bullshit. Utter bullshit. I survived a childhood in a hoarded home and the romantic assessment you quote made me want to smack the video maker.
That's an interesting question for any death and by the same logic it makes you wonder if anyone actually dies "doing what they love". People say it jokingly when they talk about someone like Steve Irwin's death; "he didn't love being impaled by a stingray," but does that really matter if he loved the rest of the activity? On the other hand, it's a really fair question because I'm sure many people who die doing something they enjoy have a more heightened horror of finally dying as a result of it than they would if they died doing something they didn't enjoy, and then would immediately be so traumatized by that situation that the thing they love would be ruined in their last moments and would not be "what they love" anymore. There's an interesting question about priorities: is the quantity of time spent with a good impression of an activity more important, or the most recent impression of that time spent doing the activity? I think to not be truly horrified by situations like those with the Collyer brothers and Steve Irwin we have to accept the former, but more likely we'll all find out that it's the latter in the end.
@@tawdryhepburn4686 your comment makes me want to smack you. Just because your experience as a child forced to endure it was horrific, it does not mean their experience was equally so. They weren't children, nor did anyone force it on them. I pity them greatly, but I wouldn't presume to speak for them when theres so little information from their own mouths.
My mom was born in 1915. She lived in the Collyer neighborhood for a time during the early 40s. When I was growing up in the late 50s she would say my room looked like the Collyer Brothers home because my room was untidy.
Because of these two men, I got my name "Marcia." A woman wrote about these men in a book titled, My Brother's Keeper. My mother red the book and like it very much. She named me after the author, Marcia Davenport.
@@clockhanded save yourself. You owe nothing to someone who is abusing you. Don't make excuses for them, just walk away. Plenty of people who actually would appreciate your help. We deserve what we tolerate.
Fredrik,I've watched three of your videos,so far, and I have to say that they are wonderfully done. A lot of these weird stories/videos are over dramatic and rely on cheap vocals and music.Yet your videos show and like there has been done with grace and care.The videos show a well thought out and well researched with quality that most of your peers rarely capture.Bravo.
You realize... if the emergency services could have gotten inside the building faster, Homer could have lived.... He was only dead 10 hours, there was 2 hours of search inside, plus several hours of looking for a way in and several more of clearing clutter from the front door and second floor, including waiting for cars to arrive with ladders. He was so close to surviving...
True but something tells me that Homer probably would have not been able to go on without his brother. I wonder if it wasn't a broken heart that did him in, before starvation.
My late husband had a tendency to hoard things and I used to kid him about it telling him that he must have been a third brother to Homer and Langley! I used to tell him that one of these days I would do a thorough search of his whole pile of junk and find at the bottom of it the remains of at least three very famous missing people, namely Judge Crater, Amelia Earhart and Jimmy Hoffa! He fortunately got over his hoarding problem 15 years before he died when he realized that the junk he collected just wasn’t worth the difficulty it was causing.
*Doctors hate him!* Find out his secret and you too can make your wife hit all the high notes! (Click to read more) It was years of practice, like seriously go out and get a degree in it or something...
Langley turned their house into Sen's Fortress - unreal. What an awful way for both of them to go. I understand the desire to disconnect from the world. I don't think I could ever take it to such a level/for such a long time, but I understand it.
My thoughts at the beginning of the video: ”huh, kinda quirky pair of brothers, good that they look after oneanother My thoughts as the video ended: ”... oh... :(”
I remember watching this not long after you uploaded it and fell in love with the doct genre of youtube, and still today, 5 years later, I think this is my fave video of yours. Im glad you kept making videos, I was so sure back then I had stumbled on a channel that would only post a few stories and vanish. Keep up the good work, man! Love your dedication!
+Genie Meadows It was BLACK kids...today they call them "teens" on the mass media. They were likely the only whites left nearby that were thought to have a lot of money, and that made them a HUGE target.
If you're talking to me then you should have spoken to me directly :P "And this poster talking about rich and poor and classism apparently hasnt seen the COUNTLESS of rich black athletes and rappers who are constantly arrested for abusing animals, abusing women, shooting people, murder, robbery, on and on and on. And they have more money than any of us "priviliged" whites." You're right but then there's "COUNTLESS of rich black athletes and rappers" Rich blacks are like rich whites they're a minority in the sub group I'm sure white celebrities, athletes and musicians have been caught and arrested for roughly the same things in the past and present.
Excellent combo of period photos, 1st-rate reporting, pacing, using credible sources/interviews; & NO unattributed lies or rumors. (AND: Fact Checking! There's a concept! Let's hope it catches on. But it won't.) Until today, I'd forgotten the Collyer's tragic lives; their brave struggle to exist & care for each other despite strokes, blindness, arthritis. Decades ago, I found moldy 1954 Reader's Digest Condensed Book of Fiction: 'My Brother's Keeper' by Marcia Davenport. When Book-of-the-Month Club got the rights in '55, the new cover featured a bosomy, slatternly woman standing between them: 'in a story of intrigue, romance & gripping passion. *HA!). 'This lyrically written Novel (were stolen from the lives of two childlike souls -- without recompense, nor remorse) -- the Collyer brothers.' Judging from this film, who but FREDRIK KNUDSEN could write & produce a true account; right these heinous wrongs, false judgements & cruel suffering endured by these innocent men?
I've also read "My Brother's Keeper', an excellent book. I was impressed not only by the story itself but by how accurately Marcia Davenport showed how people become hoarders and reclusive. If you enjoyed "My Brother's Keeper" I'd like to recommend Marcia Davenport's other novels, "The Valley of Decision" about an Irish servant girl in Pittsburgh in the 1870's and how she was involved with her own family and the family she worked for. The story goes from the 1870's up to just after the attack on Pearl Harbor. There's also another novel, "East Side, West Side" set in New York during World War II.
Jack Is not gay Calling someone a furfag is like calling someone a nerd. It's not insulting it's just tiresome. You see it every time you comment with a picture of your fursona or furry oc... you know how annoying that is?
Homer: How did your daily cleaning chores go, brother? Langley: Uh great! Uh.... the place looks beautiful! Uh... I feel like the cleaning never ends. Say look at the time! Gotta run - bread doesn't make the six hour walk by itsself you know!
As an absolute reclusive, for me it's hard to watch this, when I was a boy I saw my father fill an entire room with endless boxes of his father's belongings, my things and his, yet he was completely the opposite of me, very social and loved to run errands every day. At the same time, I'm the opposite of my father, as I hate to own many things, no matter how useful they can be. I don't have any more family left, but this story between brothers reminds me of a film called Dead Ringers, in more ways than one.
Eddy Girón Few things but good ones high sentimental value is the way to go I think I feel pretty reclusive too but I started just going to explore cool stuff on earth (because it’s awesome much to experience and can be yourself who you really want to be in a new country) and met amazing life friends in Hong Kong i ate up everything about it and lived as a HK people do i had a small apartment in mong kok there was all the street food, different settings of each area and will use that same template for other places I find interesting If you ever want a friend message me with an email/WhatsApp or something you’re not alone bro
There's probably a word for it in German but I have a pretty intrinsic fear even as a young child of being able to never do something again, or that it would be my last time doing something. As I've gotten older I don't think I care as much when the next time I'm going to have popcorn is but I do get a lot of anxiety wondering about the last time I'm going to hear 'I love you', the last time I'll ever be in a home instead of a hospital, losing my hair, I still have nightmares about my teeth falling out. Maybe something like that is the reason.
I came back to rewatch this one today because, after 2+ years in a pandemic and failing mental health, my apartment has never been messier or more disgusting than it is now. Sometimes it's nice to be reminded that things could be a lot worse.
I'm glad you shared this. I too am within the past year or so, sad all the time. I've wondered if it was the isolation and estrangement of the pandemic. I lost a very close friend this past summer. I can't shake it. I appreciate your sharing your experience.
I collect dreams, I've got loads of them at my tiny place - they are everywhere! On my bedroom floor, in the corridor, in the kitchen, stacked on the wash-machine, next to plates and mugs. And under the sink. In the cellar, and in the attic too. They are - everywhere, no place left, no room. But I'd never wanted to chuck them away - I believe my dreams will come true one day. *DREAM HOARDER ~ Peter Balkus*
The reason for going to get bread is because Langley thought he could heal his brother Homer's blindness so he "created a diet" for him of oranges, pb and black bread. Yep. Crazy, huh. He also saved so many newspapers omg tons because he said Homer would see one day and then he could get caught up on the news.
It is fascinating to see how differently people reacted to this story. Some were touched by the brothers' love for each other, others note how sad that people were just interested in getting a 'weird story'. Me... I just cannot help but feel sad that they apparently really had no real friends. None of their old colleagues paid a visit? My mother is unwell and I take care of her full time, and I am thankful that my relatives and friends still come to visit her no matter what (with protective measures in place, to keep her from getting infected). I still try to make new friends, and make new connections. How horrible it must be to convince yourself that you are all alone in the world and no one will ever help.
But they refused outside contact. If their relatives did not visit, then Langley could have acquainted himself with the neighbors or newspaper boy, gorcer etc. Anyone so that if something should happen to him, Homer would not die the way he did. But instead he behaves in the most idiotic way possible by also setting traps! I find it hard to sympathize with this story - the going blind story terrified me because that's my greatest fear. I wish I didn't watch this video.😔
And if you're like Opie and Anthony (They mention it in one of their hoarder's episodes) "They could burn to death in their own shit, actually someone do that make life on this planet even better."
@Mahyuddin Zin A lot of people are all alone in the world. Eccentrics can't, and most understandably wouldn't, just snap their fingers and be part of the hive mind. There are a lot of people that will not ever fit in or get much if any help from any normal person under ANY circumstances. This isn't likely to be out of moral fault on the eccentric's part either. If anything, it's moral fault of many normal people.
Going through the great depression and discrimination while taking care of the only relative you have,knowing that that relative is paralyzed and blind surely takes a a toll on Langley's mental health. But still, his brotherly love is admirable. Creating artwork and collecting newspaper for his blind brother is such a noble thing to do.
When you think about it, and I love what you wrote, they really didn't have anyone else. Whey they retreated from the rest of the world is beyond me when they were such interesting people from the start.
I see it more as brotherly neglect. They could have afforded to live much more safely and comfortably. I wonder if Homer had any say in how they lived.
For either brother to be on the spectrum is most definitely a possibility, but I'd also wager schizophrenia to be a factor here. Particularly as that is also found to be genetic, and the way that it can regress and display certain symptoms is present here His delusions about what would happen if he sought medical help for his brother is just one example. Homer had many weird behaviours that simply didn't make any sense, ans had no known reasons for doing so Such as leaving the house only at night, travelling six hours for food etc That could very easily be down to a paranoid schizophrenics delusions, as it would be down to a logic and perception of reality disenfranchised to everyone else What's really sad is the fact this opens up the possibility that his brother was only physically disabled, and completely aware that he needed help, but was utterly powerless and at the misguided whims of his brother I honestly don't doubt Homer loved his brother, but I also can't help but think the idea to hide him away entirely may have been one-sided, as he was so protective over his brother, no one could intervene for decades He had absolute power over him and thats quite terrifying After decades of this, wirh Homer being his only stimulation whatsoever, he'd likely believe anything and everything he said about needing to be hidden away like that But at the start, he could have been helpless and unconvinced and we'll never know
@@corazoncubano5372 Aspergers still functions as a shorthand for the level of severity as well as being the term that many grown ass adults have been labelled with their entire lives (decades of adult hood).... Let those who have it use the term if they so desire. Being unnecessarily pedantic with those who are often already pedantic is just obscene.
Mom used to reference them when I was a kid and didn't want to clean up my room. Thought she was making it up. Now I know. Gonna subscribe just for my mom!
I dunno, it looked like that skeleton still had sinew and mummified skin along the arm - wouldn't a donated medical skeleton have been bathed in chemicals to burn away fleshy parts?
Their father was supposedly eccentric, and remains of abnormal children was surprisingly normal during that period, not common, but nothing strange in so far as rarities were concerned.
Swamp Life, I looked it up and some sources say "phony two-headed baby in formaldehyde", though actual medical specimens and specimens, both real and fake, like that were common curiosities and often displayed during the turn of the century at "freak shows".
Evelyn Hyde, I'm not so sure that medical skeletons are bathed in chemicals to burn away flesh, if they're prepared anything like animal skeletons, what can be easily removed is removed and then beetles are used to clean the rest off the bone (before being cleaned with chemicals). I agree that's not the typical medical skeleton (perhaps the skeleton is just dirty from being in that house for decades) but the arm they show (which may not belong with the rest of the skeleton) is definitely out of the ordinary. Perhaps the arm is an old écorché anatomical specimen (specimen preserved by being injected with wax etc., like the those created by Honoré Fragonard in the 18th century), to show the circulatory system of the arm.
I keep picturing Homer hearing the trap being sprung, and calling out to Langley a few times before realizing he's dead. Either that, or Langley realizing he's trapped and calling out to Homer and the two just...talking as they slowly died together.
...Now I'm sad.
U could b right. But they lived how they wanted 2 live.
Yes, sad indeed
Stop. Shut up. :L
I can imagine the curb your enthusiasm theme playing on loop for the entire duration before homer finally starved to death.
Simply horryfying
Man . . . The fact that Langley painted stuff and collected reading material for his brother for "when he can see again" is really sad but touching . . .
sonerec725 yeah, he seemed like a nice guy.
it sounds more like it was madness
@@housemouseshorts Why would it be madness? In today's world, plenty of families take care of family members who have fallen into a vegetative state, or are severely paralyzed. If that isn't madness, then why should this be? Sounds like you're the one who doesn't understand people friendo.
@@writershard5065 Do those people set deadly traps to kill people with? I don't think so..this guy died to one of his own deathtraps..thats maddness and irony.
@@housemouseshorts well to be fair, they were paranoid. People were kind of mean to them because of rumors of there home. And the police although justifiably did break into his home....so the traps make some sense
“Born to a pair of first cousins. Their father was an eccentric gynaecologist.” That’s a lot of skeeve packed into 13 words.
Whitedark1093 🤣
I’ll admit there’s nothing wrong with it if it’s rare enough, but the stigma exists for a reason. If it goes on for enough generations, the descendants start getting really messed up genetics.
Which is also a problem with some purebred cats and dogs.
Íris It’s weird as fuck and the stigma exists for a reason. My dad’s sister married their first cousin and they had 7 kids. Go ahead and guess how many came out weird
Íris _someone’s from Arkansas..._
@@Jerrycourtney hahaha..😂😂😂nice
People in the comments saying friends and families should've gotten them mental help in an age when mental help meant giving someone a lobotomy.
Sort of explains why barricading isnt so irrational particularly when the cops bust in at the head of a torch mob. Refuse? Building material. Note to self: keep the traps out of the living quarters.
Exactly people fail to realise that “help” for mental health was much different and a lot worse than it is now
Exactly, if you didn't live during the times then you don't know how you'd behave
Yes, many people do not realize why we have social programs.
Kinda gives new perspective to one of them saying “we know too much about medicine to go to doctors...”
I can't imagine how awful Homer's death was. You can't move, you can't see, you only have one person helping you. One day you hear that person in trouble, so close to you. And then one day it just goes quiet. And then you slowly starve to death, smelling your loved one's body beginning to decay, before you die of either dehydration or starvation. What a horrible, miserable way to go.
And Langley too; you're pinned down, unable to move, the only person in your vicinity completely unable to help you.
I feel so awful for both of them. They just wanted to be left alone.
My head is so fucked up now
@@welbyncastro9169 I mean sure I guess you can just SAY that about anyone but none of us have to believe it's true lol
@@welbyncastro9169 fuck off
Very tragic
@@welbyncastro9169 People like you are the reason for our society's dire situation.
I hope that my younger brother would build me a murder labyrinth made of garbage if I ever went blind.
I kinda doubt it.
Mine won't even pass me the Nintendo controller.
Feels.,
But what about underground murder labarynths?
You just reminded me of this. www.bitrebels.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Get-Rid-of-Slugs-1.jpg
Mark Bunnell Sauce?
That's true sibling love.
"We've no telephone and we've stopped opening our mail. You can't imagine how free we feel"
The 1930s version of quitting social media
Deleting Twitter be like:
@@rudyray4833 You seem touchy about this. What, social media addiction ruining your life?
Going off grid fr
yep.. that was me 2 yrs ago.. couldnt feel more free
My anxiety and depression would send me into full blown panic attacks and meltdowns whenever I needed to get the mail. But then I realised that I never get important mail, so I stopped the daily drama and just collect the paper trash from my letter box each week, sometimes only once a month and throw it directly in the recycling bin. Except letters that look important like or which come from the government lol
I was a personal assistant to an elder lady from NYC. She told me all about the Collyers. She was over 100 yrs old but she never forgot them.
So i went & looked them up. She was right, though it is unbelievable.
She must have been fascinating!! An entire 100 years of New York history archived in her mind!
@@nothingposted9056
She truly was. I miss her so!
Her an ancestors came to N Y when it was New Amsterdam.
@@totallydomestic433 wow!! That is so cool!
Just imagine - he had to listen to his own brother slowly dying while being completely helpless, knowing that that also inevitably leads to his own death. That's absolutely soul-crushing.
Wayne Yooktz no it's not.
@@farfromtoday4438 Human feelings are difficult for you, hm?
Farfromtoday dude
Bebo its going terrific. Hows all that rejection going buddy?
Farfromtoday found the source of toxic masculinity folks
It's heartbreaking to think of how horrible Homer's last days must have been after his brother already died... I can't imagine such a terrible fate. Blind, paralyzed, probably knowing something awful had happened to the only other person in his life... the loneliness, suffering, maybe even a sense of abandonment.
zarry22 and also the stomach acid disintegrating his organs.
and the smell
and knowing it’s only a matter of time
Ok. Im in complete heebie jeebies...holy smokes. Lol
Another tragic tale of people not minding their own business
"My brother dreams of beautiful buildings all in red and when he describes them to me I try to paint them to the best of my ability. When he regains his sight, I'll show them all to him."
Gets me every time. Unbelievably tragic
I wanna see these paintings. Were they recovered?
@@titotitoburg6298 If they were I think it'd be mentioned in the video.
Anyways, tell the bank I'll make some payment.
omigosh. who fucking cares
I wonder if this was the inspiration to the Netflix Daredevil series' intro.
Interesting story. I was a roofing salesman in Wisconsin and one day I was called to a house north of Madison to quote a roof. I was a 3 story+ old mansion and had a garage that was falling down. The owner and his wife were very reclusive and in their 70's. Believe it or not the inside was almost like this story. There was junk and boxes piled 6 ft. high everywhere. To get upstairs you had to navigate a path a couple of feet wide all the way to the top. In his bedroom there was junk piled and only a small path to his bed that probably hadn't been changed for a long time. Both of them were not healthy and hardly mobile. The yards were the same. The porch roof was loaded with so much stuff I couldn't believe it hadn't collapsed. Well, we got the job and I knew it was going to be rough. The insurance co. was paying otherwise I would have done it for cost. They were nice folks but only spoke when needed. In the end we took about 10 dumpsters of stuff, none from the inside as per his wishes. Moving everything took 3 days before we could start the roof. This story reminded me of them. i told the local authorities about them and was told they were aware of them and had a son looking out for them. A couple of years later I heard they had both died, I hope together.
Here's your 69th like from me.
went in this expecting to hear some creepy and unnerving mystery, came out feeling sad
he really cared for his brother a lot
Not really
k
@@starisesun7692 stfu
He cared for his brother in his own way, which is both inspiring and depressing. I really don't know what to make of this video.
@@starisesun7692 when you're slowly falling into mental illness, it's really hard to actually get yourself out of it.
He had nobody else to give him rational wake-up calls, so he just kept getting worse and worse.
The whole story sounds like something Edgar Allen Poe would have written. Sometimes truth really is stranger than fiction.
I mean, *_life is actually a movie, right?_*
Fiction books are literally inspired from real life
How else but?
Very Kafkaesque
Yeahh, really reminded me of poe
@@TheNickleChick Sounds it...yo.
I was thinking they were hiding something awful, but instead this was just a sad story of a guy who died caring for his brother
L J D who then starved to death
L J D "Cared for his brother"? He also killed his brother. Not so noble, is it?
Elias Westeren he did not , he couldn't care for his brother beacuse you know , he died
Elias Westeren did you not even watch the video
I don't know about you but a full human skeleton and human organs preserved in jars seems pretty awful to me. Also where did the body of a two headed infant even came from?
My mother in the early 60's: "Clean up this room! It looks like the Collyer Brothers live here!".
Well there might be a body in there so who knows
I thought Kapitanleutnant Thompson was the best acting of a drunk man in the beginning.
The second position is tied between Jeff Bridges Rooster Cogburn in the true grit remake and nic cage in leaving las vegas.
@@Smokey298 what a great movie Das Boot was :'(
My father always threatened to call the fire department. He said it was a fire hazard.
The Collyer brothers were also mentioned on TV in an episode of "Frasier", by Martin.. Frasier & Niles' dad.
Thank you for presenting the brothers as humans, instead of just freaks
Cody Ingram it’s always nice to treat the mentally ill with some kindness
@Cody Ingram "Besides, almost every idiot can trace their poor actions back to some form of mental illness nowadays."
Yes, it's almost like harmful behaviour comes from broken minds. Who knew.
Dismissing people as "freaks and idiots" as many so often love to do precludes a rational analysis of mental illness.
If we knew back then what we know now, they may have been able to get the help they needed before it was too late.
It's not about offending people, it's about understanding the human condition.
@Cody Ingram calling someone a freak is dehumanizing and dismissive.
@Cody Ingram freak, noun:
"a person or animal on exhibition as an example of a strange deviation from nature; monster."
Yeah nothing dehumanizing or dismissive about literally referring to people as objects to gawk at.
I'm sure they made freakshows illegal because they weren't profitable, or something.
And that's ignoring the fact that hoarding and the other things on display here are perfectly natural parts of the human condition. (which we wouldn't know if we all thought like you)
@Cody Ingram They may have been freaks but I find them far more fascinating than those kids who threw stones through their windows. The Colliers have gone down in history because even though their behaviour was arguably appalling they were and still are fascinating individuals in the minds of many.
This was easily the most difficult video to make so far. Information on the brothers was often contradicted between sources, and the pool of images I could use was absurdly small. There was exactly one image of Homer Collyer that I could find.
This also was the most difficult video emotionally. I slowly became attached to the brothers while I read. and I nearly broke down crying while doing my research. Still, it's a beautiful and fascinating story, and I hope that I did it justice.
Very interesting. And yeah, that kind of hit me in the feels. Also, this seems sort of out of the norm. Any more pre-internet stuff planned?
That is an impressively obscure and fascinating piece of American history. Such an odd pair where tragedy and clearly some other growing conditions (I have NO psyche background so I won't even hazard a guess) just brought them so far down...Still, I'm glad you made this. It is something worth remembering and it is oddly satisfying that a park is on that land, ever commemorating the pair in a pleasant way without being gaudy or any such a thing.
+Adam Sherman I have a couple of pre-internet topics I want to explore, but I also want to return to more contemporary topics for the next few videos.
Fascinating story, and you did an amazing job with the video. Impressive work! Subscribing. :)
very good work! that's was very important to me know more about my family!
"He set up traps, some to alert the brothers, some to crush any intruders" At that moment, I knew at least one of them was gonna die that way...
Checkov's Trap
@@ajeje1996 I don’t think that’s how the Chekhov’s gun phrase works lol
@@maxdavis7722 If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off
Now change the world "rifle" with "trap"
@@ajeje1996 I know bro but the concept is called Chekhov’s gun isn’t it so you would refer to it as such rather than just using the checkovs part.
@@maxdavis7722 but that's the joke
1:17
Eccentricity is not a trait I want in a gynecologist.
Exactly!
Lol
Are we just not gonna talk about how Homer allegedly eats ONE HUNDRED ORANGES A WEEK???
i thought they said a day so i was freaking out at that lmaooooo
Thays not so many for a whole week if ita a regular snack, like 13 or so a day? Math ptobably off
Tim fondiggle yeah so that's an orange every hour Homer was awake.
Seams impossible to me for a old man.
@@GeertPolo yeah maybe a bit much got an old timer. Personally i could put down a couple oranges and hour thru the day, but thatd probably be about all i ate if i did eat that many. Maybe he only ate oranges who knows
@@GeertPolo Now im thinking that if he rrally ate that many, there was probably a giant pile of orange peels somewhere in that building
I don’t think they’re that strange, just sad.
They were doing fine until their parents died. They couldn’t bare to throw out their parents stuff and so they kept it all. When his brother fell ill, Langley did his best to care for him, hoping he might return to health. People harassing them only added to their seclusion and inability to stop hoarding. He probably set traps to protect his frail brother from any would be burglars. Eventually he succumbed to his own trap and his brother starved.
A tragic story of two close brothers.
ah maybe that actually happen, and his paranoia getting worse because of that
I’m better than you i thought hard about it and I agree with you, sad for that to happen to such kind people, can only remember them for their pure love and caring they had for their parents and each other
Yes, that is what the video shows.
I'm better than you...you are exactly right
Elmo! U have always been better than me! All praise Elmo and his or her red penis. Or vag...
Elmo sounds like unisex speaker .. lol.
The ending of this actually made me really sad. Despite the fact that the brothers were highly eccentric penny pinchers and hoarders who had an unhealthy sense of paranoia, they were still human at heart, and cared for each other deeply. I can’t even begin to imagine what Homer Collyer endured as he was forced to listen to his younger brother die, and the horrible realization that he too would die, paralyzed in a tomb of their own creation.
I can't imagine that even when his brother was alive that Homer's life was exactly fun. Blind and knees to chest from rheumatism, eating nothing but oranges. And I thought living with daily joint pain and migraines sucked balls. The worst part is, given their proclivities, I don't see any other way at all that their lives could have ended other than if Homer had happened to die first. This was as certain as the sunrise. But if you really want to be spooked by the end of it all, you have to know that in some way Homer knew what had happened. Being crushed by so much hoarded crap that you can't get out from under it would not have been quiet. *shivers
@@Goldnfoxx in the vid it says that he had diced up meat as well as the oranges
Worst part is i can imagine Homer hearing the trap trigger and calling out to his brother, likely thanking him for giving up his life to help.
Stupid is as stupid does.
human at heart? pretty sure they were just human. my dog is human at heart when attempting to sit in a chair at the dinner table.
You can't imagine how free we feel gave me chills. Like I have some depressive and anxiety disorder tendencies and this whole pandemic thing just felt like an encouraged excuse to be my worst self and not do what I need to and it is freeing to just live ignoring everything in your own little world and it's just kinda viscerally upsetting if you know what he means.
Phil, how are you today?
Yeah, how are you doing?
Love from a small shitty town in Missouri, hope all is well Phil :)
Hope you’re alright Phil :’(
@@matt-dr4fk small shitty town in missouri gang
I imagine the words "eccentric" and "gynaecologist" are probably not words a woman wants to hear in such close proximity to one another.
he comes into the exam room wearing spelunking gear
:makes the speculum quack like a duck:
Finger lickin' good...
Gynecologist*
He can't remember you until he looks at your Virginia. Ah yes, I remember you now.
Two words that should *never* go together; "eccentric" and "gynecologist".
Jason Wingate Its only a problem if you think it's wrong. You're doing gods work my friend.
*Foolish* Demon sardines=gods work?
Hey, NO2 is nothing to laugh at!
Jason Wingate You are gross...
He made duck sounds to women's cervix through the speculum. The opera singer appreciated the gesture.
I honestly feel bad for them. They just lost their parents, went through the great depression and then Homer had a stroke *before* they got bullied by their entire neighborhood. Because they honestly just seem like nice, sociable people put in a horrible situation. Poor Homer and Langley. :(
Julius Tausch not very sociable
It's almost like an entire demographic with a largely hostile background moved en masse into their neighbourhood...
It's almost like an entire demographic with a savage and volatile nature and a largely hostile background moved en masse into their neighbourhood...
@Rose Fincher ah a great example of an ad hominem fallacy.
@Rose Fincher Here and in other comments you used the abusive as hominem fallacy by trying to discredit someone's statement by pointing out some personal detail which is not relevant to the topic at hand. Just now you used the circumstantial and hominem fallacy by trying to raise suspicion about the biases of the other party involved.
"The Collyers were descended from the Livingstons". If true, this is a key fact. The Livingstons ran the game when the Rockefellers were nobodies. I'm reading about them in "America's Secret Aristocracy". Would explain the cross-breeding too.
Where could a person find more info on the Livingstons and such
@@naaaaaaaaaa3549 Google?
@@naaaaaaaaaa3549try the book "America's Secret Aristocracy"
I'm... Gonna go clean my room.
😂
@Rose Fincher I don't know if that's true or not, but my room is still very messy.
@Rose Fincher Look, I don't know who this nerd you keep talking about is or if he wants me to think cleaning my room with resolve my emotional baggage. I'm not concerned about that. I _am_ concerned my room might develop its own ecosystem.
@Rose Fincher this is an ad homonym free zone, like it or not a PHD requires quite a bit of learning
Rose Fincher how is this related to someone wanting to clean their room?
"My legs have doubled due to rheumatism. I will never be able to lie down again."
Breaks my heart.
AtomicBunnytron as she lays down watching this video
@@jammccockin8304 just because you can walk doesn't mean you can't be sad for cripples
@@jammccockin8304 that comment didn't even make any sense. That's what you'll say to someone if they was complaining about their legs. Not someone who's feeling empathy for a person's suffering. I bet you're an Incel that couldn't help but post a negative comment to a female.
@@tyrant7583 You're probably right, especially since we have no idea whether the original commenter was male or female and he just assumed for the sake of condescension. Ironic that we have someone like this commenting on a video about people who died in a lonely prison of their own creation.
I KNOW that shit hurt to hear
"Eccentric" should never be in the same sentence as "gynecologist"
Warded Thorn my thoughts exactly.
Warded Thorn HAHAHAA I thought the same thing.
👀
It reminds me of the movie DEAD RINGERS. talk about eccentric gynecologist!
How about noseblind
Every time I think I’ve seen it all in my 67 years a story like this comes along. In my early 20s I worked at a department store in Altadena Ca. I delivered prescriptions and liquor. A lovely combination I’m sure! I was always fascinated when I had a delivery to this run down house and yard. An elderly lady with white hair that stood straight out would answer the door. I could see a pathway through the piles of newspaper and clothing. It went from the front door to the back of the house piled up to the ceiling. Every time I would leave I would think about her and how does this happen. Now that I think of it if every room in my house looked like my closets I would be one of those people. This story was fascinating. Just think of all the nic nacks and odds and ends that were thrown out. Today they would be worth a fortune.
A lot of their "treasure" was kept and sold at auction.
man the pilot episode of hoarders was really dark
AJSSPACEPLACE lmao nice one.
The actual series is pretty sad and dark as well.
Haha
AJSSPACEPLACE no shit
Thanks, I needed that!
Love for a brother is so strong. I Hate the thought of his brother waiting, starving, listening or smelling his dead brother 10 feet away unable to do anything.. it really cuts me deep.
"Why are these people staying locked away in their apartment? Why don't they come outside to society?"
*Smashes windows by throwing stones*
*Crowds outside apartment to gawk at the brothers*
"I don't understand!"
They got scared of black people moving in to the neighborhood. That’s the core of it.
mike sixx
And I’m sure it’s sheer coincidence that centuries of systemic poverty and injustice left African Americans with next to no wealth, no ways of bettering themselves. No way did being shut off completely from the American Dream have any negative effects. Nah, the criminality is in the genes, definitely.
mike sixx
I’m not African-American. What I am is incredibly lucky to be born into the upper middle class with a skin color that people believe is the standard for beauty, trustworthiness, and intelligence.
You just flapped your fingers on the keyboard for nothing except telling the world what a racist shit you are.
This entire reply section is filled with unfunny jokes.
@mike sixx The Irish weren't enslaved en mass in the US you dishonest pos.
"he walked to a town 6 hours away to buy bread, the reason for this is unknown"
my fellow OCD sufferers know that dude was just thinking something about the nearby bread was wrong
More likely was social anxiety stemming from agoraphobia. And his need to not be recognized by locals as the entire story is of busybody neighbors hounding them endlessly. He probably walked further as to not have to answer endless questions.
I know a guy very similar to this. One guy, no running water, last time I spoke with him he had electric. Although he had the electric company service guy coming to get his payment each month. Most folks avoid him because of his odd behavior. Being adopted with his adopting family being wealthy, those around him helped squander his wealth. Partying, lude women and the likes. All this from conversations we had over the years. I would stay outside in the driveway unless it started raining. Then we would get under the front porch. What I could see as living quarters where similar to descriptions in this story. Extremely intelligent and I never forgot that at the times there. I found he like to try to play mind games at times. I admit at times I was lost and I know he knew this. I would always laugh it off or use a joke to sway the environment. Haven't been around him in years. I can tell you in the time I was around him, I know now he played me like a chess piece on a board. First time i realised it, was the last part of our friendship.
My advice is if you befriend this type, be on your toes and alert at all times. Possibly lots to learn from them. Just don't let it be regretful.
Just saying
I honestly think it had to do with the abundance of black people moving into town, think about it, black people opened businesses, fruit stands, Nickel and dimes, so he probably traveled 6 hours to buy bread from a white vendor. Guaranteed.
@@pressureflipin1992 would have only had to travel a few blocks but way to bring race into it.
@@forbiddenbeard2210 really??? Isn't it weird that as soon as black people start moving in, they started secluding them selves. I think it's highly plausible they were massive racist and it makes sense, rich, white late 1930s/40s....yeah it all checks out.
I've heard that the psychology of hoarding is that it starts when someone suffers a great loss.
Edit for clarity: all squares are rectangles, but not all rectangles are squares. Mental issues can be triggered by loss, but loss doesn't always (or even most of the time) trigger mental issues.
yeah or a trauma that happens can cause it too. some people just live like that for no reason tho too lol
Didn't the video say they're mom died in '29 as well as the start of the great depression. I mean seems tragic to me
Many mental issues are triggered by a loss but that dose not have to be the sole reason for it. Infact i am of the opinion that most mental problems are result of long series of unfavorable events that stacks and stacks until person or in this case people breaks, and than it is essentially roll of dice how they treat the situation.
Lacking any social support their avenues of getting better were limited and acquisition of items must seemed like a decent way of giving themselves any stimuli (at least i assume). Having gone through years of people suffering from not having enough they possibly decided that they will never allow such thing to happen to them and just hoarded.
Nope. All of us suffer loss, but few become hoarders. It's just learned laziness and sociopathy.
@@DeanGulberry their.
It is too bad they didn't keep journals. I would have loved to hear their thoughts from their perspective.
Me too!
We are never truly free.
Maybe they did write such journals...only for them to be lost in the enormous junk pile of their home.
They may have but I doubt they survived the rats
@@MichaelJohnson-ln1in -,... I liked your thought on this,.. “ we are never truly free “,... but then I thought about it some more and how, actually realizing AND accepting this fact,... then sort of imparts and further degree of ,....well,...freedom. May see like circular logic to some,.. but I like to think of it as seeing something from a higher overview,... allows a full vision of the yin/yang of something. Just,... another,.. thought. Cheers. ;-)
Having family that mimic this to a shockingly fearful degree. The only thing I cant help but imagine is homer listening to his brother muffled crying knowing his death meant both of theres. Both helpless to help each other
Just imagine being pinned to the ground, unable to breathe, knowing that the closest person to you is your paralyzed, blind brother who literally can't help you in any way.
God, that's a grim ending.
That's pure nightmare fuel.
Died by his own trap. That's really sad. He was only trying to take care of his brother.
I can only imagine what went through homer's mind as he called out for his dead brother, in the darkness, completely alone, starving and unable to walk...
Anonnymouse Hacker massive retards??
Anonnymouse Hacker right?! Lmao
Terry H. O
he probably heard the noise, smelled the smell... and had to grieve in silence.
10:22 Charles Bonnet Syndrome. When vision is lost suddenly often visual hallucinations set in as the brain adjusts to the confusing lack of input, creating its own.
Huh, that is mad-odd
A Adams finally someone else who knows about the illness
@@cynthiakeller6149 Oliver Sacks describes it really well.
Very similar to phantom limb pains
@@MaderaBeats Yes, I think so. Input is missing so the body creates input.
I think I'm going to take a weekend and clean my house.
Update: Two years after posting this, I've finally gotten around to getting my house under control, as well as giving each room a fresh coat of paint.
@k immaded I'm so ashamed right now. =(
Still a good take-away.
Nah
Proud of you.
@Fhjthnl Lol Iuyo and then die to them?
They might have been insane, but the brotherly love that clearly tied them together is really sweet. And that death... I wouldn't wish it to my worst enemy
What makes you think they were insane and would I be correct in assuming you have no experience in the medical discipline of mental health issues?
@@billyandrew the fact that the current DSM lists hoarding disorder as both a mental disability and a possible symptom for OCD.
I was also using the term in a colloquial manner.
mmm. so sad!
You don't have any real enemies.
@@billyandrew do your homework before you shoot your mouth off, sport. Hoarding is a mental health affliction. If you don't like the word "insane" because it ruffles your delicate little feathers then you best get off the internet cuz you're gonna have a bad time here.
Langley's death sounds horrid. Crawling through the tunnels of all you own, following your daily routine of helping your brother, only for the tunnel to collapse, crushing you, and leaving you to rot.
Also, dying there knowing his death would mean the death of his brother.
Idk why he didn't just call 911 on his cellphone
@@rossfromfriends8468 Or ask Siri to call 911. I mean, just because your doubled over with rheumatism...
@@rossfromfriends8468 To be fair though; If they weren't willing to keep paying for water and electricity, it's probably a safe bet that they let their T-Mobile bill slide too...
I bet they were too cheap to get the newest touch screen phones and still had the flip-phones with the 2.5" LCD screens and buttons that actually click(yuck)...😂
@@xXxJSCOTTxXx, Surely they still had two cups tied to a string, a family heirloom no doubt.
I feel incredibly sick. This is a painfully sad story about two brothers who believed it was them against the world so much, it lead to their death. His last moments, watching his brother die and feeling the pain of starvation/dehydration must've been... indescribable. It's 1pm and I still feel like this will keep me awake tonight
Well, Homer was blind, so he wouldn't have seen it happen. Worse yet, he would hear the crash, and the troubled breathing of his brother slowly stop.
Bro he was legit blind
A big ass house, tons of inheritance, economic Depression, looks outside window its Black Harlem, Bro is paralysed and blind, no water no electricity, Bank takes his property, people are all nosy and shit. Respect for the bro who cared for his own.
He was blind. He didn't watch his brother die, he heard it.
Great comment, I troll like a moster all the time . But you ment well :).
Take care
I just know that watching four minutes of this video is going to infect my UA-cam feed for the next eight years.
I don't know what's scarier, this story, or the fact I can see myself doing this. If someone I cared about were to go blind and I truly thought they'd somehow regain sight I would hoard stuff to show them later on. This whole thing breaks my heart, but at least both brothers died knowing they loved each other. I hope they're living happily in the afterlife.
If that ever happened to me, I’d have to keep telling myself that there’s always something else to see. Plus nowadays most interesting things are found on the internet, so if anything I’d have a ton of saved files for him to see
You have digitals now
@@kubli365
Plus Braille and audiobooks, along with that reliable standby...the trusty guide-dog!
Same. Other people’s seemingly illogic behavior is uncomfortable to think about when you don’t understand their motives but it is downright terrifying when you could see small parts of yourself in them.
@@rachelguhathakurta7816 That was worded so well, I agree
“Moved into a cold water flat”
Me: “I wonder what that is?”
“So called because it had only cold running water”
Me: “...I feel stupid.”
You and another hundred of us mate.
OMG! Thank you for that!
That just made my shitty day totally worth it!❤
@@Amanoob105 Too true!
My first apartment was on the 4th floor with one cold water tap bath room was on the 3rd floor, had a fantastic time as rent was $20.00 a month.
@@billfeld5883 that's really good
You know this was gonna be a weird family when the Dad is described as an “eccentric gynecologist”
an amazing phrase
I knew it was gonna be a weird family when he said his parents were first cousins!
He liked cunninglingus what can I say
@@godmagnus Sweet home Alabama.
Sock Account they were first cousins, the parents. Eeeeeeew
I pass by the park pretty often as I work everywhere in Manhattan. I never knew the story behind it. I'm glad I do now, thanks.
Your welcome friend
Finally someone who properly narrates such gloomy/spooky stories.
You wouldn't imagine how many irritating "creepypasta"-like channels I had to go through to finally find myself here. Other such channels should learn from yours.
Great story (must have taken a lot of research judging by how obscure it is),
great presentation, you've kept me interested and focused through the whole vid.
Thank you for this experiencre, Fredrik.
Not exactly a horror channel, but okay.
I would say disturbing and interesting stories.
This story is terribly sad... I can't imagine how it would feel to die alone, unable to move or see, knowing your brother, your only companion and caretaker, is rotting on the floor a few feet away. Its a frightening thought
I love your icon
@@Othman1992on , Jesus is your best friend. You are never truly alone, because He is always there
Very sad story. I can understand why they did what they did, but very disturbing how they went about keeping the world at bay and trying to protect themselves from imagined or real threats. Very sad indeed.
I was born in 1949, a few blocks from where the Collyer's had their home. On day when I was about 6 my aunt told me the story of the Collyer Brothers. Apparently the neighbors felt horrible for them and wanted to help. On a side note: that was the generation that survived the Great Depression. There were many many hoarders because the fear of being hungry never left some people. Some folks never, again, trusted banks and hoarded money in their homes. I had many relatives who had beautiful clean homes. However, their kitchen cabinets were filled with can goods. It looked like a grocery store. The fear of being hungry again, just never left them.
This is heartbreaking. They died in such a horrific way.
correction, they lived in such a horrific way !!
Correction. They loved each other and lived their own way.
I call it bs. Humans are social animals, they were crazy and died horribly because of it. He could care for his brother without needing to hoard all that junk and being isolated from everyone.
They definitely loved eachother but shutting themselves out only caused them more misery than it prevented, and moreso lead to their death.
What's the most heartbreaking is how they still had hope, even in the face of all realities "I hope to show them to him when he regains his sight". They really believed there would eventually come better days, but for all their optimism the world mercilessly crushed them.
an "eccentric gynecologist" who "paddled a canoe" back and forth to work everyday. ........ok, I'm in.
Thats what he said.
Eccentric is an understatement.
He must have a body like a Greek God
@@KanishQQuotes I'd hit that
As someone who suffers from OCD, hearing about the way they were remembered, with disgust and fascination, made my soul hurt.
I'm not a hoarder, but I understand how extreme anxiety from OCD feels, I can't help but feel sorry for them and find it sad how they loved eachother and we're good people but still faced a harsh view by the public.
Honestly it makes me wonder what their lives would've been like in the countryside rather than a small confined space in New York.
Interesting fact, a lot of people during that time that had some kind of mental illness always hated the big city, especially since it was very confined. I mean, look at Van Gogh, who always hated the city, but was forced to live there so he can be able to sell his art easily.
But, honestly, I believe that the reason why they couldn't leave the city is because that house was the only place they could stay, and settled, especially since living at the country side was not the same in the 20th century than today.
bigger and badder in the country.
@Rose Fincher Shut the fuck up, conspiracy trash.
Outcast115
Conspiracy fact, not theory...
Mark my words
@@clivehorridge You're very gullible, aren't you
Idk what's worse, suffocating to death while quickly realizing that your failure to bring your brother food would inevitable result in his death, or slowly starving to death while wondering what happened to your younger brother. Seriously, this story is really really sad, actually.
Also, you wrote a book? I literally didn't know that until just now. I looked it up on Amazon so I could put it on my wishlist but the price seems to have skyrocketed to like $400 over the past few years. Not sure whats up with that, im assuming its out of print or something. Idk.
HammerMeister1999 ....and youve figured out the reason for his channel... and why he's so well informed. it's all for profit.. at the end of every vid he thanks his Paytreeon Payers.. is all a scam
@@jammccockin8304 hold on you mean a full time content creator makes a living off of his own labor? wow what a SCAM.
@@jammccockin8304 He puts in a lot of work researching, recording, and editing his videos, all available to everyone for free. He's entitled to have a patreon page to comp him for his work if people so desired to contribute. How is that a scam?
Seaprimate Jenkins or to enable outside influence to sway his morals and have them take a certain stance on a issue, All for profit.
Jam McCockin why is earning profit a bad thing? He’s literally doing his best, he practically deserves money
I feel bad for them.
The way they died is really horrific.
I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.
Yes you would
@@mrspoopy3227 damn. Nice to know you know this guy.
@@breakfastline yeah he talks a lot about watching midget porn he's a real weirdo
@Mia333 i don't think you know what edgy means lmao
@Mia333 hot take
eccentric gynecologist... good lord
Lewd right?
They though Lassar was bad...
You mean Nasser?
Uck. Two words that should never, ever be in the same sentence.
I had the same thought, haha.
i do find it weird that these guys who randomly made the equivalent of $100K payments only had $2000 worth of property... i think a lot of things just disappeared into searchers and investigators pockets..
2000 worth of property that is intact enough to be sold*
At police auctions things are sold for pennies on the dollar, they just want ANY money.
When a hoard gets that bad, nothing is maintained and things will get broken and fall into disrepair. It’s not hard to imagine that anything they did have that was valuable was ruined from neglect
OK . Signing off to clean house, now. And list some stuff on E-Bay.
@@nateman10 STARTING? It's too late, the interlopers probably already live with you. THAT's why you can't find any thing!
It's impressive how they pulled that off without any internet / before online shopping...
fumomo fumosarum Catalogues were very popular around this time. Their stuff was probably mail order.
Dumpster diving and thrift shops we're still a thing
The Sears catalog was the first Amazon.
Cool
Your picture...so many spirals. Awesome reference to the comics !
"where some saw suffocation, Langley and Homer saw freedom" maybe so, in life. But you gotta wonder... in their final moments of life, did they really believe it? One crushed under trash, another crippled and waiting to die... in those last moments, did they feel free, or were they regretful?
i think he's referring more to the way that the house was cramped, i.e a metaphorical "suffocation" that many people would think would be miserable but that the Collyer brothers were fairly content with
Hank J. Wimbleton it’s Bullshit. Utter bullshit. I survived a childhood in a hoarded home and the romantic assessment you quote made me want to smack the video maker.
That's an interesting question for any death and by the same logic it makes you wonder if anyone actually dies "doing what they love". People say it jokingly when they talk about someone like Steve Irwin's death; "he didn't love being impaled by a stingray," but does that really matter if he loved the rest of the activity? On the other hand, it's a really fair question because I'm sure many people who die doing something they enjoy have a more heightened horror of finally dying as a result of it than they would if they died doing something they didn't enjoy, and then would immediately be so traumatized by that situation that the thing they love would be ruined in their last moments and would not be "what they love" anymore. There's an interesting question about priorities: is the quantity of time spent with a good impression of an activity more important, or the most recent impression of that time spent doing the activity? I think to not be truly horrified by situations like those with the Collyer brothers and Steve Irwin we have to accept the former, but more likely we'll all find out that it's the latter in the end.
@@tawdryhepburn4686 your comment makes me want to smack you.
Just because your experience as a child forced to endure it was horrific, it does not mean their experience was equally so. They weren't children, nor did anyone force it on them.
I pity them greatly, but I wouldn't presume to speak for them when theres so little information from their own mouths.
I am quite sure that ALL people regret stuff, so this makes no sense.
My mom was born in 1915. She lived in the Collyer neighborhood for a time during the early 40s. When I was growing up in the late 50s she would say my room looked like the Collyer Brothers home because my room was untidy.
Because of these two men, I got my name "Marcia." A woman wrote about these men in a book titled, My Brother's Keeper. My mother red the book and like it very much. She named me after the author, Marcia Davenport.
rooseveltnut gay
rooseveltnut .
Cool!
White American Male Projectionist assmunch.
Linda Ciccoli ugly bitch
Hoarding is one of the most demoralizing conditions to have to deal with in a freind or family member. Exhausting.
Jordan Coggburn *friend
I take care of such a person who also suffers from schizophrenia. I'm so tired. The projection of shame is abusive. I have my own problems.
@@clockhanded a drowning person will stand on your head, and tread you under, save yourself. guilt won't kill you, but stress will.
@@clockhanded save yourself. You owe nothing to someone who is abusing you. Don't make excuses for them, just walk away. Plenty of people who actually would appreciate your help.
We deserve what we tolerate.
@sandra caraveo If you want them to absolutely resent you then that's a great idea
Holy shit, this video got heavy. Your audio quality is amazing and your narration is fantastic! Keep it up my friend.
RadMasterMatt red
His narration is filled with mispronounced words. The plural for “brothers” is pronounced just that, not “brotherses”. Also “parents” not “parentses”.
+Chrissy A Who gives a dam it's youtube
Thoroughly and thoughtfully done presentation. Very unique.
Fredrik,I've watched three of your videos,so far, and I have to say that they are wonderfully done. A lot of these weird stories/videos are over dramatic and rely on cheap vocals and music.Yet your videos show and like there has been done with grace and care.The videos show a well thought out and well researched with quality that most of your peers rarely capture.Bravo.
This one is really sad
You realize... if the emergency services could have gotten inside the building faster, Homer could have lived.... He was only dead 10 hours, there was 2 hours of search inside, plus several hours of looking for a way in and several more of clearing clutter from the front door and second floor, including waiting for cars to arrive with ladders. He was so close to surviving...
It's a depressing story, even more so thinking about it like that.
True but something tells me that Homer probably would have not been able to go on without his brother. I wonder if it wasn't a broken heart that did him in, before starvation.
He would have died in the ambulance
Or even worse
They could have forced him to stay alive unable to move
True. But even if he did survive, I doubt he want to stay like that, once he finds out what happened to his brother.
@@Anino_Makata I'm sure Homer knew what happened to his brother. He died just 10 feet away from him.
My late husband had a tendency to hoard things and I used to kid him about it telling him that he must have been a third brother to Homer and Langley! I used to tell him that one of these days I would do a thorough search of his whole pile of junk and find at the bottom of it the remains of at least three very famous missing people, namely Judge Crater, Amelia Earhart and Jimmy Hoffa!
He fortunately got over his hoarding problem 15 years before he died when he realized that the junk he collected just wasn’t worth the difficulty it was causing.
hahaha a gynecologist married to an opera singer!!
their neighbors must have hated them!
D-railed one of my favorite UA-camr comments
D-railed, the best part is that there is 69 likes.
Bravo.
Wayoooo
*Doctors hate him!* Find out his secret and you too can make your wife hit all the high notes!
(Click to read more)
It was years of practice, like seriously go out and get a degree in it or something...
holy smokes, it's like what would happen if HP Lovecraft tried to write comedy
I could imagine Junji Ito creating something similar
Hp Lovecraft and Edger Allen Poe living together.
Lmao
How about Junji Ito's "Phantom Mansion"?
Except slightly less racist.
Langley turned their house into Sen's Fortress - unreal. What an awful way for both of them to go. I understand the desire to disconnect from the world. I don't think I could ever take it to such a level/for such a long time, but I understand it.
Their apartment just needed more snakes and saws
6 years ago waiting to get to 1k subscribers now in 2023 with 1.19M uploading quality content. good job, man
My thoughts at the beginning of the video: ”huh, kinda quirky pair of brothers, good that they look after oneanother
My thoughts as the video ended: ”... oh... :(”
Hoarding is a harsh mistress.
I find in interesting which type of people "get" and "don't get" the Collyer story.
What do you mean?
@@Princeomishore he means ur dad lezbian lmao
why does this video scare me is the question
@@Sandvichman. wtf are you even on about? Grow the hell up boy.
@@Magnus_Deus cause it shows how bad the human condition can get
"The Collyer Brothers were born to a pair of first cousins..." Oh, yeah. It's all coming together.
Right?
There are no risk of inbreeding effects with first cousin offspring.
@@wiskeeamazingdancer4964 When there's a will, there's a way.
No wonder they were retarded
@@starisesun7692 actually they were pretty smart
I remember watching this not long after you uploaded it and fell in love with the doct genre of youtube, and still today, 5 years later, I think this is my fave video of yours. Im glad you kept making videos, I was so sure back then I had stumbled on a channel that would only post a few stories and vanish. Keep up the good work, man! Love your dedication!
Poor guys being harrassed by kids smashing the windows and nosey people annoying them. No wonder
they holed up.
Genie Meadows Times were different then. The Collyers were a victim of their time.
+Genie Meadows
It was BLACK kids...today they call them "teens" on the mass media.
They were likely the only whites left nearby that were thought to have a lot of money, and that made them a HUGE target.
watershed44 That's what happens when the poor enter a world with the rich. Culture and Classism is an utter bitch.
If you're talking to me then you should have spoken to me directly :P
"And this poster talking about rich and poor and classism apparently hasnt seen the COUNTLESS of rich black athletes and rappers who are constantly arrested for abusing animals, abusing women, shooting people, murder, robbery, on and on and on. And they have more money than any of us "priviliged" whites."
You're right but then there's
"COUNTLESS of rich black athletes and rappers"
Rich blacks are like rich whites they're a minority in the sub group I'm sure white celebrities, athletes and musicians have been caught and arrested for roughly the same things in the past and present.
watershed44 thats just wrong. The people who sold slaves from Africa were other black people.
Excellent combo of period photos, 1st-rate reporting, pacing, using credible sources/interviews; & NO unattributed lies or rumors. (AND: Fact Checking! There's a concept! Let's hope it catches on. But it won't.) Until today, I'd forgotten the Collyer's tragic lives; their brave struggle to exist & care for each other despite strokes, blindness, arthritis. Decades ago, I found moldy 1954 Reader's Digest Condensed Book of Fiction: 'My Brother's Keeper' by Marcia Davenport. When Book-of-the-Month Club got the rights in '55, the new cover featured a bosomy, slatternly woman standing between them: 'in a story of intrigue, romance & gripping passion. *HA!). 'This lyrically written Novel (were stolen from the lives of two childlike souls -- without recompense, nor remorse) -- the Collyer brothers.' Judging from this film, who but FREDRIK KNUDSEN could write &
produce a true account; right these heinous wrongs, false judgements & cruel suffering endured by these innocent men?
I've also read "My Brother's Keeper', an excellent book. I was impressed not only by the story itself but by how accurately Marcia Davenport showed how people become hoarders and reclusive. If you enjoyed "My Brother's Keeper" I'd like to recommend Marcia Davenport's other novels, "The Valley of Decision" about an Irish servant girl in Pittsburgh in the 1870's and how she was involved with her own family and the family she worked for. The story goes from the 1870's up to just after the attack on Pearl Harbor. There's also another novel, "East Side, West Side" set in New York during World War II.
This comment gave me back pain.
Apparently there's a Marcia here in the comments that was named after the author of that book.
You in Chiga-go?
Never heard of this.
But what a chilling ending.
Brr!
Jack Is not gay Calling someone a furfag is like calling someone a nerd. It's not insulting it's just tiresome. You see it every time you comment with a picture of your fursona or furry oc... you know how annoying that is?
Putrid Furfag
Putrid FURFAG
Just shut up
Holly shit
Homer: How did your daily cleaning chores go, brother?
Langley: Uh great! Uh.... the place looks beautiful! Uh... I feel like the cleaning never ends. Say look at the time! Gotta run - bread doesn't make the six hour walk by itsself you know!
As an absolute reclusive, for me it's hard to watch this, when I was a boy I saw my father fill an entire room with endless boxes of his father's belongings, my things and his, yet he was completely the opposite of me, very social and loved to run errands every day. At the same time, I'm the opposite of my father, as I hate to own many things, no matter how useful they can be.
I don't have any more family left, but this story between brothers reminds me of a film called Dead Ringers, in more ways than one.
What happened to your family?
Dead Ringers was based on a book inspired by the Collyers
Eddy Girón Few things but good ones high sentimental value is the way to go I think
I feel pretty reclusive too but I started just going to explore cool stuff on earth (because it’s awesome much to experience and can be yourself who you really want to be in a new country) and met amazing life friends in Hong Kong i ate up everything about it and lived as a HK people do i had a small apartment in mong kok there was all the street food, different settings of each area and will use that same template for other places I find interesting
If you ever want a friend message me with an email/WhatsApp or something you’re not alone bro
"I can never lie down again" hit me so freaking hard and I don't know why
There's probably a word for it in German but I have a pretty intrinsic fear even as a young child of being able to never do something again, or that it would be my last time doing something. As I've gotten older I don't think I care as much when the next time I'm going to have popcorn is but I do get a lot of anxiety wondering about the last time I'm going to hear 'I love you', the last time I'll ever be in a home instead of a hospital, losing my hair, I still have nightmares about my teeth falling out.
Maybe something like that is the reason.
great pacing
Your videos are amazing keep it up
I came back to rewatch this one today because, after 2+ years in a pandemic and failing mental health, my apartment has never been messier or more disgusting than it is now. Sometimes it's nice to be reminded that things could be a lot worse.
I'm glad you shared this. I too am within the past year or so, sad all the time. I've wondered if it was the isolation and estrangement of the pandemic. I lost a very close friend this past summer. I can't shake it. I appreciate your sharing your experience.
I collect dreams,
I've got loads of them
at my tiny place -
they are everywhere!
On my bedroom floor,
in the corridor,
in the kitchen, stacked
on the wash-machine,
next to plates and mugs.
And under the sink.
In the cellar, and
in the attic too.
They are - everywhere,
no place left, no room.
But I'd never wanted
to chuck them away -
I believe my dreams
will come true one day.
*DREAM HOARDER ~ Peter Balkus*
The reason for going to get bread is because Langley thought he could heal his brother Homer's blindness so he "created a diet" for him of oranges, pb and black bread. Yep. Crazy, huh. He also saved so many newspapers omg tons because he said Homer would see one day and then he could get caught up on the news.
If I lived like Homer, got my vision back one day and saw the sheer amount of newspapers I needed to catch up on I would shit my pants
@@nateman10 i mean he had 50 thousand medical books. I wouldn't question that lol
It is fascinating to see how differently people reacted to this story. Some were touched by the brothers' love for each other, others note how sad that people were just interested in getting a 'weird story'. Me... I just cannot help but feel sad that they apparently really had no real friends. None of their old colleagues paid a visit? My mother is unwell and I take care of her full time, and I am thankful that my relatives and friends still come to visit her no matter what (with protective measures in place, to keep her from getting infected). I still try to make new friends, and make new connections. How horrible it must be to convince yourself that you are all alone in the world and no one will ever help.
But they refused outside contact. If their relatives did not visit, then Langley could have acquainted himself with the neighbors or newspaper boy, gorcer etc. Anyone so that if something should happen to him, Homer would not die the way he did. But instead he behaves in the most idiotic way possible by also setting traps! I find it hard to sympathize with this story - the going blind story terrified me because that's my greatest fear. I wish I didn't watch this video.😔
my brother rejects human contact.its becoome debilitating and hes moved and wont answer his phone. my niece knows where he is thank god
And if you're like Opie and Anthony (They mention it in one of their hoarder's episodes) "They could burn to death in their own shit, actually someone do that make life on this planet even better."
@Mahyuddin Zin A lot of people are all alone in the world. Eccentrics can't, and most understandably wouldn't, just snap their fingers and be part of the hive mind. There are a lot of people that will not ever fit in or get much if any help from any normal person under ANY circumstances. This isn't likely to be out of moral fault on the eccentric's part either. If anything, it's moral fault of many normal people.
@Mahyuddin Zin For some people it's actually a big relief to think they're all alone. No socializing, no dealing with other people's bullshit.
Going through the great depression and discrimination while taking care of the only relative you have,knowing that that relative is paralyzed and blind surely takes a a toll on Langley's mental health. But still, his brotherly love is admirable. Creating artwork and collecting newspaper for his blind brother is such a noble thing to do.
When you think about it, and I love what you wrote, they really didn't have anyone else. Whey they retreated from the rest of the world is beyond me when they were such interesting people from the start.
I see it more as brotherly neglect. They could have afforded to live much more safely and comfortably. I wonder if Homer had any say in how they lived.
@@MainelyLove The Great Depression seems like it happened.
Wow, super mario got dark
Dale Gribble lmao
I read that in a New York/italian accent
The Shrooms were too much man...
I see Luigi as Langley
And Mario as Homer
Luigi died caring for Mario who was slowly dying
I wonder if Homer might have had Aspergers. Bright, and shy, and both later eccentric and extremely anti-social.. Maybe Langley did too..
I have Aspergers Syndrome, and it runs in families so you may be right.
Aspergers is a term that is no longer used. All are classified under the umbrella category of Autism spectrum disorders.
@Yung Javier Why wouldn't it? Thats ridiculous.
For either brother to be on the spectrum is most definitely a possibility, but I'd also wager schizophrenia to be a factor here.
Particularly as that is also found to be genetic, and the way that it can regress and display certain symptoms is present here
His delusions about what would happen if he sought medical help for his brother is just one example. Homer had many weird behaviours that simply didn't make any sense, ans had no known reasons for doing so
Such as leaving the house only at night, travelling six hours for food etc
That could very easily be down to a paranoid schizophrenics delusions, as it would be down to a logic and perception of reality disenfranchised to everyone else
What's really sad is the fact this opens up the possibility that his brother was only physically disabled, and completely aware that he needed help, but was utterly powerless and at the misguided whims of his brother
I honestly don't doubt Homer loved his brother, but I also can't help but think the idea to hide him away entirely may have been one-sided, as he was so protective over his brother, no one could intervene for decades
He had absolute power over him and thats quite terrifying
After decades of this, wirh Homer being his only stimulation whatsoever, he'd likely believe anything and everything he said about needing to be hidden away like that
But at the start, he could have been helpless and unconvinced and we'll never know
@@corazoncubano5372 Aspergers still functions as a shorthand for the level of severity as well as being the term that many grown ass adults have been labelled with their entire lives (decades of adult hood).... Let those who have it use the term if they so desire.
Being unnecessarily pedantic with those who are often already pedantic is just obscene.
"A wealthy and eccentric gynecologist."
Just what every women wants to hear, I'm sure.
vsGoliath clearly he is a skilled man
@@druffner i wish i was a woman
Whose wife is his cousin.
@@ashkitt7719 sweet home Alabama
Yeah, you had them at wealthy.
Thanks ..The Brothers Are Legendary...
and Excellent Radio Voice ..
Mom used to reference them when I was a kid and didn't want to clean up my room. Thought she was making it up. Now I know. Gonna subscribe just for my mom!
Such a nice idea, when i have a kids i will tell real event story so they will more learn and respect with it later.
Having a skeleton wasn't odd. Medical students required them.
I dunno, it looked like that skeleton still had sinew and mummified skin along the arm - wouldn't a donated medical skeleton have been bathed in chemicals to burn away fleshy parts?
Yep and a 2 headed child nothing weird about that sir
Their father was supposedly eccentric, and remains of abnormal children was surprisingly normal during that period, not common, but nothing strange in so far as rarities were concerned.
Swamp Life, I looked it up and some sources say "phony two-headed baby in formaldehyde", though actual medical specimens and specimens, both real and fake, like that were common curiosities and often displayed during the turn of the century at "freak shows".
Evelyn Hyde, I'm not so sure that medical skeletons are bathed in chemicals to burn away flesh, if they're prepared anything like animal skeletons, what can be easily removed is removed and then beetles are used to clean the rest off the bone (before being cleaned with chemicals).
I agree that's not the typical medical skeleton (perhaps the skeleton is just dirty from being in that house for decades) but the arm they show (which may not belong with the rest of the skeleton) is definitely out of the ordinary. Perhaps the arm is an old écorché anatomical specimen (specimen preserved by being injected with wax etc., like the those created by Honoré Fragonard in the 18th century), to show the circulatory system of the arm.