Reports of collectors killed by collection?

As I mentioned in this thread many people who suffer from compulsive hoarding die when crushed by a collapsing pile in their collection.

Does anyone know of any confirmed reports of a disorganized coin collector being crushed under a collapsed portion of his or her medically-out-of-control collection?
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I'm sure there are confirmed reports of cat collectors dying from overpowering ammonia fumes, from feline urine.

 

Not really but around the area I live there are many, many stories of people killed, injured, beaten due to robberies in their homes. Usually due to excessive advertising of what they had. Not exactly what you mean, but you would be amazed at how coin collectors like to brag about their massive piles of coins.

 

There defiantly are. That is called Animal Hoarding. Both kinds of hoarding are serious medical conditions. Luckily I only have the non-Animal kind. (Coins are not one of the things I hoard, btw)

 

I am somewhat of a hoarder but by no means like some cases I've seen documented
I have no fears of being crushed by a pile of coins - that is wishful thinking as it would mean I had THAT many coins.

People do have hoarding problems. I saw something on TV about a lady that had so many newspapers, etc that they were stacked over head high. One would have to walk through paths to get anywhere in the house. I would consider that a real hazard.

I think JustCarl really hit it. Getting shot for you coins is a bigger hazard.

 

Man, I wonder what the R factor was of that house ?
Plenty of insulation there.

 

Probably no story can top that of the Collyer brothers who lived in a row house in Harlem early in the 20th centry. Both brothers were crushed to death by piles of debris in their home. Authorities eventually removed more than 100 tons of trash from the house including human pickled organs, the chassis of an old Model T, fourteen pianos (both grand and upright), hundreds of yards of unused silks and fabric, the folding top of a horse-drawn carriage, and more than 25,000 books. No coins, though.
You can read more about it at unclutterer.com.

 

Well here's the OP's problem, the website's definition of hoarding includes "the acquisition of, and failure to discard, a large number of possessions that appear to be useless or of limited value"

My collection is definitely NOT useless and it's very valuable to me.

 

My dream:
To be buried by a collapsing hoard of 1896 S and 1913 S Barber quarters!

Then I dig out and wake up.
Sell them and buy an island in the South Pacific.

 

the danger can all be avoided.....................collect paper money, nice n soft!

 

Not so

Not so. Just a reckoning, but I would say the majority of pathological hoarders killed by collapses are crushed by stacked newspaper.

 

This lady was a cat collector and spent a good portion of her money on cat food, about a year ago she went down due to some illness and some family member found her, the cats had been out of food and they started eating her finger tips, ears and nose, she lived for about 2 mos. and died. I didn't here about any cat odors.

 

Okay, enough jokes. This is a serious medical condition that I happen to suffer from. It looses you friends and family (not family in my case since they all have it as well) and kills people, so it's not very funny to me.

Yes, they are defiantly the textbook example, but you forgot to mention that their mansion in Manhattan where the police found their bodies was full of booby traps. Here is the Wikipedia for them. And for Edmund Trebus a Polish-born Englishmen I had never heard of. Aparently he was in a BBC documentary recently.

What does "OP" stand for here?

I don't dispute that, since you probably don't have this disease. But the kind of coin collection my uncle has: 2-3 tons of cents kept in cardboard boxes he's never sorted but keeps adding to because "they might be worth 2 cents someday" probably meets the medical definition of pathological hoarding.

Now imagine he had boxes of these stacked to the ceiling on rickety wooden shelves, was elderly (as very many hoarders are), and lived in a cramped space (as very many hoarders do.) Then you can envision the type of fatal collapse I am describing.

Ahhh, what a lovely dream.:thumb:

Thanks for sharing! Isn't academic inquiry wonderful everyone?:rolling:
:mouth:[green vomit spills out]

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Sorry if you're offended, but I still find it amusing.
I'm a frickin' pack-rat, I keep everything except used toilet paper.
So, I'm kind of making fun of myself, entitling me to abuse others with similar behavior problems.


OP stands for Original Poster, I assume.

 

No offense taken

Not too offended. Just a little annoyed. Believe me, I make fun of myself and others with such tendencies all the time, but when you're living in a cat-urine-soaked house, or squeezing through newspaper-walled tunnels, it ceases to be funny.

Luckily, like I said, I'm not an animal hoarder. Noöne in my family hoards animals either, except maybe my grandpa in Canada. He keeps a national border between himself and his children and grandchildren for protection, so it's hard to tell exactly what's going on.

I do know he and his wife have been living directly on particleboard for almost 10 years, after they tore up the cat-soiled wall-to-wall carpeting in their entire house. They also take-in a lot of stray cats, although supposedly this is only foster-care. I don't know how many animals they live with now. I am the last person in my family to go inside the house. That was in the mid-'90's.

He had a stroke this spring and my mom, aunt, sister and cousin went north to visit. They stayed in a hotel and saw him and his wife in the hospital where he was an in-patient. They also went to his step-daughter's house. Latter, when they thought his wife was back home, they went to the house, but noöne answered the door.

My aunt is convinced his wife was hiding. It isn't out of the question. I have hidden from people because I was embarrassed about the amount of stuff in my apartment. I know he and his wife hoard stuff.

My aunt hoards too. She came close to having the newspaper-tunnel situation (except the walls were mixed, not pure newspaper.) Her piles are somewhat smaller now, but she hasn't stopped hoarding. The special I saw on the Discovery channel said there is no cure, only reduction in the severity of the behavior.

 

I can understand the behavior.
I keep EVERY magazine I get.
You should see the stack of Coin Worlds.

Also, my Grandmother had around 40 cats at one point.
Some were inside and some were in pens outside.
So, I kind of know the pet-hoarding.


Now, the severe irony of this thread.......

Your name is "I Like Trees", but yet you hoard dead trees that have been defiled with ink.
So, are you a caretaker of their remains ?

Do you use the papers for anything ?
Pinatas are big right now, you could make a killing if you are artistic.

 

You folks don't know what hoarding is till you've lived with someone who quilts....quilters have an uncanny desire to collect large quantities of fabric and stash it in just about every area of the house. Whenever the craft store runs a sale on fabric it's time to stock up again. It's never ending....but she never says anything about me collecting coins. Maybe 'cause i'm not intruding on her space....then again, maybe ....na, not going to start hoarding coins.

Ken

 

Help for hoarders

Ok all of you hoarders, severe, non severe, casual, diagnosed, non-diagnosed etc.

My wife looked these up real quick last night. Maybe someone, anyone can use these links.


http://www.ocfoundation.org/hoarding/

http://psychcentral.com/lib/2006/paroextine-may-help-treat-compulsive-hoarding/

http://www.helpguide.org/mental/obsessive_compulsive_disorder_ocd.htm

http://www.anxietyinsights.info/hoarding_poses_health_risk_required_professional_healp.htm

Best of luck if you feel you need help and these actually DO help.

Personally, I'm a disorganized pack rat and lose no sleep over it.

 

Oh man.....

You give me this vision of a Granny somewhere going through a shaking fit from not having any thread.
Or smashing the windows out of the house for knocking over her quilt-rack.
I'm demented.

Although, I can appreciate a fine quilt.
A lot of love goes into those.

 

COINS with trees, I mean COINS with trees!

You need to read my posts more closely. I went back to make sure I didn't misspeak earlier in the thread, but I don't hoard newspaper. And, as I've said before, my user name is a reference to PICTURES of trees STAMPED IN METAL. (Not yelling 'cause I'm angry, just for emphasis. Believe me, I'm not offended.)

Did these things happen to you, or are you daydreaming this nightmare (so to speak)?