1 00:00:02,400 --> 00:00:12,240 Speaker 1: A semeral as a protection of my heart radio. As 2 00:00:12,280 --> 00:00:15,120 Speaker 1: a kid, Franz Lives, his father would tell him scary 3 00:00:15,200 --> 00:00:20,320 Speaker 1: stories before bed. Only these stories were true because my father, 4 00:00:20,680 --> 00:00:25,640 Speaker 1: who was a scientist, engineer, inventor, who never really had 5 00:00:25,720 --> 00:00:31,120 Speaker 1: much use for fairy tales. He preferred real life grotesqueries 6 00:00:31,200 --> 00:00:35,040 Speaker 1: to fiction, and so at that time I would listen 7 00:00:35,600 --> 00:00:40,120 Speaker 1: raptly to his urban horror stories, which are tales that 8 00:00:40,280 --> 00:00:45,080 Speaker 1: filled the dark with camera and boogeyman and golems. The 9 00:00:45,120 --> 00:00:49,760 Speaker 1: most maccabre tale was one of the Collier Brothers, the 10 00:00:49,920 --> 00:01:00,120 Speaker 1: hermit hoarders of Harlem every reason like that alliteration, in 11 00:01:00,160 --> 00:01:02,800 Speaker 1: their four story brownstone at the corner of Fifth Avenue, 12 00:01:02,800 --> 00:01:07,440 Speaker 1: and the brothers sealed themselves up through the Great Depression, 13 00:01:07,760 --> 00:01:10,880 Speaker 1: both world wars and as Harlem shifted from a rich 14 00:01:10,920 --> 00:01:15,040 Speaker 1: white suburb to a poor black slum, Omer Collier, the 15 00:01:15,120 --> 00:01:19,839 Speaker 1: blind and bedridden older brother, lived there with his devoted 16 00:01:20,160 --> 00:01:25,080 Speaker 1: younger brother Langley. It was there in the brownstone that 17 00:01:25,120 --> 00:01:29,520 Speaker 1: they amassed one of the world's legendary collections of urban junk. 18 00:01:30,240 --> 00:01:33,520 Speaker 1: And in the end, the color brothers had tons of 19 00:01:33,720 --> 00:01:37,959 Speaker 1: junk stored in their brownstone, And so I get this 20 00:01:38,080 --> 00:01:45,560 Speaker 1: image of this horror house, things like pattered toys, Christmas trees, andeliers, 21 00:01:45,720 --> 00:01:50,279 Speaker 1: rusted bicycles, broken baby carriages, Ford model team, moldering oak chest, 22 00:01:50,400 --> 00:01:55,080 Speaker 1: fourteen pianos who added babies, and formalde hyde. It was 23 00:01:55,120 --> 00:02:00,320 Speaker 1: a collection so extraordinary that their accomplishment such as it was, 24 00:02:01,120 --> 00:02:06,840 Speaker 1: confirms like a New Yorkers worst nightmare, that they're crumpled 25 00:02:06,920 --> 00:02:10,600 Speaker 1: people living in a crumpled rooms, with their crumpled possessions, 26 00:02:11,440 --> 00:02:14,840 Speaker 1: the crowded chaos of the city reflected in their homes. 27 00:02:15,720 --> 00:02:19,120 Speaker 1: It's not that New Yorkers hoard more than other people, 28 00:02:19,880 --> 00:02:25,359 Speaker 1: and so they have less room to hold in that 29 00:02:25,520 --> 00:02:29,600 Speaker 1: horror house. Terrified and fascinated France so much that as 30 00:02:29,639 --> 00:02:32,480 Speaker 1: an adult he learned everything he could about the Colliers 31 00:02:33,520 --> 00:02:38,400 Speaker 1: named movie, trapped their home with midnight street pickings and 32 00:02:38,520 --> 00:02:42,400 Speaker 1: turned it into kind of a sealed fortress of ephemera, 33 00:02:42,760 --> 00:02:46,040 Speaker 1: a hundred navy tons of it by the end, and 34 00:02:46,440 --> 00:02:50,320 Speaker 1: children in Harlem chap rocks that the windows and called 35 00:02:50,400 --> 00:02:54,079 Speaker 1: them ghost Team, which is where the title of the 36 00:02:54,120 --> 00:02:59,240 Speaker 1: book came from. Ghosting Man Frances two thousand three. Book 37 00:02:59,760 --> 00:03:02,079 Speaker 1: Try says everything he could find on the lives of 38 00:03:02,120 --> 00:03:06,960 Speaker 1: the mysterious hermits. The Colliers had love as only come 39 00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:11,160 Speaker 1: over in the speedwell from England right after the Mayflower. 40 00:03:11,560 --> 00:03:14,400 Speaker 1: They are the elderly seons of an upper class in 41 00:03:14,480 --> 00:03:19,600 Speaker 1: Manhattan family. There's all kinds of rumored incestuous goings on. 42 00:03:19,680 --> 00:03:26,000 Speaker 1: In fact, Herman and Susie, the parents, were cousins. In 43 00:03:26,120 --> 00:03:29,640 Speaker 1: nine Herman and Susie packed up the family and moved 44 00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:34,480 Speaker 1: from Lower Manhattan to the budding community of Harlem. Harlem 45 00:03:34,639 --> 00:03:38,800 Speaker 1: was built for the swells of the time. The rich 46 00:03:38,880 --> 00:03:45,000 Speaker 1: people would move into Harlem because the elevated subway vaccine 47 00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:47,960 Speaker 1: warn that it is was going up, and the idea 48 00:03:48,040 --> 00:03:53,880 Speaker 1: is that people would move from Manhattan into this new suburb. 49 00:03:53,960 --> 00:03:58,800 Speaker 1: Will never quite worked out that way. The boom of 50 00:03:58,880 --> 00:04:02,160 Speaker 1: the late Hunters had turned into a bust by the 51 00:04:02,200 --> 00:04:07,720 Speaker 1: early nineteen and nobody moved into these great brands, towns 52 00:04:07,720 --> 00:04:12,920 Speaker 1: and mansions. Harlem, like many neighborhoods at the time, developed 53 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:17,640 Speaker 1: under the overtly racist practices of its landowners. There were 54 00:04:17,920 --> 00:04:23,400 Speaker 1: covenants against African Americans moving into the area, but the 55 00:04:23,480 --> 00:04:27,520 Speaker 1: landlords and the building owners realized that they had a 56 00:04:27,640 --> 00:04:33,920 Speaker 1: filled apartments with somebody, and by around nineteen ten, they 57 00:04:33,960 --> 00:04:39,080 Speaker 1: started moving in black families and charging what was called 58 00:04:39,080 --> 00:04:43,920 Speaker 1: the negro thir charge up to to live in these 59 00:04:43,960 --> 00:04:47,320 Speaker 1: apartments buildings that they were meant for one family, but 60 00:04:47,440 --> 00:04:52,680 Speaker 1: were broken up into these tiny apartments. When the Colliers 61 00:04:52,720 --> 00:04:57,920 Speaker 1: moved in, it was this might suburb where they're guying. 62 00:04:57,960 --> 00:05:04,400 Speaker 1: Ecollegist father and his wife concert pianists live and maintained 63 00:05:04,480 --> 00:05:09,840 Speaker 1: this mansion. Within ten years it had become a black slum. 64 00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:12,440 Speaker 1: The father had moved back to the Upper West Side. 65 00:05:13,560 --> 00:05:17,440 Speaker 1: Mothers stayed there with her two sons, but they basically 66 00:05:17,520 --> 00:05:24,040 Speaker 1: barricaded themselves in, perhaps from the poor inhabitants of Harlem 67 00:05:24,160 --> 00:05:29,880 Speaker 1: at the time. The Colliers Brownstone mansion was, like the 68 00:05:29,920 --> 00:05:35,080 Speaker 1: others in the neighborhood, a construction of extravagance. It was 69 00:05:35,440 --> 00:05:41,320 Speaker 1: a Gilded Age structure that had libraries, elaborate kitchens, pious 70 00:05:41,400 --> 00:05:48,159 Speaker 1: ceiling rooms, a lot of waynscoding, really massive spaces. That's 71 00:05:48,200 --> 00:05:52,760 Speaker 1: one reason that these large family homes would be turned 72 00:05:52,839 --> 00:05:58,200 Speaker 1: into apartment complexes that were seven or eight apartments because 73 00:05:58,200 --> 00:06:01,400 Speaker 1: they were so immense, so there's a lot of room 74 00:06:01,400 --> 00:06:05,760 Speaker 1: in there to collect. The brothers may have always been 75 00:06:05,800 --> 00:06:09,320 Speaker 1: a bit eccentric, but did not start out as reclusive. 76 00:06:10,760 --> 00:06:14,880 Speaker 1: They were over educated. According to their father, Langley had 77 00:06:14,920 --> 00:06:20,200 Speaker 1: degrees in chemistry and engineering mechanical engineering. Homer graduated five 78 00:06:20,240 --> 00:06:23,839 Speaker 1: beta cap at Columbia with some advanced degrees, including a 79 00:06:23,880 --> 00:06:29,200 Speaker 1: degree in admiralty law. They were not what I called 80 00:06:29,200 --> 00:06:33,160 Speaker 1: typical of New Yorkers. You know. Homer walked to his 81 00:06:33,360 --> 00:06:37,600 Speaker 1: office of Admiralty Law on Wall Street eight miles every 82 00:06:37,640 --> 00:06:41,000 Speaker 1: day because he refused to pay the nickel for the subway, 83 00:06:42,000 --> 00:06:46,880 Speaker 1: but it was a waste of money, and of course 84 00:06:46,880 --> 00:06:49,200 Speaker 1: he wanked backed every day, so it was was sixteen miles 85 00:06:49,200 --> 00:06:53,479 Speaker 1: he walked every weekday. One day at the office, the 86 00:06:53,520 --> 00:06:56,600 Speaker 1: boss noticed Homer's shoes had worn straight through the souls. 87 00:06:57,120 --> 00:06:59,880 Speaker 1: He was offering a raise on the spot, turned it down, 88 00:07:00,400 --> 00:07:02,840 Speaker 1: and never came back to work, not even to pick 89 00:07:02,880 --> 00:07:09,120 Speaker 1: up his last check. Langley never really held a job 90 00:07:09,320 --> 00:07:14,040 Speaker 1: in his life. He was a pianist who had performed 91 00:07:14,040 --> 00:07:18,360 Speaker 1: at Carnegie Hall and had once followed Pat Ruski, the 92 00:07:18,400 --> 00:07:23,360 Speaker 1: great pianist at the time, But he said that since 93 00:07:23,640 --> 00:07:27,040 Speaker 1: Druski get better notices than he did, he just gave 94 00:07:27,040 --> 00:07:30,040 Speaker 1: it up. What was the point? He quit the concert 95 00:07:30,160 --> 00:07:36,440 Speaker 1: stage and retreated to his brown stone in Harlem, and 96 00:07:36,520 --> 00:07:40,400 Speaker 1: they're late twenties on. They pretty much stuck to themselves 97 00:07:40,800 --> 00:07:44,040 Speaker 1: in this Brownstoner only came out at night, sort of 98 00:07:44,080 --> 00:07:49,720 Speaker 1: like vampires, but vampires dressed better than they did. They 99 00:07:49,760 --> 00:07:54,600 Speaker 1: wore these pattered rags to discourage people from robbing them 100 00:07:54,720 --> 00:07:58,200 Speaker 1: or even noticing them. They wanted to blend into the scenery. 101 00:07:58,240 --> 00:08:02,720 Speaker 1: It's kind of mock homeless people, and people for the 102 00:08:02,720 --> 00:08:05,120 Speaker 1: most part left them alone because they looked like they 103 00:08:05,120 --> 00:08:10,040 Speaker 1: didn't have any money. Susie maintained her residence in the 104 00:08:10,120 --> 00:08:14,960 Speaker 1: increasingly cluttered mansion. When she died, her sons were in 105 00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:19,520 Speaker 1: their mid forties. They spirited her out of the apartment 106 00:08:19,640 --> 00:08:23,040 Speaker 1: through a window late one night and took her to 107 00:08:23,520 --> 00:08:27,400 Speaker 1: the cemetery in Brooklyn, which was a long way await. 108 00:08:28,360 --> 00:08:31,160 Speaker 1: She was buried there in this kind of private, was 109 00:08:31,400 --> 00:08:36,600 Speaker 1: cult like ceremony and buried and then unmarked grave in 110 00:08:36,760 --> 00:08:40,400 Speaker 1: the cemetery, but it was never announced that she had died, 111 00:08:40,640 --> 00:08:43,600 Speaker 1: or how she died, or what had happened to her. 112 00:08:44,520 --> 00:08:46,880 Speaker 1: Is one of those mysteries of the Caller Brothers that 113 00:08:47,040 --> 00:08:52,360 Speaker 1: was never quite explained. To borrow a phrase from GHOSTI 114 00:08:52,440 --> 00:08:56,360 Speaker 1: Men life in the Harlem Brownstone now became one long 115 00:08:56,440 --> 00:09:05,560 Speaker 1: conversation between Homer and Langley. So what did the call 116 00:09:05,640 --> 00:09:10,560 Speaker 1: your brothers actually doing this mansion alone together? Well, Homer 117 00:09:10,960 --> 00:09:15,800 Speaker 1: had a stroke in his thirties. He was paralyzed from it. 118 00:09:16,040 --> 00:09:20,880 Speaker 1: He couldn't walk anymore, crippled by rheumatism, hunched over with 119 00:09:21,040 --> 00:09:24,679 Speaker 1: his knees bent and his head kind of resting on 120 00:09:24,760 --> 00:09:29,320 Speaker 1: his knees, and he couldn't see. His brother had to 121 00:09:29,360 --> 00:09:35,560 Speaker 1: become his keeper. Langley nursed them, washed them, fed him 122 00:09:35,559 --> 00:09:39,000 Speaker 1: a hundred oranges a week in this bizarre attempt to 123 00:09:39,080 --> 00:09:44,120 Speaker 1: cure his blindness, and saved newspapers for Homer to read 124 00:09:44,559 --> 00:09:50,640 Speaker 1: when he regained his sight. Hundreds of thousands of newspapers 125 00:09:50,679 --> 00:09:56,640 Speaker 1: that became the Colure collection. Aside from that, Langley would 126 00:09:56,640 --> 00:09:59,839 Speaker 1: go out at night sorting through trash cans and dumps 127 00:09:59,880 --> 00:10:04,400 Speaker 1: to is finding food. Because they refused to spend money anything, 128 00:10:05,000 --> 00:10:08,480 Speaker 1: they didn't really believe in the money. That's how they 129 00:10:08,520 --> 00:10:15,040 Speaker 1: spent their days reading, collecting more trash newspapers, and filing 130 00:10:15,120 --> 00:10:20,280 Speaker 1: up their junk. Since they were totally indiscriminate on what 131 00:10:20,320 --> 00:10:23,360 Speaker 1: they collected, you would just pushed piles against wall and 132 00:10:23,440 --> 00:10:28,120 Speaker 1: build tunnels so in that sense, I think Langley was 133 00:10:28,320 --> 00:10:39,120 Speaker 1: an architect, constructing the framework of the inner mansion. Their 134 00:10:39,160 --> 00:10:43,640 Speaker 1: solitary lifestyles extended beyond junk collecting. It seems that the 135 00:10:43,640 --> 00:10:48,240 Speaker 1: brothers made all attempts to extricate themselves from society. They 136 00:10:48,240 --> 00:10:52,400 Speaker 1: didn't pay their taxes and paid bills. Tax collectors would 137 00:10:52,480 --> 00:10:55,439 Speaker 1: come and couldn't get in and leave notices on their 138 00:10:55,480 --> 00:10:58,520 Speaker 1: door with lessons and dozens. Langley would never pick them up. 139 00:10:59,440 --> 00:11:02,720 Speaker 1: His rappor senitives. His lawyers couldn't get to him either, 140 00:11:03,040 --> 00:11:07,040 Speaker 1: so they couldn't pay the bills. The police periodically would 141 00:11:07,040 --> 00:11:10,160 Speaker 1: try to break in. Sometimes they try to hatch it 142 00:11:10,280 --> 00:11:14,199 Speaker 1: or act their way through, but the walls drunk were 143 00:11:14,240 --> 00:11:16,920 Speaker 1: so massive that there was no way to get through. 144 00:11:17,920 --> 00:11:20,560 Speaker 1: Occasionally language pop his head up, went now and just 145 00:11:20,600 --> 00:11:25,520 Speaker 1: say go away, and they resented that whole aspect of government. 146 00:11:25,559 --> 00:11:29,600 Speaker 1: He was kind of like an early libertarian. They actually 147 00:11:29,600 --> 00:11:33,480 Speaker 1: owned a time half of the Queen's waterfront, which they 148 00:11:34,000 --> 00:11:37,520 Speaker 1: left to ruin in many places. To see, were very 149 00:11:37,640 --> 00:11:41,040 Speaker 1: poor managers there had no interest in managing it. So 150 00:11:41,160 --> 00:11:43,920 Speaker 1: they had a lot of money just never sparent it. 151 00:11:45,080 --> 00:11:51,040 Speaker 1: That led to various utilities being cut off. Telephone service 152 00:11:51,120 --> 00:11:57,000 Speaker 1: was terminated in followed by gas and electricity, and somewhere 153 00:11:57,000 --> 00:11:59,920 Speaker 1: in the mix they lost running water too, which is 154 00:12:00,120 --> 00:12:03,200 Speaker 1: fine in a way with the Collier brothers, because anything 155 00:12:03,240 --> 00:12:08,760 Speaker 1: like electricity or gas could turn their brown stone into 156 00:12:08,800 --> 00:12:12,679 Speaker 1: this raging infernum at some point, which was always a danger. 157 00:12:13,800 --> 00:12:16,800 Speaker 1: But for anything they absolutely needed from the outside world, 158 00:12:17,280 --> 00:12:23,800 Speaker 1: Langley would devise a system. Langley would make these nightly 159 00:12:24,200 --> 00:12:28,640 Speaker 1: rounds collecting meat from garbage cans, and he would just 160 00:12:28,840 --> 00:12:32,920 Speaker 1: cut around the rotted part. He would collect the water 161 00:12:33,280 --> 00:12:36,160 Speaker 1: from the fountains in Mars Park, and that's what they 162 00:12:36,160 --> 00:12:38,680 Speaker 1: would use for water. I mean, it was of course 163 00:12:38,960 --> 00:12:43,640 Speaker 1: very insanitary, but in a way they didn't need running water, 164 00:12:44,120 --> 00:12:48,320 Speaker 1: and in a way they didn't need electricity because Homer 165 00:12:48,480 --> 00:12:51,319 Speaker 1: was blind and couldn't see in the first place. Langley 166 00:12:51,679 --> 00:12:54,360 Speaker 1: was used to the dark because that's when he went 167 00:12:54,400 --> 00:12:59,040 Speaker 1: on his scavenger hunts. They were perfectly comfortable being these 168 00:12:59,080 --> 00:13:05,040 Speaker 1: creatures of the night. One of the only things that 169 00:13:05,080 --> 00:13:08,160 Speaker 1: the Collier shared with their neighbors in Harlem was anxiety 170 00:13:08,800 --> 00:13:12,920 Speaker 1: about each other. They resented what they called the hooligans 171 00:13:13,760 --> 00:13:17,720 Speaker 1: in the neighborhood. But I think many of the middle 172 00:13:17,720 --> 00:13:21,679 Speaker 1: aged and elderly people had a kind of a benevolent 173 00:13:22,000 --> 00:13:26,319 Speaker 1: idea of them. The bookers would leave them meet and 174 00:13:26,640 --> 00:13:28,880 Speaker 1: at the newsstands, and there would be a stack of 175 00:13:29,000 --> 00:13:31,880 Speaker 1: newspapers that Langley could go to a night and just 176 00:13:32,160 --> 00:13:37,800 Speaker 1: rummage through and take home. Still, as the looming Corner 177 00:13:37,840 --> 00:13:43,160 Speaker 1: mansion grew more and more decrepit, so did the enigma. 178 00:13:44,160 --> 00:13:48,240 Speaker 1: Since nobody could enter, anybody saw of the place where 179 00:13:48,480 --> 00:13:53,319 Speaker 1: the newspapers that lined the windows. There was this extremely 180 00:13:54,080 --> 00:13:59,600 Speaker 1: mysterious place that all sorts of rumors sprang from, and 181 00:14:00,040 --> 00:14:02,959 Speaker 1: no one quite knew what was it. Within the four 182 00:14:03,000 --> 00:14:08,360 Speaker 1: walls of the building, there were rumors that Langley may 183 00:14:08,360 --> 00:14:11,520 Speaker 1: have killed his brother, and there were all sorts of 184 00:14:11,600 --> 00:14:15,439 Speaker 1: corpses hanging from the trees and there that people buried 185 00:14:15,520 --> 00:14:21,760 Speaker 1: under their junk. The stories became larger and larger, and 186 00:14:22,120 --> 00:14:25,920 Speaker 1: the inclusive brothers became more and more part of the 187 00:14:25,960 --> 00:14:35,400 Speaker 1: Harlem folklore. They were famous or infamous within Harlem. For 188 00:14:35,480 --> 00:14:38,920 Speaker 1: Franz and his family, tells of hermit hoarders did not 189 00:14:38,960 --> 00:14:45,760 Speaker 1: require much imagination. Michael Arthur was a lot like Langley 190 00:14:45,800 --> 00:14:48,400 Speaker 1: Collier in the difference, of course, he made his daily 191 00:14:48,480 --> 00:14:53,880 Speaker 1: rounds in the daylight. Arthur had his apartment in the 192 00:14:53,920 --> 00:14:58,360 Speaker 1: Bronx that was equally bizarre and punn Old guy had 193 00:14:58,760 --> 00:15:01,240 Speaker 1: visited and actually dat over one night when I was 194 00:15:01,280 --> 00:15:07,320 Speaker 1: eight years old, nineteen fifty nine. That would be I 195 00:15:07,360 --> 00:15:11,240 Speaker 1: would walk through and be afraid that these powering mounds 196 00:15:11,280 --> 00:15:14,280 Speaker 1: of newspapers would avalanche and kill me. And I was 197 00:15:14,320 --> 00:15:17,960 Speaker 1: afraid that no one would find me under all these newspapers. 198 00:15:17,960 --> 00:15:20,920 Speaker 1: But it's still I was a kid and was very 199 00:15:21,040 --> 00:15:26,600 Speaker 1: fascinating to actually be in that kind of environment. I 200 00:15:26,640 --> 00:15:29,400 Speaker 1: can't quite figure out why my father in his right mind, 201 00:15:29,480 --> 00:15:32,400 Speaker 1: or my mother for that matter, who really kind of 202 00:15:32,600 --> 00:15:36,200 Speaker 1: despised her brother in laws, would actually let me and 203 00:15:36,280 --> 00:15:41,400 Speaker 1: my sister stay in, you know, this huge fire hazard. 204 00:15:41,400 --> 00:15:45,080 Speaker 1: But it was one of the great memories imprinted in 205 00:15:45,240 --> 00:15:51,560 Speaker 1: my mind from my youth. According to Lids family lore, 206 00:15:52,080 --> 00:15:56,680 Speaker 1: the origins of Uncle Arthur's collection were deep rooted. This 207 00:15:56,880 --> 00:16:00,640 Speaker 1: drunk mania may have begun at the end of World 208 00:16:00,720 --> 00:16:06,720 Speaker 1: War One. He was maybe three years old. He had 209 00:16:06,720 --> 00:16:10,440 Speaker 1: a thirteen year old brother, Leo. He had a job 210 00:16:10,440 --> 00:16:14,880 Speaker 1: of removing every third bulb from the strings along the 211 00:16:14,920 --> 00:16:17,720 Speaker 1: beach of Coney Island. That's when the Coney Honest and 212 00:16:18,040 --> 00:16:21,560 Speaker 1: Steeple Trace Park and Luna Park and all the lights 213 00:16:21,600 --> 00:16:27,800 Speaker 1: along the boardwalk. Somehow that was supposed to confuse German 214 00:16:27,920 --> 00:16:31,880 Speaker 1: Zeppelin's that might attack New York and a Chris There 215 00:16:31,960 --> 00:16:34,400 Speaker 1: we happened, But why they would come to Tony Island 216 00:16:34,480 --> 00:16:38,920 Speaker 1: is another question. Leo would bring the scent bulbs home 217 00:16:39,240 --> 00:16:43,360 Speaker 1: to Arthur, who was fascinated with any three year old 218 00:16:43,440 --> 00:16:49,400 Speaker 1: might by their smooth, shiny roundness. As he grew older, 219 00:16:49,560 --> 00:16:53,200 Speaker 1: they break one by one, but even as an adult 220 00:16:53,280 --> 00:16:57,320 Speaker 1: he had saved a few from his youth that perhaps 221 00:16:57,520 --> 00:17:01,400 Speaker 1: was the start of his collection. And then when we 222 00:17:01,480 --> 00:17:04,080 Speaker 1: got older, he would take the F train to the 223 00:17:04,080 --> 00:17:09,560 Speaker 1: beast of Coney Island with his family, and he browsed 224 00:17:09,560 --> 00:17:13,000 Speaker 1: through the trash cans on the boardwalk or collectible junk. 225 00:17:13,640 --> 00:17:17,080 Speaker 1: He would come back from those family outings and sort 226 00:17:17,080 --> 00:17:20,760 Speaker 1: of boarding stuff in his little space under the bed. 227 00:17:20,840 --> 00:17:26,560 Speaker 1: He shared with my father. The stories of Uncle Arthur, 228 00:17:26,880 --> 00:17:29,760 Speaker 1: like those of the Collier brothers, back at a central 229 00:17:29,840 --> 00:17:36,760 Speaker 1: question what makes something chunk? Proverbially, what makes one person's 230 00:17:36,800 --> 00:17:43,960 Speaker 1: trash another's treasure. It goes into the difference between a 231 00:17:44,040 --> 00:17:48,960 Speaker 1: collector and a connoisseur. I mean a guy like Malcolm 232 00:17:49,000 --> 00:17:54,040 Speaker 1: Forbes would collect Faberge eggs, which were highly valued into 233 00:17:54,119 --> 00:17:58,320 Speaker 1: the tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars. Arthur, like 234 00:17:58,600 --> 00:18:02,520 Speaker 1: Langley Collier, was not scriminating. He collect anything there's a 235 00:18:02,520 --> 00:18:07,639 Speaker 1: little shoe shoe policy, sponges you find in hotel rooms, 236 00:18:07,920 --> 00:18:09,840 Speaker 1: not that he was ever in hotel rooms, but he 237 00:18:09,920 --> 00:18:13,040 Speaker 1: had a whole collection of those, and on an entire 238 00:18:13,119 --> 00:18:17,400 Speaker 1: drawer full of parking tickets, and he had taken off 239 00:18:17,560 --> 00:18:20,880 Speaker 1: the windshields of cars. And I said, you know why 240 00:18:20,960 --> 00:18:24,600 Speaker 1: you're taking parking takes off of cars? He said, well, 241 00:18:24,880 --> 00:18:29,520 Speaker 1: people just leave him on their windshields when he required 242 00:18:29,600 --> 00:18:33,520 Speaker 1: made the connection, and I was wondered how much those 243 00:18:33,520 --> 00:18:35,720 Speaker 1: people had to pay in the end because they never 244 00:18:35,840 --> 00:18:40,560 Speaker 1: responded to their first ticket. He's still gone into the 245 00:18:40,600 --> 00:18:45,840 Speaker 1: idea of just having things and collecting that the junkie 246 00:18:45,840 --> 00:18:49,880 Speaker 1: collected he considered like his friends or like his cat. 247 00:18:50,720 --> 00:18:53,760 Speaker 1: They were part of his family, so he hated giving 248 00:18:54,080 --> 00:18:57,199 Speaker 1: up on any of them, were parting with them. He 249 00:18:57,359 --> 00:19:02,800 Speaker 1: just kept accumulating. He told me he regretted mixing up 250 00:19:02,880 --> 00:19:09,040 Speaker 1: his gems with common everyday newspapers. Christal gems where things 251 00:19:09,119 --> 00:19:13,360 Speaker 1: like broken pencil sharpenness and old shoes, and looked through 252 00:19:13,359 --> 00:19:17,080 Speaker 1: his cupboards and they like seventy one pound bags of 253 00:19:17,160 --> 00:19:24,240 Speaker 1: coffee and seven news four cans of evaporated milk amid 254 00:19:24,680 --> 00:19:28,719 Speaker 1: the stacks of old newspapers and tapes of used razor blades, 255 00:19:28,760 --> 00:19:33,000 Speaker 1: and drifts of pipes and bird cages and scithers or whatever. 256 00:19:34,080 --> 00:19:37,879 Speaker 1: I once found a paper bag containing a single penny 257 00:19:38,720 --> 00:19:42,600 Speaker 1: and a note explaining that it's been found in front 258 00:19:42,600 --> 00:19:48,120 Speaker 1: of his apartment building in December twelfth, nineteen fifties. Fours 259 00:19:48,800 --> 00:19:51,440 Speaker 1: in the early sixties especials look up to the skies. 260 00:19:52,520 --> 00:19:55,560 Speaker 1: Arthur always looked down to the ground. That's how he 261 00:19:55,640 --> 00:19:58,719 Speaker 1: would find things, not always in traffickings. Been on the street. 262 00:19:59,240 --> 00:20:02,040 Speaker 1: He us this little plux sparrow of a man, and 263 00:20:02,080 --> 00:20:04,800 Speaker 1: it was kind of like a Sherpa of Brooklyn or 264 00:20:04,840 --> 00:20:08,320 Speaker 1: the Bronx, wherever he was at the time. He's carrying 265 00:20:08,320 --> 00:20:12,680 Speaker 1: these huge sacks of things and mattresses on his back 266 00:20:12,760 --> 00:20:18,240 Speaker 1: through the streets of New York. Among the myriad subcategories 267 00:20:18,240 --> 00:20:25,040 Speaker 1: of junk and Arthur's possession, one department featured above all others. Shoelaces. 268 00:20:26,840 --> 00:20:29,120 Speaker 1: She would write on the shoelaces if it came from 269 00:20:29,119 --> 00:20:32,800 Speaker 1: a sneak here, you know pen leather shoe or you 270 00:20:32,840 --> 00:20:37,680 Speaker 1: know a boot, and that became this humongous shoelace collection. 271 00:20:40,960 --> 00:20:46,440 Speaker 1: As a syndrome, boarding goes back to ancient Egyptians at least, 272 00:20:46,560 --> 00:20:50,000 Speaker 1: and there are historical accounts of boarding that did back 273 00:20:50,200 --> 00:20:55,920 Speaker 1: like four hundred years through the necropolis is of pharaohs, 274 00:20:56,560 --> 00:21:01,000 Speaker 1: vast cities of the dead. These rulers Memphi dynasties were 275 00:21:01,040 --> 00:21:06,200 Speaker 1: buried in what was called mastabas, which are oblong tombs 276 00:21:06,359 --> 00:21:12,879 Speaker 1: with sloping sides and flat roofs and huge storerooms above 277 00:21:12,960 --> 00:21:18,320 Speaker 1: and below. The late pharaohs were jam packed with his possessions. 278 00:21:18,760 --> 00:21:27,000 Speaker 1: Collections typically include furniture, clothing, magical annulets, weapons, tools, gameboards, 279 00:21:27,240 --> 00:21:33,080 Speaker 1: in lunchboxes, mummified geese, jugs of wine. In those days, 280 00:21:33,240 --> 00:21:36,640 Speaker 1: the ancient Egyptians believed that the pharaoh couldn't lead much 281 00:21:36,640 --> 00:21:40,520 Speaker 1: of a life in the afterlife without his stuff, so 282 00:21:40,600 --> 00:21:43,879 Speaker 1: basically they thought you could take away with you. And 283 00:21:43,920 --> 00:21:46,720 Speaker 1: I think there's an element of that in horders that 284 00:21:46,880 --> 00:21:49,800 Speaker 1: they think that the stuff will survive them and maybe 285 00:21:49,920 --> 00:21:55,480 Speaker 1: accompanying them wherever going after death, which is why they're 286 00:21:55,480 --> 00:22:00,880 Speaker 1: so possessive of each individual item and give it up. 287 00:22:02,920 --> 00:22:08,159 Speaker 1: Arthur knew where everything, or every at least every category was, 288 00:22:08,400 --> 00:22:13,080 Speaker 1: you know, his empty cigarette access, the matches he found 289 00:22:13,080 --> 00:22:17,439 Speaker 1: on the street, the parking tickets, all the ephemera was 290 00:22:17,480 --> 00:22:23,080 Speaker 1: his specific places. You could point to an area and say, well, 291 00:22:23,119 --> 00:22:26,439 Speaker 1: that's you know, that's where the bottle caps are. I 292 00:22:26,440 --> 00:22:29,159 Speaker 1: mean not that they were in neat piles or anything. 293 00:22:29,200 --> 00:22:32,040 Speaker 1: I mean they were in total messes, but they did 294 00:22:32,119 --> 00:22:36,280 Speaker 1: have an order which only knew about. Do you think 295 00:22:36,280 --> 00:22:40,600 Speaker 1: of people who live with furniture that they hate and 296 00:22:40,640 --> 00:22:43,560 Speaker 1: it's only because they inherited it. I think a lot 297 00:22:43,600 --> 00:22:47,280 Speaker 1: of those collectors, if you will, think that it's des 298 00:22:47,280 --> 00:22:51,200 Speaker 1: trying the memory of their parents or grandparents or whatever, 299 00:22:51,520 --> 00:22:54,600 Speaker 1: and they don't want to do with disservice or disrespect 300 00:22:55,080 --> 00:22:59,800 Speaker 1: their ancestors. But the stigma against junk collecting takes on 301 00:22:59,840 --> 00:23:04,960 Speaker 1: a much different shape. With some grounds, there's a justifiable 302 00:23:05,000 --> 00:23:09,200 Speaker 1: reason that people living with hoarders. I mean, there are 303 00:23:09,200 --> 00:23:14,080 Speaker 1: mice roaches, which Arthur had in abundance, and it had 304 00:23:14,160 --> 00:23:17,800 Speaker 1: so many mice that his cat was afraid to come 305 00:23:17,800 --> 00:23:22,600 Speaker 1: out it was a huge fire hazard, and the entire 306 00:23:22,640 --> 00:23:24,920 Speaker 1: building can go off in flames, and that would be 307 00:23:25,200 --> 00:23:29,879 Speaker 1: the well spring of the fire. So I have great 308 00:23:29,920 --> 00:23:34,000 Speaker 1: sympathy for people living in a building occupied by someone 309 00:23:34,040 --> 00:23:38,600 Speaker 1: who just collects indiscriminately. On the other hand, they are 310 00:23:39,200 --> 00:23:43,480 Speaker 1: individuals and they have chosen to live apart from everyone else. 311 00:23:44,400 --> 00:23:47,600 Speaker 1: My uncle Arthur was maybe the most lovable person I've 312 00:23:47,600 --> 00:23:51,919 Speaker 1: ever met, But you know, they're not concerned with the 313 00:23:51,960 --> 00:23:56,440 Speaker 1: welfare of other people. They're concerned with adding to their junk. 314 00:23:58,520 --> 00:24:01,240 Speaker 1: Francis found himself for aiding to his uncle on both 315 00:24:01,280 --> 00:24:05,840 Speaker 1: sides of the issue. As a child, I was fascinated 316 00:24:05,840 --> 00:24:09,040 Speaker 1: by him that someone should live this way in gold 317 00:24:09,119 --> 00:24:13,280 Speaker 1: tunnels and erect structures, although I never quite felt as 318 00:24:13,320 --> 00:24:15,800 Speaker 1: my father did that Arthur was just a miss of 319 00:24:15,840 --> 00:24:20,000 Speaker 1: his boy who wouldn't conform to what society thought apartment 320 00:24:20,040 --> 00:24:24,760 Speaker 1: should look like. As an adult, I realized the responsibility 321 00:24:24,880 --> 00:24:30,760 Speaker 1: that tenants should have to each other, and what a 322 00:24:30,760 --> 00:24:33,760 Speaker 1: difficult position he was putting everyone else in the apartment 323 00:24:33,880 --> 00:24:37,800 Speaker 1: complex in. You know, as I get older and I 324 00:24:37,880 --> 00:24:42,879 Speaker 1: realized the landlords were threatening to a victim, I felt 325 00:24:43,040 --> 00:24:47,159 Speaker 1: a need to step in and actually cleaned some of 326 00:24:47,160 --> 00:24:49,600 Speaker 1: the stuff out before he got thrown on the street. 327 00:24:51,680 --> 00:24:55,399 Speaker 1: France took it upon himself to attempt the insurmountable to 328 00:24:55,480 --> 00:25:02,000 Speaker 1: clean out Arthur's apartment. Brian in a game of friends, 329 00:25:02,440 --> 00:25:05,680 Speaker 1: maybe five or six of us just with contractor bags 330 00:25:05,760 --> 00:25:10,320 Speaker 1: to throw out stuff. It was pretty amazing because we'd 331 00:25:10,359 --> 00:25:14,360 Speaker 1: find things have been lost for twenty years. It was 332 00:25:14,400 --> 00:25:19,720 Speaker 1: almost like an archeological big and find these tangled mounds 333 00:25:19,720 --> 00:25:23,479 Speaker 1: of twine and electrical cord climbing up these rolling hills. 334 00:25:23,960 --> 00:25:28,440 Speaker 1: Newspapers that were still in their plastic sleeves and shirts 335 00:25:28,680 --> 00:25:34,160 Speaker 1: and jackets, slopped out on staying grocery bags and onto 336 00:25:34,280 --> 00:25:38,800 Speaker 1: grubby carpet, and the stove and the witch encounters disappeared 337 00:25:38,800 --> 00:25:41,399 Speaker 1: from view and lost under a couple of feet of 338 00:25:41,480 --> 00:25:45,760 Speaker 1: cans and bottles, these colder like mobiles and Uncle Arthur 339 00:25:46,280 --> 00:25:49,000 Speaker 1: fashion out of clothes pins and coat hangers, and the 340 00:25:49,119 --> 00:25:53,640 Speaker 1: bedroom closet was packed with newspapers from as far back 341 00:25:53,680 --> 00:25:57,399 Speaker 1: as the Carter administration was in two thousands, and the 342 00:25:57,480 --> 00:26:01,680 Speaker 1: refrigerator had English muffroms from the end of the Reformation. 343 00:26:05,960 --> 00:26:09,600 Speaker 1: He spent eight hours there, not even getting through the 344 00:26:09,640 --> 00:26:12,119 Speaker 1: living room. There was so much stuff, and then we 345 00:26:12,200 --> 00:26:15,840 Speaker 1: had to stop because the superintendent of the building said 346 00:26:16,000 --> 00:26:19,960 Speaker 1: there was no more room outside for anybody else's garbage. 347 00:26:20,720 --> 00:26:24,240 Speaker 1: Landlord hired his own crew and they spent ten days 348 00:26:24,400 --> 00:26:28,840 Speaker 1: cleaning out the apartment. It took actually a month of 349 00:26:28,880 --> 00:26:32,840 Speaker 1: sanitation workers coming there to clean out the stuff we 350 00:26:32,880 --> 00:26:41,280 Speaker 1: had brought downstairs. I remember when I brought him in 351 00:26:41,440 --> 00:26:45,800 Speaker 1: and he was sort of shocked, right seeing this at space. 352 00:26:45,880 --> 00:26:50,719 Speaker 1: And had brought him an intimate cake as part of 353 00:26:50,760 --> 00:26:54,840 Speaker 1: like moving in or removing in gift, and I dropped 354 00:26:54,880 --> 00:26:58,320 Speaker 1: a few crumbs and we struck me as really odd. 355 00:26:58,760 --> 00:27:03,040 Speaker 1: He went to a closet and got a broom and 356 00:27:03,320 --> 00:27:06,760 Speaker 1: a desk pan and swept it up. So I was 357 00:27:06,800 --> 00:27:12,080 Speaker 1: thinking myself, God, he really has reformed. She's actually cleaning 358 00:27:12,119 --> 00:27:16,800 Speaker 1: something up. I visited him maybe a month later. The 359 00:27:16,840 --> 00:27:19,840 Speaker 1: table that had been cleaned was now full of papers 360 00:27:19,880 --> 00:27:23,199 Speaker 1: piling up and stuff all over his bed, and you 361 00:27:23,200 --> 00:27:28,879 Speaker 1: could just see rubbish forming his piles. The upside for 362 00:27:29,040 --> 00:27:32,560 Speaker 1: him was he gave him room to collect more junk, 363 00:27:33,640 --> 00:27:38,760 Speaker 1: so that he kind of liked told me that the 364 00:27:38,840 --> 00:27:41,679 Speaker 1: landlords didn't like the hobby, but what can you do. 365 00:27:41,800 --> 00:27:44,920 Speaker 1: I've got a lease. It gave him a certain powers, 366 00:27:47,560 --> 00:27:50,000 Speaker 1: that power to be your own person, free of a 367 00:27:50,040 --> 00:27:54,119 Speaker 1: society that doesn't understand you. That all came crashing down 368 00:27:54,200 --> 00:28:10,959 Speaker 1: for the Call your Brothers the morning of March one. Yeah, well, 369 00:28:11,000 --> 00:28:14,960 Speaker 1: nobody has seen Langley in a while. During his nightly rounds. 370 00:28:16,000 --> 00:28:18,600 Speaker 1: Kids started saying, well, maybe he's dead. I mean, they 371 00:28:18,680 --> 00:28:22,359 Speaker 1: always said he's the ghosts he man, but maybe it 372 00:28:22,520 --> 00:28:28,480 Speaker 1: was a ghost now. It took cold among the people 373 00:28:28,960 --> 00:28:32,840 Speaker 1: in the neighborhood. What really said it up was every 374 00:28:32,880 --> 00:28:36,719 Speaker 1: morning Langley would set out milk for the stray cats 375 00:28:36,720 --> 00:28:42,600 Speaker 1: in Harlem. They were just me owing under his window 376 00:28:43,120 --> 00:28:47,120 Speaker 1: for days on end, and people wondered why they hadn't 377 00:28:47,120 --> 00:28:51,680 Speaker 1: been fed. It was that Friday morning of the one 378 00:28:51,960 --> 00:28:55,560 Speaker 1: when the police were tipped off on the matter. The 379 00:28:55,640 --> 00:29:06,280 Speaker 1: caller identified himself as Charles Smith, that man Avenue Omar 380 00:29:06,440 --> 00:29:18,280 Speaker 1: Collier police arrived. Nobody answered. When they asked their way 381 00:29:18,320 --> 00:29:21,520 Speaker 1: through the front door. The police and gathered onlookers were 382 00:29:21,560 --> 00:29:25,440 Speaker 1: overcome by the smell of decay. There is this dark 383 00:29:25,520 --> 00:29:29,880 Speaker 1: forest of junk. It took almost an entire day to 384 00:29:29,880 --> 00:29:32,920 Speaker 1: get through the barricades in the front door. Kind of 385 00:29:33,040 --> 00:29:38,120 Speaker 1: bushed back through the annals and the walls of newspapers, 386 00:29:38,120 --> 00:29:42,800 Speaker 1: and they'd see like single shoes and single socks landing everywhere, 387 00:29:43,040 --> 00:29:47,240 Speaker 1: because if deposited buying a flash flood, or he's trying 388 00:29:47,240 --> 00:29:51,760 Speaker 1: to capitalist pins and cereal boxes and great tapes of 389 00:29:51,840 --> 00:29:55,960 Speaker 1: magazines and drifts of yellowing New York Times is and 390 00:29:56,520 --> 00:30:00,400 Speaker 1: yelling news is and Brooklyn Eagles near in a live 391 00:30:00,480 --> 00:30:05,800 Speaker 1: in these papers in. The cops and city workers who 392 00:30:05,800 --> 00:30:08,560 Speaker 1: had been called out to the Collier House before knew 393 00:30:08,560 --> 00:30:12,760 Speaker 1: that the place would be treacherous, and by design, the 394 00:30:12,880 --> 00:30:17,240 Speaker 1: brothers didn't want anybody ever entering their space. They feared 395 00:30:17,360 --> 00:30:24,280 Speaker 1: robbers burglars police, so they constructed these elaborate booby traps 396 00:30:24,320 --> 00:30:27,600 Speaker 1: and of bricks and cinder blocks and bottles of their 397 00:30:27,600 --> 00:30:34,840 Speaker 1: own feces and really kind of dangerous, sometimes discussing things 398 00:30:36,440 --> 00:30:40,120 Speaker 1: with every possible entrance walled off with junk, and without 399 00:30:40,160 --> 00:30:44,000 Speaker 1: knowing your way around Langley's network of booby trap tunnels, 400 00:30:44,040 --> 00:30:47,960 Speaker 1: the only way in was to clear a path. Police 401 00:30:48,000 --> 00:30:53,800 Speaker 1: began excavating, hurling chunk out onto the street. Hours passed 402 00:30:53,800 --> 00:30:58,040 Speaker 1: without headway from a ladder, an officer bashed open the 403 00:30:58,080 --> 00:31:05,440 Speaker 1: second story window and crawled in flashlight drawn what d 404 00:31:05,480 --> 00:31:12,480 Speaker 1: o A. They finally found in a corner Homer, who 405 00:31:12,520 --> 00:31:16,480 Speaker 1: was hunched over in his usual position, being paralyzed, with 406 00:31:16,600 --> 00:31:22,160 Speaker 1: a shriveled orange next to him. Dead. He had died 407 00:31:22,240 --> 00:31:28,320 Speaker 1: of the hydration and hunger in mid fan, but Langley 408 00:31:28,560 --> 00:31:31,800 Speaker 1: was nowhere to be found. The cops boarded up the 409 00:31:31,800 --> 00:31:34,560 Speaker 1: house and went home for the weekend, thinking the younger 410 00:31:34,600 --> 00:31:38,720 Speaker 1: Collier would turn up by Monday. He was still missing. 411 00:31:40,360 --> 00:31:43,560 Speaker 1: There was a search that began all over New York 412 00:31:43,600 --> 00:31:46,320 Speaker 1: and in fact all of the world for Langley Collier, 413 00:31:46,920 --> 00:31:51,600 Speaker 1: which was front page news for several weeks. It became 414 00:31:51,680 --> 00:31:54,920 Speaker 1: this kind of game to find Langley Callier, and three 415 00:31:54,960 --> 00:31:57,880 Speaker 1: of the newspapers and tabloids in New York in fact, 416 00:31:58,120 --> 00:32:02,959 Speaker 1: potical rewards for finding Langley Collier. People would site him 417 00:32:02,960 --> 00:32:06,280 Speaker 1: on the subways and the trains, and he is sited 418 00:32:06,280 --> 00:32:10,000 Speaker 1: in Europe and in North and South Carolina, so many 419 00:32:10,080 --> 00:32:13,800 Speaker 1: potas should kind of go. Anyone who looks like a 420 00:32:13,800 --> 00:32:18,920 Speaker 1: homeless person basically a little capped and beard and unkempt, 421 00:32:19,400 --> 00:32:25,200 Speaker 1: was presumed to be Langley Collier. All the while, dozens 422 00:32:25,200 --> 00:32:28,040 Speaker 1: of city workers continued sifting through the contents of the 423 00:32:28,040 --> 00:32:32,440 Speaker 1: house dropping detritus to the street below to be hauled away. 424 00:32:33,080 --> 00:32:35,840 Speaker 1: Just stuff flying out of the windows that are thrown 425 00:32:35,920 --> 00:32:39,400 Speaker 1: by police and mostly firemen were afraid for their own 426 00:32:39,400 --> 00:32:42,960 Speaker 1: states because they feared that the floors might buckle with 427 00:32:43,040 --> 00:32:47,560 Speaker 1: the weight of all this junk. His huge mob of 428 00:32:47,640 --> 00:32:51,040 Speaker 1: people in the street, mostly locals. But then when the 429 00:32:51,040 --> 00:32:55,240 Speaker 1: papers started writing about it, people from all over the 430 00:32:55,240 --> 00:33:00,480 Speaker 1: Try State area came just of curiosity to save the mansion. 431 00:33:01,560 --> 00:33:04,720 Speaker 1: People who were just catching things as flying out the 432 00:33:04,760 --> 00:33:09,600 Speaker 1: window and in the wind, the running petting sheets of 433 00:33:09,680 --> 00:33:14,240 Speaker 1: music and old newspapers down the street just to have 434 00:33:14,520 --> 00:33:20,840 Speaker 1: parts of the themed Collier collection. You could not actually 435 00:33:20,960 --> 00:33:25,120 Speaker 1: drive through that part of Harlem then, because there are 436 00:33:25,160 --> 00:33:31,360 Speaker 1: so many people clogging the avenues. Days stretched into weeks. 437 00:33:32,120 --> 00:33:34,560 Speaker 1: On the first of April, police hope Langley would show 438 00:33:34,600 --> 00:33:38,560 Speaker 1: up to his brother's funeral, but no such luck. A 439 00:33:38,600 --> 00:33:41,200 Speaker 1: professional clearing crew was called in to finish the job 440 00:33:41,240 --> 00:33:45,960 Speaker 1: at the brown Stone. One day, while they're on the 441 00:33:46,000 --> 00:33:50,520 Speaker 1: second floor looking through the debris, you guy reached into 442 00:33:50,560 --> 00:33:53,760 Speaker 1: a pile of newspapers and said, oh, I found it too. 443 00:33:56,720 --> 00:34:00,320 Speaker 1: After sixteen days of searching, it turned out Langley's body 444 00:34:00,400 --> 00:34:03,600 Speaker 1: was laying just ten ft from where Homer's corpse have 445 00:34:03,680 --> 00:34:09,279 Speaker 1: been found. When he was going to bring food to 446 00:34:09,520 --> 00:34:15,759 Speaker 1: his brother, Langley pulled his own boobie trap. It toppled 447 00:34:15,760 --> 00:34:23,120 Speaker 1: this immense stack of newspapers and detritus that trapped Langley. 448 00:34:23,440 --> 00:34:29,239 Speaker 1: He could not escape, so he's suffocated beneath his own collection. 449 00:34:30,840 --> 00:34:34,399 Speaker 1: He was called out and a gunny sack throw down 450 00:34:34,400 --> 00:34:37,719 Speaker 1: the window like his brother had been, and that was 451 00:34:37,800 --> 00:34:43,920 Speaker 1: the end of the search for Langley Collier. The irony 452 00:34:44,120 --> 00:34:46,560 Speaker 1: New York's greatest hoarders, crushed beneath the weight of their 453 00:34:46,600 --> 00:34:53,080 Speaker 1: own junk was not lost on anyone. You know. The 454 00:34:53,120 --> 00:34:57,040 Speaker 1: socialist papers at the time talked about capitalism causing their 455 00:34:57,080 --> 00:35:01,399 Speaker 1: death because they had a possess all these objects and 456 00:35:01,480 --> 00:35:06,600 Speaker 1: they they were crushed under the weight of capitalism. There 457 00:35:06,600 --> 00:35:08,560 Speaker 1: are a lot of metaphors going around at the time, 458 00:35:09,120 --> 00:35:14,680 Speaker 1: and that was one of the most poetic. The family name, too, 459 00:35:14,719 --> 00:35:19,640 Speaker 1: has cemented in pockets of American vernacular. Firefighters still describe 460 00:35:19,640 --> 00:35:25,560 Speaker 1: a hazardous overpacked residents as a Collier. Every once in 461 00:35:25,600 --> 00:35:27,480 Speaker 1: a while. The brothers turned up as a punch line 462 00:35:27,520 --> 00:35:30,760 Speaker 1: and someone's joke who broke the all time low gas 463 00:35:30,800 --> 00:35:38,000 Speaker 1: Bill record Brothers, unless we forget to mention generations of 464 00:35:38,040 --> 00:35:43,759 Speaker 1: parents criticizing their children's messy rooms. France's father had a 465 00:35:43,840 --> 00:35:47,560 Speaker 1: Freudian interpretation of Uncle Arthur that was certainly adapted to 466 00:35:47,560 --> 00:35:51,759 Speaker 1: the Colliers as well. My father used to claim that 467 00:35:51,840 --> 00:35:55,840 Speaker 1: Uncle Arthur's courting was his way of quote unquote channeling 468 00:35:55,960 --> 00:36:00,920 Speaker 1: aggression and simplemating it. And maybe there's a perhaps a 469 00:36:01,080 --> 00:36:06,960 Speaker 1: defensiveness behind what about the would call his hobby Like Langley, 470 00:36:07,200 --> 00:36:12,279 Speaker 1: he built barricades and set up booby traps and nests 471 00:36:12,320 --> 00:36:17,120 Speaker 1: inside the walls of junk. But really I wouldn't call 472 00:36:17,160 --> 00:36:21,520 Speaker 1: it aggression as much as that was the way he 473 00:36:21,640 --> 00:36:27,120 Speaker 1: pained his individuality. For me, there's one thing about the 474 00:36:27,120 --> 00:36:30,600 Speaker 1: call Your Brothers. I get stuck on. Their story reads 475 00:36:30,640 --> 00:36:33,480 Speaker 1: like a parable, a morality tale that ends with a 476 00:36:33,480 --> 00:36:38,760 Speaker 1: fitting punishment, like a Greek myth. But if that's the case, 477 00:36:39,200 --> 00:36:42,759 Speaker 1: what was their crime? Sure they may have not been 478 00:36:42,760 --> 00:36:45,759 Speaker 1: good neighbors or citizens even, and maybe they should have 479 00:36:45,760 --> 00:36:48,960 Speaker 1: paid their taxes, But to think of their horrific deaths 480 00:36:49,000 --> 00:36:53,520 Speaker 1: as symbols of fate the lesson seems disproportionate to the tale. 481 00:36:56,000 --> 00:36:58,760 Speaker 1: If you visit Harlem now, you won't find a crumbling 482 00:36:58,800 --> 00:37:06,320 Speaker 1: brown stone at Fifth where the party Brothers Manchion once stood. 483 00:37:06,960 --> 00:37:08,640 Speaker 1: I have a city in New York has put a 484 00:37:08,680 --> 00:37:13,520 Speaker 1: pocket park. It's very pleasant in the spring, filled with 485 00:37:13,600 --> 00:37:18,480 Speaker 1: daff hills blooming, and grass is freshly green, and there's 486 00:37:18,480 --> 00:37:23,360 Speaker 1: an iron fence with a dozen sycamores shading the benches within. 487 00:37:24,200 --> 00:37:28,360 Speaker 1: You can't really get inside without a key, and I 488 00:37:28,480 --> 00:37:31,160 Speaker 1: have no idea who has the keys and said for 489 00:37:31,320 --> 00:37:37,400 Speaker 1: the Department of Parks. So it's almost like a museum 490 00:37:37,440 --> 00:37:45,280 Speaker 1: without objects. The street itself is gentrified and looks nothing 491 00:37:45,320 --> 00:37:50,440 Speaker 1: like a bit in nt. Like much of Harlem, there 492 00:37:50,440 --> 00:37:55,680 Speaker 1: are these late nineteenth century brown stones next to two 493 00:37:55,680 --> 00:37:59,399 Speaker 1: spaces where the brown stones have been knocked down so 494 00:38:00,040 --> 00:38:04,000 Speaker 1: away the pocket park is not unlike much of the 495 00:38:04,080 --> 00:38:09,160 Speaker 1: rest of the avenue, and that there are buildings in 496 00:38:09,280 --> 00:38:13,560 Speaker 1: empty space, the building and then empty space. So unless 497 00:38:13,560 --> 00:38:16,520 Speaker 1: you know what you're looking for or read the plaque, 498 00:38:17,440 --> 00:38:22,680 Speaker 1: we wouldn't know necessarily that this was the cost celebrat 499 00:38:35,560 --> 00:38:39,160 Speaker 1: Ephemeral is written, assembled by Williams, and produced by Any Reese, 500 00:38:39,440 --> 00:38:43,800 Speaker 1: Matt Frederick and Tristan McNeil, with additional mixing from Josh Stain. 501 00:38:44,120 --> 00:38:48,799 Speaker 1: And technical assistance from Sherry Larson. Franz Lids is a 502 00:38:48,800 --> 00:38:51,880 Speaker 1: writer for Smithsonian Magazine and a frequent contributor to The 503 00:38:51,880 --> 00:38:56,680 Speaker 1: New York Times. Ghost Deman and Unstrung Heroes Franz's childhood 504 00:38:56,719 --> 00:38:59,200 Speaker 1: memoir are two of the most excellent books I've read 505 00:39:00,000 --> 00:39:05,000 Speaker 1: and reread. Find them, buy them and find us at Ephemeral. 506 00:39:05,520 --> 00:39:13,000 Speaker 1: Dutch Chell next time on Ephemeral, I actually found a 507 00:39:13,040 --> 00:39:16,880 Speaker 1: tape box that said head cheese in all capital letters 508 00:39:16,920 --> 00:39:19,560 Speaker 1: on it, and there's no way I'm not picking that up. Also, 509 00:39:19,680 --> 00:39:21,719 Speaker 1: it's on a tape box of a company that I 510 00:39:21,760 --> 00:39:24,680 Speaker 1: know did not make tapes after the nine, So this 511 00:39:24,760 --> 00:39:27,319 Speaker 1: is this is an ancient tape and it says head 512 00:39:27,440 --> 00:39:31,120 Speaker 1: cheese on it, And I'm intrigued, what is this going 513 00:39:31,160 --> 00:39:43,279 Speaker 1: to be? It is in the world right hand, and 514 00:39:43,480 --> 00:39:56,040 Speaker 1: Ina and media defend them show find podcast. Is that 515 00:39:56,160 --> 00:40:02,919 Speaker 1: the apple hack past or will ever use in your 516 00:40:03,000 --> 00:40:04,200 Speaker 1: favorite chos