Homer Lusk Collyer (November 6, 1881 – March 21, 1947) and
Langley Collyer (October 3, 1885 – March 1947) were two
American brothers who became famous because of their snobbish nature, filth in their home, and
compulsive hoarding. For decades, neighborhood rumors swirled around the rarely seen, unemployed men and their home at 2078
Fifth Avenue (at the corner of 128th Street), in
Manhattan, where they obsessively collected newspapers, books, furniture, musical instruments, and many other items, with
booby traps set up in corridors and doorways to protect against intruders. Both were eventually found dead in the
Harlem brownstone where they had lived as hermits, surrounded by over 130 tons of waste that they had amassed over several decades.
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Homer Lusk Collyer (November 6, 1881 – March 21, 1947) and Langley Collyer (October 3, 1885 – March 1947) were two American brothers who became famous because of their snobbish nature, filth in their home, and compulsive hoarding. For decades, neighborhood rumors swirled around the rarely seen, unemployed men and their home at 2078 Fifth Avenue (at the corner of 128th Street), in Manhattan, where they obsessively collected newspapers, books, furniture, musical instruments, and many other items, with booby traps set up in corridors and doorways to protect against intruders. Both were eventually found dead in the Harlem brownstone where they had lived as hermits, surrounded by over 130 tons of waste that they had amassed over several decades.[1]
