Hoarding: Buried Alive - General Discussion

[Tara Ariano]

Doug stands to lose two houses filled with clutter if he doesn't control his compulsion to collect.

[OSM Mom]

Doug is an asshole. He got a free house out of it?? Seriously? Wtf? If I was his fiancees daughter, I would have punched his lights out.

[terrymct]

Doug is an asshole. He got a free house out of it?? Seriously? Wtf? If I was his fiancees daughter, I would have punched his lights out.

She should get her mother some psychiatric help, too. What on Earth could Susan see in Doug?

[IvySpice]

I know it was probably in the best interests of the trailer park to give Doug the free house, but damn, the unfairness of that really burns me! The man destroys not one but two retirement idylls and shows not a shred of remorse or willingness to acknowledge that it affected anybody else. But sure, he'll take a free house! His neighbors better pray that he dies before he turns the new one into rodent central, because you know that's coming fast.

This was one of those hoarders where the hoarding was just the tip of the iceberg. The mental illness caused him to fill the houses up, but pure narcissism keeps him from apologizing when he makes his fiancee cry.

Suzzanne did need to shut up, even though she was right, because she was stirring a pot of snakes. Lord knows I could never watch that "cleanup" process silently, but she needed to sit over by her mom and read a book or something. You can't reason with insanity.

I'm guessing that Susan's first husband was an alcoholic or a wife beater who was always promising to change, too. Good for her for standing her ground about the moldy old briefcase. Doug just wouldn't take no for an answer!

[Toaster Strudel]

Let's see that free house again in a year, shall we?

Doug was such a prince.  He treated the women like goddesses, with so much love and respect.  And a good listener to top it all off.  I loved his collection of stuffed threatened species.

[Guest]

You know, when I think of saving to buy a new house, it never occurred to me that saving just MONEY was one way to get one. Guess I'll have to work on creating my living room landfill and in no time, I'll have that penthouse I always dreamed about.

[Galloway Cave]

The property manager made a good move there- he got Doug to sign over two spaces worth a fortune to the development, they haul off the two shithole homes on them and put a free 1300 square foot home on one for Doug. The minute he starts hoarding that one up, they kick him and his new home out of the park and they flip the space. They are rid of Doug, they have two spaces and all they have spent is the price of a small manufactured home.

Doug was a complete nutter and like terrymct said, why the hell is Susan in love with him? And why couldn't her children keep her at their homes? Doug will be hoarding in no time (if he even starts out with a clean home to begin with) and I bet Susan will never get the chance to live with him. Emotionless bastard.

Edited April 3, 2014 by Galloway Cave

[Spooneroonie]

Hey! I forgot to take the trash out last night. You guys think if I forget to do that more often that someone can point me to the Free House Line?

I can't help but wonder why on Earth Susan *still* wants to move in with Doug. He essentially buried her in a Pile O Crap and she was injured badly enough that she needed to stay in a nursing home. Maybe that kind of crazy is why Suzzanne and her siblings don't want her living with them.

[Intocats]

Didn't they say that Doug and Susan have been going together for ten years? I wonder where Susan lived before. It's sad that a lady her age needs to be dependent on an old hoarder like Doug.

The voiceover clearly said that Susan could only stay with her daughter "while she recovered." I wonder what the story was there. So many unanswered questions.

On a side note, I thought Susan's daughter hit the nail on the head when she said that Doug had always lived with his parents and never needed to grow up. His emotional age seemed to be about 10.

[all4mom]

Having been a caregiver myself, as you can tell from my screen name, I can spot from a mile away adult children who don't want to be bothered.  It's obvious that this won't be a "safe place" for her mother (her boyfriend himself shows signs of dementia), but the daughter clearly wants to be rid of the responsibility of her aging and ailing mother, and the same for the other siblings.  It's as common as dirt.  Her anger was not so much concern for Mom's welfare (for that, she'd have kept her home with her), but, "Oh, ****; there goes my out..."  I guess it's nice that they were GIVEN AN OCEANFRONT BEACH HOUSE (I should be so lucky), but soon enough that will fill up, too.  Once again, the easy solution without actually solving the problem.  At least this one featured some interesting collectibles and not just bags of poo! 

Edited April 3, 2014 by all4mom

[Intocats]

When I hear folks like Doug talk about "saleable items" it makes me think about eBay in a whole different light. <shudder>

[Taylorh2]

Doug getting that free trailer reminded me of why I  hate those "clean House' shows  Live in crap & fllth (by your own doing) and before you know it, a Tv show will come along and give you 'brand new'  everything. 

 

I agree with Toaster Strudel" that  Susan's daughter didn't want her 'aging' mom to live with her family. She kept repeating over & over that she couldn't leave her mother there but didn't (not once) suggest to her mother that she come back home with her.

Edited April 3, 2014 by Taylorh2

[all4mom]

I wish they WOULD show how to sell salable stuff on eBay.  Personally, I also have a hard time parting with anything I think could be of value (I'm cheap), but have yet to learn how to do it; I'm at the point of just trucking it to an eBay online service warehouse and taking a 35% hit on it.  On the rare occasional show when the hoarder hoards coconut-head dolls instead of sail cats and moldy TV dinner trays.

[camom]

In most mobile home parks, the homes are owned by the residents, but the land is rented.  So by getting rid of the two landfills, the park gets one space back to rent to someone new.  What surprised me was that the park manager said that Doug would have the new home free and clear.  I would have thought that they would have kept ownership and just let him live there. 

[Galloway Cave]

I wonder if the living situation with Susan's kids isn't conducive to a wheelchair-bound or walker-bound person. If they all live in NYC, they may live in walk-ups. Or the apartments may have doorways that are too narrow for her to wheel through. I just wish they had given more information about why she couldn't live with them. 

Even when they pulled half the house out, there was still a bunch of crap in there. Hopefully it will get wrapped before it goes screaming down the highway! Doug said something about a storage unit so I'm betting most of his crap ended up there. The intro also said he is a part-time salesman, so I wonder if he still works to pay for the shit he buys. Otherwise, he must have inherited all the property from his dad as well as a ton of money.

I was also wondering about the 10-year romance and where Suzanne was living before she moved in with Doug. I guess she doesn't even make enough in SS to rent an apartment in SoCA.

That new home is a 1300 foot manufactured home the development got for cost from the manufacturer. They didn't pay much for it. Worth the price to get the two spaces signed back over to the park after 30+ years. When they toss Doug out when he starts hoarding again (and I'm sure they have an iron-clad clause written down this time) they won't be losing much when the house goes with him. If it is still in tact.

[all4mom]

If you'll rewatch, you'll see that the daughter made quite the point of "we all took turns with Mom and that wasn't going to fly."

[Taylorh2]

OMG!! Yes, I heard her say that.

[IvySpice]

 

Didn't they say that Doug and Susan have been going together for ten years? I wonder where Susan lived before.

She was living with him at the time of her injury -- she fell in the hoard and the EMTs couldn't get a stretcher in to carry her out.

Suzzanne definitely didn't want her mom living with her, but we don't know how much of that is her being selfish, how much is her being practical, how much is her respecting Susan's preference to live in California with her fantasy man, and how much is Susan being impossible to live with. I wish there had been time to plumb those depths on the show. I'd love to hear from the other siblings about what's really going on...

[zillabreeze]

I wasn't paying full attention, so when we got to the free house part, I yelled at the TV.  However, once I replayed I realized that it was a genius move on the Property Managers part.  The old asshole may be paying some old grandfathered ridiculous cheap fees & this is the beginning of the only legit way to get him out.

I kind of compare it to a building owner in Manhatten stuck with a tenant in a  four bedroom rent controlled apt. for $500.00 a month.  You can't blast them out with dynamite, you have to wait for the to die.

Doug is one of those mean old bastards that'll make it to 110.

[camom]

Some of these hoarders must have immune systems made of steel.  How they don't get very sick, very often is a mystery to me.

[Galloway Cave]

What about Doug and his haz-mat cocktail of oil, gas, pesticides and other questionable leaking fluids in the other house? When they were talking about having Suzanne live over there all I could think about was noxious fumes overtaking her every time the humidity rose and the wood and sand beneath breathed out all that crap.

[Chip]

This is the topic for general discussion of the entire series. Feel free to create additional topics about specific episodes or featured hoaders!

[ethalfrida]

All4mom, I was just going to point out, what her daughter actually said. 

Edited April 6, 2014 by ethalfrida

[Grasonville]

Did the show identify where in Southern California this oceanfront trailer park was located?  I got the feeling from the property manager that he was gleeful that they were recovering one of the spaces from Doug and the cost of the "new" house would be more than made up in rent on the now available space.

[Goldielocked]

 

When I hear folks like Doug talk about "saleable items" it makes me think about eBay in a whole different light. <shudder>

Funny you should say that--I've been watching Hoarding: Buried Alive for about 2 years, and that is exactly how long it has been since I bought anything off ebay!  Coincidence?  I think not!!!

[OSM Mom]

This show and the other one have put me off pot luck dinners too. Blech. No thanks.

[Taylorh2]

I told my dh to 'NEVER' eat anything at a work potluck unless it was store bought.

[OSM Mom]

Even then. Imagine if the sealed store bought goodies spent the night before in a hoarders kitchen or dining room with roaches and mice crawling all over it trying to get in. *shudder*

[Taylorh2]

Damn! I didn'tthink about that OSM Mom. What I don't understand is the spouses of these hoarders. WTF is wrong with you that you let your kids live in filth because you can't say no to the hoarder.

[Taylorh2]

Just watched the repeat of Cary "Elvis iimpersonator" and DAMN!!!! dude is BSC to the ninth degree. There is no way that he should be allowed outside among the sane people without a caretaker.

[wanderwoman]

Dear God! This show freaks me out!  Probably because I know someone who is a hoarder, though not quite at this level.  This guy I knew had mice, really bad, at one point, and convincing him to get off his computer and hire a pest service was like pulling teeth.  This guy goes to the second hand stores daily and brings back half broken stuff that he says he will fix... right.

I don't get it.  Living in that filth should trigger a survivor instinct.  I can't imagine cavemen would tolerate the conditions some of these people do.    

I saw an episode today where this lady had 25 flat, dead cats in her garage.  I just don't get it.

[Taylorh2]

New episodes tonight!!!!

[Tosia]

Hoarders and HBAlive are my new obsessions. Love the motivation to clean and purge.  Plus, I tell my friends that I'm fascinated by the human psychology of these families.  However, I would LOVE it if the show would show snippets of the interim period between filthy and clean house--what goes on then? 

[OSM Mom]

Did anyone else see this hot mess last night? Father and son and the sons girlfriend living in a filthy pigsty. The girlfriend gave birth prematurely to a baby boy who is in the hospital. The boyfriend seemed to be a little slow, with anger issues and the father was the same way. What kind of hellish place was the girlfriend living in that this was preferable? Why in the world did she decide to breed with this moron? at least the 20 or so cats that were kept in cages all the time were gotten out. The after pictures were no better. And my grandson was a micro preemie like the baby in this episode, and no way in hell is that filthy pig pen a place for him. He'll be dead in a month from God only knows what infection. What a hopeless mess.

[Tosia]

That is one of  the worst episodes for dysfunctional people.  The angry son, dad, and ditzy girlfriend, innocent baby.  Seriously, how can these people be helped if they turn it around to be a plot against them. Also a case for mandatory birth control before age of 30.

[zillabreeze]

Indeed, this was one of the most disturbing.  There was no predictable good ending.  I figured if the filth didn't get that baby, his daddy throwing him against the wall for crying was a distinct possibilty.

 

Someone at TwoP always knew how to dig up people like this and give us updates.  This is one I really would like to have a follow up.

Edited June 17, 2014 by zillabreeze

[TaraS1]

I just saw this one last night.  I much prefer the episodes where the person is obviously just a lazy jackass who I can easily hate and mock, rather than the ones where the whole thing is just deeply sad because the people clearly have some form of mental illness.  This one just depressed me because it already seems like that poor baby doesn't have much of a chance in life.

[OSM Mom]

Did anyone else watch this? Good grief. Where to start. three hoarders living in separate units in a 55+ community. Yikes. New owners want the units cleaned up and want it done now.

The hoarding man probably didn't get rid of anything, he just moved it to storage like he said. The one woman moved to her nephew's mobile home which had beautiful floors. So she's not subject to anyone's rules anymore. *sigh* Wonder how long it will be before that mobile home is ruined? And the lady who stayed still had a helluva mess. But the owner was happy. And speaking of the owner, he needs to lay of the beer and pizza. He's 200 lbs overweight and heading for a heart attack.

[cynicat]

I started to watch and about halfway through it occurred to me that this cannot end well.  I got to thinking about being old, with no place to go, and that woman would probably have to give up her cats...so it was just too depressing.  I switched over to Snapped.

[sleepyjean]

There's a marathon on today, and I just can't. I can't believe I used to watch this show on a regular basis. When these hoarding shows first started I think it was all about "understanding" the illness and how and why these people get into this situation. I think I had some compassion to begin with, but now it's all gone. I don't care if these people are ill, they are uniformly hateful and self-pitying. I knew it was time to stop watching this when I found myself routing for the local authority to bulldoze the houses.

[Bella]

I agree. I now want a completely different show, a show aimed at the Level 1 or 2 hoarders who aren't as deeply entrenched and can still be helped. I suspect that there are many more of those than there are of the Level 5s we see on the show, and it would be interesting to those of us who know such person. I'd like to see a family actually succeed in helping such a person without the screaming and hatred and tears. And without needing 3 dumpsters.

[auntjess]

I only watch the one occasionally, but saw the last part of one about the high school principal who started hoarding when he was threatened in school.
Does anyone know where he lived?   He sounded Canadian to me, from watching watching all the Canadian DIY and real estate shows, and I was wondering if I really can tell a Canadian accent, if no one say "eh?"

Dr Becky, and the other psychiatrist, are more hard-nosed than the organizers, who are too soft on these people.
When they're endangering their families, their neighbors, or themselves, I can't see trying to persuade. 

And the thought of some of that stuff showing up on EBay is disgusting. 
You don't try to persuade an alcoholic to cut down on driving, or drink half as much.  You yank the license and stick his ass in jail if he's caught again.

 

[zillabreeze]

Bella- several years ago there a shortrun show called " neat". DIY Chanel, I think. It was a decent little organizing show with people that had a room or two that were out of control.

It was informative & helpful, instead of shocking & exploitive so of course it didn't last.

[Calamity Jane]

Just watched the repeat of Cary "Elvis iimpersonator" and DAMN!!!! dude is BSC to the ninth degree. There is no way that he should be allowed outside among the sane people without a caretaker.

Quite a few of the people who get on this show seem too mentally disabled to have decision-making power over their own lives. They're completely out of touch with reality. I don't know what the solution is, but this doesn't seem right.

[Darknight]

I really don't know how people live like this. I mean having so much junk to the point of not being able to move around in your own home. And having dead cats and rodents all over the place.do they feel any shame in what they're doing? Do they realize the damage they're doing

[JudyObscure]

My brother has gradually turned into a hoarder.  In hindsight, I can see the signs were there when he was younger with a vinyl record collection that took up the dining room and laundry piled to the ceiling of his bedroom, but his wife (also fairly hoardy) kept his stuff from overtaking hers.  Now he's been divorced for ten years and it's everywhere. 

 

Watching and talking to him, I've come to see the thinking of our TV hoarders in person.  He orders things seen on late night TV (juicers, cooking things) and doesn't open them when they come because he likes seeing that stack of boxes in his living room.  I brought him a set of hand painted Mexican dishes that had been in my parents house and he would not allow me to put them on the empty display shelves in his kitchen -- he wants it in boxes waiting for that day when he organizes everything.  He never cleans because he can't really get to floors or cabinets to clean.  He could afford to have someone come in but she wouldn't be able to get to anything either.  At least he has running water and can cook in his kitchen, but I can see that coming to an end some day when new stuff takes precedent over any sort of practical convenience.

 

So, I guess I'm trying to answer the question of "WHY?!" and the only answer I can see is that they loooove stuff.  They love it more than they love their pets or their children or their houses or their ability to prepare food or wash themselves or sleep in comfort.  They love stuff like an alcoholic loves liquor.

[BathKol]

There's a marathon on today, and I just can't. I can't believe I used to watch this show on a regular basis. When these hoarding shows first started I think it was all about "understanding" the illness and how and why these people get into this situation. I think I had some compassion to begin with, but now it's all gone. I don't care if these people are ill, they are uniformly hateful and self-pitying. I knew it was time to stop watching this when I found myself routing for the local authority to bulldoze the houses.

My mother had this show on a few evenings ago and my stomach just balled up into knots. My cousin has hoarding tendencies and thankfully we've tamed her enough she doesn't have stuff climbing to the ceiling. I don't know how these people live in such an accumulation of filth and not be insane just looking at it? Start getting heebie geebies when one too many coffee cups sit around in my room. I even thake out all my clothes, lay them on the floor, and rearrange them neatly in my closet when they start getting messy. I just can't fathom...

Edited November 18, 2014 by BathKol

[QueBueno]

Question for longtime viewers: does it seem like the reruns have been re-edited? I'm ashamed to say that I've seen most of the shows several times, and starting earlier this year I would think, "I just don't remember this part ", and I'd think that every episode. I think there is unused footage in there lately.

[kelm]

There's a show on right now (1 before this for sure) called 10 biggest hoards, if anybody might be interested...

[JudyObscure]

Thank you so much for the heads-up, Kelm! I needed a good Hoarders fix and Renee, with her floor to ceiling stack of, "sporting events," and her admission that she had some, "picking up to do," just cracked me up. It was nice to see the ever sympathetic, Dr. Pike.