Who or what event is portrayed in this story?
He couldn’t see his brother, but that was okay. His brother was there, always there, he would never leave the house, not when there was so much security in the fortified walls.
With care, he lifted the tied umbrellas that kept the sewing machine from coming down on him. Booby traps, they were needed. Stupid kids. Always trying to get into the house and steal things. Well, won’t they be in for a surprised.
He bent down and started crawling through the newspaper tunnel, pushing the food in front of him. “I’m almost there, Homer.”
The newspapers shifted above his head. He started to crawl faster but it was too late, the newspapers and the various items piled on top, came down with a crash.
Who or what event is portrayed in this story?
The previous Death By … story is based on:
David Douglas, a Scottish botanist, died under mysterious circumstances while climbing Mauna Kea in Hawaii at the age of 35 in 1834. He apparently fell into a pit trap and was possibly crushed by a bull that fell into the same trap.
Sources:
Congrats Laura Marcella and Jan again! One point each.
ReplyDeleteLaura - 5 points
JTWebster - 2 points
Glynis - 2 points
Jan - 2 point
Bev - 1 point
Youngman - 1 point
Angela - 1 point
Cherie - 1 point
Let me know if these tallies are off.
And just a hint: Not all names used in the stories will be the right name. Sometimes if I use the right name, it'll be too easy. I can't make it that easy, can I?
You are really making these difficult, Clarissa. And hoarders are such odd people.
ReplyDeleteThe Collyer brothers in Manhattan, death by avalanche of hoarding. (I cheated. Wikipedia)
ReplyDeleteWow, what a way to go!
ReplyDeleteYes!! Brothers who walled themselves in their flat with newspapers and the newspapers fell on top of them, killing them!! I heard it in an episode of Frasier (Dinner Party)?!
ReplyDeleteTake care
x
Clarissa - What a story!! I can just imagine his fright when everything starts to fall...
ReplyDeleteThis is about brothers Langley and Homer Collyer. Langley was crushed to death by one of his own booby traps and his handicapped older brother died of starvation.
ReplyDeleteYeesh! Decluttering takes on new meaning: It's necessary for your own survival!
Hope you had a great weekend, Clarissa!!
I know this! I knew it the minute I saw your title! Well, people have already mentioned the Collyer brothers, but I finally knew one!
ReplyDeleteThat so sucks.
ReplyDeleteBut, I suppose that is the way a hoarder would want to go.
Heather
I have no idea who or what is portrayed in this scene, but it scares me.
ReplyDeleteAs a hoarder myself this is a terrifying idea.
You know that show on the TLC network called Hoarders: Buried Alive?
ReplyDeleteI. CANNOT. WATCH. IT.
I get sick to my stomach and really claustrophobic just seeing the TV previews. Yech. I'm not a hoarder. When it's time to do some spring cleaning (which of course can happen any season LOL), I will throw away stuff and give away the ones still good enough to be used by someone else. I hate clutter, more than anything.
I'll never understand hoarders and I'm a psychologist ;)
ReplyDeleteDo you watch hoarders? This kind of thing can easily happen and I'm sure is not an isolated incident.
ReplyDeleteI don't watch tv but I loved your post. I have heard more about these hoarder folks lately.
ReplyDeleteClever challenge theme.
CSI had an episode about a hoarder. Those people have a real problem.
ReplyDeleteSheeesh....Laura's too good! She's whooping our arse's! :)
ReplyDeleteI really don't understand hoarders! I'd get so claustrophobic!
ReplyDeleteI can't even begin to imagine what it would be like to die by your own obsession. Hoarders. Yikes. Just the thought makes me want to go home and see what I don't need so I can give it away.
ReplyDeleteAnother great post! Didn't know this one.
ReplyDeleteWhat a terrible way to die!
ReplyDeleteMy husband is a bit of a hoarder but with me around, there are no danger traps! :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a way to die! Like a few others said, it was the Collyer brothers. I used Wikipedia too. Hehe!
ReplyDeleteYIKES! That's all I have to say. :)
ReplyDeleteEeeew! Death by hoarding!?! Who knew? Love all these. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteSigh. Need I say more?
ReplyDeleteI'd say my brother if he never got married. I never seem to have a clue who you're talking about, but I'm fascinated by these bizarre deaths. Possibly crushed by a bull?
ReplyDeleteI think we were all shocked when we heard of the Collyer brothers. How could someone hoard so much stuff that it could end up killing them? But I have a sister in law with this mental problem and it seems impossible to treat...
ReplyDeleteDenise
How unlikely a death was that last one with the bull in the pit trap? and today's: killed by your own groceries--how ironic.
ReplyDeleteJ.C. Martin
A to Z Blogger
Oh, these stories are SO fascinating, Clarissa. I love that bull story, and this one, too. Anxious to hear the finale. And also to get that book of yours!
ReplyDeleteThanks for asking about my family. My youngest daughter who was in the accident with Jen had two muscles that were torn in her leg (which was the leg that took a blow in the accident long time ago) and she's recovering well from surgery. And Jen is doing okay after coming home from the "psych" now called Behavioral Health Ward, a much better term that doesn't have all the old social connotations.
Ann Best, Author of In the Mirror & Other Memoirs
Clarissa where do you find these stories?? I doubt I'll know even one but I am impressed by those that have scored. No idea about the hoarder death! Looking forward to the answer though.
ReplyDeleteThis is the story about the Collyer brothers, isn't it. What gave it away for me, the newspaper tunnels. My sibs and I tried to make tunnels out of old stacks of magazines and newspapers my father hauled out of a house he was renovating for the new owner.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Death by Booby trap would be an apt title. I always thought these two were an interesting case, but very, very sad. The perception that they were filthy rich. Well, they were filthy but rich? No.
Sia McKye OVER COFFEE
A+ with the series Clarissa. Though I don't think you are helping me have more restful sleeps.
ReplyDeleteFinding these intruiging!
ReplyDeleteI remember seeing a programme recently about a compulsive hoarder who had to virtually 'body-surf' over the piles of newspapers to get from room to room....and so did the inspector from the council who came to talk to him regarding complaints from the neighbours!
I keep telling my husband he'll end up like that, as he makes yet another pile of newspapers 'to be looked at, later...'!