Hoarders

Barbara trolls for stuff in alleyways and dumpsters, and her hoarded home sits in a million-dollar neighborhood where the neighbors look on in disgust. Fred and Mary live in a house filled with cobwebs and cockroaches, but they don’t seem to notice. It has gotten so bad that Fred has end-stage COPD, probably caused by all the filth. The authorities say both houses must be cleaned–and now–or everyone will be put out on the street.

Kathleen’s hoarding began after her husband was killed in a train accident. Her hoarding not only fills up her own house, it’s filling up her daughter’s house, too, where Kathleen has been living. But now her daughter has given Kathleen an ultimatum — get help or get kicked out. Scott has bought hundreds of houses, buildings, barns, and semi’s and filled them with things he buys at auctions, including stuff from a computer store, construction store, hotel supply store, Halloween store, jewelry store, and more. Sometimes Scott sells his stuff at auction, but he is so compulsive he buys it back — so he ends up buying his stuff twice! If he can’t let go of his obsession he’ll go totally broke.

Dee blew through a $150,000 legal settlement to fulfill her hoarding obsession, and her daughter, Talia, could write a book about how damaging it is to be a hoarder’s child. But now Talia says she will cut her mother out of her life forever if she doesn’t get help. Jan admits she is a pushy, belligerent woman who’s been living in filth for years. She hasn’t taken the trash out since 2006 and will go months without a shower. She’s been given 15 days to clean up–or face eviction from her rental.

Verna is a hot-headed ex-cop, ex-drug trafficker, and ex-prison inmate who has cleverly evaded laws against hoarding by arguing that her hoard was her artistic expression. But now Verna, who has diabetes, is hospitalized, and the hospital refuses to let her return home unless it’s cleaned up. Joanne’s house has gone from immaculate showplace to garbage pit. Yet despite the filth, she has been the daytime caretaker for her six-year-old grandson. Joanne’s sister-in-law is so upset about the situation that she’s threatening to call adult protective services if the house isn’t cleaned up immediately.

Anna tried to hide her hoarding from her family, but when her suspicious daughter snuck into the house to take pictures, Anna’s secret was finally exposed. Claire and Vance love to collect books, but they’ve overdone it — their house contains an astounding half-million books, and they even sleep in little burrows carved out of towers of their books.

Chickens roam all over Constance’s property, where she runs a “fresh egg” operation. But some eggs aren’t refrigerated, some are growing into embryos, and some just stink up the air. Constance is a food hoarder, and unless she gets help, her daughter will contact the authorities. Jeri Jo is married to a convicted murderer who’s in jail for life, and she claims her loneliness causes her to hoard. But now her family has reached the boiling point, and her brother-in-law is threatening to have her removed from her home.