Explore the Collyer Brothers' mansion, which was the home to New York's original hoarders

Fri, 09/15/2023 - 14:24

A photo of a police officer entering a room filled with trash from the floor to the ceiling. — A NYPD officer climbs over debris to enter the junk-filled library in the Collyer house.
Anthony Camerano/ AP

On March 21, 1947, an anonymous tip sent authorities to the Collyer brothers' mansion in Harlem.
NYPD officers found the dead body of one of the brothers amongst 120 tons of trash they had collected.
It would be another 15 days before authorities found the other brother buried underneath a collapsed pile of trash.

On March 21, 1947, the New York Police Department received an anonymous tip complaining about a smell from 2078 Fifth Ave in Harlem. When the police arrived at the scene, they found 120 tons of garbage, a dead body, and a missing brother they suspected of murder.