My Disturbing Encounter with Hoarders

Soooo....I just got unfriended on Facebook by an acquaintance from my Orchid Society. I'm not surprised by it. This woman's story is so disturbing I needed to vent about it somewhere, and it's too long for Facebook, so voila!, here it is.

So, this woman's 50ish, I'm guessing, and as Midwest as you can get. But I thought they were a little more cosmopolitan because they'd lived in NY for a while before moving back. Anyway, Susan and I chatted for a bit at a meeting since we were both newish members, and found out we also had cats and the symphony in common. The last society meeting we just ended up chatting away, and spent an enjoyable afternoon hanging out. She made a lot of somewhat strange statements, but I sorta shrugged it off. Her husband pretty much dictated what, when, and how she did. Exaggerated, surely! They'd gotten hooked on estate shopping, and they were starting to get filled to the rafters. Even the garage was stuffed! Exaggerated, again, right?

Next weird story: John wouldn't let the cats get spayed/neutered, but the cats started multiplying up to THIRTY-TWO cats. A friend staged an intervention and insisted they s/n, so get THIS - the two of them snuck them out of the house in batches so he wouldn't know. Just his "fav" guy is still intact and roaming outside, btw. Had to be a hell of a friend, because she also got him to finally consent to rehoming most of the cats, so they're down to 6.

Apparently I am waaaay too understanding and non-believing of her stories, because none of that deterred me from agreeing to lunch a few weeks later.

Sooooo.....she wants me to check out all her orchids and the cats and believes I'll appreciate her hubby's art since I'm an art historian. So we get to a pretty big house, looks ok, kinda overgrown and unkempt but that's nature, right? She opens the door and I'm immediately assaulted by an unbelievable stench of cat piss. It was HARD to be in there, I couldn't really breathe, and my eyes started to sting. I was floored.

Or I thought I was. I'd suddenly walked into an episode of "Hoarders". The house was packed to the rafters with crap EVERYWHERE. There were "collectibles" in every single nook and cranny, and there were thin little paths cutting through all the crap enough for single file walking in some places, others I had to climb over. Orchids were all around, but none were being cared for. The guy's office was spectacular. There was barely room to squeeze between the piles and piles of papers and neatly stacked mail from the floor to the ceiling, all brown from age and dust. It looked like nothing had been cleaned for years.

The cats were separated, some upstairs and some in the basement, and there were piles of paper plates with dried cat food, crumbs everywhere, and when we went down to the basement I thought I'd pass out from the cat piss stench, dried piles of cat food, and flood damage.

I could go on and on about the house and all the other insane things she said, but it'll take pages, so I won't. Bottom line: I was SHOCKED. I realized that she really meant the things she said!! About her freakishly controlling husband, the whole lot. OMG!!

Anyway, we still facebooked each other, and she said she'd definitely invite me with her and her husband to the next estate sale. I wondered.

A month later I finally remembered her because she sent me an email today, so I thought I'd check her wall, only she'd unfriended me! Not a big loss, but curiosity prompted me to do a search and pull her up - she's not very computer-savvy, and all her info was public. She'd always had almost non-existent wall activity, but it was a shock to see that only her 3 family members remain as friends on her page. She'd unfriended ALL 15 or 16(?) of her "friends". I thought he'd just forbid her from talking to me anymore, but this wholesale unfriending business is still very disturbing to me.

The email she sent was very friendly, letting me know of an event I may be interested in, but very firm in hinting that she's just sooooo busy there's no chance of getting together for the foreseeable future. I wonder if her husband also reads her email. I wonder what other "privileges" he took away from her.

I feel so sad for her. This is still blowing my mind. I am soooo getting miles away from these people.