HORROR & SQUALLOR BENEATH ME!

BurningSkies · #1 01-26-2009, 05:35 PM

So, I thought some people here might be interested in this very bizarre happening. I've lived in the same apartment now for 12 years. It's a 3 bedroom flat in a turn of the century house on the second floor. The apartment beneath me has been occupied by a retired professor from the nearby university (where I also work). He's always been an ODD CHARACTER. How odd? No phone, no car, long Walt Whitman beard...I've exchanged a handful of words over the years. I believed him to be a recluse and a pack rat. How? Well, I dunno, but his windows were always dark and covered and from the junk in the basement and attic, it just seemed that way.

Anyway, the story takes off this summer, when we had a visit from the Fire Department, when someone called in a smoke detector in our basement which had been going off since the night before. I hadn't been home due to having a life. When I showed up, the trucks were there, etc. They changed the fire detector and expressed concern for what they felt was 'extreme clutter' down stairs. They were worried that the old guy might be err...gone...since the chain was on the door, but not locked. I expressed concern due to fire hazzard, and all the other stuff that goes with piles of junk. They said there was nothing they could do, but we could hope for a 'spot city building inspection'

if you know what I mean.

Well a few months later, I get a call from the landlord saying that the place will get a walk through. I hear signs of cleaning and neatening downstairs. I even smell the scent of pine cleaner faintly. Hrmmm. Our walk through goes perfectly. I'm not home but our place is clean and neat and I've put smoke detectors in every room and it's safe.

Downstairs...well. The building inspector offers two options. Condemn or evict, clean and renovate.

A few weeks go by. Huge tractor trailers come and get loaded with loose papers, boxes and books. 5 of them. Then a dumpster appears on our lawn and gets emptied. Twice.

Next comes word from our landlord..."I wanted you to know, nice Mr.-- is being evicted. He had the place filled floor to ceiling with stuff, with only a path through the place. He hasn't cleaned or fixed anything since he moved in. We had no idea. He move in in 1974 and we haven't been inside since!"

I visited the contractor to check it out, and he gave me a walk through. A few weeks later they left the back door open and I thought I'd take a photo tour of some of the worst. Here's what we have:

doctorjazz · #2 01-26-2009, 05:39 PM

Pics that don't show up?

BurningSkies · #3 01-26-2009, 05:42 PM

Ok, the back door was open, so we head in through the kitchen.

Um...we're going to need more paper towels. I think. While he moved in in the 70's the place looks straight out of the 1950's. Greasy cobwebs are a hazzard to walk though.

Ceiling paint is peeling. The stove has obviously not worked in years, and the overall level of filth isn't even hinted at in the pictures. Not to mention rodent filth. There's actually a linoleum floor under there too.

The fixtures and wall have 'mysterious black spatter. Hrrrrmmmm.

Hey, creepy but it's still cute, right?
There were only two things left hanging on walls when the dude left. One was this kitty in the kitchen. The other was his Doctoral degree from University of Pittsburgh. Very odd.

The kitchen from reverse, with pantry, and old funky little fridge. The fridge still has stuff in it. And is beyond gross.

BurningSkies · #4 01-26-2009, 05:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by doctorjazz

Pics that don't show up?

No, pics that are in the next post.

bassteban · #5 01-26-2009, 05:45 PM

I'd like to have seen the *before* pics- or maybe not...

BurningSkies · #6 01-26-2009, 05:54 PM

Ok, a quick look down the hallway:

Bedrooms to the right...they were mostly untouched. Dirty and dusty and in need of painting, floor refins, but I think the piles of crap he stored actually protected them. The door on the left is a door to the kitchen, and the one at the end of the hall...the bathroom:

NONE of the plumbing works. None of it looks to have been cleaned or touched in decades. Serial killer style here, kids. I've heard this dude splashing and laughing (maniacally) in that tub. Gross. Also, this explains why strangely our bathroom while spotless on hot days would smell slightly rank. I always thought it was backflow of sewer smell.

Lets take a closer look, shall we?

The ceiling seems to have given in at some point...

Apparently no one was a SCOUR PUSS:

And a few more errant shots...

The livingroom, mostly unharmed...

You can see a fireplace in the frame. There's no chimney in the house. It's a fakie. And an old one from the look of it.

The fridge...Ok, as a photo guy, I can admit to having gone through the film. I took all the B&W and had another experimental photo friend claim all the colored film. Some of it dates to the mid 1960's and is untouched and still in original sealed boxes...

BurningSkies · #7 01-26-2009, 05:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bassteban

I'd like to have seen the *before* pics- or maybe not...

Well, me too. Oddly, the guy was the perfect house neighbor. Super quiet and never complained, even though some of my roommates would play loud music and be super loud at all hours of the night. We watched movies with full surround and sub any time and never a complaint. The funny thing is that my place upstairs has an almost identical footprint and is so very very different.

Joe Gress · #8 01-26-2009, 05:58 PM

Wow. Dirty.

Save that cat picture!

vbasscustom · #9 01-26-2009, 06:00 PM

well, that right there is vintage food man, you gotta take that, have it bronzed, you know, as a keepsake for all the great times you had with the guy

bongomania · #10 01-26-2009, 06:20 PM

Except for the bathroom, which I'll admit is much too extremely gross, I've lived in several apartments that looked not much different!

Linas · #11 01-26-2009, 06:21 PM

Wow. That bathroom is definitely horror movie material.

UnsungZeros · #12 01-26-2009, 06:32 PM

Gross.

L-A · #13 01-26-2009, 06:34 PM

So... pest control, cleaning, new walls & ceiling, new owner, wait 10 years, then bring in the exorcist?

Joe Gress · #14 01-26-2009, 06:35 PM

Meh, I've seen worse.

bassteban · #15 01-26-2009, 06:39 PM

Impressive toilet.
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Chunk-O-Funk · #16 01-26-2009, 06:45 PM

Ugh, That's nasty.

I wonder what it is that make older people lose it like this. Obviously an ex-prof knows the value of good hygiene.

I feel bad for people who go through this.

BurningSkies · #17 01-26-2009, 06:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by L-A

So... pest control, cleaning, new walls & ceiling, new owner, wait 10 years, then bring in the exorcist?

I've lived in a house that could have used that last service, and this one certainly doesn't.

The good news is that apparently he ate out most of the time and there wasn't any food/debris to speak of, so no bugs. I've never seen a roach since I've lived here. During the winter we used to get an occasional mouse, and now it makes sense. I saw lots of signs of mouse-work but no 'rat'.

BurningSkies · #18 01-26-2009, 06:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chunk-O-Funk

Ugh, That's nasty.

I wonder what it is that make older people lose it like this. Obviously an ex-prof knows the value of good hygiene.

I feel bad for people who go through this.

You would think. I know he still lives in the neighborhood and I still see him walking around.

I was thinking that maybe it's a good thing. A fresh start without all the piled pack-rattery. He has no option but to start with a clean house. I found it disturbingly sad to see that he left his degree on the wall when he walked away. Like he was walking away from his life and his past.

spade2you · #19 01-26-2009, 07:01 PM

Wow, that's gonna give me a few nightmares.

EagleMoon · #20 01-26-2009, 07:52 PM

It's not just old people. I've heard that this kind of thing can affect people of any age. I can't imagine living in there. That would be enough to make anybody crazy.