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    San Jose Hoarder's Trash Pile Visible from Space

    This story comes from the Yahoo! Contributor Network, where individuals publish their unique perspectives on some of the world’s most popular websites.
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    It doesn't matter how many stories about hoarders we read -- they're all disturbing (and sad), particularly another incident the Huffington Post reported on Tuesday.

    A home in San Jose apparently has such a large trash heap outside of it that Google Maps can see the pile of rubbish. Richard Baker lives in the house, and his neighbors say the home has been a problem for decades. It got exponentially worse in 2002, after Baker's parents died, the article reported.

    A local ABC affiliate contacted government agencies and finally got word that the pile would be cleaned up-though not for about two months.

    Of course, the situation could be even more distressing. Take these stories:

    In January, a Florida hoarder was accused of keeping the remains of her 95-year-old mother in a storage unit for as many as 18 years, the New York Daily News reported.

    Police found the remains of Ann Bunch in January, but she had died of heart attacks and a stroke in 1994. Bunch's daughter, Bobbie Barnett Hancock, was unable to have her mom's body transported for the funeral after she died, so she left it in a storage unit.

    Officials discovered the body when they were cleaning out the storage unit, because Hancock's daughter, Rebecca Fancher, could no longer afford to pay for it. Fancher's ex-husband says Hancock's compulsion to save things was partially to blame for keeping the body in the storage unit, the article reported.

    Bunch's remains were taken to a chapel while arrangements for cremation or a burial were made.

    On the less-morose side of the hoarding spectrum, at least one woman claims to be a compulsive makeup addict.

    A 45-year-old fashion designer, Jennifer Bourgoyne, says she can't stop buying makeup, even though she knows she doesn't need more products, according to Blisstree and ABCNews.

    Bourgoyne says the specific genre of hoarding leads her to spend hundreds of dollars a month on new products-all of which refuses to ever throw out. She's been collecting products for 30 years and says she collects it because she wants to "look like a girl."

     
    • Rainhorse2003  •  3 mths ago
      Wow just look at all that stuff,,great photo
    • airlock  •  Kathmandu, Nepal  •  3 mths ago
      google earth can see the swimming pool in my backyard, why dont you do your next story on that!
    • James M  •  Broomfield, Colorado  •  3 mths ago
      Wow. That would be really impressive if I wasn't also able to see my car parked in front of my house on Google maps as well.
    • The Guffaw Conspiracy  •  3 mths ago
      I can see two lawn chairs in my backyard on google maps. They were trash too, and I finally convinced the Mrs to let me chuck 'em.
    • M  •  3 mths ago
      This Molly Fergus should turn into a fungus! Even my chimney is visible from space through google map. What are you trying to prove?
    • Thunderstud  •  3 mths ago
      Not impressed, I can see my car parked in my driveway with google maps.
      • John 3 mths ago
        Good point. In this case super cool technology has really let us down. Freaking progress.
    • D  •  3 mths ago
      No photo = yet another FAIL Yahoo news story
      • Jack the Cat 3 mths ago
        Guess you can't read a book without pictures either.
    • G. Stipe  •  Phoenix, Arizona  •  3 mths ago
      If I "mooned" at the sky, could Google maps see that from "space"?
      • JOHN 3 mths ago
        Yes but you have to pay for that level of resolution.
      • Guest 3 mths ago
        Well , that depends, how big of an #$%$ are you ?
      • cave fish 3 mths ago
        yes they could...but not a close up...you can see your cars in the yard...
    • HalfMarathonDon  •  3 mths ago
      I can see my pool on Google earth whats the big deal.
    • Vince  •  3 mths ago
      Typical crappy Yahoo article with NO pictures. Don't even bother anymore, Yahoo.
    • Detritus of Sloth  •  3 mths ago
      so what? You can see a small car on google earth. Does a trash pile that size qualify for government intervention?
    • Tim G  •  3 mths ago
      Yeah.... and?
    • Jonnie Dark  •  Anchorage, Alaska  •  3 mths ago
      To quote a meme: "This thread is totally useless without pictures"
    • Unknown  •  Cambridge, Massachusetts  •  3 mths ago
      That's interesting that they could see this, yet no one noticed massive troop movements into Kuwait until they attacked back in the '90s?
    • JIML  •  3 mths ago
      You can see the numbers on vehicle license plates from space, so where's the story?
    • Sean  •  3 mths ago
      Last night I could see Venus, Mars and Kim Kardashians #$%$Or maybe it was a garbage truck.
    • Timmy  •  3 mths ago
      The military claims they can see an area the size of home plate on a baseball field (approx the size of a pizza box) from space.

      Big brother knows much more than this.
      Sleep tight.
    • Tom  •  3 mths ago
      So....I guess we'll just take your word for it ??
    • Joey JoJo Shabadoo  •  Chicago, Illinois  •  3 mths ago
      I think hoarders are kind of sexy...you know, in a used-cat-food container kinda way.
    • Whatulookin4bitch  •  Tilly, Arkansas  •  3 mths ago
      The lack of an actual photograph or screen shot of the trash pile leaves this article dead in the water.
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