[78-L] Most disgusting place in your record searches

[David Lennick]

One of the worst cases was that of a collector who'd died in his car because 
his house was literally uninhabitable, filled with records and films and 
magazines. The basement had flooded the year before. It wasn't disgusting by 
the time collectors were admitted, but it had taken 3 months for his daughter, 
her husband and two family friends to fill 6 dumpsters with the ruined stuff.

At the moment another list member and I are taking leave of our senses and 
taking possession of a gigantic collection from a radio station, some 30,000 
records AND the steel cabinets they've lived in for over 50 years. twelve of 
those cabinets got moved to a storage unit today..I just got back from 
there..and the movers said, and I quote, "Is like moving twelve pianos".

dl

On 4/5/2011 10:45 PM, Taylor Bowie wrote:
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Mike Murray"<recrdman at dreamscape.com>
> To: "78-L Mail List"<78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, April 05, 2011 6:40 PM
> Subject: [78-L] Most disgusting place in your record searches
>
>
> .
>>
>> Well, did I immediately turn around and make a hasty exit?............
>> Hell no, I had no shame...I'm a record collector and you never know.
>> Spent the next four hours there in Poopy Palace treading very
>> carefully, Even bought a few decent items which cleaned up very
>> nicely, Had to toss out my clothes later, though.
>>
>> Anyone beat that?
>
>
> HI,  Mike,
>
> Yes,  sadly I can.  I once bought a stack of excellent 78s from the estate
> of a man who had died in his apartment and whose body had gone undetected
> for several days.  The paper sleeves had taken on a terrible odor which,
> once smelled,  can never be forgotten.
>
> I have had other unpleasant calls in the course of my buying and selling
> used books.  Some years ago,  a retired U of Wash professor shot and killed
> his wife and his in-laws as they slept in their beds,  and then turned the
> gun on himself.  One shelf of books near a bed had been covered with shards
> of wood from one of the gun-blasts....no blood,  fortunately,  but gruesome
> enough.
>
> Another book call was to the house of an eccentric man who had,  lucky for
> all concerned,  dropped dead in the street.  His house was crammed literally
> floor to ceiling with books and records,  75% of which was very good
> material.  The first 78 I found was an E- copy of the Wolverines Gennett of
> "Big Boy."
>
> Unhappily,  the plumbing in the house had stopped working some months before
> the fellow's heart attack,  and he had not chosen to call in a plumber
> (understandable).  He had instead "done his business" (both #1 and #2) in
> empty plastic milk jugs,  and for some reason had kept a great many of them
> after they had been "refilled."
>
> The bathtub in the house was literally full to the rim with the darkest,
> blackest liquid I've ever seen.  I don't know what it was,  and hope I never
> find out.
>
> All the above is true,  as horrible as it sounds.  So a little bit of cat
> and/or chicken shit doesn't really sound too bad by comparison!
>
> Taylor
>
>