Most of us have a little clutter somewhere in our house or apartment, but for some people, the need to hold onto their “stuff” gets out of hand. Here are five stories that show what can happen when hoarding becomes credit report online extreme:

Elderly spinsters Margaret and Marjorie Barthel began feeding the neighborhood rats in 2002. By 2007, officials estimate that the neighborhood rat population had exploded into the tens or even hundreds of thousands. Neighbors in the wealthy LA suburb of Pacific Palisades reported a strong smell of rodent urine coming from the house while rats overflowed into their yards and garages. When the sisters were finally forced to call in an exterminator, workers dragged bags heavy with dead rats out of the home.

In 1947, New York City police received a call claiming there was a dead body in the house of reclusive brothers Homer and Langley Collyer. Breaking in through a window because the front door was blocked by piles of newspaper and broken objects, officials eventually found the recently dead body of Homer, who had died of malnutrition and dehydration. His brother, Langley, could

not be found until workers had cleared away some of the junk and found Langley crushed dead beneath a mountain of belongings. He had been crawling through a tunnel bring his brother food when it collapsed on top of him.

Authorities who were called to the house of Irene Vandyke in Upstate New York found it filled with cages housing almost 100 cats – and 67 dead cats wrapped up and stored in the freezer. Animal shelter personnel had to wear respirators while rescuing the animals because of the overwhelmingly awful odor.

In 2010, Las Vegas resident Bill James reported his wife, Billie Jean, missing. After numerous searches of their junk-filled house and of the surrounding area, there was no sign of her. Four months later, when Bill was cleaning out a back room, he spotted his wife’s leg sticking out from underneath the rubbish. Unbelievably, he had been living in the house, completely unaware that his wife’s corpse was in it.

After 75-year-old Gladys Bergmeier died in February of 2011, relatives cleaning her house found the remains of her mother, Gladys Stanbury, wrapped in a curtain and a sheet of plastic. While it’s not known when the elder woman died, no one had seen her in at least twenty years. Neighbors in St. Louis said Bergmeier always had some excuse as to where her mother was.

Since hoarding creates a hazard for the hoarder, their neighbors, and city workers, some jurisdictions are enacting laws aimed at making it easier to intervene. Residents of Laguna Woods, in Orange County, CA, who are suspected of hoarding must allow inspections by city officials. Companies that provide garbage removal and carpet cleaning in Orange County will surely see a surge in business.