Bookworm trapped for two days by magazine collection
Tue Dec 30, 9:40 AM ET
NEW YORK (AFP) - An obsessive collector in New York had to be rescued by neighbours after being buried naked up to his neck for two days by an avalanche of books and magazines at his own home.
"I was hollering for two days, 'Let me out! Let me out!' and nobody wanted to answer," Patrick Moore, 42, told the New York Post.
Moore was rescued on Monday by neighbours who finally heard his cries for help. Unable to open his door because of the weight of magazines behind it, they removed the door from its hinges and then clambered over mountains of debris to get to the trapped man.
Landlord Bennie Jones, 62, said he had actually first heard Moore's shouts on Sunday but "didn't pay any attention because he's always talking to himself."
Moore said he had been stacking a fresh batch of magazines when the pile became unstable and collapsed, triggering an avalanche of the floor-to-ceiling material that took up almost every available inch of space in his apartment.
Moore said he earned around 300 dollars a week peddling items from his collection which he has built up over 10 years.
After his rescue, Moore was treated in hospital for dehydration.
Talk about overwhelming obsession! 