[dramatic music] I got this desire to dolls. I wanted dolls. She has expired. She's no longer alive. [laughs] That's gonna poke
some kid's eye out. Well, then that's the reason
you'll leave it here with me. How much do you think
you spent on this pile right in front of you? PHYLLIS: Not much. This is not to safe. I can't enjoy life, I
might as well be dead. Oh, my gosh. [laughs] Your mom has no heat. She has no water. These are jars full of urine. Ugh. Where are you for
your [bleep] mother? Ladies.
Ladies. Stop. Stop. [theme music] [ominous music] See, this little
outfit's cute, isn't it? I think that'll
look good on her. I'm Phyllis, and I'm a
certified nurse assistant. And this matches her eyes, too. [laughs] These dolls, when
I look at their sweet little faces, it just makes me happy. You know, it makes me kind of
warm, and cozy, and secure, and happy inside. There she is. See, they all look so much
prettier when they got clothes on. I don't collect them
because they're valuable. I just enjoy their
little company, you know, kind of
maybe like friends. [ominous music] My name is Ed. I am Phyllis's oldest son. These doors are like
a giant tidal wave that she can't manage,
control, or deal with. Even though dolls are a good
bit cuter and nicer, supposedly, than, you know, rats or cats
or whatever else other people hoard, 50,000 dolls is hoarding. There's no other
way to splice it. It's hoarding. Well, this is when I first
started collecting my dolls. I'm Bobby. I'm Phyllis's son. I don't mind her
having dolls, but I think she has too many of 'em. ED: These dolls are making
the house structurally unsafe. There's parts of the
roof that are sagging from the dolls in the attic. Bobby does have
his mental issues. Adult Protective Services--
if they were to come out here and see this, they
would take Bobby away. He can't live in this house. If you want to live here
in all this junk, you can. But Bobby is not going
to live like this. Would you stop grabbing it? I'm about--
- I just-- No. I'd like to sit here. PHYLLIS: Ed can really be bossy. OK? He's my son, but
he's manipulative and he tries to make me do
things that I don't want to do. ED: I realize this
is the tough love. I love my mom. I want her to get
the help she needs. [ominous music] My mother's mother, my
grandmother, passed away. After she died, there was
a little memorial service. And mom didn't
get to go to that. Everybody was invited except
me, and she was my mother. I felt like I wasn't
part of the family. I felt like I was an outsider. I was trash. And then I got really depressed. Her way of dealing
with the depression was to revert back to her
childhood in the collecting of these dolls. These dolls did make her happy. I got this desire to dolls. I wanted dolls. That's when I went
to the thrift shop. And, that was better
than any tranquilizer any lousy prescription
that's going to dope you up. It just-- it snowballed. She kept going to the thrift
shops, buying more dolls. They must have loved her. No matter how tacky or trashy
or broken the dolls were, they knew that my
mom would come in and she would pack them away
and haul all that junk out of the thrift shop. She buys them clothes. She washes their hair. She puts on new eyelashes. And she opened up a
thing in Ed's room and she called it
the doll hospital. [music playing] There we go. She has expired. She's no longer alive. [laughs] I call-- yeah, I
call it my doll surgery. Yeah. I take its hands off and
put it in that other doll that I have that's
waiting for a hand donor. [laughs] Doesn't see
that more complete now as a doll with
her hands, you know? PHYLLIS: People wait for donors,
right, like a kidney donor. Right? OK. What's the difference
between my little doll waiting for a hand donor? And, see, you make this
other doll whole, you see? BOBBY: She just
take care of them like they're a human being,
which I think is kind of weird. Little hands looks pretty
good there, doesn't it? [laughs] PHYLLIS: I just think
they're adorable. You know, I feel-- I feel blessed. Sometimes life can be so
awful, and then-- then you find comfort in trying to
make your own happiness. She'll put them in the
middle of the floor in my room. She says it'll just
be for a little while, and a little while ago for
maybe about a year or so. And I don't have enough room
in my room for all that. ED: I'm concerned
for my brother. He has not asked
for all these dolls, and they are crowding him out. Bobby knows he can
come live with me. But this is Bobby's world. That's when you got your
Eagle Scout award, I think. I guess. I think it was. ED: If this hoarding
continues, he can't live there. [ominous music] I'm Janet, and I'm a
retired visiting home nurse. Definitely I am a hoarder. Yes. [laughs] You can
open the back doors but you got to squeeze through. [ominous music] I just walk through
the laundry room and I walk across
and go to the chair. My name is Beth and
I'm Janet's daughter. The inside of the house
is absolutely dreadful. And I just can't believe
that my mom lives like that. [suspenseful music] I haven't had heat
for two or three years. But I don't have
any problem with it because, even in the coldest
winter, I'm as warm as toast. [ominous music] BETH: When my mom has
to go to the bathroom, she walks out the back door
and just goes outside there. JANET: I do not have
an outhouse out there. I go to the bathroom on
the side of the house, where it's private BETH: She has a
hard time walking. And for her to try to
climb over a mountain, obviously you're going to have
an accident if you can't make it. JANET: That's why I get
those pads and wear 'em. [suspenseful music] My name is Keith, and
I am Janet's second son. My mom feels comfortable and
the mess that she lives in. If my sister wasn't
driving this force, my mom would live like
this the rest of her life. [ominous music] BETH: If my mom refused
to clean up the house, I would absolutely have
no choice but to call protective services. I'm Dan, and I'm
Janet's youngest son. I haven't been to my mother's
house since probably 1994. From what I remember,
you know, the house would be pretty dark inside
because the clutter would mask a lot of the light. I've heard recently that it's
worse than I could imagine. [ominous music] JANET: I pray six hours a day. Lord, hear our prayer. JANET: Whether God cares if your
house is clean, I don't know. I'd have to talk to
God about it and see. In my thoughts
and in my words. My name is Father Doc Ortman. I am parochial vicar here
at St. Clement of Rome. And I've been here
going on seven years, and Janet has been a constant
since I've gotten here. We hear an awful lot of people
telling us how we should do things, how to be successful. JANET: Father Doc has
never been to the house. I've never asked him for
help to clean this up. No. Janet never asked for
anything except prayers. Take care. JANET: When I was nine years
old, I wanted to become a nun. But I wanted to have kids,
and so then I got married. [music playing] I'm Gerald. People say, why did you
keep having children? Well, you've going to bring
religion into the picture, because Janet and I
are devout Catholics. My mother gave
birth to 11 children in just under 12 years,
and two of the children didn't survive infancy. [ominous music] I think there's
a bunch of factors that triggered the hoarding. I believe it was the
death of the children. I believe it was the abuse. My dad discouraged
my mother's hoarding by fear and intimidation. I got a lot of bad memories. And I could get into a lot
more, but I don't want to. I just shudder at the
treatment that she endured. JANET: I think the abuse is
probably the main reason that I did start hoarding. I think I started to feel that
I had to hang onto everything. I'm really
offended by somebody saying that I hit my wife. And I'm gonna swear to
God right now in Heaven, I never, ever struck
my wife, ever. [music playing] My big fear is that I'm going
to get a call that nobody's heard from my mom, and I'm
going to find her laying dead in a pile of filth. ED: If the situation
doesn't improve-- if we don't clear out
that stuff in that house, Adult Protective Services
is going to get involved. [ominous music] [knock on door] Hello? Hi, Phyllis. I'm Mark Pfeffer. Oh, I'm glad to meet you. Come on in. Thank you. My name is Mark Pfeffer. I'm a licensed
psychotherapist, specializing in anxiety disorders
and compulsive hoarding. Now, tell me a little
bit about this room. This room? Well, I got a lot of memories
up there of my family. MARK: This house differs in most
hoarders houses in that there was several areas that
were actually clear. I noticed that the front room
looked to be pretty organized, and this room, even though
it's somewhat cluttered, is still relatively organized. Now, this is my big problem. OK? Is this the secret? Yeah, I guess this
is probably the secret. [ominous music] When I do expect
somebody to come, and I don't have time
to organize them and go through them, you
know, and everything-- Mm-hmm. I just stick them in a
garbage bag and throw them out. Then I say, well, I'll go
through it later, you see. After we walked out
of Phyllis's house into the shed area, and
when they opened the door, that's where I saw the
full extent of her horde. [ominous music] When I'm around
real smart people or-- you know, I-- I get very intimidated. Mm-hmm. I feel so inferior, you know? Why is that? Well, I usually go
along with other people. I say you're stupid-- I say, yes, I know I'm stupid. I never thought of myself
as being very important. I see my label for myself as
VUP, very unimportant person. Mm-hmm. And I've accepted that. But I don't really
like feeling that way. I want to feel better. But-- Well, if you accomplish the
goal here and you clean this place up, I'm hoping that you're
going to think differently about your self-esteem-- Mm-hmm. --and who you are, once we get
done with this project and you benefit from having a
life without the clutter. Uh-huh. Right. Then maybe you'll start to
think a little bit different the next time someone
calls you stupid. Because you're not stupid. I am motivated. I don't want to be a-- I don't want to have-- I don't want to have these
horrible labels attached to me. OK? MARK: Phyllis told me on
more than one occasion that she was willing to get
rid of a majority of the dolls. Whether or not she's going to
remain with only a few dolls, as she indicated,
remains to be seen. [ominous music] BETH: I have nine siblings,
and where are they all? Why can't all my brothers and
sisters get together and go help the mother that gave
birth to all of them? [knock on door] Janet? Janet? My name is Dr. Robin Zasio. I'm a licensed
clinical psychologist, and I specialize in OCD
and compulsive hoarding. Oh, my gosh! [laughs] I was shocked when I
walked into the dining room and found her camouflaged
inside the horde. Hi. JANET: Hi. [laughs] ROBIN: And you're
all nestled in. Yeah. Janet, it's
really cold in here. Do you have any heat? No, I don't. I stay warm under
seven blankets. [ominous music] I'd like to see the
rest of the house. Can you get out of there? Yeah, I can get out of here. So, Janet, I'm noticing
that I'm standing higher than a ceiling fan. [laughs] The main component
that is filling the house is trash, feces covered
diapers, and urine bottles. When I'm on my
bad leg, sometimes I got to get my balance. Yeah. I'm-- I'm worried
about you in here. No, no, no. This is not looking very safe. This bathroom is
clearly not working. No. How are you going
to the bathroom? I go outside or I
I've got a thing I use. Then I put it in a jar and then
take it out and dump it out. ROBIN: This is a woman who
loves children, who raised nine of her own, is a
God fearing woman, only wants to serve the
Lord, and is literally living in filth and human excrement. You have congenital
heart failure. Yeah. This is no way for
somebody with that serious of a medical condition
to be living. On top of that, you're not
able to have your family over, your grandkids over. Yeah. Well, I-- when I come home,
I like to be home alone. ROBIN: This may
make her feel safe. No one can bother her if
she's hidden in her horde. Janet, you do realize if
somebody came in and saw this that they may think that you are
not able to make good decisions for yourself, that they
might even think that you're incompetent. I have been in touch with
Adult Protective Services. If she doesn't have success
in eliminating the waste and garbage from her house,
she will need to be reported. ED: The house was a
disaster, every room. Mom was sleeping on a small
sliver of her bed, which was piled high with dolls. She didn't really
throw anything away. She just really,
really compacted it. She's like, OK, I can't do
anything about the garage. I can't do anything
about the sunroom. I'm just going to throw
everything in there. [ominous music] GERALIN: Good
morning, everybody. Good morning. Phyllis, guys, are you ready? ED: Absolutely. GERALIN: OK. My name is Geralin Thomas. I'm a certified professional
organizer specializing in chronic disorganization. We have tarps. We're going to empty out your
back shed and your storage unit. And we're going to bring all of
the stuffed animals and dolls out here. Once we have
everything emptied out, we will have you start
making decisions. That sounds very nice. GERALIN: OK, good. Phyllis is a very
optimistic person, but I think the problems are
going to come into her actually letting things go. She lacks insight into how
serious her problem is. Let's go ahead and
get started then. [music playing] Do you think you're
the kind of person that has to see every single item? Or do you think
you can say, well, I think the whole pile can go? Oh, I see a
Cabbage Patch doll. [laughs] That makes you happy, huh? I love the
Cabbage Patch dolls. [laughs] Oh, and look at that
little doll sticking up there. Isn't he cute? [laughs] Like the bags of dolls that
she stored away in the shed, Phyllis has stored
away her emotions. PHYLLIS: [laughs] GERALIN: What's
so funny, Phyllis? I don't know. [laughs] Even though nervous laughter-- [laughs] --was really not laughter. It was really anxiety and fear. Phyllis. PHYLLIS: Look at
that doll there. What is that? Phyllis. PHYLLIS: That's real cute. [laughs] I could see-- I could see this is going
to be an interesting day. PHYLLIS: [laughs] [suspenseful music] [ominous music] We're ready to make
some decisions, Phyllis. I hope you are. Hmm. It doesn't mean
you can't have dolls. It just means-- I can't have any hobbies.
That's for sure. What? I can't have any hobbies. I mean, isn't it nice to have
a nice little friendly hobby like this, cute little
dolls looking at you, make you feel real happy? What's wrong with that? Phyllis, is this a nice
little friendly hobby? [laughs] Well-- MARK: The lack of
reaction that Phyllis had to seeing all her dolls
in one place, I think, really supports her denial
of having a problem. This doll didn't take
up any room at all. Look at that. MARK: You know, Phyllis-- And I love little-- MARK: Phyllis. These little tiny dolls
like that are so cute. Look at this, what's in
front of you though, Phyllis. Look at this. Look at this. But this doesn't
take up any room. Look at that. Phyllis, I'm
looking at that doll. But you're not seeing
what's in front of you. Look at what's in front of you. [laughs] I see a lot of
real cute little dolls. ED: Can you imagine
what would happened if the bad electrical system
in the house caused a short and it caught a fire? [laughs] What would happen if
this caught on fire? GERALIN: What is--
what's wrong, Phyllis? Hmm? GERALIN: What is wrong? It just hurts me
that they don't really want me to be happy. And they don't care--
GERALIN: Who? Who is-- --about my feelings, at all. I want you to be happy. I want you to be safe, Mom. This is not safe. Throw me in there. Let me be the-- I like-- I like to
have you around, Mom. I like to have you around. Are you listening?
PHYLLIS: Well, I don't know. [laughs] I don't feel
like that anymore. Your boys love you. MARK: Do you hear what
your son's saying? Do you-- do you hear
what he's saying? Phyllis sort of
beats herself up verbally in front
of other people. I can't enjoy life, I
might as well be dead. Maybe I'll die. GERALIN: Is that--
is that really-- are you trying to hurt somebody
by using that language? Phyllis's low self-esteem
really sets the bar low for herself and others. GERALIN: We're not
here to blame you and we're not here
to blame Bobby. So I'm a lousy mother. I'm a lousy person. MARK: The black or white
thinking, the self deprecation works, because people
leave her alone. GERALIN: Are you
listening to me, Phyllis? What?
What? Deep breath, please. Why don't you just
throw me in there, too? Deep breath. [ominous music] I personally blame
myself, because maybe I was wrong for not being more
explicit about how really bad it was. Beth and I are
as close as can be. Yeah. When she was little, I'd
be cleaning the house up and everybody else
would be out playing. And she'd come in and help
me clean the house up. [ominous music] CORY: Good morning, everyone. Good morning. We are all here today
to help Janet, who's facing a pretty serious crisis. My name is Cory Chalmers, and
I'm an extreme hoarding cleanup specialist. Janet is an extreme hoarder. She's living in
absolute squalor. I've actually seen homeless
people live a cleaner lifestyle than her. Nobody ever came to
my house, so I'm used to having the house to myself. Mm-hmm. Well, did no one
come to your house or did you not let anyone in
your house that came over? I don't let anybody
get in my house. That's what I thought. [laughter] Well, guess what? After today you're going to
have people in your house. JANET: OK. [laughs] I haven't been to my
mother's house since 1994. It's been about five years
since I've been in the house. [ominous music] ROBIN: You back here, Keith? KEITH: Yeah, I'm back here. When I walked in, it smelled
so bad I almost threw up. These are jars full of urine. Ugh. I can't believe my mom
was peeing in bottles. Dan, I don't know if
you're aware of this. You're standing on a
chair, and that is her bed. That's where she sleeps. Ugh. Oh, my goodness. When I first walked in the house
I was utterly, utterly shocked. Dan, tell me-- tell
me what's going on. I can see you tearing
up a little bit here. Nobody should live--
and this is my mother. To look in there
and see that, it's like living in a shanty
in a garbage dump. I'm just trying to understand. Was it just that everybody
sort of thought, I can't deal with this and I don't
want to deal with it and maybe somebody
else will deal with it? My feelings, I guess,
were I know it's bad but she'll manage. I feel a lot of guilt
about the 17 years that I've avoided this place. I think I stepped in poop
or something over here. It smells really, really bad. It's a very unusual experience
to step in your own mom's messed diaper. When I did, I smeared
it open or something. Because it smelled
like fresh feces. I had a bowel movement in-- in three different bags tied up. That's the trouble with
these plastic bags. They do break on you. Beth, how are you feeling? I know that you've said
that you feel like you're kind of the Lone Ranger in the
support in your mom's life. This woman raised nine
screaming rotten brats. And where are those people now,
when she needs help for once in her life? DAN: We've got-- we've got
the people we need here now. We got the ones
that truly care. I just don't want it like this. I won't-- I won't let you
live like this another day. [ominous music] This is literally Janet's
bed, her bathroom, her kitchen, her dining room table. This is where she
lives her whole life. I had no idea. It was everything I
could do not to cry. I felt so terrible for Janet. [ominous music] CORY: Below the
top layer, I mean, everything was just filthy. I mean, we found stuff
dating back to 1993. The last two feet was
almost like wood pulp brick. As you got closer to
that chair, the things got a little bit denser and
it got a little bit stickier. I'm getting more and more
pissed when I'm in there. We could have six more
people in there, easy. Just pick another spot
and just start digging down to the floor. Oh, it stinks! My brothers and sisters are
losers for not coming out and contributing to this. I don't know if we can
do this in two days. It's-- that's terrible in there. [beeping] GERALIN: Phyllis is
in complete denial about her financial situation. She's been living
for several months without heat in her house. She is still spending
money on things she doesn't need to spend it on
instead of repairing her home. How much do you think
you spent on this pile right in front of you? Not much. I-- Give me a figure. PHYLLIS: I mean, this didn't
cost hardly anything, really. Well, I don't know. If you added up all the
money that you spent-- Well, I didn't spend hardly
anything on your stuff, believe it or not. Well, how about
this pile, as well? Have you seen this? Her denial of the cost
of the dolls over the years is not surprising. It's predictable. It did cost some money, Phyllis. Well, I didn't, really. I mean, there was no-- Well, did they give it to you? I mean-- How about every time that you
might go and buy a buggy full of dolls, you take that
$10 and put it in savings? And, a year from
now, you might be able to get that
heater replaced. I never really
spent $10 on a buggy. Most of the time it
was a little bag. OK? And that was-- a bag costs $2. OK? The organizers have hauled
out hundreds of bags so far. Hundreds, Phyllis. PHYLLIS: You won't--
you don't believe me, but I didn't spend a lot
of money on these things. OK? MARK: OK. PHYLLIS: But you
don't believe me. I don't think she'll ever
really admit her responsibility financially for spending as
much resources of the family on dolls than she's
actually has done. [ominous music] I get my money
cashed in ones-- Mm-hmm. --when I get my check cashed. Yes. Because that's the
way I count, is in ones. OK. And nobody in this family
carries ones except me, and she was giving the-- she was buying a
bunch of dolls at-- I didn't buy dolls-- --buying a bunch of dolls-- PHYLLIS: I don't-- I don't
collect-- that's not true. - --at Roses.
- I don't buy dolls at Roses. And she was giving the
lady a bunch of ones. And I got really upset
because that was my money. [music playing] GERALIN: Bobby has
really stepped up in vocalizing and expressing
his concerns to his mother. Unfortunately, she is
talking over him and not listening to a lot of it. Well, it's not your money. And it was supposed
to go to gas or-- You know something, Bobby? BOBBY: --electricity
or whatever. MARK: Let him
finish his sentence. And she was giving her a bunch
of my ones to buy the dolls. I did not, Bobby. I did not spend your
money on the dolls. I had my own dollars. OK? I did not. Can you believe that? I did not spend your money. I don't even buy dolls at Roses. Can you understand that? OK. You understand that, right? Phyllis, let me
ask you one question. OK.
Yes? We're spending too
much time on this. OK. Are you willing to put
that behind and move forward? Yes. I don't-- get rid of all of 'em. I don't give a hoot. Throw me in the
dumpster with 'em. I don't care. MARK: We're gonna-- we're not
just going to dump all of them. We're going to have
you look at them and make the
decision to do that. I don't want you to
do it out of anger. I want you to do as
willingness, because you want this house to be a home. [ominous music] l would say the
five trucks that we took to the dump probably
weighed a total of about 7,500 to 10,000 pounds. [ominous music] ROBIN: Hey, Janet,
let's talk for a second. Cosmetics expire, as well. You do not want to
put that on your face. It's not expired. It doesn't have an expiration. Cosmetics absolutely
have expiration dates. She wanted to
rationalize and justify why it was OK to keep makeup
that was 5, 10 years old. If it was that
important to you, it wouldn't have been locked
in this freezer for a number of years. Well, that's why I
did, because it kept it from spoiling. She actually got a
little angry with me. [sighs] What are you feeling? A little disgusted is all? Disgusted with what? I mean, the-- you say it's not good. But when I take it and use it,
it keeps the wrinkles away. [ominous music] ROBIN: Just like you would not
give somebody expired food, you would not want to give
them expired cosmetics. Yeah. Are you walking away
from her on purpose? Janet. [laughs] No, I'm tired of
listening to her. They sit there in the
bug you and bug you. Well, she's telling you
this stuff for a reason. I know she is. But she doesn't know everything. [music playing] Hey, what are you doing here? Mary? Beth mentioned that there
was a split in the family. What are you doing here? You're not [bleep] welcome here. In walks her twin sister,
Mary, and it was on. Where are you for
your [bleep] mother? Where have you been
for your mother-- Wow. --you rotten piece of [bleep]. Wow. I didn't come to clean. BETH: Then why are you here?
MARY: 'Cause I'm glad Mom-- BETH: Get the hell out of here! MARY: 'Cause I'm glad
Mom's getting help. You could care less about Mom. [interposing voices] Beth, she's not
worth arguing with! I don't want her here. Too bad. This is not your house. She has never been here
for you for her whole life. Stop!
Stop! She's not worth arguing with. She's never been
here for my mother. You're only here because
you want to fix this house up because Mom's leaving it to you. OK. And you want the money. OK, sure. You're only for Mom
for the money, pal. OK. You have no-- [interposing voices] When Mary walked in the
house with the dog in her hand, I knew she was
here just for show. I didn't say a word to her.
ROBIN: Hang on one second. Hang on.
Hang on one second. She came and attacked me.
I came through. Hang on.
Hang on. The one thing that I want to
say that I don't think you're aware of is that this house was
hoarded up to here in trash. Your mom has no heat. She has no water. Hang on. She never told anybody that. ROBIN: I understand that. I'm not blaming you. CORY: How are you doing, Janet? Hi. It can't be helped. They-- Have they always
fought like this? She-- she fights
with everybody. [bickering] Who? Mary does. 'Cause I wanted to-- What are you doing here now? To say a prayer for Mom. ROBIN: Stop.
Stop Stop. BETH: Oh, you're
so full of [bleep].. We'll make our point. OK? We'll make our point. All right? Danny, it's been four days-- I know. --that we have had help. She wants to come on day four
at the very last minute to go, hey, hey, hey. Hi. Look at me. Don't you think I'm pretty? Beth, we all know that. Mom, I do love you. You know I do. OK. ROBIN: Listen-- It kills me. ROBIN: I understand
what you're saying. It kills me. Everybody sees it. When was the last time
you visited your mom here? Probably about
three, four years ago. My dad has begged
her and begged her and said, let me send
people in to do it. And she's refused every time. CORY: Then you come over here
and you throw it away for her. OK. OK. Drop this. I don't want to drop it. I want you to live
a healthy lifestyle. Well, when I tried-- Yeah, I know. But this one doesn't know
how to tell the truth. Mary is just like her dad. She lies most of the time. MARY: Aren't you going to
tell them how you locked us all in the basement at 12
hours a day crying for my dad? Not all-- yeah, yeah. Yeah, Mary, that's right. MARY: 'Cause Dad's the
only one that kept me safe. That's right, Mary. That's right. You know what? This is one of the most
dysfunctional families that I've worked with.
- How can I-- I will not make
a point to you. How can I be
saying that to you? Amongst themselves,
they just can't get along for two seconds. Just like my father-- OK. --negative,
rotten, manipulative, and treats my
mother like [bleep].. BETH: Where have you been
for the last four days? - At home.
- I tried to call you. You wouldn't answer. ROBIN: Ladies, ladies, ladies. You knew we were
coming to work. Stop. Stop. Stop. I need to walk away. OK. I think-- I think
that's a good idea. There's been so many
different stories told. I don't know where
the truth lies. [music playing] Wow. We got to get Janet out here. Hey, Janet. What I would like to do is
throw away all this food, whether it's expired or not. No, no. Because it's out here and
it's been in this gross garage. It is not gross in the garage. Listen. This is common sense stuff. This is expired food-- That's over common
sense to a degree. CORY: --expired makeup. Janet has a hard
time letting go food. Even if it's expired, has
mouse droppings on it, it's filthy, gross,
she wants to keep it. I can't let you keep all this
food that is literally sitting on the floor in here where
rodents are running around. Can we just close the
door on it and say-- Just throw everything away. Go ahead. BETH: No, we're not
throwing every away, Mom. We're throwing away the food. Mom-- This food is unsanitary
and it's no good. --it's gonna be-- It is not unsanitary. It is. DAN: You're going to feel
much better about this later. OK? BETH: You're gonna get
all brand new food. DAN: It's tough right now.
- No. I'm never going to feel
better about wasting stuff. Go ahead. [ominous music] Hey. How are you doing? I'm good. Huh? Blessing the house is,
as with all blessings, referred to as a minor exorcism. In the name of the Father-- which simply means a calling
into a place the presence of God. Creator God, come and
live in this house, that it may truly be a home. Surround this shelter
with your Holy Spirit, and all of its four sides with
the power of your protection, that no evil or harm
may ever come near. [crying] I felt the spirit
shoot from my head to my toes when he was saying his blessing. And-- and it hit me hard. I also believe that God
has sent everybody our way. I'm so grateful. I just get even tell you. This is truly a miracle. It is a miracle. [suspenseful music] We have all the stuff out,
but it's still not habitable. Myself and Cory cannot sign this
off until we have confirmation that she will not be returned
to this house until there is running water, heat, a
bed, and the ability-- Well, there's gonna be
much more than that, doctor. At this point, I'm not
going to call APS on my mom. She's going to come
and stay with me. And she'll be over
here with me every day. It's going to take me about
a week to paint the walls and do the repairs on the
walls that need to be done. Now it's a house. But in a couple of
weeks, it will be a home. [music playing] If you come back
in six months, this place is not
going to be full. Despite how serious this horde
was, we made a lot of progress. With the interference
from the family, Janet slowing us down
just a little bit here and there, we were able to get
the whole house pretty much cleaned of all the clutter. Thank goodness for the
children showing up. They pitched in both days
and did a lot of work. I feel good about coming out
here and doing a lot of work, but it was two days. That doesn't make
up for 17 years. I owe my mother a
lot more than this. [ominous music] That's kind of heavy.
[laughs] Yeah. Let me get that for you. [music playing] PHYLLIS: Don't you think that
was a big thing for me to let go of in one day? And it was hard. It was very traumatic, actually,
for me to let go of those, to say goodbye. You know? You are remarkable. I'd like to give you a gold
medal for getting rid of dolls. Well, actually-- well, I have
mixed feelings about all this now.
- OK. I mean, I kind of think
I wish I had them back. You know? Phyllis is sort
of backtracking on some decisions she's made. She's second guessing herself. I keep thinking about
those little smiles. That little red haired
Cabbage Patch doll-- I keep thinking I really would
like to have those dolls back. [laughs] What about these? [laughs] I think she's getting
sidetracked a lot. So I have to keep
bringing her back to task, and get her to stay focused. See, some of these
dolls I just got recently. [laughs] OK. Can you-- can you
answer the question? Well, see, this is a doll
I got to put some clothes on. I got to-- you know-- Phyllis? I rescued-- I'm gonna be honest with you. I rescued these. Phyllis. Because they were sitting
out there-- and I'm glad I did, because I didn't know it was
going to be raining today. Phyllis. Yes? What's your plan for the room? I got to get rid of them. OK. - [laughs]
- Good for you. That's it. I got to get rid of them. [music playing] ED: Oh, Phyl, look here. We've got an amputated foot. This is a hazard. Well, then don't-- That's going to poke
some kid's eye out. Well, then that's the
reason you leave here with me. No. You throw it away. No. You throw it away, Mom. This one doesn't
have any arms. It's dangerous. That's the one I amputated! I did surgery on this. I had to amputate the
arm on this doll-- ED: Mom, it's not safe. --to give it to another doll. [ominous music] This doll hospital's being
closed down for malpractice. [laughs] These thrift
shops just love it when you come in there, because
they get rid of all the crap that no other sane
person's ever going to buy. [laughs] I think this doll is toxic. [laughs] In the past, I
think it would be a matter of who's going
to win as opposed to how can we compromise. Today I saw a family bickering-- [laughs] --yet compromising. And that was very
encouraging to me. Well, say goodbye to it. I did. Do you want to keep
that for Christmas? Well, give it to some child. Good. I got too many of 'em. I'm going to get rid of 'em. Oh, look at this, Ed. Look at this. One, two, three. Good. I'm proud of you. You're so cute! Say bye-bye. [laughs] [ominous music] Are you still thinking
you're going to turn your mom into Adult Protective Services? Well, I think
we've come enough where we won't have to do that. GERALIN: Do you think
she's changed enough? We're going to have
to watch relapse. GERALIN: OK. [music playing] I'm seeing parts of the house. I haven't seen in a decade. And that's all good. We still got a long ways
to go, and I'm bracing now for the profound sense of loss. Are you really
going to do that, Ed? We're gonna have a
yard sale to get rid of the rest of this junk. We're going to have to support
her, watch her, distract her, to keep her from running
back to that thrift shop. MARK: The support that hopefully
she'll get from her sons, plus aftercare, will be a
key ingredient for Phyllis to move on successfully. And I'm hoping to
see that happen. [laughs] [music playing]
