An urban explorer has searched the abandoned home of the late Jake Mangle-Wurzel who christened himself ‘King of the Eccentrics’ – and found it full of quirky inventions.
Daniel Sims, 32, searched the local property in late December, four months after the former TV star died of skin cancer aged 83.
The self-confessed “professional eccentric” rose to fame in the 1980s appearing on various television shows, and was featured in a 2014 documentary about his life.
He lived in a cottage in Huddersfield, where he worked on his unusual inventions – including his prized car, which has a bathtub and toilet on the roof.
He had previously appeared on an episode of Hoarders, and had battled the local council to keep his overflowing possessions around his property.
Daniel, a fellow Huddersfield local, regularly shares his adventures into abandoned buildings on his YouTube channel, BeardedReality.
In his latest video he explores the property, which has been left abandoned following Mangle-Wurzel’s death in August 2021.
As he enters the caravan next to the main house, Daniel finds an old head stone reading “Mary Ann, wife of Abraham Ramsden”, as well as a tree adorned with various items hanging off of it.
Daniel explains some local rumours about the eccentric – including his alleged seven marriages, the latter of which was apparently to his dog, and his home burning down in 2010.
As he explores the remainder of the inventor’s home, Daniel is stunned to find a mannequin propped up and posed by the window.
The home appears to be stuffed with a random assortment of objects, including a police hat, road traffic signs
Interestingly, the eccentric also appears to have created a miniature wall out of cigarette butts – which Daniel notes appear to have been glued together “with his own phlegm”.
Bizarrely, in one room are dozens of pictures of the man, printed on sheets of A4 paper, as well as a handmade chicken clock.
In what appears to be the bedroom, the bed is covered in porn magazines.
As he explores further into the main house, Daniel notes the inventor appears to have rigged up his own electrical system.
Later, they find a makeshift headstone, dedicated to “Shattwell Shufflebottom”, another nude female mannequin, and a small windmill hand-crafted by the inventor.
Outside, Mangle-Wurzel’s car takes pride of place, with a toilet and cat statues on top – which Daniel describes as “bizarre”.
He says: “I’ve never seen anything like this.”
Elsewhere on the property, they find a mannequin that has been fashioned into a water feature, with a hosepipe running through its head and a wheel near the crotch to turn the feature on and off.
Various open coffins also line the area, including one filled with another nude mannequin.
“The inventions he left behind were some wacky designs which he engineered himself,” Daniel told Jam Press.
“His car is well known and consists of various items strapped to it, such as the bathtub and cats and signs which he’d made.”
Daniel also points out a makeshift drawbridge as notable, as well as “random torture devices” – including what appears to be a handcrafted stocks restraining device, which was used to hold a mannequin.
He said: “The atmosphere was just pure amazement of what had been left behind.
“Seeing all the wonderful and wacky inventions and how Jake lived was a mind-blowing experience and there is nothing quite like it.”
