Fear – Howard Hughes

Howard Hughes (1905-1976), famous American film producer and aviator, was known for his fear of infection and bacteria. That fear separated him from people, and because of it, he suffered a nervous breakdown in 1958.

From then and on, Hughes lived in a little house, in the desert near Las Vegas. His only friends were Mormons who lived next door and whose job was to protect him from infections.

Fearing that in his house were too many bacteria (curious tourists were constantly trying to have a look at that place), Howard Hughes began to move from one hotel to another. He had a habit to request a new room late at night, and in some hotels, several times in one night. The first thing he always did when he entered the hotel room was sealing doors and windows with plastic. He fed almost exclusively with chocolates.

When the owner of Desert Inn Hotel in Las Vegas, where Hughes lived in 1966, asked him to leave the hotel and to avoid further conflicts, Hughes bought it.

The hotel's eighth floor became the nerve center of his empire and the ninth-floor penthouse became Hughes' personal residence.