The old email addy in question was with Hotmail.
Someone hacked that account quite a number of months ago. I tried to fix it with Hotmail, but my cat was sitting on my arms while I was typing. Ummm...this messed up my efforts to answer my security questions. Hotmail shut down the account.
I could've opened a new Hotmail account, but the whole thing was pretty upsetting. I'd had that account for many years, going back to when I first got onto the internet. They sent me a survey, asking me what I thought of Hotmail (!), and asking if I would ever consider opening up another Hotmail account. My reply was no. I told them it would help if there was a way for person's whose accounts had been hacked to have a second chance at answering their own security questions, since hackers probably wouldn't be able to answer correctly. I never heard anything back from them.
Good luck in squashing the unwanted email accounts. 
I know from experience that old email addys can sometimes cause trouble with current accounts. (I experienced that with Paypal). 
Truely, the internet is both bane and blessing. 
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