An Iranian isolate, Amou Haji nicknamed the “dirtiest man in the world” has died at the old age of 94, after being persuaded to take his bath last month.
According to a report in the Iranian news agency, Haji died in the village of Dejgah in the southern province of Fars on Sunday.
OsunDaily News gathered that available reports indicated that Haji, who is single hadn’t taken a bath in more than half a century.
As cited in multiple reports, local officials were reported to have said Haji had avoided showering over fears of “getting sick”.
Haji, who hadn’t bathed with water or soap in more than 60 years was reported to have been covered in soot and living in a cinder-block shack.
Villagers also revealed that he had experienced “emotional setbacks in his youth” that informed his refusal to bathe and his weird life.
A Tehran Times report of 2014 said “Haji would end his hunger pangs by eating roadkill. He also smoked a pipe filled with animal excreta, and believed that bathing and keeping clean would make him ill.”
OsunDaily News also learnt that he was, however, persuaded by the local villagers to take a bath for the first time in more than 50 years last month.
A short documentary film titled “The Strange Life of Amou Haji” was also made on his life in 2013.
After Haji’s death, the unofficial record for not bathing for a large part of his life could go to an Indian man, Kailash Singh ‘Kalau who had also refused to take his bath nor brush his teeth for more than 30 years because he wants to please God to give him a son.
Singh ‘Kalau, who is reported to be a resident of the holy city Varanasi alleges to have seven daughters and won’t bathe because he wants a son from God.
