A man known as the ‘dirtiest in the world’ due to his refusal to wash for several decades has died at the age of 94.
Amou Haji, who went over 60 years without cleaning himself, passed away in the village of Dejgah, southern Iran, in October 2022. According to Iranian state media, his death came just months after villagers persuaded him to take a bath.Haji, whose name is an endearing term for an elderly person, had a peculiar lifestyle.
He enjoyed smoking animal feces from an old pipe and eating rotten porcupine. He would also drink water from a rusty oil can.
In a documentary about his life, Haji revealed that he chose to become dirty after experiencing emotional problems as a young man, leading to isolation and a fear of soap and water.
His skin was so caked with grime that an author who visited him in Iran described him as “blending into the barren landscape” and resembling a rock when he sat still. Despite locals building him a brick shack to shelter in, Haji lived an isolated life.
He had been urged by residents for years to clean up, but he refused until shortly before his death.According to local media, Haji finally succumbed to pressure and had a wash a few months before his death, but as he had feared, he became sick shortly afterwards and passed away.
His life was immortalized in a short documentary film called ‘The Strange Life of Amou Haji’ in 2013. If Haji’s claims of 60 years without a wash are true, it would make him the world’s dirtiest man, surpassing Indian man Kailash Singh, 67, who claimed to have not showered for 39 years.
Leave a Reply