A 94-year-old Iranian man known as the “world’s dirtiest man” for famously going the entire 20th century without taking a bath has passed away.
The BBC claims In the southern province of Fars’ Dezhgah village, Amou Haji passed away on Sunday. He was known as “Uncle Haji” among the locals. He hadn’t washed himself with soap or water for what was said to be perhaps six or seven decades out of fear of getting sick.
According to the Guardian, Haji was persuaded to wash up a few months ago by the townspeople.
In an interview with the Tehran Times in 2014, Haji revealed that he ate roadkill like porcupines and other animals, and that he lived in a brick shanty and a hole in the ground. He also liked to smoke antique pipes filled with animal feces instead of tobacco. Haji claimed that “emotional setbacks” were what led him to decide against taking a shower.
According to Iranian media outlets, a short documentary film named The Strange Life of Amou Haji was produced in 2013.
According to a 2009 article in The Hindustan Times, Kailash “Kalau” Singh, a resident of a village outside of Varanasi, preferred a “fire bath” and had not had a bath in 35 years. He explained, “It’s just like using water to take a bath. Fire bath helps kill all the germs and infections in the body.”