The hermit nicknamed “the dirtiest man in the world” died in Iran at the age of 94: he hadn’t washed for more than half a century. The Irna news agency reported that “Amou Haji”, an affectionate nickname used for elderly people, died Sunday in the village of Dejgah, in the southern province of Fars.
For the first time a few months ago the villagers had taken him to a bathroom to wash. Amou Haji, according to the media, was celibate, ate dead animal meat on the street and smoked a pipe full of beast excrement. In 2013 a short documentary titled The Strange Life of Amou Haji.
Haji slept in a hole he dug for himself, ate porcupine meat and drank water from puddles. It was said of him that he had decided to become a hermit following a disappointment in love, but there are also those who said that the old man did not want to wash for fear of getting sick.
After his death, the primacy (not officially recognized by the Guinness World Records) could go to an Indian man who claims he hasn’t washed for over 30 years. In 2009, the Hindustan Times reported that Kailash “Kalau” Singh, a native of a village outside the holy city of Varanasi, had not washed for more than 30 years in an effort to help end “all the problems the nation must have. face up to”. He would reject the water in favor of what he calls a “fire bath”. “Every evening, when the villagers gather, Kalau… lights a bonfire, smokes marijuana and stands up on one leg praying to Lord Shiva,” says the newspaper. Singh would have said, “It’s just like using water for bathing. The fire bath helps kill all germs and infections in the body ».