An Iranian hermit known as the “world’s dirtiest man” for not taking a shower for more than half a century has died at the age of 94.
Irna news agency reported that “Amou Haji”, an endearing nickname for an elderly person, died on Sunday in the village of Dejgah in the southern province of Fars.
Haji, covered in soot and living in a cinder-block shack, was reported by local media not to have bathed with water or soap in more than 60 years.
Villagers said he had experienced “emotional setbacks in his youth” that led him to refuse to wash.
In 2014, the Tehran Times reported that Haji would eat roadkill, smoke a pipe filled with animal excrement, and believed that cleanliness would make him ill. Photos showed him smoking multiple cigarettes at once.
But a few months ago, villagers had persuaded him to wash for the first time, Irna reported.