Amou Haji

Amou Haji (lit. 'Uncle Haji'; 20 August 1928 – 23 October 2022) was an Iranian man who was known for not bathing for more than 60[1][2] years.[3][4]

Amou Haji
Amou Haji smoking, pre-2014
Born20 August 1928
Fars province, Persia
Died23 October 2022(2022-10-23) (aged 94)
Dezh Gah Rural District, Fars province, Iran

Description

Amou Haji was not his real name, but a nickname given to elderly people.[5] He lived in a shack and a hole in the ground in the village of Dejgah, Fars. Since he feared that soap and water might cause diseases, he did not bathe for over 60 years between c. 1957-62 and shortly before his death on 23 October 2022.[4] It was claimed that he had become a hermit after a heartbreak.[5] He was celibate, ate meat from dead animals he found, drank water from puddles, smoked a pipe that had animal excrement on it and lived in a hole he had built himself.[5] Despite his unhygienic lifestyle, he lived until the age of 94.[6] He died shortly after washing for the first time in 60 years, having been persuaded by the inhabitants of Dejgah, in the southern province of Fars, to do so.[6] He was photographed smoking several cigarettes at a time. He refused water, food, and other basic necessities offered to him.[7] These attempts to care for him even made him sad.[4]

In 2014, he claimed that he had not washed for over 60 years.[8] He believed that 'cleanliness brings on illness.'[1][2]

Lifestyle

Hammond (2019) describes Haji as having a "face and beard caked in mustard brown earth" and that he "blends in" to the "barren landscape of southern Iran" and "that when he sits still he resembles a rock." His diet consisted of rotten porcupine carcasses as well as animal dung, which he smoked in his pipe.[2][1]

To manage his hair, he burned off the excesses with a flame.[1][2]

Death

A few months before his death, the villagers of his village persuaded him to take a bath – fearing he would get sick if he ever used "soap and water," according to Iran's government-funded IRNA news agency, via AFP. In the report, Haji cited "emotional setbacks in his youth" as a primary reason for not bathing. After taking his first bath in 60 years, Haji fell ill and died a few months after bathing.[9][10][11]

Documentary

A 2013 documentary titled The Strange Life of Amou Haji.[12]

See also
  • Dirty Dick - a London merchant who refused to wash after his fiancée died on their wedding day

References
  1. Hammond 2019.
  2. Bathroom Readers' Institute 2015, p. 222.
  3. James 2022.
  4. BBC 2022.
  5. La Stampa 2022.
  6. Lombardo 2022.
  7. TG24 2022.
  8. Theobald 2015.
  9. "'World's dirtiest man' dies in Iran at 94 a few months after first wash". the Guardian. 25 October 2022.
  10. Gleeson, Scott. "'World's Dirtiest Man' dies at 94, reportedly 'not long after' his first bath in 60 years". USA TODAY.
  11. ""World's dirtiest man" dies in Iran at 94". www.cbsnews.com.
  12. SCMP 2022.

Sources
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.