An Iranian man dubbed the “world’s dirtiest man” has died at the age of 94, according to state media.
Amou Haji died Sunday in the village of Dejgah, IRNA news agency reported. He had refused to bathe for more than 60 years, fearing it would make him sick.
He gained notoriety around the globe for his unofficial title as “world’s dirtiest man,” and his life was even chronicled in a 2013 documentary called “The Strange Life of Amou Haji.”
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Amou Haji (uncle Haji) is pictured on the outskirts of the village of Dezhgah in the Dehram district of the southwestern Iranian Fars province, on December 28, 2018. – Believed to be the worlds dirtiest man, villagers say that Haji’s leather-like skin hasn’t touched soap and water for more than sixty years. They believe that he decided to live in isolation after suffering from an emotional setback in his youth. (Photo by – / AFP) (Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)
(AFP via Getty Images)
Villagers had recently pressured him to bathe, and “for the first time a few months ago, villagers had taken him to a bathroom to wash,” the IRNA report stated, according to the Telegraph.
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Amou Haji (uncle Haji) sits in front of an open brick shack that the villagers constructed for him, on the outskirts of the village of Dezhgah in the Dehram district of the southwestern Iranian Fars province, on December 28, 2018. – Believed to be the worlds dirtiest man, villagers say that Haji’s leather-like skin hasn’t touched soap and water for more than sixty years. They believe that he decided to live in isolation after suffering from an emotional setback in his youth. (Photo by – / AFP) (Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)
(AFP via Getty Images)
“Not long after, he fell ill and finally, on Sunday… he gave up his life,” the report continued, according to the Telegraph.
Amou Haji (uncle Haji) sits at the entrance of an open brick shack that the villagers constructed for him, on the outskirts of the village of Dezhgah in the Dehram district of the southwestern Iranian Fars province, on December 28, 2018. – Believed to be the worlds dirtiest man, villagers say that Haji’s leather-like skin hasn’t touched soap and water for more than sixty years. They believe that he decided to live in isolation after suffering from an emotional setback in his youth. (Photo by – / AFP) (Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)
(AFP via Getty Images)
Amou Haji reportedly had no wife or family, but some villagers tried to look after him, including reportedly building him a cinder-block dwelling.
Amou Haji (uncle Haji) lies on the ground on the outskirts of the village of Dezhgah in the Dehram district of the southwestern Iranian Fars province, on December 28, 2018. – Believed to be the worlds dirtiest man, villagers say that Haji’s leather-like skin hasn’t touched soap and water for more than sixty years. They believe that he decided to live in isolation after suffering from an emotional setback in his youth. (Photo by – / AFP) (Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)
(AFP via Getty Images)
“Emotional setbacks in his youth” reportedly kept him from bathing, according to villagers cited by the Guardian.
He also allegedly ate roadkill and had been photographed smoking multiple cigarettes at once.
Amou Haji (uncle Haji) smokes from his waterpipe as he sits on the ground on the outskirts of the village of Dezhgah in the Dehram district of the southwestern Iranian Fars province, on December 28, 2018. – Believed to be the worlds dirtiest man, villagers say that Haji’s leather-like skin hasn’t touched soap and water for more than sixty years. They believe that he decided to live in isolation after suffering from an emotional setback in his youth. (Photo by – / AFP) (Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)
(AFP via Getty Images)
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A man living in India named Kailash “Kalau” Singh could now be the “world’s dirtiest man,” the Guardian speculated, citing a Hindustan Times article from 2009 reporting he had not bathed since 2009.
