‘World’s dirtiest man’ dies aged 94

An Iranian man dubbed the ‘dirtiest man in the world’ for not taking a shower for decades has died at the age of 94, state media has reported.

Amou Haji, who did not wash for more than half a century, died on Sunday in the village of Dejgah in Iran, IRNA news agency said.

Mr Haji chose to avoid showering over fears that it would make him sick. But ‘for the first time a few months ago, villagers had taken him to a bathroom to wash,’ a local official told the Iranian state media.

Mr Haji had an aversion to soap and water. He said he hated even the thought of bathing.

The Iranian chose not to wash for over 60 years because he believed that being clean would make him sick. Mr Haji previously said that he chose this eccentric way of life after experiencing emotional setbacks in his youth. Since then he became isolated.

As well as cleanliness, Mr Haji also had an aversion to fresh food and drink. His favorite food was rotten porcupine, and he would choose to drink water from a rusty oil can.

Mr Haji had spent most of his life in Dejgah village in the province of Fars in southern Iran. Concerned locals built him an open brick shack to live in after seeing that he was sleeping in a hole in the ground.
If his life wasn’t unique enough, Amou Haji liked to smoke animal faeces out of an old pipe, rather than tobacco.