Amou Haji
Amou Haji, also known as the "World's Dirtiest Man", was an Iranian man known for not bathing for more than 60 years.
Biography
Amou was not his real name but an affectionate nickname, generally given to elderly people, roughly translating as "old timer". He lived in the village of Dezh Gah in Fars province. He did not bathe for over 60 years, from until shortly before his death in 2022, because he feared that soap and water might cause disease. He claimed that he became a hermit due to "emotional setbacks" after experiencing heartbreak.Amou Haji was celibate, ate carrion that he found, drank water from puddles and rusty oil cans, smoked animal dung using an old pipe, wore a war helmet to fend off cold, and lived in a hole that he had dug himself, or occasionally in a cinder block house constructed for him by local people. To manage his hair, he burned off the excesses with a flame. His skin was covered with soot because he "bathed" in smoke to cleanse himself.
He was photographed smoking multiple cigarettes simultaneously and refused water, food, and other basic necessities offered to him. He said that these attempts to care for him made him sad. Once, some young men forcefully attempted to give him a shower, but he managed to escape.
Author Claudia Hammond described Haji as having a "face and beard caked in mustard-brown earth", claiming that he "blends in" to the "barren landscape of southern Iran" and that, when he sits still, he "resembles a rock".
His story was covered in a 2013 documentary titled The Strange Life of Amou Haji.