Man Who Hasn't Taken A Bath In 60 Years Dies Months After Taking His First Wash

A man who has not taken a shower for more than half a century died at the age of 94, several months after he took his first wash in many years.

Amou Haji, known as the "world's dirtiest man" for not taking a shower for more than half a century, died at the age of 94 in the village of Dejgah in the southern province of Fars, Iran on Sunday, Oct. 23. Haji reportedly lived in isolation in an open brick hut. Decades of not bathing had left him with skin covered in “soot and pus,” People reported.

According to villagers, he refused to take a bath due to "emotional setbacks in his youth." Haji was afraid that he'd get sick and die if he used soap and water in his body.

Haji was reportedly famous for smoking a handful of cigarettes at a time. He also used a metal plumbing object to smoke animal waste, and cut his hair by burning it over a fire. Haji would also eat rotten porcupine roadkill, and drank five liters of water daily from a dirty bucket, and believed that cleanliness would make him ill, the Guardian reported.

However, after surviving decades without taking a bath, a few months ago, after villagers persuaded, Haji took a wash for the first time in decades. However, several months after he took the wash, Haji fell ill just as he had feared and died on Sunday, Oct. 23.

Haji isn't survived by any known family members.

After Haji’s death, the unofficial record for not taking a bath for the longest time could go to an Indian man named Kailash “Kalau” Singh, from a village outside the holy city of Varanasi. Singh had not washed for more than 30 years in an attempt to help end “all the problems confronting the nation”.

Instead of taking a bath, Singh takes what he calls a "fire bath." Every evening, he lights a bonfire, smokes marijuana, and stands on a leg praying to Lord Shiva.

“It’s just like using water to take a bath. Fire bath helps kill all the germs and infections in the body,” Singh was reported to have said.