In the remote Iranian village of Dejgah in the Fars province, a man named Amou Haji lived a life completely unlike any other. For over 60 years, he entirely avoided bathing, convinced that soap and water would cause him physical illness.
His daily existence revolved around smoking animal feces from a metal pipe, dining on raw roadkill, and resting in an open brick shack built by local villagers. This is the documented account of how he survived into his 90s while covered head to toe in decades of soot, ash, and dirt.
Surviving on Roadkill and Rusty Water
Haji sustained himself on a highly unusual daily diet. He actively refused fresh food and clean water. Instead, his meals consisted primarily of decaying roadkill, with porcupine meat being his most frequent choice. To hydrate, he consumed roughly 5 liters (1.3 gallons) of water every single day. He drank this liquid from a rusted, unwashed tin oil can. He maintained this exact diet for over half a century without contracting major foodborne illnesses.
Unconventional Habits in the Iranian Desert
His daily habits extended far beyond his dietary choices. He regularly smoked multiple tobacco cigarettes at the exact same time, holding them all between his dirty fingers. When he ran out of manufactured cigarettes, he filled a rusted steel plumbing pipe with dried animal excrement and smoked the fumes.
To keep his hair trimmed, he did not use scissors or clippers. Instead, he burned the ends of his hair over an open fire. He wore layered, worn-out clothing to protect himself from the cold weather during the winter months, and he wore an old war helmet to keep his head warm.
A Life Spent in Dejgah
For shelter, Haji initially slept in a hole dug directly into the ground, resembling a grave. The residents of Dejgah eventually constructed an open-sided brick shack for him to use as a shelter against the elements. He spent the vast majority of his days remaining entirely stationary around this shack and the surrounding desert area.
He avoided almost all modern medical care and hygiene practices throughout his entire adult life. The dirt on his body formed a thick, gray casing over his skin.
The Final Bath and the End
In late 2022, local villagers finally persuaded the 94-year-old man to take his first bath in more than 60 years. They successfully convinced him to wash with water. A few months after taking this bath, he fell ill. He passed away on October 23, 2022, in the village of Dejgah.
Medical professionals had previously examined him earlier in the year and found him to be in generally good health despite his extreme living conditions. He lived to the age of 94.