His fear became so strong that he actively resisted attempts by others to help him clean himself.
On one occasion, local villagers reportedly tried to force him into a shower, but he escaped before they could wash him.
A lifestyle unlike any other
As the years passed, Haji’s appearance became increasingly extraordinary.
His skin became coated in layers of soot, dirt, and ash, causing him to blend into the desert landscape around him.
Author Claudia Hammond once described him as looking so similar to the barren terrain of southern Iran that when he sat still, he resembled a rock.
Rather than bathing with water, Haji reportedly believed smoke helped keep him clean.
He often sat near fires, allowing soot to accumulate on his skin.
His living conditions were equally unusual. For much of his life, he lived in a hole dug into the ground, the BBC reports.
Later, concerned villagers constructed a simple cinder-block shelter where he occasionally stayed.
Food was another area where Haji rejected convention.
According to reports, one of his favorite meals was rotting porcupine.
He regularly ate roadkill and carrion, preferring meat that most people would consider inedible, per the Guardian.
He also drank water from puddles and rusty oil cans.
Perhaps most bizarrely, he was known to smoke animal dung using an old pipe.
Photographs of Haji frequently showed him puffing on multiple cigarettes at once.
When his hair became too long, he didn’t visit a barber.
Instead, he reportedly singed the excess off with an open flame.
World’s Dirtiest Man
