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Man Lived For 82 Years Without Ever Knowing What A Woman Looked Like

A man lived for 82 years without ever knowing what a woman looked like.
Credit: Alamy

Mihailo Tolotos, a man born in 1856, lived an extraordinary and highly unusual life, spanning 82 years without ever seeing a woman.

His life was shaped by unique circumstances and profound isolation, beginning with the tragic loss of his mother, who passed away shortly after his birth.

Left as an orphan at an early age, Tolotos was taken in by Orthodox monks who raised him in a secluded monastery on Mount Athos, Greece, a place deeply entrenched in centuries-old traditions and strict religious practices.

Mihailo Tolotos
A man lived for 82 years without ever knowing what a woman looked like. Credit: @LIHPics/Twitter

One of the most significant and long-standing rules of Mount Athos, which remains in effect to this day, is the absolute prohibition of women from entering the monastery or its grounds.

This regulation, rooted in religious doctrine, ensured that Tolotos never encountered a female during his lifetime.

While it might be reasonable to assume that he could have traveled beyond the monastery walls to explore nearby towns, where women would have been present, this was not the case, as he never left the isolated environment of Mount Athos.

As a result, his understanding of women was confined entirely to what he learned through books, texts, and conversations with his fellow monks.

Despite such indirect knowledge, those who lived alongside him at the monastery firmly believed that Tolotos spent his entire life without ever setting eyes on a woman.

His passing in 1938, at the age of 82, drew attention to the remarkable nature of his life, prompting a newspaper to commemorate him with an article that shed light on the unique circumstances of his existence.

The article poignantly observed that, in addition to never seeing a woman, Tolotos had also been deprived of other hallmarks of the modern world, stating: “Neither had he beheld an automobile, a movie or an airplane.”

This further highlights the extent of his isolation and the highly insulated nature of the environment in which he lived.

Mihailo Tolotos
Credit: Reddit

Remarkably, Tolotos is not the only person in history to have lived a life devoid of interactions with women.

A more recent and similarly extraordinary case is that of Ho Van Lang, often referred to as the ‘real-life Tarzan,’ who lived for 40 years without ever seeing a female.

His story began during the Vietnam War in 1972, when he, his father, and his brother fled into the remote jungles of Vietnam to escape the dangers of conflict.

Their retreat to the wilderness led them to spend decades living in complete isolation in the Tay Tra district of Quang Ngai province, far removed from any form of civilization.

Lang and his family survived entirely off the land, hunting animals and foraging for food such as fruit, honey, and a variety of creatures, including monkeys, snakes, and frogs.

Ho Van Lang
Credit: Docastaway via YouTube

As captured by Docastaway, according to Lang, his father never spoke to him about women or explained their existence.

During their time in the jungle, the family encountered only five other individuals, and each time they spotted someone from a distance, they would quickly flee and hide to avoid contact.

Alvaro Cerezo, a documentarian who tracked Lang and his family down in 2015, recounted the incredible details of their lives and noted the extent of their isolation.

Cerezo shared that even after Lang re-entered society, he struggled to grasp the concept of gender differences.

He remarked:  “They always escaped when they saw people from a distance. More surprising still is that today, despite being able to distinguish between men and women, he still doesn’t know the essential difference between them.”

Lang’s reintroduction to modern life was tragically short-lived, as he passed away in 2021 at the age of 52 due to cancer.

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Written by Rosario Monachino

Rosario is a former content editor at IGV who specialized in film, TV, and entertainment news. He has a degree in English and Film from the University of Salford and a master's in Journalism from Liverpool John Moores University.