The unofficial World's oldest human being has just passed away at the alleged age of 146-years old. The Indonesian Christian man named Saparman Sodimejo, also known in his village as Mbah Ghoto or grandpa Ghoto, passed away in his home in Central Java.
Unverified claims
A local publication, that was able to investigate the man's papers, claimed in 2010 that Sodimedjo would turn 142-years old at his next birthday. If the claim is true, then the man would be over 19 years older than the official oldest recorded human in the world, the French centenarian Jeanne Calment, who died in 1997 at 122 years-old.
Born before birth records existed
According to Sodimedjo's papers, he was allegedly born in December 1870. The biggest problem when it comes to verifying his claim is that Indonesia only started to record births in 1900. This means that the department responsible for the records would have had to take the boy's and his parent's word regarding when he was actually born. However, based on his stories and his memories of the construction of a sugar factory in 1880, several officials were convinced of his age's authenticity.
Deteriorating health
The life-long smoker was admitted to the hospital last month due to some undisclosed issues he was having. Six days later the man asked to be checked out and taken home.
Ever since his return, the man apparently lost his appetite and refused to drink or eat. His grandson, Suyanto, told the BBC that they were having problems feeding him and that his grandfather simply told them to "let him go."
The secret to his long life
Everyone in the village treated the unbelievably old man as a local hero and many asked him about his secret to longevity.
In one interview, Sodimedjo simply stated that patience and being surrounded by people who love you was the key. The man likely has the latter in spades as he had outlived four wives, all his children, and his 10 brothers and sisters. Despite outlasting the people he loved, the man still had a lot of affection from the people in his village due to his numerous stories of the wars he experienced, including clashes with Japanese forces and Dutch invaders.
Sodimedjo was buried on Monday by his family in a plot that he had previously purchased. Due to the lack of concrete evidence and any living witnesses, there is currently still no way of verifying the man's age, which is why his title as the oldest human being ever recorded still remains unofficial.
