The story of the man who lived and died without ever seeing a woman
Look out of your window for long enough, and chances are you'll see a woman walk past. Even if you live in the middle of nowhere, you'd think it would happen sooner or later.
And yet somehow, one man made it to the age of 82 without ever seeing a female.
It's definitely not an accurate portrayal of the world, but it's certainly an interesting one. It's like knowing aliens do actually exist and could probably be found within a matter of minutes, but never actually crossing paths with one. That's one way to make your imagination run wild.
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Unfortunately, though, we'll never know exactly what Mihailo Tolotos imagined when presented with the notion of a 'woman', because he's long gone by now.
Tolotos is thought to have been born some time in 1856, but shortly after giving birth to him, his mother passed away and left Tolotos an orphan.
The newborn was adopted by Orthodox Monks at a monastery on Mount Athos in Greece, and he was raised there by monks living at the monastery.
As he grew up, Tolotos lived by the strict rules in place in the area, one of which was that there were no women allowed. The rule had been in place for hundreds of years, and remains true to this day.
So while Tolotos was unlikely to ever encounter a woman at his home, he could have ventured out into the wider world and easily come across a member of the opposite sex.
But over his decades of life, Tolotos is said never to have left Mount Athos. He learned about the existence of women from peers, as well as through descriptions in books, but he never saw one for himself in real life.
Seemingly never curious, Tolotos went on with his life until 1938, when he passed away at the age of 82.
To mark his bizarre achievement, if you want to call it that, of only ever having seen men in real life, Tolotos was given a special burial by all the monks living at Mount Athos who believed that he was the only man in the world to have died without knowing what a woman looked like.
Tolotos' death was recognised in a newspaper article which noted that women weren't the only sight Tolotos had been deprived of throughout his life.
"Neither had he beheld an automobile, a movie or an airplane," the article reads. There'll probably never be another like him again.
Topics: Sex and Relationships
Emily Brown