A storyand a photo of an old man has been
circulating on some news sites in Europe for some
time. It reads:
A retired cobbler from northern India, Mahashta
Mûrasi, claims he was born in January 1835, making
him not only the oldest man on earth, but the oldest
to have ever lived, according to the Guinness World
Records.
According to Indian officials, the man was born at
home in the city of Bangalore on January 6th 1835,
and is recorded to have lived in Vârânasî since 1903.
He worked as a cobbler in the city until 1957, when
he retired at the already venerable age of 122.
“I have been alive so long, that my great grand-
children have been dead for years” explains Mr.
Mûrasi. “Somehow death forgot about me… And now
there’s hardly any hope left. Look at the statistics,
nobody dies past 150, even less at 170. At that point,
I guess I’m immortal or something. I might as well
enjoy it!”
The man’s birth certificate and identity cards all
seem to confirm his version, but unfortunately no
medical examination can confirm his saying for now.
The last doctor Mister Mûrasi visited died in 1971, so
there is little information available about his previous
medical files.
Sounds believable right? It’s a hoax.
A fake news site, World News Daily Report invented
the story and found an old internet photo to go with
it and some news sites picked it up and published it.
Although Wold News Daily Report has a disclaimeron
its site which says that all stories its publishes are
fiction, it is buried within the site and not easily
accessible.
But the question remains, is it possible for someone
to live that long? Well, so far the oldest person on
record, whose age was well documented and could
be verified was Jeane Calment of France, who
reached the age of 122. She died in 1997.
There have, however, been frequent cases in history
where people have attempted to exaggerate their age
as they grew older. There have been discredited
claims of being supercentenarians (older than 110).
In the 1970s, in the Ecuadorian town of Vilcabamba,
a numerous people claimed to be supercentenarians.
Further research found that none of them were older
than 96.