There is only one town on Earth where you are not allowed to die. It is also forbidden to have cats and to go out on the street without a gun. The rules are very well laid out and the inhabitants, 2,000 altogether, must respect them.
Residents of the small town of Longyearbyen in the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard are not allowed to die in this area. People living in the world’s northernmost city must leave for the mainland if they are terminally ill.
The decision was made in 1950 when authorities discovered that bodies that had been buried during the Spanish flu had not decomposed. According to scientists, that these bodies, 11 in number, remained in the same stage as in 1918.
The researchers concluded that the corpses did not change at all due to extremely low temperatures. In addition, the specialists concluded that there is a risk that the Spanish flu virus will spread if the bodies were disturbed.
This is how the rulers of the Norwegian town of Longyearbyen “banned dying” – so local residents are now airlifted to the mainland when they are terminally ill. They are taken there to be buried.
Longyearbyen, the Norwegian town with unusual rules
Longyearbyen is a small town that does have strict rules not only related to death, but also to other matters. Residents here are completely prohibited from having pets, especially cats, in order to preserve the wildlife.
In addition, there is no hospital in the region, which is why pregnant women have nowhere to give birth, being forced to move to the mainland. The capital of Norway, Oslo, is 2,000 kilometers away.
Residents are also required by law to carry a rifle when they leave their home and especially when they intend to leave the town limits. The decision was taken because more than 3,000 polar bears live in the area.
The legislation also sets out how much alcohol a single person may consume. Specifically, a man may drink a maximum of 24 cans of beer, 2 bottles of whiskey and half a bottle of wine per month.
People without jobs are not tolerated, and in the extreme living conditions they have to take care of their own needs. People in the town on the shores of the Arctic Ocean don’t wear T-shirts or bathing suits even in the summer, because the temperatures rarely exceed 5-7 degrees Celsius.
Another oddity in this place is related to entering public buildings or other people’s homes. Visitors must remove their shoes when entering a building, regardless of what kind of building it is.