Town made it 'illegal to die' for eerie reason – terminally ill people have to leave

People are only just learning about a town where dying is effectively 'banned'.

A man came across the information after finding a "surprising fact" attached to a piece of furniture he bought, and quickly shared the news on Reddit. Others were baffled by the information and quick to respond.

The creepy fact read: "Longyearbyen, Svalbard, a remote Norwegian island, has made it illegal to die since 1950, when locals discovered that bodies were not decomposing in the cemetery due to the frigid weather."

Others were quick to comment on the post, with one writing: "Imagine dying of old age only to be labeled as a criminal at your funeral." Another joked: "Fellas, we just discovered the secret to immortality! Just live in the city where it's illegal to die, and then you can't!"

A third replied: "Can you be arrested for attempted dying if you're like an octogenarian traveling in this town?" And a fourth mused: "Coincidentally, the sentence for dying in town is death. They take this law very seriously."

Longyearbyen is the world's most northern settlement and has a population of about 1,700. The town has a number of other weird laws including a ban on cats and restrictions on how much alcohol each individual can purchase in a month.

The odd rules around death came into force in 1950 after it was discovered the bodies of those who succumbed to a flu pandemic in 1918 were yet to begin decomposing. Eerily, scientists believe their corpses have been preserved by the icy permafrost temperatures all year round – and may even contain live strains of the virus to this day, more than a century later.

While bodies are not permitted to be buried, ashes are exempt for the law. Terminally ill people are asked to move to the Norwegian mainland to avoid passing away in the region.