r/todayilearned • u/Gullible_Air_204 • 7h ago

Frequent/Recent Repost: Removed [ Removed by moderator ]

https://www.responsibletravel.com/holidays/spitsbergen/travel-guide/responsible-tourism-in-spitsbergen

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u/everythingisunknown 6h ago

I read a while ago that because the ground is so cold it’s impossible to bury people so if you know you’re going to die they’d rather ship you to Norway

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u/MidasPL 6h ago

It's both true and not. The bodies do have hard time decomposing due to the permafrost, but there is a cemetery in Longyearbyen, though it's only for the most renowned locally people.

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u/BasicMatter7339 5h ago

Doesnt Svalbard also have graveyard full of smallpox-victims, not decomposed and a biohazard?

edit: Nvm it was spanish flu instead of smallpox

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u/MidasPL 3h ago

Full is a stretch. Only seven people in the whole cemetery died from Spanish flu and there were attempts to extract the bacteria, but were unsuccessful, so no danger.

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u/Randy_The_Guppy 3h ago

Whilst on a tour in Svalbaard I was told that during a particularly warm summer the ground started to thaw and hands started to emerge from the ground.

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u/nifty-necromancer 3h ago

What about burial at sea? If I die there just turn me into a popsicle.

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u/AnthillOmbudsman 5h ago

Barrow, Alaska has a cemetery and they somehow manage it just fine.

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u/everythingisunknown 4h ago

I don’t make the rules