This law gives the death penalty a whole new meaning.
In Lanjarón — a tiny village in Granada province in Andalusia, Spain — it’s illegal for residents to die there.
Yes, this is actually a rule that former mayor Jose Rubio put into place over 25 years ago.
In 1999, Rubio provided a declaration that urged citizens of Lanjarón “to take utmost care of their health so they do not die until town hall takes the necessary steps to acquire land suitable for our deceased to rest in glory,” according to Deseret News.
“It is hereby forbidden to die in Lanjaron,” the edict added, making the policy crystal clear.
According to reports at the time, the mayor was being pressured to rapidly resolve an overcrowding problem in a local cemetery — even though it had been an issue plaguing the town for years.
His solution? This snarky statute.
“I am just a mayor,” he said. “Above me there is God, who is ultimately the one who runs things.”
At the time, Rubio said: “Everyone has taken the edict with a sense of humor and a strong desire to comply with it.”
It’s unclear whether or not the town ever got its expanded cemetery, but 26 years later, Lanjarón still only has one graveyard within municipal limits.
Aside from the bizarre burial ban, the small village is a perfectly normal town.
Home to almost 4,000 residents, it’s best known as a wellness destination, thanks to nearby mineral-rich springs.
It has recently become a popular under-the-radar travel spot among Gen Zers on TikTok — especially as an alternative to overcrowded Spanish tourism hotspots like Barcelona and Majorca.
Given current interest in the area, the wild pseudo publicity stunt has resurfaced — and is making its rounds across the Internet, cropping up on random meme pages on Instagram, TikTok and X.
While it’s certainly a drastic approach to death, Rubio is far from the only mayor to make the move.
In Longyearbyen, Norway, residents are also forbidden to die — and have been since 1950.
In the 20th century, researchers discovered that the deceased were not sleeping soundly six feet under — as a matter of fact, they weren’t decomposing at all due to the region’s subarctic climate.
Scientists even tested buried bodies for the 1917 influenza virus, and were able to retrieve live samples of the virus.
As a result, the cemetery is closed to corpses because of concerns that the disease will spread.
