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Woman Lives In Town Where Everyone Lives In The Same Building

Woman Lives In Town Where Everyone Lives In The Same Building

The town of Whittier in Alaska has a population of 318

Dominic Smithers

Dominic Smithers

There is a town in the United States where almost everyone lives in the same building. Watch the clip below, as one woman tells us all about it.

Whittier in Alaska was settled in the 1940s and has a population of around 318, with the majority of people living in a 14-storey building called Begich Towers.

It's a former army barracks and includes a health centre, a police station, a shop and a church.

Around five percent of the population live in another building, the Manor, which is much smaller.

While it might sound a little far-fetched, one of its residents, Janessa, has shared a series of videos to her TikTok channel, in which she explains what it's like living in such an isolated location.

One clip opens with a voiceover saying: "There's a town where everybody lives in the same building," before Janessa interrupts, explaining: "Um, I currently live in that building.

"In this building there's a post office, a church, a store and a building office. In the basement of this building, we have a tunnel that runs from this building to the school across the street. There's currently 318 people that live here year-round."

@messy.nessy

Expanding on how it came to be that the entire town just decided to live together, Janessa said there isn't much choice.

She said: "Whittier has been around since the 1940s. It was built around World War Two and it was a military bunker.

"After WWII many people left, but we still had a large population up until the 1964 earthquake.

"Whittier had a lot of damage after the earthquake, so many people left. One of the buildings here which was military housing was abandoned.

"There are no houses here because you can't buy any property because most of it is owned by the railroad.

"So that's why everyone lives in one building, because you cannot buy property to build a house."

@messy.nessy

She adds: "You can own your own apartment in this building, or you can rent from someone. But mostly everyone owns their own apartment. We do however have to pay monthly dues, but that also includes water, electricity, things like that."

In one of her videos, Janessa, whose dad is the Mayor of Whittier, responds to a question about dating and friendships, which, understandably, you'd think would be quite difficult in such a small town.

And you'd be correct.

Pointing out the fact that there's only about 20 people her age in Whittier, Janessa says: "Nobody really dates here because we all grew up together so that would be kind of weird."

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Social Media, US News, US Entertainment, Weird, TikTok