Bizarre town where 217 residents live in one building with shop and post office inside

There's a town in Alaska that's so remote that 217 residents all live under one roof.

Yep, Whittier is 60 miles south of Anchorage and is referred to as the 'town under one roof', which is accessible by a rather eerie one-way tunnel which closes overnight.

Nearly all the residents in Whittier live in the same building, Begich Towers, which used to be an army barracks.

Whittier is 60 miles south of Anchorage and is referred to as the 'town under one roof' (YouTube/Ruhi Çenet)

There's also a police station, a shop, a doctor's clinic, a church and a school - which are all located in the barracks, too.

Essentially, you'd never have to leave - but surely it'd get a little bit claustrophobic, no?

There's also a bed and breakfast in the Towers, too, where guests can observe how life works.

One Redditor who stayed in the town described it as a 'surreal' experience.

"Not being able to leave when you want is definitely a strange feeling," they said.

"They close the tunnel down completely, and from 10pm to 5am, you can not enter or leave the town.

"... It's a very tight knit community, and we had people asking us where we were visiting from constantly.

"People immediately know you aren't from their town, and it's a little unnerving. They were all nice to us though.

"The head teacher of the school struck up a conversation with us, asking us what brought us there and told us a little about life in the town."

While Whittier might sound almost fictional, it's completely legit - just ask the daughter of the town's mayor, Janessa.

She regularly shares content on social media explaining what it is like to 'live in one of the strangest towns' in the world, while explaining how the concept of Begich Towers works.

The local said in one clip: "There's a town where everybody lives in the same building...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."

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

Janessa explained that Whittier has been a difficult place to grow up, especially in terms of dating and friendships.

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

Topics: World News, US News

Lucy Devine