Place where people live in complete darkness for nearly three months

Winter of course means one thing - well two things, I suppose.

First of all, the weather turns pretty bleak and miserable for a lot of us, providing some pretty wet days that make us wish we were on a beach.

But a second sign that we are well and truly in winter is the early nights, as the sunlight disappears as early as late afternoon in some places.

You think that is bad, but there is actually one place on planet Earth that sits in complete darkness for nearly three months of the year.

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Residents in Svalbard, a cluster of islands between Norway and the North Pole, live a very different life to others in the rest of the world.

Many of the people who live there wear headlamps day and night for two-and-a-half months of the year, a very unique way of living.

This level of darkness is all because of the Polar Night - a period of time where the sun doesn't rise above the horizon in the Artic.

Alongside Svalbard, Longyearbyen and Norway also experience a Polar Night every single year.

The archipelago is twice the size of the Hawaiian islands, though roughly only 2,500 people live there.

Nonetheless, residents need to have their wits about them during this time of year.

When out and about on their travels, Svalbard's inhabitants travel in pairs for safety reasons, particularly when they are leaving their village.

Svalbard may be very small compared to some of the well known places across the world, but it has received a lot of publicity in recent years thanks to the likes of TikTok.

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One particular interesting measure residents take that has blown up on TikTok is that carrying a gun during the Polar Night is actually very common.

It is not traditionally used for protection from other people, but instead for any potential bear attacks.

The tactic has become that well known grocery stores have become aware of it.

TikTok content creator Cecilia Blomdahl said in a recent video: "And remember, no guns in the store, so you give them to one of the people so they can lock them in if you have a gun with you from being outside and, you know, hiking."

While many outsiders would probably dread it, people in Svalbard actually look forward to this time of year dubbed as a fifth season.

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