▶ "One Step Beyond" Background: (9/17)

This is background to our current OSB Episode of the Week (9/17): "House of the Dead".
SEASON (2) EPISODE (37).

[@one-step-beyond-1959]

This episode takes place in Hong Kong in the 1950s but historically the title "House of the Dead" refers to the street Sago Lane in Singapore. Poor, lower class Chinese believed that it was inauspicious to die in their own home, since they could not afford the cost to exorcise the associated evil spirits. Instead, they would pay a fee to live their last days in "houses of the dead" on Sago Lane, where funeral parlors were located in the same buildings. The street reached its peak in the 1950s as late 19th century immigrants to the city aged. It also included shops that sold coffins and other goods related to funerals. The houses were open 24 hours a day. According to a story in the Milwaukee Sentinel in 1957, “about 70 persons a month come to each of the houses to die in loneliness”. Such adverse publicity prompted the government to ban the houses in 1961 and the last funeral homes closed in 1975 . . . en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sago_Lane

[@JSkyGemini]

So sad. Thank you for sharing.

[@sarahalbers5555]

Thanks for your great research. I am still a bit confused .

[@Broken_Arrow58]

One step beyond reality as we know it.