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PSA: The town of Silent Hill is NOT based on Centralia, Pennsylvania

Darkknight2149

Darkknight2149

Ban made permanent due to harassment of staff
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Aside from the film version, the town of Silent Hill is not based on Centralia, Pennsylvania. This misconception is so widespread that even the series co-creator is getting tired of it. It's time to set the record straight so that balance can be restored to geekdom.

The Sources

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View: https://twitter.com/adsk4/status/1549579054155972609


View: https://twitter.com/adsk4/status/1549948454272925697

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PlayStation Magazine: Why did you choose a small US town for the setting of the game? Is there a real Silent Hill?

Keiichiro Toyama: If you like modern horror novels, it would be easy to understand, but it's the situation that you can't miss. In this game, the modern horror novel atmosphere was the hook, so we decided to choose a small U.S. town for the setting. Of course, Silent Hill really does not exist, and we have not allocated a certain place or time in the game. We deliberately did not use an actual place, since it might cause inconsistency with the real thing. However, with the name Silent Hill, we got a hint from a real place in Japan.
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PlayStation Magazine: In your opinion, how does Silent Hill differentiate itself from other games in the horror genre?

Keiichiro Toyama: It will be easy to outline Silent Hill's characteristics if we look into the two main concepts that we focused on from the start. One is that the game was supposed have a "modern American novel" type of atmosphere. A traditional town in the countryside is the setting for the game, where it creates the weirdness and the eeriness in the ordinary world.

That was one of the themes of the game. Another point is on the technical side. Using the light and the dark effects to create a life-like atmosphere, using full polygons. The darkness is the key element to the game, and we have created a completely new light source engine specifically for this title.

PlayStation Magazine: What is the inspiration for the supernatural powers that exist in Silent Hill? Does any of it stem from real life folklore or legend?

Keiichiro Toyama: To tell you the truth, and this might be not such an interesting answer, but all of Silent Hill was made up. Some of the names have some cult backgrounds or the sort, but what the team was most inspired by were the cult movies from the 70's and the 80's and maybe the Science Fiction movies from the 50's, more than the modern horror novels, actually. There are some cult icons that appear in the game, but those were just some added points to build a frightening feeling.
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Interview with Keiichiro Toyama (PSM) - Silent Hill Memories

Silent Hill series creators: information, biographies, articles and interviews
www.silenthillmemories.net

Even in the nightmare world, there is a cycle. It becomes night (?) on a number of occasions as Harry moves about the town. In the same way, there are also many times when aspects of the town and its buildings change completely. For the sake of convenience, this will be referred to as the "right side" and "reverse side" in this book. These changes occur because there is a cycle in the world of Alessa's nightmares which envelops the town. In the same way that a person normally repeats REM sleep and non-REM sleep in regular cycles while he or she is sleeping, when the nightmare world approaches a deeper darkness (sleep), a phenomenon occurs in which light is almost completely taken away and the world shifts into an even deeper nightmare as the cycle shifts again. Incidentally, the reason the "reverse side" takes on such an ominous aspect is that with her burned body, Alessa's endless nightmares were twisted and amplified by thoughts of the malevolent god. Her hatred and terror became nourishment on which the malevolent deity thrived.
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Silent Hill is a town where an ominous god is worshipped, and where those who hold darkness in their hearts gather. This is a look back at half of the lifetime of the young girl from whom it all originated. Alessa (14 years old at the time) suffered from the burns inflicted upon her since the ritual that brought about the descent of God. In order to escape Dahlia's control, she calls out to Cheryl, her other self (7 years old at the time) to return. Due to the power of Alessa's thoughts, the town is transfigured into the otherworld.
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www.silenthillmemories.net

Book of Lost Memories - Alessa's History

English translation of Book of Lost Memories
www.silenthillmemories.net

Recap
  • Silent Hill wasn't based on any particular real world location.
  • There was no giant coal mining fire. Silent Hill is a tourist town in Maine, the coal fire stuff was made up by Christophe Gans.
  • The games have fog, not smoke.
  • Snow, not ash.
  • The red rust in the first game is exclusively a reflection of Alessa's inner thoughts, which is why it's not in Silent Hill 2 and 4: The Room. Like Pyramid Head and Bubble Head Nurses, it was misused in later games because of the popularity of the movie. Every Otherworld is manifested from an individual, so there isn't a default look.
 
Plywood

Plywood

Does not approve of this tag
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Oct 25, 2017
6,079
On topic, I think it's always neat when someone involved in a project goes on the record about a popularized misconception.
 
TheJollyCorner

TheJollyCorner

The Fallen
Nov 7, 2017
9,475
This is great and all - and certainly comes as no surprise to those of us that became fans in early days - but it's not going to stop the rampant misconception.

i.e. a lot more people will use the movie as reference and have no idea who Masahiro Ito even is, nevermind not religiously following his Twitter account.

But hey, if some people here on ERA find some clarity in this, the information works. Right? 😅
 
Hampig

Hampig

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,704
Interesting. I went to Centralia because of the rumor and was super disappointed in how nothing it was. This makes that trip even more disappointing. Whatever.
 
Nkcell

Nkcell

Member
Jun 24, 2020
754
Yeah, well I went and visited Centralia because of this rumor, and it was extremely boring and a waste of time. So jokes on Ito.
 
PlanetSmasher

PlanetSmasher

The Abominable Showman
Member
Oct 25, 2017
115,742
Yep. Silent Hill is in southern Maine/Northern NH. The Pennsylvania shit is one of the many aspects that Christophe Gans made up for the movie that people just assumed was canon.
 
Starlatine

Starlatine

533.489 paid youtubers cant be wrong
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Oct 28, 2017
30,421
Who the hell is Harry? The protagonist of Silent Hill is called Rose. Why would anyone care about this random japanese person talking stupid things?
 
Dust

Dust

C H A O S
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Oct 25, 2017
32,283
Yeah but who is this Ito dude? Just because he has Pyramid Head in his profile pic does not give him authority.

Someone out there probably actually said somethng like this lol.
 
DiipuSurotu

DiipuSurotu

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
53,148
Of course he's denying it. Officially he can't confirm it because of the copyrights. The game speaks for itself though.
 
inner-G

inner-G

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Oct 27, 2017
14,473
PNW
Weird, I always thought it was based on Kindergarten Cop.

www.destructoid.com

Silent Hill based on Kindergarten Cop, CONFIRMED!

www.destructoid.com www.destructoid.com

"It makes sense that an undercurrent of sexuality runs throughout the Silent Hill series. Kinergarten Cop was the movie that taught the world that "boys have a penis, girls have a vagina" and questioned who is your "daddy" and what does he "do." Those themes clearly carried over into the game."

/s
 
RomanticHeroX

RomanticHeroX

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,889
Snow is slang for cocaine so it's clearly Harry having hallucinations as he dies from an overdose. Must be a reference to all the drugs they were doing when they made it right bro.
 
Nkcell

Nkcell

Member
Jun 24, 2020
754
dodo said:
genuinely curious, what did you expect to find there?
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Honestly, nothing. My friends and I were renting a house for a weekend within a 20 minute drive. We knew the rumors and decided to just go see it. We had already online that it was very disappointing and there was nothing there.
 
Xterrian

Xterrian

Member
Apr 20, 2018
2,799
Screw being above ground. There should be a horror game set in an abandoned coal mine. Shit was scary, and that was with numerous lights, a guided path, and numerous 3rd graders and teachers in a group.

Imagine you just walking around a dark underground maze then BAM, you hear the sound of rushing water. Or the smell of smoke.
 
TheJollyCorner

TheJollyCorner

The Fallen
Nov 7, 2017
9,475
For years I thought SH took place in the American Midwest.
Midwich Elementary has 'Chicago News' posted on the walls, which was probably just a graphic someone working on assets randomly made.
 
mudai

mudai

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,332
I like snow. It's pretty and soft and not irritating -- and it doesn't get everywhere.
 
CatAssTrophy

CatAssTrophy

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Dec 4, 2017
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Texas
I don't even get the satisfaction of dropping a big fat "told you so" on anyone because all of those people are probably still on the old site.
 
haxan

haxan

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Oct 25, 2017
1,432
Hampig said:
I'd read about graffiti road though and it seemed cool, but it had been covered by the time I visited.
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Yeah, they go and cover it intermittently, so you'd have to get lucky. Or at least they did back when I lived in the area. Still, does an old, cracked up road covered in drunken graffiti really sound that interesting?
 

Deleted member 13798

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
12,374
There's no way to not sound pretentious when saying this, but yeah that was pretty obvious if you played any of the games before the movie came out. That it was snow not ash I mean, though I used to think the town was located in central Pennsylvania due to my own misconceptions and it just generally giving off that vibe of a town from that region that I have family in. A poster on this forum pointed out that it's actually in Maine.

I don't blame people for thinking it was an association though considering the film took so heavily from that town and later Western developers games seemed more inspired by the movie's aesthetic, apart from Shattered Memories.
 

InfiniteKing

Member
Oct 26, 2017
2,213
Yeah I still read the 'hey did you know it's based on Centralia etc etc etc' to this day.

I mean I guess it won't change because people still think original Doom takes place on Mars and not Mars's moon Phobos.
 

DarkJ

Member
Nov 11, 2017
1,096
I always thought the inspiration was just the abandoned town part. I never heard if people saying the snow/ash stuff.
 
John Rabbit

John Rabbit

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,110
The point of Silent Hill as a town is that it could be anywhere and nowhere simultaneously. This need for people to "place it" on a real-world map is entirely weird to me.
 
Jedi2016

Jedi2016

Member
Oct 27, 2017
15,693
I've always thought this was pretty well known, but maybe it's just a few idiots on Twitter ruining it for the rest of us. Or just idiots who's introduction to Silent Hill was the film.
 
PlanetSmasher

PlanetSmasher

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Oct 25, 2017
115,742
Gentlemen said:
Ito seems grumpy
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People bother him on Twitter constantly about things he had nothing to do with. I'm not surprised he's a little annoyed.

John Rabbit said:
The point of Silent Hill as a town is that it could be anywhere and nowhere simultaneously. This need for people to "place it" on a real-world map is entirely weird to me.
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To be fair, the games do make it very clear that Silent Hill is in New England pretty repeatedly. I grew up around several lakeside New England resort towns just like SH. The aesthetic wound up being surprisingly accurate even if it is technically backfilled canon crystallized in SH2, 3 and 4.
 
John Rabbit

John Rabbit

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Oct 25, 2017
10,110
PlanetSmasher said:
People bother him on Twitter constantly about things he had nothing to do with. I'm not surprised he's a little annoyed.



To be fair, the games do make it very clear that Silent Hill is in New England pretty repeatedly. I grew up around several lakeside New England resort towns just like SH. The aesthetic wound up being surprisingly accurate even if it is technically backfilled canon crystallized in SH2, 3 and 4.
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Its been a few years since I played any of them so I'm fuzzy on that aspect of it. I've always considered that canonically Silent Hill is a place you can find if you're looking for it, or if it's looking for you, but otherwise it just exists in an in-between state. Kind of like The White/Black Lodge from Twin Peaks.
 
PlanetSmasher

PlanetSmasher

The Abominable Showman
Member
Oct 25, 2017
115,742
John Rabbit said:
Its been a few years since I played any of them so I'm fuzzy on that aspect of it. I've always considered that canonically Silent Hill is a place you can find if you're looking for it, or if it's looking for you, but otherwise it just exists in an in-between state. Kind of like The White/Black Lodge from Twin Peaks.
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Nah, the physical town of Silent Hill is definitely in the border area between northern NH and southern Maine. The Fog World, well, that's another story altogether, and the Otherworld is buried even deeper than that. But there is an actual "real world" Silent Hill in the world of the games and it's basically confirmed to be in Maine. The architecture in town is technically more accurate to New Hampshire resorts but it's kind of a grey area.
 
Hampig

Hampig

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,704
haxan said:
Yeah, they go and cover it intermittently, so you'd have to get lucky. Or at least they did back when I lived in the area. Still, does an old, cracked up road covered in drunken graffiti really sound that interesting?
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Maybe, idk. I was driving by anyways so it wasn't a great pilgrimage lol.
 
OP
OP
Darkknight2149

Darkknight2149

Ban made permanent due to harassment of staff
Banned
May 27, 2020
6,398
Maya Fey said:
wtf I thought it was based on the pacific northwest
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There's evidence that Silent Hills (Guillermo Del Toro and Junji Ito) was going to be set in the Northwestern United States, which probably explains the "s" at the end.

www.mandatory.com

A Look at What the Name "P.T." in Silent Hills' Teaser Really Means

For the past week gamers have been convinced that P.T. just stands for playable teaser. However, this is a game made by Hideo Kojima. Things are rarely what they first appear.
www.mandatory.com www.mandatory.com

The vehicle license plates in the P.T. ending are from the state of Maine, so Silent Hills might have taken place in multiple locations. Probably multiple timelines as well.

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spookyduzt

spookyduzt

Drive-In Mutant
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Oct 25, 2017
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Yes, I agree with Ito, it's ash from the underground coal fire. We all know this.
 
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