Where is the city of silent hill. Silent Hill (city). Why Silent Hill has become a holy place

An article about the history of the town of Silent Hill, where the events of the video game series of the same name by Konami take place. The first part of the article analyzes the history of the town, starting from the time when the city itself was not yet in sight, and the territory was inhabited by the indigenous inhabitants of North America - the Indians

Silent Hill is a small resort town located in the northeastern United States - in the state of Maine. The main areas of development of the city were tourism and agro-industry, while the population of Silent Hill at the time of the events of the first part was about 30,000 inhabitants. But, unlike major tourist centers, life in Silent Hill is by no means seething - the city is surrounded by a mountain range ("gorgeous mountain landscape" - tourist brochure from Silent Hill 2/3) and forest, which gives the impression of being cut off from the rest of the world. The Silent Hill seems to have moved away from the outside world and continues to live in its own special world, where time has stopped, where time no longer has power over the mind and a person can, forgetting about everything in the world, plunge into memories and dreams (indeed, these are the cornerstones of the Silent Hill, which in the city can exist forever, and, contrary to the well-known saying, they will never be worn away by the passage of time). Although, if time no longer matters, then how to distinguish between a memory and a dream? Introversion, immersion in thought - that's main characteristic atmosphere of Silent Hill. In this city, the outside world loses its power over a person, allowing him to plunge into the inner world. A truly philosophical place. People come here in search of solitude, peace. However, despite the frequent advertising of Silent Hill on the radio, the city is still not very popular with tourists - apparently, not everyone wants peace (there are now much more outdoor enthusiasts than philosophizing maniacs and other lovers of reflection).

The climate of the area also influences the general mood of the city in some way - it almost never happens in Silent Hill sunny days("I hear that it's almost never sunny in Silent Hill" - Henry Townsend talks about the city in Silent Hill 4: The Room) - this emphasizes the overall nostalgic atmosphere, and frequent rains (Diary on the roof of Brookhaven from Silent Hill 2: "Rain. Stared out the window all day. Peaceful here - nothing to do. Still not allowed to go outside. May 10. Still raining. Talked with the doctor a little. ... May 11. Rain again. ... May 12. Rain as usual..." ) is an indispensable attribute of an aesthetically beautiful melancholy, a companion of reflections. And when the fog intensifies in the city, and the line between reality and dream disappears, strange things happen ...

The meaning of the name of the city

Until the 17th century, when the territory where Silent Hill would later be founded was inhabited by the indigenous people of America (Indians), they revered this place as the “Sacred Lands” and performed rituals of communication with the spirits of their dead brothers, who, according to the beliefs of the Indians, even after death continued to exist on sacred land - in stones, in trees, in water ... You might think that these lands seemed to attract souls of the dead, absorbed them into themselves ... And for this reason, the indigenous people called this territory "Place of the Silent Spirits" ("Place of the Silent Spirits"). When the colonialists subsequently invade the sacred lands and build a city there, they will call it "Silent Hill", which is derived from the old Indian name for the land, and also alludes to the mountainous and hilly area in which SILENT HILL is located.

Silent Hill... This name inspires peace, tranquility, but there is also something frightening, lifeless in it. “Silent Hill” is primarily associated with the grave, where eternal peace and silence reign, which will never be disturbed by the voices of the living ... And, indeed, this city was founded on the land where, according to legend, the spirits of the dead people lived.

Lake Toluca

Toluca Lake is perhaps one of the main attractions of Silent Hill. They say that you can watch the fire for a long time: a riot of colors, bizarre changes in shape every second, constant movement, life ... Then the lake is undoubtedly the direct opposite of this life: calm tones, constancy and immobility. Toluca is very harmoniously combined with the atmosphere of Silent Hill and instills a sense of peace (yes, "peace" is indeed the central association with the lake, and with Silent Hill too - by the way, it evokes associations with Buddhist teachings), making you forget about the passage of time ... Perhaps , the lake really personifies the renunciation of the world (again, remember Buddhism) and ... death? Sad and beautiful at the same time. In Silent Hill 4: The Room 4, Henry Townsend, who was struck by the beauty and tranquility of the landscape ("the beauty and tranquility of the trees and lake there"), says of Toluca: "It's Toluca lake in Silent Hill... It's beautiful... But also sad somehow…”

Well, despite the fact that the lake does not inspire particularly optimistic thoughts (especially given the not very sunny weather in Silent Hill), and it does not have fun, you can still contemplate such beauty endlessly ... This is how James Sunderland and his wife Mary spent the whole day at Toluca Lake, enjoying the aesthetic experience of contemplating the stillness of the water surface: “Our 'special place'… What could Silent Hille mean? This whole town was our special place. Does Silent Hill mean the park on the lake? We spent the whole day there. Just the two of us, staring at the water,” recalls James.

Toluca is located in the center of Silent Hill, dividing it into 2 parts: north and south (more precisely, into 3 parts: northwest, northeast and south), in the middle of the lake there is a small island on which a small church was built by city believers - yes, this is indeed an excellent place for solitude and detachment from the material world, immersion in the spiritual world and the revival of memories (remember the Rebirth-ending of SILENT HILL2).

Several incidents are also associated with Toluca Lake - for example, in the 19th century, the bodies of those who died from a mysterious plague were dumped there, in 1918. a ship called the Little Baroness disappeared on the lake, and in 1939 even stranger things happened ... Of course, such events gave rise to many rumors and speculations - for example, that there are dead people at the bottom of Toluca Lake who drag boats to the bottom of the lake with their bony hands . However, do not pay attention - these are just meaningless tales, right? ;)

It should also be noted that Toluca is shrouded in a strange fog - but sometimes this fog intensifies, and strange events begin to occur throughout the city. What is the reason for the mysterious fog concentrated on the lake? Special climatic conditions, evaporation of the hallucinogenic herb "White Claudia" growing near lake water, or the embodiment of the psychic energy of the dead? ("The mist is a symbol of Silent Hill. It can also be interpreted as the thoughts of the dead rising up from the lake and settling over the town" - LM hints that the fog may well be a manifestation of the thoughts of dead people) Only Silent Hill knows the answer to this question...

Meaning of the name: Obviously, "Toluca" is an Indian word, but the developers themselves did not give any comments on its meaning. However, it is rather curious that in Mexico there is a real city called "Toluca", and on one of the sites for tourists you can find out that the name of the city "Toluca" comes from the word "Tollocan", which is distorted by the Spaniards, which is in the Nahuatl language (which in turn developed from the Aztec language) means "Place of the God Tollo" or "Where God Tollo (the bowed of the head) lays".

History of Silent Hill

Until the 17th century, the territory of Silent Hill was a marshland ("The ****ers of land surroun**** **is monument was originally swamp"), inhabited by the native inhabitants of America - the Indians.

Silent Hill they called the Abode of the Silent Spirits ("The Place of the Silent Spirits") and revered as a sacred place ("This whole area used to be a sacred place"). Sacred rituals of sacrifice, characteristic of the Maya Indians and the Aztecs, were also held here. As we can see, the religion of this region has always been influenced by other beliefs, and even the rituals were borrowed from the traditions of the Aztecs - later such religious metamorphoses will continue with the arrival of representatives of other religions on these lands, introducing other traditions.

Why did Silent Hill become a holy place?

The Indians believed that in Silent Hill they could communicate with the spirits of their ancestors. What could have caused such a strange belief? As we remember, an extremely rare representative of the flora grows in Silent Hill, which is a distinctive feature of this area - the hallucinogenic White Claudia ). We might think that, under the influence of a strong hallucinogenic drug, lovers of the peace pipe really believed that they were communicating with the spirits of their ancestors ...

Why did the Indians believe they were communicating with dead ancestors?

Naturally, after the use of White Claudia, the Indians who conducted the "spiritual seance" saw elements of their subconscious (just like in a dream we see elements of the subconscious), including images from their memories. Aren't the images of dead parents and loved ones kept in memory? For this reason, the Indians in their dreams saw images of people whom they lacked so much. Although, given that White Claudia allows a person to perceive "another world", we can also think that after the "Klavka joint" the Indians could perceive the thoughts and feelings of dead people.

So, having discovered the miraculous features of Silent Hill, Native Americans began to often conduct "experiments" with a hallucinogen - soon the belief was formed that Gods live in Silent Hill ("This town, Silent Hill .... The Old Gods haven't left this place ..." - James speaks of the ancient Indian Gods).

What gods did the Indians believe in?

The main God of the Indians was the Sun ... The luminary, which every day “dies” in the evening and “reborns” in the morning, made a great impression on the indigenous people of America and they even came up with a special symbol for it - a red circle that personified the radiance of the divine Sun and its daily cycle of Rebirths.

In addition to the almighty Sun, there were two more deities - the red pyramidal God Kzuchilpaba (over time, the pronunciation will turn into "Kzuchilbara") and the yellow god Lobsel Vis.
"The names of the gods have Mayan and Aztec motifs. As for the strange pronunciations, they are completely original" - Lost Memories. In fact, this can be interpreted in two ways: either the names of the Gods Kzuchilbara and Lobsel Vis came to the "Resident of the Silent Spirits" from the cultures of the Maya and Aztec Indians, but changed beyond recognition (history knows many such examples), or these names were invented by the Indians who lived in "The Place of the Silent Spirits", but their language had some phonetic similarity with the language of the Maya / Aztecs - therefore, the names of the Gods in pronunciation resemble the language of the aforementioned tribes.

Soon, when beliefs in the existence of Gods were firmly rooted in the minds of the indigenous people of America, already in the minds of many people the concept of "God" began to be closely associated precisely with generally accepted traditional ideas about Kzuchilbar, Lobsel Vise, etc. — i.e. so these "Gods", figuratively speaking, passed from one subconscious to another.

Soon, from the traditions of the Aztecs in Silent Hill came methods of showing special honor to the Gods - human sacrifice, in particular burning and bloodletting. Apparently, new qualities began to be attributed to the Gods - in particular, a thirst for human sacrifices - and believers began to please the Gods with sacrifices. To show respect to each God, there was a special kind of sacrifice.

What is the reason for the cruelty of the rituals?

It was believed that God was pleased with human sacrifices (by the way, it was very honorable to become a victim) - human deaths. So God must love death. Death is invariably accompanied by the suffering of the victim. Consequently, the more suffering the martyr who is sacrificed to God experiences, the more God will be pleased and the more he will contribute to crops, rains, etc. An example is the tradition of the Mayan Indians, who used human sacrifice to establish a connection with the world of spirits (which means that if the indigenous inhabitants of Silent Hill were influenced by the Mayan culture, then in their seances they could also use not only drugs, but and bloody sacrifices!).

So, from such beliefs, the indigenous inhabitants of the "Resident of the Silent Spirits" began to gradually introduce into the sacred rituals of spiritualistic sessions with the spirits of ancestors and Gods, elements of sacrifice and outright sadism (and the victims considered their role honorable - that's religious masochism). Accordingly, both the role of the victim and the role of the executioner were considered sacred. Subsequently, these Indian ritual traditions will be reflected in the teachings of the cult (“Which do you prefer? To give pain or to receive it?”) And lead to the division of the cult into a “yellow” sect (for educating potential martyrs) and a “red” sect (for educating executioners) sects.

The suffering experienced by the victim of the religious ceremony also played another role. After all, according to the concept of Silent Hill, human feelings have a certain energy (the negative psychic energy of negative emotions is especially strong) and with the killing of the victim, this power remained concentrated at the place of the ritual, feeding the city with a mysterious power ... The Silent Hill gradually absorbed human emotions, like a certain spirit sponge.

Nahkeehona

Nahkeehona is a huge ancient stone located in the wilds of the forest. Given that the indigenous people believed that spirits inhabit nature and live in trees, animals, stones, it can be assumed that they believed in the existence of a very strong spirit inside the stone - God (which of the several Gods is unknown - it is possible that the people believed in finding all the Gods inside one sacred stone). Therefore, the stone was considered sacred and was even given the name "Nahkeehona" (correctly pronounced "Na-ki-hona").

In the old days, it was at this place (the forest near Toluca Lake, near the Nahkeehona stone) that the Indians performed rituals to communicate with their deceased ancestors. Subsequently, when the Indians are expelled from their rightful lands and the cult of “the Order” reigns in the city, members of this religious organization will build a Wish House shelter next to the sacred Indian cobblestone, the stone will be renamed “Mother Stone” and will begin to walk around it. their secret rites.

Such fun with “peace pipes” and sacrifices to Kzuchilpabe, Lobsel Wis (as well as to other gods) continued until the 17th century ...

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

This article is based on the Silent Hill Plot Analysis guide, the latest version of which you can find here.

It is easy to see that this diary of mine has a highly specialized format, namely, the topic of abandoned people and their forgotten habitats. I did not plan to go beyond this topic until I encountered the history of the real American city of Centralia. The fate of Centralia and the fate of Silent Hill are like two twin brothers.

For this reason, I decided in my first post to go beyond the format and first talk about Silent Hill. Believe me, without such a retreat, the history of Centralia will not be complete, and even flawed! Please do not judge me strictly - I promise that in the following posts we will only talk about the town of Centralia.

So Silent Hill.

The most famous manufacturer of computer games that love to scare us qualitatively is the Japanese studio Konami. It was founded in 1969. Konami is best known to us through the Silent Hill series of games.

The first part of the series was released in 1999 and instantly became a cult bestseller in the gaming industry. Everyone remembers this game for its well-designed atmosphere of horror and chaos, interesting logical riddles, non-linearity, great music and an extraordinary plot. I will not describe all the games in this series and will avoid describing the film of the same name based on this game. I will dwell only on the town of Silent Hill itself - what do we know from the games and the movie?

Silent Hill is a fictional city. It contains all or part of the action of all games in the series released in 2010, except for Silent Hill 4: The Room. It is located in the United States, in the state of Maine, although in most games the exact location of the city is not mentioned. In the movie "Silent Hill" the city is a mining town and is located in the state of West Virginia, in Toluca County.

Silent Hill is often perceived as an abandoned ghost town, however, apparently, it is not - the heroes of the games only encounter "alternative" versions of the city: a "foggy" Silent Hill that looks like an ordinary city, from where they suddenly and mysteriously disappeared all people, and the infernal "otherworldly" Silent Hill. The real city continues to live its own life and develop. This resort town is a relatively popular place for tourist pilgrimage.

There are different versions of the origin of the alternate sides of Silent Hill. According to one of them, the alternative side is the result of the rituals of a certain closed magical order that rules the city and is obsessed with the idea of building Paradise on earth through the suffering of people. According to another, the city was influenced by Toluca Lake, a local attraction. Confirmation of this theory can be found in the second part of the series (Silent Hill 2: Restless dreams). It talks about how the inquisitors who carried out the executions of witches washed their axes in the waters of the lake, as a result of which it became cursed; as a result of which the fog from the lake, which also covered the city, “brought with it changes” to the city.

GEOGRAPHY

Silent Hill is located on the shores of Toluca Lake, surrounded by mountains and forests and dividing the city in half into two parts - northern Paleville and southern South Vale. At the other end of the lake is the smaller city of Shepherd's Glen; larger locality Brahams (Brahms) is behind the mountains; even further is Big City Ashfield. In addition, the city of Portland (Maine) is relatively close to Silent Hill. From Ashfield, Silent Hill can be accessed via Circumferential Road 73, which merges into Nathan Avenue; similar unnamed highways lead into the northern part of Silent Hill from the north (Bachman Street) and from the east (Midway Avenue).

Paleville is the older part of the city; it includes the old Silent Hill, the business center of the city and the resort area with an amusement park. South Vale, already built up during the 20th century, is an industrial area; sights such as Silent Hill are located here historical society(a former Toluca prison converted into a museum), Rosewater Park, where the victims of the epidemic are buried, and Brookhaven Hospital.

Thanks to unique natural conditions in the city almost always there are exceptional silence and tranquility. Toluca Lake attracts fishermen and boaters.

STORY

The first settlements in the Silent Hill area appeared in early XVII century, during the development of New England by colonists - immigrants from Great Britain. They forced out the indigenous inhabitants of these places - the North American Indians, for whom the territory of Silent Hill was the sacred "Land of Silent Spirits"; however, Native American beliefs had a great influence on the early inhabitants of Silent Hill.

Around 1700, Silent Hill was badly damaged by a mysterious epidemic that also affected neighboring settlements, and was abandoned for decades, turning into a real ghost town. However, by the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th century, the city was repopulated. In 1810, in the city, which received the status of a penitentiary colony, a federal prison and the Brookhaven Hospital were founded, which later became a clinic for the mentally ill. The prison was closed around 1840 in connection with another epidemic, and the city experienced some recession, followed by an industrial boom, when extensive coal deposits were discovered in the city area in the early 1850s; the opening of the Wilts mine attracted many workers to the city.

Around this time, a mystical sect known as the Order appeared in the city. In 1862, in connection with the American Civil War, a prisoner of war camp was established in the city, later transformed into the new Toluca prison, which existed until the beginning of the 20th century. After its closure and the depletion of coal deposits, the city was turned into a resort.

In the years 1900-1920, there were many cases of mysterious disappearances of people in the city; this was partly due to the closure of the prison. The most high-profile episode was the disappearance of the pleasure yacht "Little Baroness" on Toluca Lake in 1918 - with the whole crew and passengers. The city authorities had to make great efforts to smooth out the impressions of these mysterious episodes and restore the good name of the city. Around this time, four Silenthill families left the city and founded the small town of Shepherd's Glen on the other side of the city.

The action of all games in the series takes place in the second half of the 20th century, without an exact reference to any dates. Before the start of the first Silent Hill, the city became the center of a drug business involving the hallucinogenic drug PTV, produced from the White Claudia plant, which is endemic to the area. The production of PTV was in the hands of sectarians, and the attempts of the authorities to investigate the crimes related to it ended in nothing. It is not known exactly when the actions of the following games take place, but we can estimate from such facts. It is absolutely known that the action of the third part takes place seventeen years after the events of the first part. In the fourth part, it is mentioned that Walter Sullivan was imprisoned and committed suicide ten years before the events of the game. And after reading the note in the Wish House shelter, it can be assumed that Alessa and Walter were about the same age. That is, Walter's murders could take place even during Harry Mason's visit to the city. So, most likely, the events of the fourth game occur before the events of the third. It is not known exactly when the events of the second take place, before the first or after, but it is obvious that before the fourth, since in the game you can find a mention of Walter Sullivan in the newspaper.

PLATES OF REALITY SILENT HILL

The "real" city, inhabited by people and continuing to live a normal life, is not shown in any game in the series. Nevertheless, there are characters living in it in the games - such, for example, Laura in Silent Hill 2. They do not see those nightmarish images of the city that are presented to the protagonists of the games, and continue to live a normal life.

The "foggy" city, the image of which is approximately the same for all games in the series, looks like it has been abandoned, abandoned by people. It is covered with a dense layer of fog, through which only the nearest buildings are visible; most of the houses are boarded up, there are non-working cars on the streets, electricity and water supply do not work. In Silent Hill, Silent Hill 2, Silent Hill: Homecoming and Silent Hill: Origins, as well as the Silent Hill movie, the city is torn apart by strange bottomless pits that look like traces of an earthquake. In addition to fog, snow falls from the sky in the first Silent Hill (which surprises the heroes, since the game is not set in winter), and ash in the Silent Hill movie and Silent Hill: Homecoming.

"Otherworld" (eng. Otherworld) Silent Hill, which from time to time the heroes of the games fall into, looks different; in general, these are the embodiments of personal phobias of heroes, reflections of their internal state. It is always night in it. Considered the most iconic "otherworldly" city of Alessa Gillespie, appearing in Silent Hill and Silent Hill 3 is a very dark place, somewhat reminiscent of an industrial plant; there are many lattices, chain-link fences, pipelines, rotating fans; windmills and chimneys are visible against the sky; in addition, frightening traces of violence are randomly scattered over it - pools of blood and dismembered corpses.

In Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, the otherworldly Silent Hill is plunged into deep winter, covered in snow and covered in ice. The otherworldly city in Silent Hill 2 looks badly damaged, falling apart and rotting; there are some construction works, as evidenced by scaffolding and walls in the finishing stage.

Not only Silent Hill is subject to the transition to the "otherworldly" version, but also other cities shown in the series, for example, Shepherd's Glen from Silent Hill: Homecoming and the remaining nameless large city from Silent Hill 3 (probably Ashfield, shown in Silent Hill 4: The Room).

PAY ATTENTION

Silent Hill:
- located in a hilly area;
- in the city there was a certain mystical order;
- mining town;
- in the fog;
- in the vicinity of the forest;
- due to the unique natural conditions in the city, there is almost always exceptional peace and tranquility;
- on the streets of strange bottomless failures;
- Ashes falling from the sky associated with fire or fire;
- a lot of fences and fences made of chain-link mesh;
- windmills are visible against the sky.

And now let's move on to the real-life city of Centralia. I will continue the story in my next post...

In 2006, director Christophe Hahn made the film Silent Hill. The action of the picture takes place in a mining town, under which a fire burns endlessly in the depths of the earth. Dead city, in the air of which ash flies, covering everything around. This city is not an invention of the director. He exists.

This is Centralia, Pennsylvania, USA.

Photo 2.

The city was founded in 1866. The basis of his wealth was coal mines. The volume of mined anthracite grew, and so did the city. During its heyday, it had 7 churches, 2 theaters, 27 saloons, a post office, a bank, and 14 shops. 2 railway lines passed through Centralia. The population exceeded 2,000, and about 500 more lived in the vicinity. According to the company's experts, the coal reserves in the bowels of Centralia should have been enough for 600-1,000 years of production. The city was predicted prosperity and prosperity.

However, the city was not a peaceful place.

Photo 3.

Members of the Irish secret society Molly Maguires miners. This "underground trade union" did not shy away from using not quite legal methods in its activities, up to arson, kidnappings and murders. In 1869, the founder of the city, Alexander Ria, was killed in Centralia and the priest of the local church, who denounced the members of the Molly in his Sunday sermons, was severely beaten. Arriving after the beating in the church, Father McDermot, looking at his tormentors, said: “This city will burn in hell for its sins!”

Nearly a century later, the curse has come true.

Photo 4.

Residents of Centralia did not burden themselves with the problem of household waste disposal. The city dump was one of the abandoned pits. From time to time, firefighters came, set fire to the garbage, and when it burned out, they extinguished the flame, and so on until the next time. In May 1962, firefighters cheated and did not completely extinguish the flames. The smoldering fire spread to a coal vein passing right under the city. The coal seam flared up like a match. Attempts were made to extinguish the underground fire, but they did not bring success.

The fire continued to burn in the 60s and 70s. More and more patients began to come to the hospital, in whom doctors were surprised to ascertain poisoning carbon monoxide. Until the end of the 70s, the authorities managed to avoid unnecessary publicity. And the underground fire continued to flare up.

Photo 5.

In 1979, the owner of a local gas station, measuring the fuel level in one of his underground tanks, noticed that the dipstick was taken out incomprehensibly hot. He measured the temperature of the fuel in the storage and was horrified: 78 degrees! It turned out that the city lives on a smoldering powder keg. City officials were forced to acknowledge the danger.

Photo 6.

In 1981, a fissure opened right under the feet of 12-year-old Todd Dombosky. A column of hot steam mixed with gases poured out of the crack that opened. The boy miraculously survived - his brother saved him. Several people witnessed the accident. The story received publicity, the city attracted the attention of the state authorities, and a special commission was sent to Centralia.

Photo 7.

The commission's report was disappointing: a fabulous sum of 500 million dollars was required to eliminate the underground fire. There was no such money in the state treasury, the fate of Centralia was decided. The city was decided to evacuate. In 1984, Congress provided $42 million to help relocate residents. The city began to empty.

Photo 8.

In 2002, the city of Centralia officially ceased to exist: it was removed from the state register, disappeared from the map of the country, its zip code 17927 was canceled by the US Postal Service. Federal Route 61 passing through the city was closed and re-laid into a detour.

Photo 9.

Fans of "Silent Hill" often visit the city. At the entrance, tourists are greeted with a poster warning that visiting Centralia is life-threatening. The ground in the city is very unstable, here and there gaps suddenly form, at the bottom of which there is a thousand-degree inferno. No attempt is made to put out the fire by the authorities. Experts say that the coal under the city will last for 250 years of burning. There are 7 people living in Centralia, including the former mayor and several devotees hometown residents who flatly avoid communication. There are signs on their houses saying “We do not give interviews”.

Photo 10.

Ashes fly over the city. Smoke saturated with poisonous gases rises from numerous cracks, tearing the throat. And on the hill on the outskirts stands the church, within the walls of which Father McDermot once cursed the city

Photo 11.

Photo 12.

Photo 13.

Photo 14.

Now there are only seven people left in Centralia. A couple of years ago, most of the city buildings were simply demolished, and now only green meadows lie in place of houses and roads. The remaining houses are gradually covered with thickets - now the city looks like an exemplary illustration of how quickly the planet can destroy traces of humanity.

Photo 15.

But there is another more spectacular city over a burning abyss.

Photo 16.

Fires rage underground in Jhariya, India. Huge coal reserves are burning continuously. Sometimes huge gaps open up in the ground, which absorb all life. Photographer Johnny Haglund (Johnny Haglund) told the world about the lives of people under whose feet the flames of hell are blazing. His photo story was runner-up in the Pictures of the Year International for Science and Natural History Picture Story competition.

Photo 17.

In 1916, the coal mines were closed due to a violation of mining technology. This is the main reason for what is happening now in the town of Jhariya. Twenty years ago, the earth opened up, revealing a huge sinkhole, 250 houses were destroyed in just two hours. Over time, the flames gobbled up 41 million tons of coal, which is billions of dollars. Today there are about 70 burning points. People's lives go up in smoke. Due to harmful underground gases, they constantly suffer from respiratory and skin diseases. The reporter recalls that during his visit to Jhariya last year, he partly experienced this for himself.

Photo 18.

“At the end of each day, there was a layer of coal on my clothes and skin, and often my face was just on fire. I had rather heavy boots, but the soles on them almost melted.

Photo 19.

People in this area barely make ends meet, quietly stealing coal from more than 20 nearby mines. They sell it at the local market or use it for cooking and heating.

Photo 20.

The authorities look at all this through their fingers. Cracks in the ground remain a major hazard in illegal coal mining, with people often injured or killed by falling through them. Among the injured and dead there are many children who, with their last strength, carry away heavy baskets with coal from the mining site.

A crack in the ground just 200 meters from the neighboring village of Bokopahari. The first time it was opened in 1976, by order of the government it was covered with sand and stones. In 2001, the crack opened

Photo 21.

“I was there [as a photojournalist] for many years and never got used to the suffering of children. I have seen little ones, six or seven years old, wearing coal, walking barefoot, and inhaling this poisoned air. It was terrible,” Hagland says.

Photo 22.

It is known that underground fires are difficult to extinguish. A similar fire in the town of Centralia, Pennsylvania, burned for decades, eventually, most of the inhabitants moved to another place. Some experts say there is enough coal in Jhariya to burn for another 3,800 years. The fire can be extinguished with sand, water, or by blocking the oxygen supply to the fire.

Photo 23.

Efforts to evacuate locals are hampered by bureaucratic delays and resistance from the residents themselves. Hagland says he has spoken to many people who would be happy to leave. But, they say, the government gives them little money, and they themselves do not have the funds to move.

Photo 24.

Photo 25.

Photo 26.

However, apparently, it is not such - the heroes of the games only face "alternative" versions of the city: the "foggy" Silent Hill, which looks like an ordinary city, from where all the people suddenly and mysteriously disappeared, and the infernal "otherworldly" Silent Hill. The real city continues to live its own life and develop. This resort town is a relatively popular place for tourist pilgrimage.

There are different versions of the origin of the alternate sides of Silent Hill. According to one of them, the alternative side is the result of the rituals of a certain closed magical order that rules the city and is obsessed with the idea of building Paradise on earth through the suffering of people. According to another, the city was influenced by Toluca Lake - a local attraction. Confirmation of this theory can be found in the second part of the game (Silent Hill 2: Restless dreams). It talks about how the inquisitors who carried out the executions of witches washed their axes in the waters of the lake, and it became cursed. Subsequently, the fog from the lake, covering the city, "brought changes with it."

Geography

Silent Hill is located on the shores of Toluca Lake, surrounded by mountains and forests and dividing the city in half into two parts - northern Paleville and southern South Vale. At the other end of the lake is the smaller town of Shepherd's Glen; the larger town of Brahms is behind the mountains; even further away is the large city of Ashfield. In addition, the real-life city of Portland (Maine) is relatively close to Silent Hill. From Ashfield, Silent Hill can be reached via the 73 Ring Road, which becomes Nathan Avenue; similar unnamed highways lead into the northern part of Silent Hill from the north (Bachmann Street) and from the east (Midway Avenue).

Paleville is the older part of the city; it includes the old Silent Hill, the business center of the city and the resort area with an amusement park. Southern South Vale, already built up during the 20th century, is an industrial area; here are attractions such as the Silent Hill Historical Society (a former Toluca prison converted into a museum), Rosewater Park, where victims of the epidemic are buried, and Brookhaven Hospital.

Thanks to the unique natural conditions in the city, there is almost always exceptional peace and tranquility. Toluca Lake attracts fishermen and boaters.

Story

The first settlements in the Silent Hill area appeared at the beginning of the 17th century, during the development of New England by colonists from Great Britain. They forced out the indigenous inhabitants of these places - the North American Indians, for whom the territory of Silent Hill was the sacred "Land of Silent Spirits"; however, Native American beliefs had a great influence on the early inhabitants of Silent Hill.

Around this time, a mystical sect known as the Order appeared in the city. In 1862, in connection with the American Civil War, a prisoner of war camp was established in the city, later transformed into the new Toluca prison, which lasted until the beginning of the 20th century. After its closure and the depletion of coal deposits, the city was turned into a resort.

In the years 1900-1920, there were many cases of mysterious disappearances of people in the city; this was partly due to the closure of the prison. The loudest episode was the disappearance of the Little Baroness pleasure yacht on Toluca Lake in 1918 - with the whole crew and passengers. The city authorities had to make great efforts to smooth out the impressions of these mysterious episodes and restore the good name of the city.

The action of all games in the series takes place in the last quarter of the 20th century and in early XXI century, without exact reference to any dates. Before the start of the first Silent Hill, the city became the center of a drug business involving the hallucinogenic drug PTV, produced from the White Claudia plant, which is endemic to the area. The production of PTV was in the hands of sectarians, and the attempts of the authorities to investigate the crimes related to it ended in nothing. It is not known exactly when the actions of the following games take place, but you can estimate from such facts. It is absolutely known that the action of the third part takes place seventeen years after the events of the first part. In the fourth part, it is mentioned that Walter Sullivan was imprisoned and committed suicide ten years before the events of the game. And after reading the note in the Wish House shelter, it can be assumed that Alessa and Walter were about the same age. That is, Walter's murders could take place even during Harry Mason's visit to the city. So, most likely, the events of the fourth game occur before the events of the third. It is not known when exactly the events of the second take place, before the first or after, but it is obvious that before the fourth, since in the game you can find a mention of Walter Sullivan in the newspaper.

Layers of reality in Silent Hill

The "real" city, inhabited by people and continuing to live a normal life, is not shown in any game in the series. However, there are characters living in it in games - such is, for example, Laura in Silent Hill 2. They do not see those nightmarish images of the city that are presented to the protagonists of the games. On the other hand, in the ordinary world, people would hardly have allowed Laura to run around the hotel, let alone the hospital. In Silent Hill, Thomas Gucci and Christopher DaSilva enter the city in a car. The city is empty, there are no monsters, no people, no fog. But moving around without respirators is dangerous, as you can get poisoned by the products of coal combustion under the city.

The "foggy" city, the image of which is approximately the same for all games in the series, looks like it has been abandoned, abandoned by people. It is covered with a dense layer of fog, through which only the nearest buildings are visible; most of the houses are boarded up, there are idle cars on the streets, electricity and water supply do not work. In Silent Hill, Silent Hill: Homecoming and Silent Hill: Origins, as well as the film "Silent Hill", the city is cut into pieces by strange bottomless pits, similar to the traces of an earthquake. In addition to fog, snow falls from the sky in the first Silent Hill (which surprises the characters, since the game is not set in winter), and ash in the Silent Hill movie and Silent Hill: Homecoming.

Perception

Silent Hill was ranked #1 in Total DVD's "7 Scariest Fictional Towns". It is one of the most famous virtual cities, whose name has become a household name. The city is regarded as a direct participant in the events, a canvas on which the developers embodied non-verbal clues to understanding the narrative. Foggy, frightening and otherworldly, it does not repel people, but attracts and personifies the dark force and negative psychoenergetics.

Write a review on the article "Silent Hill (city)"

Notes

Links

(Konami Japan)



Main series

Branches

Films

Other

Companies

Creators

An excerpt characterizing Silent Hill (city)

“If it’s difficult, please don’t,” Berg said. - I would only really like for Verushka.
“Ah, get out of here, all of you, to hell, to hell, to hell, to hell!” shouted the old count. - My head is spinning. And he left the room.
The Countess wept.
- Yes, yes, mama, very hard times! Berg said.
Natasha went out with her father and, as if thinking something with difficulty, first followed him, and then ran downstairs.
On the porch stood Petya, who was engaged in arming people who were traveling from Moscow. In the yard, the laid wagons were still standing. Two of them were untied, and an officer, supported by a batman, climbed onto one of them.
- Do you know why? - Petya asked Natasha (Natasha realized that Petya understood: why father and mother quarreled). She didn't answer.
“Because papa wanted to give all the carts to the wounded,” said Petya. “Vassilyitch told me. In my…
“In my opinion,” Natasha almost suddenly screamed, turning her embittered face to Petya, “in my opinion, this is such disgusting, such an abomination, such ... I don’t know!” Are we some kind of Germans? .. - Her throat trembled from convulsive sobs, and she, afraid of weakening and releasing a charge of her anger for nothing, turned and quickly rushed up the stairs. Berg sat beside the Countess and kindly comforted her. The count, pipe in hand, was walking around the room when Natasha, with a face disfigured by anger, burst into the room like a storm and quickly approached her mother.
- This is disgusting! This is an abomination! she screamed. “It can't be what you ordered.
Berg and the countess looked at her in bewilderment and fear. The count stopped at the window, listening.
- Mom, this is impossible; look what's in the yard! she screamed. - They stay!
- What happened to you? Who are they? What do you want?
- The wounded, that's who! It's impossible, mother; it's not like anything ... No, mama, my dear, it's not that, please forgive me, my dear ... Mama, well, what do we need, what we will take away, you just look at what is in the yard ... Mama! .. This cannot be !..
The count stood at the window and, without turning his face, listened to Natasha's words. Suddenly he sniffled and put his face close to the window.
The countess looked at her daughter, saw her face, ashamed of her mother, saw her excitement, understood why her husband now did not look back at her, and looked around her with a bewildered look.
“Oh, do as you please! Am I bothering anyone! she said, not yet suddenly giving up.
- Mommy, my dear, forgive me!
But the countess pushed her daughter away and went up to the count.
- Mon cher, you dispose of it as it should ... I don’t know this, - she said, lowering her eyes guiltily.
“Eggs ... eggs teach a chicken ...” the count said through happy tears and hugged his wife, who was glad to hide her ashamed face on his chest.
- Daddy, mommy! Can you arrange? Is it possible? .. - Natasha asked. “We will still take everything we need,” Natasha said.
The count nodded his head in the affirmative, and Natasha, with the quick run with which she ran into the burners, ran down the hall into the hall and up the stairs to the courtyard.
People gathered near Natasha and until then they could not believe the strange order that she transmitted, until the count himself, in the name of his wife, confirmed the orders to give all the carts under the wounded, and carry the chests to the pantries. Having understood the order, people with joy and trouble set to a new business. Now it not only did not seem strange to the servants, but, on the contrary, it seemed that it could not be otherwise, just as a quarter of an hour before it not only did not seem strange to anyone that they were leaving the wounded and taking things, but it seemed which could not be otherwise.
All the households, as if paying for the fact that they had not taken up this earlier, set about with troublesome new business of accommodating the wounded. The wounded crawled out of their rooms and surrounded the wagons with joyful pale faces. A rumor also spread in the neighboring houses that there were carts, and the wounded from other houses began to come to the Rostovs' courtyard. Many of the wounded asked not to take things off and only to put them on top. But once the business of dumping things had begun, it could no longer stop. It was all the same to leave all or half. In the yard lay uncleaned chests with dishes, with bronze, with paintings, mirrors, which they had so carefully packed the previous night, and everyone was looking for and found an opportunity to put this and that and give away more and more carts.
“You can still take four,” said the manager, “I’m giving my wagon, otherwise where are they?
“Yes, give me my dressing room,” said the countess. Dunyasha will sit in the carriage with me.
They also gave a dressing wagon and sent it for the wounded through two houses. All the household and servants were merrily animated. Natasha was in an enthusiastically happy animation, which she had not experienced for a long time.
- Where can I tie it? - people said, fitting the chest to the narrow back of the carriage, - you must leave at least one cart.
- Yes, what is he with? Natasha asked.
- With count books.
- Leave it. Vasilyich will remove it. It's not needed.
The cart was full of people; doubted where Pyotr Ilyich would sit.
- He's on the goats. After all, you are on the goats, Petya? Natasha screamed.
Sonya busied herself without ceasing, too; but the aim of her troubles was the opposite of Natasha's. She put away those things that should have been left; wrote them down, at the request of the countess, and tried to take with her as much as possible.

At two o'clock, the four Rostovs' crews, laid down and laid down, stood at the entrance. Carts with the wounded, one after another, drove out of the yard.
The carriage in which Prince Andrei was being carried, passing by the porch, attracted the attention of Sonya, who, together with the girl, was arranging seats for the countess in her huge tall carriage, which was standing at the entrance.
Whose wheelchair is this? Sonya asked, leaning out the carriage window.
"Don't you know, young lady?" the maid replied. - The prince is wounded: he spent the night with us and they are also coming with us.
- Yes, who is it? What's the last name?
- Our very former fiance, Prince Bolkonsky! - Sighing, answered the maid. They say dying.
Sonya jumped out of the carriage and ran to the countess. The countess, already dressed for the road, in shawls and a hat, tired, walked around the living room, waiting for her family, in order to sit with closed doors and pray before leaving. Natasha was not in the room.
“Maman,” said Sonya, “Prince Andrei is here, wounded, near death. He rides with us.
The Countess opened her eyes in fright and, grabbing Sonya by the hand, looked around.
- Natasha? she said.
And for Sonya and for the countess, this news had only one meaning in the first minute. They knew their Natasha, and the horror of what would happen to her at this news drowned out for them all sympathy for the man whom they both loved.
- Natasha doesn't know yet; but he is coming with us,” said Sonya.
Are you talking about dying?
Sonya nodded her head.
The Countess hugged Sonya and began to cry.
"God works in mysterious ways!" she thought, feeling that in everything that was being done now, the almighty hand that had previously been hidden from the eyes of people was beginning to appear.
- Well, mom, everything is ready. What are you talking about? .. - Natasha asked with a lively face, running into the room.
“Nothing,” said the Countess. - Done, let's go. And the Countess bent over her purse to hide her upset face. Sonya hugged Natasha and kissed her.
Natasha looked at her questioningly.
- What you? What happened?
- There is nothing…
- Very bad for me? .. What is it? asked sensitive Natasha.
Sonya sighed and didn't answer. The Count, Petya, m me Schoss, Mavra Kuzminishna, and Vasilyich went into the drawing-room, and, having closed the doors, they all sat down and silently, without looking at each other, sat for a few seconds.
The count was the first to get up and, sighing loudly, began to cross himself on the icon. Everyone did the same. Then the count began to embrace Mavra Kuzminishna and Vassilich, who remained in Moscow, and, while they caught his hand and kissed him on the shoulder, lightly patted them on the back, saying something indistinct, affectionately soothing. The countess went into the figurative room, and Sonya found her there on her knees in front of the remaining icons scattered along the wall. (The most expensive images, according to family legends, were taken with them.)
On the porch and in the yard, people leaving with daggers and sabers with which Petya armed them, with trousers tucked into boots and tightly belted with belts and sashes, said goodbye to those who remained.
As always on departures, much was forgotten and not properly arranged, and for quite a long time two guides stood on both sides of the open door and the steps of the carriage, preparing to help the countess, while the girls ran with pillows, bundles from home to carriages, and a carriage , and the chaise, and back.
- Everyone will forget their age! the countess said. "You know I can't sit like this." - And Dunyasha, clenching her teeth and not answering, with an expression of reproach on her face, rushed into the carriage to remake the seat.
Ah, this people! said the Count, shaking his head.
The old coachman Yefim, with whom the countess alone dared to ride, sitting high on her goats, did not even look back at what was being done behind him. He knew with thirty years of experience that it would not be soon before he would be told “God bless!” and that when they say, they will stop him two more times and send for forgotten things, and after that they will stop him again, and the countess herself will lean out of the window to him and ask him, by God, to drive more carefully on the slopes. He knew this and therefore more patiently than his horses (especially the left red one - Sokol, who kicked and, chewing, sorted out the bit) expected what would happen. At last they all sat down; the steps gathered and threw themselves into the carriage, the door slammed shut, they sent for the casket, the countess leaned out and said that she must. Then Yefim slowly took off his hat from his head and began to make the sign of the cross. The postilion and all the people did the same.
- With God! said Yefim, putting on his hat. - Pull it out! - Postilion touched. The right drawbar fell into the yoke, the high springs crunched, and the body swayed. The footman jumped on the goats on the move. The carriage shook as it left the yard onto the shaking pavement, the other carriages shook in the same way, and the train moved up the street. In the carriages, the carriage and the britzka, everyone was baptized at the church, which was opposite. The people who remained in Moscow walked on both sides of the carriages, seeing them off.