Silent Hill is a ghost town. Ghost town of Centralia - prototype of Silent Hill Ghost town silent hill history

Underground fire.
In May 1962, the Centralia City Council hired five volunteer firefighters to clean up the city's garbage dump, located in an abandoned open pit near the Odd Fellows Cemetery. This was done before Memorial Day (the day of remembrance of those fallen in the American Civil War of 1861-65, in the Spanish-American and other wars, celebrated on May 30 - approx. 91-60-91), as in previous years, but earlier urban garbage dumps were located in other places. The firefighters, as they had done in the past, wanted to set the trash piles on fire, let them burn for a while, and then put the fire out. At least that's what they thought...
Due to the fire not being completely extinguished by firefighters, deeper deposits of debris began to smolder and the fire eventually spread through an opening in the mine to other abandoned coal mines near Centralia. Attempts to extinguish the fire were unsuccessful, and it continued to rage throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Several people complained of deteriorating health caused by the release of carbon monoxide.
In 1979, local residents finally learned the true extent of the problem when a gas station owner inserted a stick into one of the underground tanks to check the fuel level. When he took out the stick, it seemed very hot. Imagine his shock when he discovered that the temperature of the gasoline in the tank was about 172 degrees Fahrenheit (77.8°C)! Statewide attention to the fire began to mount, culminating in 1981 when 12-year-old Todd Domboski fell into a four-foot-wide, 150-foot (45-meter) deep earthen well that suddenly opened up beneath his feet. The boy was saved only because his older cousin pulled him out of the mouth of the hole before he met certain death. The incident quickly brought national attention to Centralia as the investigative team (including a state representative, a senator, and a mine safety chief) coincidentally happened to be walking in Domboski's neighborhood at the exact moment of the near-fatal incident.
In 1984, Congress appropriated more than $42 million to prepare and organize the relocation of citizens. Most residents accepted the offer and moved to the neighboring communities of Mount Carmel and Ashland.
Several families decided to stay, despite warnings from government officials. In 1992, the State of Pennsylvania required a permit to expropriate all of the city's private property, citing the building's unfitness for use. The residents' subsequent attempt to obtain some kind of solution to the problem through the courts failed. In 2002, the United States Postal Service eliminated the town's zip code, 17927.

An article about the history of the town of Silent Hill, in which the events of the video game series of the same name from Konami unfold. The first part of the article analyzes the history of the town, starting from the times when the town 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 Maine. The main directions 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 large tourist centers, Silent Hill is not at all bustling with life - the city is surrounded by a mountain range (“gorgeous mountain landscape” - tourist brochure from Silent Hill 2/3) and forest, which creates the impression of the city being cut off from the rest of the world. The Silent Hill seems to have distanced itself 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 (truly, these are the cornerstones of the Silent Hill, which in the city can exist forever, and, contrary to the well-known saying, they are never erased by the passage of time). Although, if time no longer matters, then how to distinguish between a memory and a dream? Introversion, absorption in thought - this is the main characteristic of the atmosphere of Silent Hill. In this city, the outside world loses its power over a person, allowing him to immerse himself in the inner world. A truly philosophical place. People come here in search of solitude and peace. However, despite the frequent advertising of Silent Hill on the radio, the city is still not very popular among tourists - apparently, not everyone wants peace (there are now much more active recreation enthusiasts than philosophizing maniacs and other lovers of reflection).

The general mood of the city is in some way influenced by the climate of the area - there are almost no sunny days in Silent Hill (“I hear that it’s almost never sunny in Silent Hill,” Henry Townsend says about the city in Silent Hill 4: The Room) - this emphasizes general 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 aesthetically beautiful melancholy, a companion of reflection. And when the fog intensifies in the city, and the line between reality and sleep disappears, strange things happen...

The meaning of the city name

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 here rituals of communication with the spirits of deceased brothers, who, according to the beliefs of the Indians, even after death continued to exist on the sacred land - in stones, in trees, in water... One might think that these lands seemed to attract the souls of the dead, absorbing them into themselves... And for this reason, the indigenous people called this territory the “Place of Silent Spirits” (“Place” of the Silent Spirits"). When colonizers subsequently invade the sacred lands and build a city here, they will call it "Silent Hill", which is a derivative of the old Indian name for the land, and also alludes to the mountainous and hilly terrain in which SILENT HILL is located.

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

Toluca Lake

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, every second bizarre changes in shape, constant movement, life... Then the lake, undoubtedly, is the direct opposite of this life: calm tones, constancy and immobility. Toluca blends very harmoniously with the atmosphere of Silent Hill and instills a feeling 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 represents renunciation from the world (again, remember Buddhism) and... death? Sad and wonderful 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 about Toluca: “It's Toluca lake in Silent Hill... It's beautiful... But also sad somehow..."

Well, despite the fact that the lake does not evoke particularly optimistic thoughts (especially considering the not particularly sunny weather in Silent Hill), and does not encourage fun, you can still contemplate such beauty endlessly... That’s how James Sunderland and his wife Mary spent the whole day at Lake Toluca, 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,” James recalls.

Toluca is located in the center of Silent Hill, dividing it into 2 parts: northern and southern (more precisely, into 3 parts: northwestern, northeastern and southern), 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 Lake Toluca - 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 at the bottom of Lake Toluca there are dead people who, with their bony hands, drag boats to the bottom of the lake . However, don’t pay attention - these are just meaningless stories, 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 mist may well be a manifestation of the thoughts of dead people) Only Silent Hill knows the answer to this question...

Meaning of the name: Apparently, "Toluca" is an Indian word, but the developers themselves did not provide any comments regarding its meaning. However, it is quite 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”, 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 swamp area (“The ****ers of land surroun**** **is monument was originally swamp”), inhabited by the indigenous inhabitants of America - the Indians.

They called Silent Hill the Abode of the Silent Spirits (“The Place of the Silent Spirits”) and revered it as a sacred place (“This whole area used to be a sacred place”). Sacred sacrifice rituals characteristic of the Mayan and Aztec Indians were also carried out here. As we see, the religion of this region has always been influenced by other beliefs, and even rituals were borrowed from the traditions of the Aztecs - later such religious metamorphoses will continue with the arrival of representatives of other religions to these lands, the introduction of 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 the area - the hallucinogenic White Claudia (the hallucinogenic effect of BC played a key role in ancient rituals - “Ancient records show it was used for religious Ceremonies. The hallucinogenic effect was key" ). We might think that, under the influence of a strong hallucinogenic drug, peace pipe lovers really believed that they were communicating with the spirits of their ancestors...

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

Naturally, after using White Claudia, the Indians who conducted the “spiritualistic seance” saw elements of their subconscious (just as in a dream we see elements of the subconscious), including images from their memories. Aren't the images of deceased parents and loved ones stored away in memory? For this reason, the Indians in their dreams saw images of the people they missed so much. Although, given that White Claudia allows a person to perceive “another world,” we can also think that after Klavka’s joint, the Indians could perceive the thoughts and feelings of dead people.

So, having discovered the wonderful features of Silent Hill, Native Americans began to often conduct “experiments” with the hallucinogen - soon they formed the belief that Gods live in Silent Hill (“This town, Silent Hill.... The Old Gods haven't left this place...” - says James about 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 is “reborn” 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, personifying the radiance of the divine Sun and its daily cycle of Revivals.

In addition to the almighty Sun, there were two more deities - the red pyramidal God Xuchilpaba (over time, the pronunciation will become “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 Xuchilbara and Lobsel Vis came to the “Abode of Silent Spirits” from the cultures of the Mayan 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 similarities with the language of the Mayans/Aztecs - therefore the names of the Gods are pronounced in pronunciation similar to the language of the above-mentioned tribes.

Soon, when the beliefs in the existence of Gods were firmly rooted in the consciousness of the indigenous people of America, already in the minds of many people the concept of “God” began to be closely associated with the generally accepted traditional ideas about Xuchilbar, Lobsel Vis, etc. - i.e. This is how these “Gods”, figuratively speaking, passed from one subconscious to another.

Soon, from the Aztec traditions, methods of showing special honor to the Gods came to Silent Hill - human sacrifices, 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 type of sacrifice.

What is the reason for the cruelty of rituals?

It was believed that God was pleased with human sacrifices (by the way, becoming a victim was very honorable) - human deaths. This means that God must like death. Death is invariably accompanied by suffering of the victim. Therefore, the more suffering a martyr sacrifices to God experiences, the more God will be pleased and the more he will contribute to harvests, rains, etc. An example is the traditions 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 spiritualistic sessions they could also use not only narcotic drugs, but and bloody sacrifices!).

So, from similar beliefs, the indigenous inhabitants of the “Abode of Silent Spirits” began to gradually introduce into the sacred rituals of spiritualistic sessions of communication 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 will lead to the division of the cult into the “yellow” sect (for educating potential martyrs) and the “red” (for educating executioners) sect.

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

Nahkeehona

Nahkeehona is a huge ancient stone located in the wilds of the forest. Considering 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 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 “Nah-keehona”).

In the old days, it was in this place (a forest near Toluca Lake, near the Nahkeehona stone) that the Indians performed rituals to communicate with their departed 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 spend time near it their mysterious rituals.

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

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

The article is based on materials from the Silent Hill Plot Analysis guide, the latest version of which you can find.

The general mood of the city is in some way influenced by the climate of the area - there are almost no sunny days in Silent Hill (“I hear that it’s almost never sunny in Silent Hill,” Henry Townsend says about the city in Silent Hill 4: The Room) - this emphasizes general 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 aesthetically beautiful melancholy, a companion of reflection. And when the fog intensifies in the city, and the line between reality and sleep disappears, strange things happen...

The meaning of the city name

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 here rituals of communication with the spirits of deceased brothers, who, according to the beliefs of the Indians, even after death continued to exist on the sacred land - in stones, in trees, in water... One might think that these lands seemed to attract the souls of the dead, absorbing them into themselves... And for this reason, the indigenous people called this territory “Place of Silent Spirits” (“Place”) of the Silent Spirits”). When the colonizers later invaded the sacred lands and built a city here, they would call it “Silent Hill,” which is a derivative of the old Indian name for the land, and also alludes to the mountainous and hilly terrain in which SILENT HILL is located.

Toluca Lake

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, every second bizarre changes in shape, constant movement, life... Then the lake, undoubtedly, is the direct opposite of this life: calm tones, constancy and immobility. Toluca blends very harmoniously with the atmosphere of Silent Hill and instills a feeling 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 represents renunciation from the world (again, remember Buddhism) and... death? Sad and wonderful 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 evoke particularly optimistic thoughts (especially considering the not particularly sunny weather in Silent Hill), and does not encourage fun, you can still contemplate such beauty endlessly... That’s how James Sunderland and his wife Mary spent the whole day at Lake Toluca, enjoying the aesthetic experience of contemplating the stillness of the water surface: “Our 'special place'... What could Silent Hill 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,” James recalls.

Toluca is located in the center of Silent Hill, dividing it into 2 parts: northern and southern (more precisely, into 3 parts: northwestern, northeastern and southern), 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 Lake Toluca - for example, in the 19th century the bodies of those who died from a mysterious plague were dumped there, in 1918 a ship called “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 at the bottom of Lake Toluca there are dead people who, with their bony hands, drag boats to the bottom of the lake. However, don’t pay attention - these are just meaningless stories, 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 mist may well be a manifestation of the thoughts of dead people) Only Silent Hill knows the answer to this question...

Meaning of the name: Apparently, “Toluca” is an Indian word, but the developers themselves did not provide any comments regarding its meaning. However, it is quite 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”, 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

They called Silent Hill “The Place of the Silent Spirits” and revered it as a sacred place (“This whole area used to be a sacred place”). Sacred sacrifice rituals characteristic of the Mayan and Aztec Indians were also carried out here. As we see, the religion of this region has always been influenced by other beliefs, and even rituals were borrowed from the traditions of the Aztecs - later such religious metamorphoses will continue with the arrival of representatives of other religions to these lands, the introduction of 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 the area - the hallucinogenic White Claudia (the hallucinogenic effect of BC played a key role in ancient rituals - “Ancient records show it was used for religious Ceremonies. The hallucinogenic effect was key” ). We might think that, under the influence of a strong hallucinogenic drug, peace pipe lovers really believed that they were communicating with the spirits of their ancestors...

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

What Gods did the Indians believe in?

In addition to the almighty Sun, there were two more deities - the red pyramidal God Kzuchilbaba (over time, the pronunciation will become “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 Xuchilbara and Lobsel Vis came to the “Abode of Silent Spirits” from the cultures of the Mayan 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 similarities with the language of the Mayans/Aztecs - therefore the names of the Gods are pronounced in pronunciation similar to the language of the above-mentioned tribes.

Soon, when the belief in the existence of Gods was firmly rooted in the consciousness of the indigenous people of America, in the minds of many people the concept of “God” began to be closely associated with the generally accepted traditional ideas about Xuchilbar, Lobsel Vis, etc. – i.e. This is how these “Gods”, figuratively speaking, passed from one subconscious to another.

What is the reason for the cruelty of rituals?

So, from similar beliefs, the indigenous inhabitants of the “Abode of Silent Spirits” began to gradually introduce into the sacred rituals of spiritualistic sessions of communication 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 will lead to the division of the cult into “yellow” (for the education of potential martyrs) and “red” (for the education of executioners ) sect.

Nahkeehona

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

Part 2. Birth of a cult

The end of the 17th century - the first potential “settlers” come to “The Place of the Silent Spirits”. The colonialists settled in the north of Toluca Lake (the “Old Silent Hill” area was the first to be settled - obviously from the name of the area), began to build a city there, even gave it some name (“In those days, this town went by another name”), which would later be lost forever to historians - the Indians did not remember the original name, and the descendants of the first colonialists were not left in the city (or alive?) - Lost Memories tells us about this: “But it was not the ancestors of those who now live in this town that first stole the land from these people. There were others who came before.”

In 1692, a massive witch hunt and active struggle against opponents of generally accepted religious beliefs began in Massachusetts. Soon this religious intolerance will cover the “Abode of Silent Spirits”, giving rise to a terrible confrontation between Christians and everyone who professes other beliefs...

All this time, the indigenous population of the city continued to perform rituals in the forests to the south of the lake, communicating with spirits not far from their Sacred Stone - but the colonialists clearly did not like such a neighborhood... A serious conflict began to brew between the peoples over faith.

Early 18th century. The Legend of Xuchilpub

1712-1716 - a period of active resistance of Indian tribes living in North America; the war between the indigenous population of America and the colonialists (it is known how it ended for the indigenous population).

All the inhabitants of Silent Hill were not particularly happy with the close proximity and soon a confrontation between the parties began. What could the Indians do to get their lands back? It is unlikely that bows and spears were successful weapons against the guns and muskets of the conquerors. The indigenous population had no chance to resist the colonialists with weapons, and all that the Indians could do was pray to Xuchilpaba, Lobsel Visu, etc., ask the Gods to help return the sacred lands back, and try to oppose their unshakable faith in mystical forces to the weapons of the conquerors.

It is not difficult to guess that with the increasing frequency of prayers to the Gods, sacrifices also began to become more frequent - now they became even more cruel and were of a massive nature (so that the Gods would sooner hear the prayers and drive away the arrogant conquerors). The growth of the city’s power was also spurred by open confrontation, which entailed human casualties... The negative mental energy of the victims of rituals and armed clashes accumulated at a catastrophic speed - and began to affect people. And so, one fine day, the darkness of the “other world”, which had gained enormous power, swallowed up the entire city (the same as in SH1 with Alessa’s psychic energy - note that in the 18th century, a far from ordinary plague epidemic broke out in the city – in LM it is not without reason that it is referred to exclusively as “MYSTERIOUS epidemic”) – and residents began to be sucked into the subconscious worlds of ritual victims...

An old Indian legend from Lost Memories tells about these events: “Upon the hill where the light descended, the Beast intoned his song. With words of blood, drops of mist and the vessel of night, the grave become an open field. The people wept in fear and joy at the reunion, but my faith in the salvation of Xuchilpaba did not waver”

Night (“vessel of night”). The townspeople find themselves in a “different world”, formed from the power of thoughts and feelings of victims of rituals and see the divine light over Silent Hill (“Upon the hill where the light descended”), hear sounds reminiscent of the howl of a mythical monster (“the Beast intoned his song” ) – and with their own eyes they see the Resurrection of “Kzuchilpaba” (the deity in which the Indians sacredly believed)... A collective hallucination?

Mass deaths begin (from heart attacks?) - the townspeople cannot understand the cause of these deaths and regard it as some unknown form of plague. Beginning of the 18th century (early 1700s) - due to the outbreak of the “plague”, a decision was made to leave the city. The colonizers hastily leave the settlement.

OK. 1810 Settlement

Further, serious changes begin to occur in the political life of America:
– in 1776, the Declaration of Independence of the United States is proclaimed;
– 1787. The Philadelphia Convention adopts the US Constitution;
– 1789. The US Constitution comes into force and the first presidential inauguration takes place, as George Washington is elected;
– around 1810. Unrest begins in the United States, which required the opening of prisons and special settlements to house criminals.

In this regard, the previously empty territory of the abandoned city is populated again (this time its southern part is populated - however, in those days it was more like a swamp) - this time the area is used mainly as a colony for criminals. The city is given a new name - “Silent Hill”, by analogy with the old Indian name for the sacred area.

1810 Silent Hill Prison built

The “plague” begins again in the city. It’s quite interesting that in the LM, in the paragraph about the epidemic, it says: “The town was stricken by an epidemic. It may be that because of the unforeseen deaths of the town’s population, as well as the thoughts and feelings of the prisoners, the original power that the town held was gradually distorted” – i.e. The “plague” is directly related to the constant executions in prison (“thoughts and feelings of the prisoners” – again, psychic energy). To treat those sick with the “plague”, the Brookhaven Hospital is being built - at first a small shack, with the increase in the number of “plague cases” the hospital had to be expanded (“This hospital was built in response to a great plague that followed a wave of immigration to this area. It was originally little more than a shack, but it gradually grew and grew”).

1820 - Allen Smith paints the painting “Waterfront Landscape” - in those days the city consisted of literally a few buildings (“There were a lot fewer people then, and only a handful of buildings”), because The marshy area presented a serious obstacle to development.

The year 1820 was also marked by another significant event - Maine (where Silent Hill is located) was recognized as a full-fledged US state.

1830 - active eviction of indigenous people, Indians, begins throughout America. 1840 – Silent Hill Prison is closed.

19th century. Epidemic of the “Mysterious Plague”

Let's remember all the moments associated with the “plague” in the 19th century in order to better understand its nature and causes:

– On the monument in Rosewater Park it is written: “In memory of the sixty seven who died of illness and now sleep beneath the lake” – i.e. The bodies of those who died from the “plague” were dumped directly into the lake. But doesn’t it seem strange to you that the corpses of people infected with a severe infectious disease (plague) were thrown into the water? In my opinion, this is the worst idea you can come up with - traditionally, such patients were quarantined and then burned... This means that people did not die from the plague, but from something else - most likely even the townspeople themselves did not understand, what people die from (the concept of “acute heart failure” did not exist in the 19th century).

– Let’s remember Brookhaven Hospital: why was it necessary to build a mental hospital to treat the plague? We can imagine that all patients with the “plague” showed signs of mental illness before death...

– As we remember from the plot of the SH-series, the process of intense influence of the “other world” on a person is accompanied by an acute headache, as well as heart pain, and people who died due to the influence of the power of the “other world” were usually diagnosed with a “heart attack”, although The exact reasons for the “mysterious death” were not clear.

From all of the above, it is clear that strange deaths occurred in Silent Hill - the townspeople fell into subconscious worlds (by that time a large number of such worlds should have accumulated in the city in the form of psychic energy), at first people went crazy (“The potential for this illness exists in all people and, under the right circumstances, any man or woman would be driven, like him, to 'the other side'.”), and then they were found dead from an unknown disease. It is not surprising that the townspeople could not understand the reasons for such deaths, blaming it all on the “mysterious plague” and throwing the bodies of the dead into Lake Toluca.

OK. 1850 Mine opening

Coal deposits were discovered in SH, and the Wiltse Coal Mine was opened to extract this resource, a photograph of which can be seen in the Silent Hill Historical Society - this led to the revitalization of the city, Silent Hill actually became a small mining town - it’s quite interesting that it is in such towns that most often Religious sects arise. From early morning, workers are plunged into the dark world of a coal mine - an underground world where there is no place for sunlight, and the main thing that supports people in the mines is the hope of returning home soon, the belief that at the end of the working day they will see the light again (in In the 19th century, the working day was longer, and the work was harder, because there was no technical base necessary for normal working conditions). The end of the working day, people take the elevator out of the mine, finally they see the long-awaited light at the end of the tunnel... But the next day everything repeats again - again they have to go down into the mine - and so day after day, the life of 19th century miners turns into a hopeless nightmare (and there were children among them!) - and what can support the Stakhanovites in such cases? Again, faith and hope for the best - accordingly, there is an increase in the need for religion, and where there is demand, there is supply - Christian churches are built, in addition, a gradual revival of the religion of the Indians who previously lived on the territory of Silent Hill begins, perhaps even tiny associations of Indian worshipers appear beliefs (but this is not a cult yet!), the original religion of Silent Hill begins to mix with other religious movements.

By the way, let's look at where the Wiltse Coal Mine was located. In the east of SV you can find a road called Wiltse Road - I think the road was named after the mine - so the mine was in the southeast of Silent Hill? However, James somehow ends up in a mine after the historical society and Toluca Prison - but we might think that the main character of SH2 was not in a real mine at all, but was only wandering through the labyrinths of his ideas about it...

American Civil War 1861-1865

1861 – the beginning of the civil war between the north and south of the United States.

“In the beginning, people had nothing. Their bodies ached, and their hearts held nothing but hatred. They fought endlessly, but death never came. They are despaired, stuck in the eternal quagmire” - this is how the cult myth describes this period of US history.

War engulfed Silent Hill, which led to contradictions in the city and a split of the population into two parts (“The town is drawn into the Civil War that divided the nation in two” - LM). Patrick Chester takes part in the war - perhaps even on opposite sides of the barricades with his father, Edward Chester. 1862 - a camp for prisoners of war “Toluca Prison Camp” was built.

Events of 1865

Let's once and for all deal with the mysterious events that occurred during the Civil War, and summarize everything we know so as not to return to this topic again. Silent Hill became increasingly mired in violence and human suffering. Who could stop this madness? Representatives of religious teachings, seeing the hopelessness of the situation, decided to call on God to stop the madness. Their last hope is to use ancient Indian rituals and summon God, who will build Paradise and end the war.

A man and woman unknown to us perform the ritual of the birth of God (metaphorically this is described as “the sacrifice of the Snake and the Reed”) - and the idea is indeed a success. Changes begin to occur in the surrounding world, and the townspeople begin to see a strange woman in a red robe and mysterious creatures (one of which wore a pyramid on its head). People forget about the war and unite in awe of the miracle and the Deity who has come to Silent Hill.

The “other world” of Silent Hill begins to actively invade reality. In theory, this world was supposed to draw in all the townspeople, gain even more strength and become the only reality - i.e. “Paradise” was supposed to be built in Silent Hill, but something went wrong and Birth didn’t happen. The absolute “Paradise” was never built.

Birth of a cult

The idea of building an Absolute Paradise did not pass, but many people saw “Paradise” and believed in a miracle, in the return of God. People like Nicholas (a doctor, according to myth, who unsuccessfully tried to treat God) and Jennifer Carroll take advantage of this - together they organize the cult “the Order”. Trying to bring the second birth of God closer, believers begin to look for girls to play the role of Mother of God and perform rituals with them near the birth hole (picture of myth #6: Nicholas, Jennifer with a martyr girl in a white robe in the basement of the church, near the HOLE).

Further chronology of events concerning the cult:

– The Civil War in Silent Hill, originally born from political opposition, takes on a new form – religious confrontations between Christians and cultists begin in the city (“Although the conflict was originally born from political opposition, it was distorted by future generations into an issue concerning the birth of the religious cult”) - on the shores of Lake Toluca, Christians brutally kill one of the founders, Jennifer Carroll, who maintained an unshakable faith in her God in the face of death. Even during the execution she prayed...

– A monument to Jennifer Carroll is erected in Rosewater Park, and a street in the west of Silent Hill is named Carroll street in memory of the girl.

– Nikolai *supposedly* experiences a burning ritual on himself in an attempt to summon God. Unsuccessful. But after this selfless act, the doctor posthumously becomes a holy hero of a religious organization; the cultists make Nicholas the prototype for their ideal of closeness to God - an angel named Valtiel, called to take care of God and his Mother, like the doctor.

– Immediately after the end of the Civil War, Nicholas and Jennifer are elevated to the rank of saints in the cult (as founders). “The three saints were probably established fairly recently, sometime after the Civil War,” LM tells us about Jennifer and Nikolai.

– The cult is divided into sects. A new version of the ritual for calling God is being created, based on Indian traditions, but with a significant share of innovations - 21 Sacraments.

– An opposition sect is created (the Lord’s sect), in which the blasphemous book “Crimson Tome” (“The ’21 Sacraments’ be naught but the 21 Heresies”) will later be written.

– After these events, the Holy Scriptures of the cult were lost for some reason and St. Stephen spent his whole life restoring it.

– The religious beliefs of the cult will increasingly begin to influence the life of the city. “The Order” gains enormous momentum: “Before this place was turned into a resort, everyone followed some kind of queer religion,” says Lisa Garland about the influence of the cult in Silent Hill before the town was turned into a resort.

1866 The nightmare story of the Toluca prison

In 1866 (after the end of the Civil War), the Toluca Prison Camp was converted into the Toluca Prison. The cult has a great influence on the prison - incl. there, new ritual clothing for executioners is introduced, duplicating the image of the saints of the cult - a robe and a red robe. To prevent Christians from being offended, a slit is made in the robes in the shape of a Christian cross (see the picture in the Toluca prison - the left one of the three).

In prison, brutal reprisals are carried out against criminals (and not only) - from “Please someone save me”, “Dead men, dead men”, “I do not wish to die” and “Death upon the head of sinner” we understand that often by mistake, and sometimes just for fun (“They are bloodthirsty and I am their sacrificial lamb!”) innocent people were executed. Moreover, the condemned were even given freedom of choice - they could choose their own death, the range is as follows:

– There is a gallows in the prison yard (13 steps – in the last moments of your life you begin to pay attention to such little things) – always at your service.

– Impalement is an EXTREMELY pleasant and healthy procedure – it perfectly straightens your posture. In the Toluca prison you can see a picture (the middle of three) depicting sinners impaled on the branches of a dried tree.

Now executions are also of a ritual nature - the corpses of sinners were tied to metal frames and hung for demonstrative purposes (see the painting “Misty day, remains of the Judgment”).

White and Red banquets for the Gods are held (see the painting “Crimson and White Banquet for Gods” - in the painting there are two executioners with a bucket of blood - apparently, the execution of criminals has become more reminiscent of Indian sacrifices.

Bloody Swamp

Initially, the southeastern part of Silent Hill was a swamp (later it was paved over). Let's remember the Swamp monument (you can read the full text by simply tearing out the text files from the game): “The x meters of land surrounding this monument were originally swamp, but were later filled in. From long ago, the swamp was nicknamed Blood Swamp because the executioners poured the water used to wash the execution tools in here. Perhaps it’s for that reason that many people claim to have seen ghosts in the area.” It turns out that executions were carried out here, and the executioners used the swamp to wash away the blood of sinners from the instruments of execution, which is why the swamp was later called “Bloody”. And this fact, according to the monument, may be somehow connected with the fact that people often saw ghosts in this part of the city - perhaps the souls and thoughts of the dead (executed and sacrificed to the Gods) still live on the site of the paved swamp?

Part 3. Small resort town

Late 19th century

At the end of the 19th century, mysterious disappearances of people begin in Silent Hill. According to developer comments in SH1OGFAQ, many of the disappearances were caused by cult members who were hunting girls to try to use them to bring about the birth of their God (“Among the mysterious disappearances that took place in town, there are cases in which young girls were abducted by the cult as prospective surrogate mothers”), but young people also often “disappeared”, who, fed up with a boring life in a provincial town, simply left Silent Hill far away to the big city, without warning their relatives. Old-timers of the city assured that the disappeared people were “summoned by the Gods” (“As the young people moved away, the people figured they’d been summoned by the Gods,” Lisa Garland tells about the history of the city).

In 1890, organized resistance by indigenous people across America came to an end. The reason for this was that the colonialists defeated the Indians so brutally that the latter could no longer resist. December 1890 has gone down in history as the “Wounded Knees Massacre,” or in other words, the Native American genocide—that month, hundreds of Native people (including women and children) were mercilessly killed in a bloody struggle for territory. As we understand, the numerous victims of the December genocide could also stimulate the growth of the negative force of the city...

Early 20th century. “We're happy to have you”

Over time, the cult gradually loses its position, the Wiltse Coal Mine is closed, the Toluca prison is also closed... Without radical economic changes, the city will no longer survive. And then the reconstruction of Silent Hill into a resort begins. The cult, as well as the more conservative residents, were not happy with such modernization and the arrival of “outsiders” in their small town – “Before the resort, there wasn’t really anything else out here. Everyone was so flipped out. Gotta blame it on something. Then a lot of new people came in and everyone clammed up about it,” says nurse Lisa in SH1. Hotels are opening in the city, the SHHS Historical Society is opening, the prison is being rebuilt as a historical museum, the Old Silent Hill area, abandoned in the 18th century, is being repopulated, and Business District is being developed.

1918 and 1938 Events on Toluca Lake

As we remember, the bodies of people who fell under the influence of the “other world” of the city and died from a “mysterious plague” were dumped directly into the lake. But, if a person’s consciousness goes deep into his world and can exist there forever, then with the death of the physical body, the subconscious world and thoughts of a person do not disappear, but still exist in the form of psychic energy. Now just imagine what kind of energy has accumulated at the bottom of Lake Toluca, if all the “plague victims” were dumped there (“Many corpses rest at the bottom of this lake”) - and this energy can influence people, drag them into the subconscious worlds...

So, one foggy November day in 1918, the ship “the Little Baroness” did not return to port. Neither the remains of the missing ship nor the bodies of the 14 passengers and crew of the ship were found - as if they had been swallowed up by the lake... as if they had all been swallowed up by “another world”... In 1939, an even stranger incident occurred. Since then, rumors have been circulating around the city that the dead live in the lake and drag boats to the bottom of the lake, which, in general, is not far from the truth (“Many corpses rest at the bottom of this lake. Their bony hands reach up towards the boats that pass overhead. Perhaps they reach for their comrades". After these events, the city's reputation suffered greatly.

1950s

The cult is again beginning to gradually revive (this time with satanic overtones) - and the cultists are clearly not happy with the reconstruction of the city into a resort, they do not want strangers to come to the lands of Silent Hill. At this time, mysterious deaths begin - one after another, employees of a company involved in the development of resort business in SH die in mysterious accidents. There are rumors in the city that these deaths are related to the city's religion. As we understand, the “accidents” were set up by the cultists, although it is not clear exactly how the company’s employees were eliminated (whether they simply died in accidents set up by the cult, etc., or whether the cult again stirred up something with the orphans, their mental energy and similar mysticism...)

Fire in the Business District
[Exact date unknown - approximately 1970s]

Dahlia Gillespie becomes an important figure in the cult (at this time, a boy named Walter Sullivan lives in the Wish House orphanage, who one day manages to meet the “important lady of the cult” - Dahlia).

A woman fanatically devoted to her faith tries to force her daughter to give birth to God (what was she thinking!?) and realizing the futility of “softer” methods, locks the girl in the house and sets it on fire (deliberately damaging the old boiler in the boiler room to simulate an accident). During the fire, the fire spread to other buildings and as a result, 6 houses burned down. It was officially announced that the cause of the fire was a malfunction of an outdated steam boiler (“Blaze now believed caused by malfunction of antiquated boiler” – we find in the newspapers), located in the basement of the Gillespie house, and at the site of the fire the charred remains of a 7-year-old girl were found. named after Alessa Gillespie (“Old Silent Hill newspaper article: Alessa Gillespie (7) dead in fire”). However, contrary to newspaper information (“It was ARRANGED so that Alessa’s dead body was found at the Gillespie house, which was the origin of the fire” – LM clarifies the situation) in fact, Dr. Kofmann switched the body, and the real Alessa was secretly transported to the secret second basement of the Alchemilla Hospital. But Dalia did not give up yet, she decided to force her daughter to give birth to her God at all costs...

Around the same time as the fire in the Business District, the Mason couple, returning from vacation, find an abandoned child - a girl - on the side of the road. Since the couple was childless, they decided to keep the foundling and named the child “Cheryl.”

Immediately after the fire in BD, the cult enters into an alliance with the Alchemilla hospital - a new type of drug appears - PTV (“After the fire in the business district, a drug known as “PTV” becomes prevalent in town” - Lost Memories), produced from White Claudia (“Product only available in Select areas of Silent Hill. Raw material is White Claudia” – written on the board in the police station), which the cult immediately began selling to tourists. However, this drug was quite dangerous to life - strange deaths immediately began in the city (“‘PTV’ Dealers still at large. Suspicious deaths continue” – we find in the newspaper from SH1). Soon the mayor of the city dies...

Slent Hill 1 Events
[The exact date is unknown - approximately the turn of the 70s and 80s]

When Harry Mason brings his seven-year-old daughter Cheryl at her request to Silent Hill for the weekend, mysterious events occur in the city again - everything plunges into the darkness of Alessa’s subconscious world, mysterious creatures appear in the city... However, not a single person knows the Absolute Truth about what happened. There are rumors that a UFO landed in the city at that time...

Cult between the events of SH1 and SH3

One way or another, after these events, important figures in the cult died - Michael Kofmann and Dahlia Gillespie. As a result, the cult cannot recover from such a loss for a long time. Only 10 years later, after Claudia and Vincent came to power, “the Order” begins to gain momentum again. Claudia begins searching for Alessa.

Serial murders of Walter Sullivan

Around the same time as the search for Alessa begins, the orphan Walter Sullivan, raised by the cult (“Have you found Alessa yet? How is Walter’s progress coming along?”) begins a series of ritual murders “21 Sacraments”. In 10 days, 10 people were killed (in three cities - Pleasant River, Ashfield and SH).

The local police were shocked - no one expected this. By the time the law enforcement agencies came to their senses, Walter was already preparing to carry out the Holy Assumption - but he was not destined to complete this part of the ritual on time - on the 18th, the maniac was still caught and put under arrest.

Apparently, by the time of his arrest, Sullivan began to have hallucinations due to a mental disorder, and the maniac began to think that he was surrounded by murdered victims. So, at the time of his arrest, Walter screamed “He’s trying to kill me.” He's trying to punish me. The monster... the red devil,” meaning “Red Devil” to be the head of the city’s religious sect, Jim Stone, who was killed by him (“Red Devil” was his nickname). For some reason, it seemed to the detainee that even after death, the victims were still pursuing their killer. Walter Sullivan spent 4 days in a Silenthill prison cell, becoming increasingly insane. He could no longer endure this horror and early in the morning of the 22nd he committed suicide right in his cell by stabbing himself 2 inches into his neck with an ordinary soup spoon.

On the morning of the 22nd, a guard discovered Sullivan's corpse in his cell - an examination established that death was due to loss of blood due to injury (with a spoon). After this, Sullivan’s body was buried in the cemetery in Silent Hill not far from the Wish House shelter - you can honor the memory of the maniac, for example, in SH2, when James Sunderland comes to his grave.

Sullivan's serial murders shocked the public not only with their unprecedented cruelty, but also with the fact that the maniac did not even try to hide his name from the police, carving it on the bodies of all his victims. This crime went down in history as the “Walter Sullivan Case”, and Walter himself became very famous in SH and posthumously became the hero of all psychopaths/Satanists, as well as SH fans :) (“After that, his name became famous all over the world”) - naturally, such a tragic story of Walter’s life and death could not leave anyone indifferent - it made a huge impression on James Sunderland (who, during his stay at SH, happened to learn about the adventures of the maniac from magazines), as well as on journalist Joseph Schreiber (who would later study life of a murderous maniac).

The beginning of mysterious events in Ashfield
[exact date unknown - approximately 90s]

After a series of ritual murders by Walter, various oddities also begin in the city of Ashfield. The manager of South Ashfield Heights apts, Frank Sunderland, sees with his own eyes a man in a raincoat going up the stairs - in his hands he was carrying something heavy (GreatKnife), a cup and a bag from which blood was dripping... Strange, then the man in the raincoat seemed to disappear (on in fact, Frank just saw Walter's world for a moment - and Sullivan himself, wandering around SAHapts in his world), and a resident of the house named Richard Braintree later complained that he saw someone in Apartment 302 through the window in his room... Strange... After that Frank began to hear strange sounds coming from Apartment 302. Well, as Sunderland himself said, “There are a...lot of strange things in this world...”

Events of Silent Hill 3
[the exact date is unknown - approximately the 90s, although the situation of SH3 is more reminiscent of the 80s - old TVs with manual adjustment, prehistoric telephones even without push-button dialing, only 2 ancient computers for 2 whole cities]

Soon after the resurrection of the cult, Claudia's search nevertheless yielded results - “Alessa” was finally found, now “Paradise” can be built. But... Nobody knows WHAT exactly happened to the city after that... The strength of the city after SH3 changes catastrophically... Nothing has been heard about the Silenthill cult since then (“the cult itself is gone”), and the city some time after SH3 becomes practically uninhabited ... True, the city was not abandoned immediately - this process dragged on for several years.

Events of Silent Hill 2
[exact date unknown - approximately 90s]

As we know, the inconsolable James Sunderland receives a letter from his deceased wife and comes to SH in search of irretrievably lost happiness... By this time, the city is quite abandoned (even the creators themselves in the Making of SH2 mention the city as abandoned - “traffic lights which are turned on in the DESERTED TOWN”), traces of vandalism and devastation are visible everywhere - it is clear that the southern part of SH is “not particularly” populated. The only thing that still works is the traffic lights. The cars are in the same places as in SH3 (they were either not used or abandoned altogether).

But most importantly, it seems that the city is beginning to attract sinners to itself, like a magnet...

Events of Silent Hill 4 the Room

A resident of 302 South Ashfield Heights apartments begins having recurring nightmares and suddenly discovers that the door to his apartment is locked with a chain and 13 locks on the inside. The shadow of Silent Hill looms over Ashfield...

These strange incidents are similar to the ones which occurred in Silent Hill some years ago. More news to follow…

This is where we should complete our analysis of the history of Silent Hill. New games in the series, created after the dissolution of Team Silent, bring new details to the history of the foggy town. But due to the negative attitude towards the so-called “remakes” on the part of fans of the series, we will not consider these games as a source of information.

Mages_Queen

A little about Silent Hill:

Silent Hill is a fictional city from the universe of the Silent Hill game of the same name. According to the developers, it is located in North America. According to one version, in Maine (in the film, the ghost town is located in West Virginia, next to a certain Brahams).

A couple of kilometers away is South Ashfield, and on the other side of the lake is Shepherds Glen.

A former resort, now abandoned city on the shores of Lake Toluca, which has two forms: normal and alternative Silent Hill.

There are different versions of the origin of the alternative side of Silent Hill. According to one of them, the alternative side is the result of the rituals of a certain closed magical order that controls the city and is obsessed with the idea of building Paradise on earth through the suffering of people.

Centralia

In fact, Centralia served as the inspiration for Silent Hill.

It is located in the USA, Pennsylvania.

In 1841, Jonathan Faust opened the Bull's Head tavern, and already in 1866, Centralia received city status. In 1854, Alexander V. Rea, a civil mining engineer, arrived in this city by order of the Locust Mountain Coal and Iron Company. After breaking up the land into lots, he began laying out streets. The community was originally known as "Centerville" until 1865, when a post office was opened there and the name changed to "Centralia."

The coal and anthracite industry was the main production here. It continued to operate in Centralia until the 1960s, when most of the companies went out of business. The mining industry, based on blasthole mines, continued to function until 1982. Open pit mining in this area is still ongoing, with approximately 40 workers working in underground mines about three miles to the west.

During the 1860s and 1870s the town was home to a secret society of Irish emigrants, the Molly Maguires. The founder of the town, Alexander Rea, became a victim of a contract murder. He was killed on October 17, 1868 outside the city. Three people were accused of this crime and were subsequently sentenced to hang in the center of Bloomsburg County, Pennsylvania. The sentence was carried out on March 25, 1878. Also during this period, several more murders and arson were committed.

The town was served by two railroads - the Philadelphia and Reading and The Lehigh Valley, with The Lehigh Valley being the main source of rail traffic. The railway service ceased in 1966.

The township had its own school district with several elementary schools and one high school within the surrounding area. There were also two parochial Catholic schools in the town.

The city's infrastructure was quite developed and included seven churches, five hotels, twenty-seven salons, two theaters, a bank, a post office and fourteen supermarkets. For most of the town's history, while the coal industry was active, the population was over 2,000 residents. About 500-600 more people lived in areas outside the city limits, in adjacent territories.

It started when...

In May 1962, the Centralia City Council hired five volunteer firefighters to clean up the city's garbage dump, located in an abandoned open pit near the Odd Fellows Cemetery. This was done before Memorial Day, as in previous years, but earlier urban garbage dumps were located in other places. The firefighters, as they had done in the past, wanted to set the trash piles on fire, let them burn for a while, and then put the fire out. At least that's what they thought.

Due to the fire not being completely extinguished by firefighters, deeper deposits of debris began to smolder and the fire eventually spread through an opening in the mine to other abandoned coal mines near Centralia. Attempts to extinguish the fire were unsuccessful, and it continued to rage throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Several people complained of deteriorating health caused by the release of carbon monoxide.

Joan Quigley's book, published in 2007, describes the fire as occurring on May 27 and being caused by a cigarette butt thrown away by a tractor-trailer driver. As his version, Quigley cites interviews with volunteer firefighters, a former fire chief, city officials and several witnesses to the event.

In 1979, local residents finally learned the true extent of the problem when a gas station owner inserted a stick into one of the underground tanks to check the fuel level. When he took out the stick, it seemed very hot. Imagine his shock when he discovered that the temperature of the gasoline in the tank was about 172 degrees Fahrenheit (77.8°C)!

Statewide attention to the fire began to mount, culminating in 1981 when 12-year-old Todd Domboski fell into a four-foot-wide, 150-foot (45-meter) deep earthen well that suddenly opened up beneath his feet. The boy was saved only because his older brother pulled him out of the mouth of the hole before he met certain death. The incident quickly brought national attention to Centralia as the investigative team (including a state representative, a senator, and a mine safety chief) coincidentally happened to be walking in Domboski's neighborhood at the exact moment of the near-fatal incident.

In 1984, Congress appropriated more than $42 million to prepare and organize the relocation of citizens. Most residents accepted this offer and moved to the neighboring communities of Mount Carmel and Ashland. Several families decided to stay, despite warnings from government officials.

In 1992, the State of Pennsylvania required a permit to expropriate all of the city's private property, citing the building's unfitness for use. The residents' subsequent attempt to obtain some kind of solution to the problem through the courts failed. In 2002, the U.S. Postal Service eliminated the town's zip code, 17927.

Today

Only a handful of occupied homes remain in Centralia. Most of the buildings have been demolished and at first glance the area now looks like a meadow with a few streets running through it. Some parts of Centralia are filled with newly grown forest. Most of Centralia's roads and sidewalks are also overgrown. The only remaining church in the city holds a weekly service on Saturday night. There are four cemeteries in the town. In general, Centralia's cemeteries now have a much larger "population" than the city itself.

Ghost towns.

The only signs of the fire, which covers approximately 400 acres and is spreading on four fronts, are low, round metal steam vents in the south of the town and a few signs warning of underground fires, unstable ground and carbon monoxide.

Smoke and steam can also be seen coming from an abandoned section of Pennsylvania Route 61 (which was closed in the 1990s after several large cracks appeared in the road), from areas near a hillside cemetery, and from other cracks in the ground. , scattered throughout the city. Route 61 has been rerouted and is now a bypass away from the abandoned town.

However, the underground fire is still burning and will continue to do so until an undetermined point in the future. No attempt is made to extinguish the fire. There is enough coal there to fuel this fire for 250 years.

One of the few remaining buildings was notable in that it was supported by five pillars, like chimneys, along each of two opposite walls, where the house had previously been supported by a series of adjacent buildings before they were destroyed. This house was also destroyed in September 2007.

As of late 2005, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania had not renewed its relocation contract, leaving the fate of the remaining residents uncertain.

Most of the former residents are expected to return in 2016 to open a time capsule buried in 1966 next to the memorial.

There are rumors...

Some residents who lived in Centralia believe the state's right to foreclose on their property was staged to gain mining rights to downtown anthracite.

Residents estimate its price to be more than $1 billion, although the exact amount of coal is unknown. Commonwealth officials stated that the State of Pennsylvania had no anthracite mining rights and no reason to acquire it, and no mining industry had been established in the area.

Of course, Centralia does not have the horrors that took place in Silent Hill.

The city became just a muse for Avery, who was looking for the most interesting version of the script. But the muse is very charismatic: fog periodically spreads over the city (smoke from mines burning underground), the roads and streets of empty houses are overgrown with moss and cracked. In some places, pipes protrude from the ground, from which smoke pours out. In a word, if fans of the game and the film Silent Hill want to walk through historical places, there is no better place on the map than Centralia.

What comes to mind when you think of the name Silent Hill? Of course, the computer game or film of the same name. But, probably, few of us know that there really is a city on the map of the United States, under the ground of which a fire has been going on for 47 years.

The fire near Centralia, Pennsylvania began in 1962. What’s most interesting is that it happened due to the fault of volunteer firefighters who simply decided to burn garbage in an abandoned coal mine. It turned out that in the vicinity of Central, as well as in the mine itself, a huge amount of anthracite deposits remained. According to scientists, this goodness will burn for another 250 years.

The city authorities did not pay attention to the fire for 17 years, despite numerous complaints from citizens. Officials woke up only in 1979, when the mayor of Central was personally confronted with the problem. He owned a gas station, and the temperature of gasoline in underground tanks reached 80 degrees Celsius. The problem received widespread publicity in 1981, when a 12-year-old boy almost died. The teenager was playing carefree in the courtyard of his own house when a huge hole 50 meters deep opened up under his feet. The boy was ultimately not injured, but after the incident the authorities decided to urgently evacuate local residents.

Currently there are 9 people living in Centralia. They simply did not want to leave their beloved city.