Game Break

This first video is the "History of the Silent Hill", for anyone not familiar with the game. It's fun to watch and it puts you in the mood for the next video.

(vid via KingMetalliX)


This next video is, "Footage from the real Silent Hill" Centralia, PA
Did Centralia, PA really inspire Silent Hill?

(vid via intelinside5)


Did Centralia, PA inspire Silent Hill? Before I answer that question some background on this town. "As recently as 1981 there were over 1,000 residents living in Centralia, although the population has now dwindled to 11, as a result of a 40 year mine fire burning beneath the borough. Not unlike Silent Hill, which was left deserted since devastating coal fires ravaged the town and its people.

A trash fire was lit in an abandoned mine pit in Centralia, in 1962. The fire ignited an exposed vein of coal and spread throughout the mines beneath the borough. Several attempts have been made and millions of dollars have been spent unsuccessfully to extinguish this fire, that still burns today." "It is estimated that the fire has enough fuel for another 250 years."

Tragic circumstances but was this town the inspiration for Silent Hill. Yes... well at least that's what the screenwriter of "Silent Hill The Movie" says. "In researching different elements of Silent Hill, screenwriter Roger Avary came across a town called Centralia, which is in Pennsylvania. Centralia planted the seed for what developed into the town of Silent Hill."

Was it the inspiration for the video game series? Kind of seems that way to me. If you look at the second video, you see the atmospheric fog, and the huge cracks in the ground. The town is completely desolate aside from a few people. The series debut in 1999 the tragedy in Centralia began in 1962. What do you think? Would you go to Centralia... alone... at night?


(first heard of second video on digg, this led to my idea for this post, submitted to digg by TheKipper.)

(sources of info for this post came form wikipedia.org, and comingsoon.net)