Is Silent Hill a Real Town?

The Silent Hill 2 remake is just one of several Silent Hill games that Konami has in the works, some more directly connected to the town than others. But is it a place you can actually visit? Is Silent Hill a real town? Here’s the answer.

Does the Town of Silent Hill Really Exist?

The town of Silent Hill does not actually exist. Some games and movie feature real-world locations; Fallout New Vegas fans, for example, can and do visit the town of Goodsprings, Nevada. They can stand outside the saloon you visit in-game and take selfies. And The Blair Witch, several movies and games, featured the real-life town of Burkittsville, Maryland.

There are plenty of real-life ghost towns, towns which are empty or nearly abandoned; some because the town’s industry collapsed, others because of disasters. However, the in-game Silent Hill may not be a ghost town. It appears that the otherworld is ‘behind’ the real world, and that, in some games, at least the town’s inhabitants are getting on with their lives.

Related: Silent Hill 2 Is Still a Masterclass on Multiple Endings in Video Games

However, there is no real American town called Silent Hill and, as confirmed by this interview, it was not specifically modelled on any actual town.

“We deliberately did not use an actual place, since it might cause inconsistency with the real thing. However, with the name Silent Hill, we got a hint from a real place in Japan,” explains Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama.

What Does Centralia Have to Do With Silent Hill?

Some online sources suggest that Centralia is the real Silent Hill, that it’s the town that inspired the game, but that’s a case of crossed wires. It did not inspire the game, but it did inspire Silent Hill the movie.

Centralia, Pennsylvania is virtually a ghost town, with a population of just 5, according to this census. Its population has dwindled, because of underground coal fires that began in the 1960s, posing a safety hazard to residents. It’s now become an official tourist attraction, with some suggesting the fires could burn for 500 years.

It’s those coal fires that serve as a plot point in Christophe Gans’ movie Silent Hill, and serve as the reason why, unlike the game’s Silent Hill, the town is officially abandoned. The fog appears, at first, to be the smoke from the burning fires, but it becomes clear that’s far from the case.

According to Gans, the movie was briefly called ‘Centralia’, partly to hide its true nature and partly because it was based on the town.

“Roger Avary discovered this town that had been destroyed by a coal fire and was completely uninhabitable. In the game, Silent Hill is also a mining town caught between the “Foggy” world and the “Darkness.” Centralia was used as our reference to create a third dimension “Reality.” I loved the fact that a lot of fans discovered that it was a clue,” he explains.

The answer, then, to Is Silent Hill a real town is no, it’s not, and the Silent Hill of the games isn’t based on a real town. But the town featured in Christopher Gans’ Silent Hill movie is based on the real town of Centralia.