Silent Hill was a great horror movie that scared millions of people. It was made into a game first, which millions more people played. Then with the success of the game in 1999, Silent Hill became the movie millions of people have witnessed.
What if Silent Hill was a real place, would you go visit there or send your enemies there? For those of you who have never seen the movie, it tells the story of a vast wasteland, which once was a thriving town. This 2006 film, which was written by Roger Avery and directed by Christopher Gans.
The plot of the movie is a mother and daughter trip to a deserted town. The town they go to is called Silent Hill, which is what the girl calls out as she is sleepwalking. As the skid into the outskirts of the town, a crash makes the mom unconscious, when she is aroused she discovers her daughter among the missing.
As the mom searches for her daughter the story of the town is revealed, but I will not reveal the plot. On a scale of 1 to 5, I would give this movie a five as it is very cool and well worth the watch. I have had a fascination with the movie and have watched it several times. I have remarked to a few people that is there was a real town like that I would love to go just to check it out, of course I would carry a crucifix with me.
Well, as is turns out there is a real town that the movie and game Silent Hill were based on. The real town is not haunted with super natural forces but it is deserted just the same. There are rumors that the town is haunted, but the fact of the matter is a total natural disaster has caused the real town to become deserted.
In the movie, Silent hill is deserted because of a coalmine fire that has been burning for years and in real life, the small Pennsylvania town of Centralia is deserted because of the uncontrollable coalmine fire that has been burning since 1962.
After millions of dollars were spent, trying to extinguish the coalmine fire the government simply bought up the town and relocated the people who once lived there. A natural disaster that caused this deserted town that is slowly fading into the past. However with the under ground fire and the supply of coal down there this fire could conceivably burn for another decade. The edges of this fire are encroaching on the town of Ashland, which is a neighboring town.
As of 1981, a little over a thousand residents called Centralia home, but most of them left before the decade was over. Now days the town does not exist on maps and the postal service has revoked the zip code, yet many people visit. The edge of the town is clearly marked with detour signs, as the government does not want any one in the town for safety reasons. Yet with the popularity of the movie and the video games, Silent Hill is one place more people wish to visit each year.
Resources:
http://www.offroaders.com/album/centralia/Silent-Hill.htm (tons of photographs of the real town, it’s an excellent resource on the real life Silent Hill, aka Centralia, Pennsylvania.)
http://www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/silenthill/ Official Sony Pictures Silent Hill movie website.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Hill_%28film%29 the Wikipedia page about the movie
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Hill the Wikipedia page about the video games
