The 2006 horror film, Silent Hill, was partially inspired by the town of Centralia, PA. The film itself is an adaptation of the Silent Hill video game series which was first released by Konami in 1999.
Silent Hill was directed by Christophe Gans and written by Roger Avary, Christophe Gans, and Nicolas Boukhrief. The three began adapting the video game series into a film during 2004. Avary later revealed that while imagining an unsettling location for the film’s story, he was inspired by Centralia, Pennsylvania.
Steam rises from a fissure in old Route 61 in Centralia PA. Credit: Flickr/alexk_ma
According to Avary, he heard many stories about Centralia while growing up, since his father was a mine engineer. The town’s sink holes, long burning mine fire, and fog would all make their way into his adaptation of the video game series.
The parallels between the villages of Centralia and Silent Hill are easily visible in the film. Silent Hill is located in coal region of West Virginia, just as Centralia was founded in a coal mining area in Pennsylvania.
Steam from the Centralia mine fire. Credit: SometimesInteresting.com
In the town of Silent Hill, a thick blanket of fog and ash descend from the sky. While Centralia lacks falling ash, it certainly has plenty of fog, gasses, and steam venting from the underground mine fire. The town of Silent Hill also has huge cracks and fissures in the roads. These are found in Centralia too, especially along the abandoned section of Route 61.
Finally, in the movie it is eventually discovered that Silent Hill was abandoned 30 years before due to a coal seam fire. This is exactly what caused Centralia, PA to be evacuated and razed during the 1980s.
- Learn about why Centralia’s residents left the town
- Read about abandoned Route 61, the “Graffiti Highway”
Centralia PA is Silent Hill. Credit: Flickr/erin_m
Though it lacks the demons, cults, and evil spirits, Centralia has many of the other disturbing elements found in the film. In that sense Centralia, Pennsylvania is the real-life Silent Hill.
I think if you were to model “Silent Hill” after anyplace it would be a combination of Centralia and Dicksmont Sanatarium (before they tried to build a Walmart on it) in Pittsburg near McKees Rocks… The Dark Parts of the movie looks just like Dicksmont did. There were MILES of underground tunnels down there… They gave up building the WalMart after the ground collapsed last I heard.
Any comments on this. Can you still visit this town.
Yes you can
Yes people visit all the time
yes u can, I did & u can, literally just don’t get caught by the guards
so you can’t go?
Wanted info on playing at the Angela Triplex Theatre in Coaldale, Pa
Is that real?!
Can we go there and walk around ND if so do we have to put safety gear on?
You can go there without safety gear. The graffiti highway is easy to get there and seems to have virtually no security. There is no longer steam rising from the ground, at least not when I visited. It seems the fires have died down enough that you wouldn’t know they were even still burning… if they even still are.
The fires are still burning just farther in the ground
The Wal-Mart would have made it more horrifying for sure!
The movie is so cool I love to go there woundering if it is truely haunted
yea, XD
When on the graffiti highway has anyone felt a presence around them like they are being watched
No, not at all
Can you get into it free and walk around.
Yes
You all have very poor grammar. You should go back to kindergarten and stop thinking about trying to visit an old mining town.
Oh hop off. At least these people are keeping the memory alive.
Wow are there anything that comes out in silent Hill