This is Halloween: Day 4

For today's post I wanted to do something a little different. If anybody knows me then they also know that I am a huge of fan of Konami's horror video-game franchise, Silent Hill. Silent Hill is a game series which revolves around the titular town of Silent Hill. Silent Hill is a supernatural place where one's innermost fears are realized and where anyone unlucky enough to wander its fog covered streets might just find themselves trapped within their own personal Hell. So in conjunction with Halloween and one of the eeriest, creepiest, and downright most disturbing intellectual properties around, I wanted to compile a short list of my 10 favorite and most nightmare-inducing creatures from the world of Silent Hill.

Note: this list will contain disturbing images!!

10.) The Larval Stalker - Silent Hill

This thing is just plain weird! It first appears in the elementary school during the first part of the game and its only purpose is to mess with the player's head. Seriously, this thing resembles a shadowy child that just walks around and occasionally trips and falls down. It emits a creepy squeeking sound the entire time before it simply fades away and vanishes. It is perhaps the only Silent Hill denizen that does not attempt to maim you, but that doesn't stop it from freaking you out!

9.) Twin Victim - Silent Hill 4: The Room

This creature is disturbing for obvious reasons. Upon further investigation however, the Twin Victim becomes infinitely more grotesque and abhorrent. This thing is a physical manifestation (within Silent Hill 4's mythology) of two young children who were murdered by the game's primary antagonist, Walter Sullivan. What makes Sullivan even more demonic is the fact that the game essentially consists of his dead soul imprinting itself upon the protaganist's apartment (hence The Room moniker) in which Sullivan used to live (and subsequently sealed himself within the walls of the apartment prior to his suicide). The Twin Victim creature thus is a manifestation of one of Sullivan's more wicked crimes that he committed while alive (a bit confusing but if you're interested in the game's story, just leave a comment and I'll try to clarify).

8.) Scarlet - Silent Hill: Homecoming

Scarlet is a "boss" character in Silent Hill: Homecoming as well as an integral part of the game's plot. Without going into too much detail and thereby spoiling the story, Scarlet begins as an old, burnt porcelain doll. Creepy enough, right? Well, eventually Scarlet the doll emerges from a large pool of blood in the Otherside realm of Silent Hill as a towering porcelain monstrosity. Fighting and defeating Scarlett requires players to first shatter its porcelain "armor" before delivering the final blow. Scarlet is tall, lanky, and pale...and it is a large, living, creepy doll!

Note: the music during this boss fight is extremely creepy!!

7.) Remnant - Silent Hill: Origins

The Remnant creature appears in the Cedar Grove Sanitarium of Silent Hill. You read that right. A large part of the game requires players to explore an abandoned, turn of the century era, insane asylum. The Remnant is fairly easy to dispatch, but its appearance is unsettling as is the noises it makes. Essentially, the Remnant is an old medical brace that was used to restrain patients' heads if they were deemed to violent. This medical brace floats however and if players shine their in-game flashlight on this Silent Hill local, a human-shaped shadow is cast on the walls and floor surrounding the Remnant...regardless of the fact that there is nobody actually wearing the medical brace! Oh, and as for the sounds it makes, just imagine a faint, feminine sobbing sound coming from an old, floating restraint device...at least until the flashlight shines on it, then the Remnant emits a piercing shriek that makes the hair on the back of your neck prickle in fear! 

6.) The One Truth/Wall Men - Silent Hill 4: The Room

This...thing is weird. Again from Silent Hill 4, The One Truth/Wall Men is a creature (or creatures) that serves as a gatekeeper. The gate that it protects is a small door that accesses the inner subconscious of Walter Sullivan. Remember Sullivan? The serial murderer responsible for the #9 entry on this list? Yeah, he's still pretty messed up...I mean, look at this thing! Now, like I said, The One Truth/Wall Men is a creature that guards a serial killer's subconscious. The latter part of the game tasks players with literally going deeper and deeper into a sociopath's mind via a downward, spiraling staircase (if you haven't realized it yet, Silent Hill is heavy on symbollic imagery). Anyway, you face this creature and...you know what? I don't want to talk any more about The One Truth because this picture is creeping me out. Instead, just let it invade your nightmares and explain itself...

5.) Robbie the Rabbit - Silent Hill 3

This is only 1 of 2 entries on this list from Silent Hill 3. The 3rd game in the series is probably my least favorite because it simply rehashes what was learned in the first game of the franchise...it's kind of a lame cop-out, but what it lacks in story and character exposition, it definitely makes up for in creature design and overall creepiness. Robbie isn't necesarrily a creature as he is a mascot of Lakeside Amusement Park on the outskirts of Silent Hill. What else is creepier than a souless, amusement park mascot? Robbie shows up in a few Silent Hill games for the purposes of fan service. I still hate him!

4.) Puppet Nurse - Silent Hill

No Silent Hill entry would be complete without mentioning the Nurse creatures. Appearing in every Silent Hill game, this list will feature the original and most grotesque version of the Nurse. Known as the Puppet Nurse in the first Silent Hill game, this creature is named for the parasitic growth bursting from its back. The growth pulsates and quivers as the Puppet Nurse moves. Carrying a small and deadly scalpel, the Puppet Nurse is definitely creepy. Also, you have to face them in the hospital level of the game and everyone knows how creepy an old hospital can be!

3.) The Man in the Blue Coat aka Walter Sullivan - Silent Hill 4: The Room

Well, here he is. If you've been reading this blog entry then you've seen this freak's name pop up a few times. The most "human" villain in the Silent Hill universe (even if it is by mere appearances only), Walter Sullivan is creepy. At times, he'll be found sitting on a set of stairs talking to a shabby and creepy looking doll. Other times he's chasing you down with a chainsaw and a lead pipe. These are the most normal circumstances under which players will encounter Walter Sullivan. Abnormal encounters with Walter include an old hospital where he is found casually gutting a fresh corpse on an operating table. His influence permeates the entire game and sometimes if you look through the peephole in your apartment door (in-game), Walter will be there staring back at you and grinning.

2. Valtiel - Silent Hill 3

Valtiel is an odd character. Its name is a play on the French word valet which means servant. In Silent Hill 3, Valtiel is only a background creature (meaning, players never interact with it directly) who controls the "shift" to the Otherside in the world of Silent Hill. Some information states that Valtiel is the "servant of god" meaning the "god" in Silent Hill who is actually a demon worshipped by the Cult of Silent Hill. Whatever Valtiel is, it's definitely creepy. Although it never antagonizes the player throughout the game, Valtiel is always nearby doing odd things like turning valves or hanging corpses from the walls (see picture). You may notice that he is similar in appearance to the next and final entry on this list.

1.) Pyramid Head aka Red Pyramid - Silent Hill 2

This creature is the unofficial mascot of the entire Silent Hill series. Pyramid Head is grotesque, brutal, and unstoppable. Pyramid Head takes its name from the strange helmet it wears which was designed as an archaic torture device to be constantly worn for past sins. Other trademarks of Pyramid Head include its butcher's apron and its Great Knife. Yes, the creature also carries around a massive and deadly, sword-like weapon (called the Great Knife). The Great Knife is so massive that Pyramid Head has to drag it behind him as he walks creating a horrific, metallic scraping sound whenever it is nearby. Pyramid Head likes to kill things. Pyramid Head not only stalks the player throughout the game, but it is also encountered in the act of murdering whatever is in its way. Even other Silent Hill creatures have fallen victim to its massive blade.

In Silent Hill lore, the appearance of Pyramid Head takes inspiration from the garb of the town's old executioners. As frightening as Pyramid Head's appearance might be, it pales in comparison to the creature's origin.

The story of Silent Hill 2 follows a man named James Sunderland as he searches the haunted town for his dead wife. You see, Sunderland receives a mysterious letter from his deceased wife telling him that she is waiting for him in Silent Hill. Over the course of the game, Sunderland encounters Pyramid Head multiple times, with each encounter more harrowing than the previous. During the game's finale, players finally discovered that Sunderland himself murdered his wife (who was sick with an incurable disease) out of disgust and self-pity. Driven insane by his heinous act, Sunderland's guilty conscience constructs a fantasy meant to force him to face and take responsibility for his actions. This brings us to Pyramid Head. Pyramid Head is a physical manifestation of Sunderland himself. Pyramid Head is brutal, murderous, and unstoppable which is a reflection of Sunderland's true self. The most frightnening aspect of Pyramid Head is that he is essentially a dark shadow of human nature, human greed, and human selfishness...and much like Sunderland discovered, Pyramid Head can exist within any of us!

Anyway, that's the end of my list and I hope you've enjoyed a glimpse into what keeps me awake at night. Sweet dreams!

This is Halloween: Day 3

Alright! Day 3 of my Halloween-themed blog is here and to celebrate, I wanted to share a story that I heard when I was a Boy Scout. To fully appreciate this story, you need to imagine the circumstances that existed when I first heard it. We (my scout troop) were on an overnight campout somewhere in the mountains around Oakley, Idaho. I don't remember exactly where, but I need to research it so I can go back there. The place we were camping was really close to a set of old canal tunnels that had been cut through the mountain to allow for water to run through them. These canals and tunnels were not in use and hadn't been for years. Anyway, our scout leader takes us on a hike and we end up inside the longer of the two tunnels. After walking through it for a few minutes, our leader stops us and tells us to sit down because he has a story to tell. We all sat down in a small cirlce on the dirt floor and we are told to turn our flashlights off. Once the lights were out it was pitch black in the tunnel. We couldn't even see light shining in from the tunnel's entrance. And so, with the mood appropriately set, our scout leader told us the story of...

The House of Dust

There was a doctor that lived in a small mountain village during the time when technology was just beginning to emerge. As a result, the doctor was one of the only people in town to own a working telephone. The doctor had opened a modest medical practice to serve the little village which consisted of miners and sheep-herders. There was something unique about this little village, however. High up on the mountain overlooking the town there was a rather impressive looking old mansion that had been abandoned and in a state of disrepair for as long as anybody could remember. Every window and doorway was boarded up and the mansion was the subject of many of the villagers' superstitions and campfire stories.

So it was that the doctor spent his days helping the villagers whenever they had fallen ill, or broken a bone, etc. After an especially tiresome day (it was the rainy season and bad luck seemed to follow the village during this time of the year), the doctor finally closed up his little practice for the night and returned to his way home at the edge of town. The rain seemed to be especially cold and stinging as the doctor made his home. Upon reaching home, he went inside and sat down to take his wet and muddy boots off when suddenly, his telephone rang. Sighing at the prospect of having to set another broken bone, the doctor begrudgingly picked up the receiver.

"Hello," asked the doctor.

There was no response from the other end.

"HELLO," said the doctor again, louder and increasingly irritated.

Just as he was about to hang up, he heard a faint wheezing sound on the other end.

"Who is this," asked the doctor. "Are you hurt?"

"P-please...help me," said the faint voice and then the line went dead.

"Wait," yelled the doctor. "Who is this?" But the storm outside had likely severed the connection.

The doctor hung up his phone and thought for a moment about who could have called. He knew that nobody else in the village had a telephone, but he seemed to remember somebody once telling him that they had once heard that the large house overlooking the village had a telephone similar to the good doctor's. Without any other option, the doctor opened his door and headed back out into the storm.

As he made his way up the tiny path which led up the mountain toward the mansion, he started to doubt his trek.

"What if this is someone playing a trick on me," he thought as he stumbled through the mud.

After slipping and falling for what seemed like the hundredth time, the doctor thought that it was surely somebody playing a joke on him and was about to turn around and head home when the thought occured to him that if there were someone in the old house in need of help, he had to take the chance or regret his decision for the rest of his days. So after what seemed like an eternity, the doctor finally made it to the old mansion.

By now, the storm had subsided some and he had a clearer view of the old house. Never having been there himself before now, the doctor looked in awe at the large and forbidding structure looming over him. He climbed the front steps to check the door but found it to be bolted and boarded up tight. There was no possible way for him to get inside, this way. The doctor began walking around the edge of the old house in search for an alternative entrance: a side door or open window, but every possible orifice into the building was blocked. Just as the doctor was deciding to head home, the moon broke through the clouds and illuminated the ground. The doctor saw faintly in the mud, a set of footprints leading to the back of the house. The doctor retraced his steps and found that the footprints led to a cellar that he must have missed during his first inspection. The doors to the cellar were unchained and so the doctor grabbed hold of the old wood and pulled the doors open, revealing a staircase leading down into the darkness. Cursing himself for not bringing his lantern, the doctor felt his way down the old creaking staircase and came to a heavy oak door. The door was unusual for a cellar entrance and was complete with an old brass door knocker designed to look like the face of an extremely ugly little man. It almost looked like the gnomes he had read about in picture books as a child only this creature seemed more human-like somehow.

Shaking off the eerie feeling that he felt when looking at the door knocker, the doctor tried the heavy cellar door and found it surprizingly easy to push open. Once inside the cellar, the doctor had to wait for a moment for his eyes to adjust to the blackness around him. Once his eyes had focused somewhat, the doctor felt around and finally found an old brass lantern on a nearby table. Searching his coat pockets for his tobacco case, he found a small box of matches and used them to light the lantern. Grateful for some light, the doctor looked around and discovered that the old cellar was full of strange looking objects that wouldn't have been out of place in one of those creepy fortune-telling shows that sometimes accompanied traveling circuses in the big cities he had lived in while studying medicine. Finally, the doctor located a stairway leading up into the house itself and so he continued on his mission.

As he climbed the stairs, the doctor noticed that the floor was covered in a faint green-tinted dust. He was just thinking about the odd color when he came to another heavy oak door at the top of the cellar stairs. This door also had a similar looking door knocker that resembled the ugly little man. Again feeling slightly unsettled, the doctor pushed open this door and was shocked by what lay beyond it.

The room he had stepped into was a large dining room that was covered in warm light from numerous, wall-mounted lanterns and a large roaring fire in an elegant fireplace. The doctor was amazed and confused. Surely he would have seen the light through the cracks in the boards covering the house's windows. As strange as the sight was, the doctor felt some relief in realizing that somebody in need of his help was indeed in this house as evidenced by the fire and the lit lanterns.

The doctor was encouraged by this realization and began crossing the dining room to the only door in sight. While crossing the room, the doctor again noticed the green dust covering the floor. The dust seemed somehow thicker in this room than it was in the cellar, but the doctor put it out of his mind. The cellar was lit only by his own small lantern and the dining room was extremely well lit, so he logically assumed that that was reason the dust seemed thicker. As he looked closer at the green dust, two things stood out to him. First, the dust only covered the floor. It wasn't on anything else in the room. It wasn't on the furniture, or the pictures on the wall, nothing. It was as if somebody had dusted the entire room but had neglected to sweep up the floor. The second thing he noticed which seemed odd, was that there were again faint footprints in the dust but they did not lead toward the door. Instead the led toward the wall next to the fireplace where an old picture in an elaborate frame hung. Following the footprints in the dust, the doctor veered toward the fireplace. As he approached the picture on the wall next to the fireplace, he noticed that unlike every other piece of decoration in this room, the picture had small traces of the green dust covering the man in the picture. As the doctor studied this picture he was unnerved to notice that the dust seemed to change the man's appearance just enough to resemble the ugly little men that the door knockers were fashioned after. As he stared at the picture, he felt the hair on his neck prickle as he thought of the door knockers and their creepy, gnomish appearance. Soon though, the doctor found some more green dust smeared on one corner of the picture's frame. He reached out, grabbed the picture frame, and lifted it. To his surprise, he heard a grinding sound and leaped back as the fireplace shifted to one side, revealing a small passage hidden behind it.

The light danced as the doctor held his lantern up and peered into the dark passage way behind the fireplace. The footprints in the dust indeed led into the shadows of the passage and so the doctor swallowed his unease and stepped inside, having to stoop to accomodate the passage's tight structure. The doctor followed the passage for a brief time when he came to another heavy oak door. This door was designed in the same fashion as the other doors of the house (complete with the "ugly man" door knocker) except that this door was smaller in size to fit the dimensions of the small passage. The doctor hesitated briefly before deciding to press on, wishing he had brought something along besides his medical bag...something preferably sharp and pointed! He reached out and grabbed hold of the brass door-knob and pushed the door open to discover another staircase leading down into the bowels of the old mansion.

As the doctor descended the stairs, the green dust was indeed growing thicker as it covered the toes of his boots as he followed the footprints into the maw of darkness. Soon he came to another oak door that was even smaller than the previous door. Sure enough this door had a brass knocker resembling the "ugly man". To far into this mysterious house to turn back, the doctor twisted the door-knob and pushed open the door out of sheer, macabre curiosity. Light burst through the open doorway and the doctor had to squint at the brightness of it after being in the dark passage for so long. As his eyes grew accustomed to the light, the doctor saw a long oak table in the center of the room and a roaring fire in another elegantly decorated fireplace on the opposite wall. The floor in this room was covered in the now familiar green dust and it was so thick that it completely covered the doctor's boots up to his ankles. The doctor gazed around the room in awe at the strangeness of the place.

"Surely, a mad-man built this twisted residence," he thought to himself.

The doctor gazed at his strange surroundings for at least 5 minutes before he realized that he was not alone. At the end of the long oak table near the fireplace, a small figure was sitting in an ornate chair, slumped over the edge of the arm.

The doctor rushed over to the chair, turned it around, and came face to face with the ugly little man that adorned every door in this house. The man's eyes were closed and he appeared to be dead. In his hand was a telephone receiver that was attached to an old telephone sitting on the end of the oak table. As ugly as this "man" was the doctor was shocked to discover that his skin was a pale green color and that he was very small. The doctor estimated that the little green man was only about 3 feet tall. The doctor set his medical bag on the table and touched the green man's neck, checking for a pulse. Suddenly, the green man's eyes rolled open and he stared at the doctor with small, black eyes. The doctor stood transfixed by the green man's gaze. Everything about this night was strange and the doctor could not begin to imagine explaining this to anybody from town. The doctor snapped out of his trance and asked the man if he was ok. The green man opened his mouth and let out a piercing shriek that made the doctor's very soul shudder in fear. As the green man howled, the doctor heard a loud banging sound coming form the house above and he realized that every single one of the brass door knockers were banging vigorously as the green man screamed. Then, there was silence.

The green man grasped the doctor's wrist and smiled as a small trickle of blood ran from the corner of his mouth. As the doctor tried to pull away, the green man crumbled into a pile of green dust. The doctor jumped back in shock and then noticed that his wrist where the green man had grasped him had an itching sensation to it. Looking at his wrist, he realized that his skin was beginning to turn the same shade of green as the green man and the dust scattered all over this bizarre house. The doctor leaped across the table and grabbed the telephone and wheezed into the receiver:

"P-please...help me."

This is Halloween: Day 2

Hello Again! For today's spooky post, I decided to share a poem that I wrote a while ago. The poem is based on a rather odd and disturbing dream I had one night. In my dream, I was lying in bed and there was a scratching sound coming from the floor. As I investigated the noise, I discovered that there was an odd little man living in the space underneath the floorboards. The man in the floor was short (around 3 to 4 feet) and he was bald except for a few wisps of bright yellow hair dispersed across his head at odd intervals. He was very thin as if he had been living in the floor for a very long time and thus suffered from malnourishment.

Other than his appearance, he didn't disturb me in any other way while I was dreaming. Even the fact that he lived in the floor didn't seem to upset me and I went about my day (in my dream) as if this were normal. The man in the floor would scuttle along wherever I went in the house, but that was all. He wasn't overtly intimidating in any way.

When I woke up from the dream, I began to get progressively more and more creeped out about the man. The more I thought about him, the more uncomfortable I felt. I decided to write a short poem about him for no other reason than to share my discomfort of the dream with anyone willing to read it.

So, I now give you...

The Floor Man
By C. Colt Crane

"Last night my mind wandered through dreams while I slept.
Through my dreams as I slept, the Man in the floor crept.
The Man in the floor, he scratched and he scuttled,
Yet through the noise of my dreams, my mind was not troubled.
So with my mind far away and my cares obsolete,
I traveled my dreams until a child I did meet.
The child, so young, broke the silence and screamed:
Beware of the Floor Man, the Stealer of Dreams!"

So there it is, nothing too fancy but I hope you enjoyed it for what it is. The Floor Man intrigues me and I find that he is always lurking in the shadowy recesses of my thoughts, waiting to frighten me with his scratching and scuttling!

This is Halloween!

In honor of Halloween and the numerous spooks and spirits that roam the land during this frightful month, I thought it would be fun to post a few creepy experiences and tales of the macabre that have occurred recently. I will be posting the stories throughout the rest of the month so stay tuned and Enjoy! (Make sure your speakers are on to appreciate the full effect)

The Last Apartment: Part I

So, some of you might know this already but for those that don't I will fill you in quickly. Michelle, Cash, and I currently live in an abandoned apartment complex. We live in the only finished apartment and I act as a caretaker/security detail to dissuade any ne'er-do-wells from vandalizing the premises. As part of my duties, I walk the grounds every morning and night to make sure doors are locked, no trespassers are around, etc. This story happened on one of those nights.

It was dark out and I was making my rounds, making sure everything was as it should be. As I came to the final building in the apartment complex, I noticed something odd about the apartment on the farthest side of the property...there was a light on in the bathroom (I could see this through the window). I checked the door to the apartment and found it unlocked. This was a little unnerving since it was dark out and there was a very good possibility that a transient had decided to squat in this apartment for the night.

Mustering my courage, I pushed the door open and called out to see if anybody was inside the apartment. I heard no answer or any other indication that a person was inside so I entered and slowly made my way into the bathroom (which was the master bathroom off the main bedroom in the back of the apartment). I reached the bathroom and switched the light off after making sure nobody was in there. As soon as the light was out, I heard a noise behind me and spun around to see the bedroom door slowly shutting by its own accord. I instantly froze not knowing what to think as the door closed itself completely. I saw and heard the click of the door's mechanism as it was "pulled" shut.

With the door shut and my blood pounding in my skull, I stood in the center of the bedroom with my flashlight for a good 5 minutes trying to work up the courage to cross the few feet seperating myself from the doorway so I could get out of that apartment. Finally I made up my mind and I crossed the room, grabbed the doorknob and twisted it open, stepped quickly into the hallway and made a dash for the front door feeling for sure that something was following me all the way out into the cold, dark night.

Once outside, I was able to breath again as a realized that I had been holding my breath. I locked the door and went inside my own apartment for the night after making sure the doors were locked behind me and all the windows were closed tight!

The Last Apartment: Part II

The following night, I was again making my rounds and again I approached the last apartment to once again find another light on inside. This time it was the hallway light. I checked the front door and it was still locked just as I had left it the previous night. I found the key to the apartment and opened it slowly, again calling out to ensure the place was indeed empty and void of any human presence. There was no response. Luckily, I didn't have to traverse the deeper rooms of the apartment as the switch for the hallway light was close to the front door. I flipped the switch and exited the apartment, locking the door behind me. Since that night, the light has remained off, but I still get a weird feeling when I walk past the door to the last apartment.

As a side note to this story, Kota (our dog) does not enter this particular apartment with me. He has no qualms about entering any of the other apartments, but as for the last apartment. He stops at the door and waits for me to come back...creepy.

Comments are welcome and appreciated for this post.

Another Blog

We have found that blogging is not our forte. But here we are adding another one to let all (or one) of our faithful readers know that we are pregnant again. Yes that's right, we are expecting another child in a few short months. Due date is 4-7-11. I know what you are thinking and Cash will be 16 months when the new child arrives. Here we go again!