History NightmareFuel / SilentHill2

As ''VideoGame/SilentHill2'' is one of the most haunting video games of all time, expect to see a lot of NightmareFuel in this section.

* The moment at the end of the final boss fight when Maria/Mary [[MadnessMantra endlessly repeats James' name]] until he deals the final blow.

-->"Yeah, I killed that dog. It was ''fun!'' Tried to chew its own guts out! Finally died, all curled up in a ball."

* Similar to the crying baby sound DummiedOut of ''VideoGame/SilentHill3'', the sound of Mary's stifled screaming as James kills her is dummied out of this game. Found at the beginning of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOclWUgVRdY this video]] on some of the secrets in the game, it is ''incredibly'' disturbing.

* James himself is a source of nightmare fuel. He thinks he's the OnlySaneMan, but as early as the opening cutscene, he's staring into a mirror looking vacant and empty in the dark as if trying to psyche himself up -- only for the endgame to imply that this was presumably right before he was [[DrivenToSuicide going to try to kill himself somehow.]] The rest of the game has him try to be courteous to others in the town, but his thoughts always go back to Mary to an obsessive degree, as if she's the only reason he's still living, and with the truth revealed, this was all one long walk to a potential death unless he absolves himself or gives into his sin. And between the strange, almost stoic reactions to some of the weirdness going on while he freaks out in other cases, and how.. "absent" he can be in those interactions with others, it becomes clear that he's mostly emotionally numbed, and potentially even a bit psychotically violent or TheSociopath beneath that outer shell. ThroughTheEyesOfMadness usually inclines one having become insane; James is instead deluded into subconsciously punishing himself solely because he just can't cope or mentally comprehend his own guilt in one of the darkest examples of UnreliableNarrator in gaming.

* When James first picks up the portable radio item, if you didn't catch the transmission on your first play-through, it'll probably hit you on your next replay of the game. Mary is on the radio and asks in an almost desperate tone: "Why'd you ''kill'' me?! James!" What's creepy about it is if you catch it on your first playthough, you might write it off as Jame's self-blame being played with by the town, but James really did do the deed.

* When James first picks up the portable radio item, if you didn't catch the transmission on your first play-through, it'll probably hit you on your next replay of the game. Mary is on the radio and asks in an almost desperate tone: "Why'd you ''kill'' me?! James!" What's creepy about it is if you catch it on your first playthough, you might write it off as Jame's guilt being played with by the town, but James really did do the deed.

** On that [[IncrediblyLamePun note]], there's the way the game warns you that there's enemies in a room in [[AnotherSideAnotherStory Born From a Wish]]. Since there's no radio, they went with two different methods. The first one was making all of the monsters' footsteps really loud. The second? Walking into a room, only to be blasted with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlSiQ1UwLOY this]].

** The first time you get into an elevator in the hospital, a ''game show'' suddenly blares from a radio that until then only emitted static. Afterwards, Maria asks, "What was that?", and nobody ever mentions it again.

** Unlike [[VideoGame/SilentHill1 Harry Mason]], who was given a gun for self-defense and became an ActionSurvivor out of necessity, James meeting his first monster is met with him using an ImprovisedWeapon and violently beating it to death. Considering part of his guilt is being a murderer, he may suffer a HeroicBSOD over Eddie (and potentially created the second Pyramid Head as a result) but the implication seems to be that he'll messily kill anything that gets in his way out of sheer intent to find Mary for himself. Which has some nasty implications for his psyche. [[note]]In fairness to James, the Lying Figure he kills here was gnawing on a human corpse when he stumbled upon it, and as such the creature did pose an obvious threat to him.[[/note]]

** Unlike [[VideoGame/SilentHill1 Harry Mason]], who was given a gun for self-defense and became an ActionSurvivor out of necessity, James meeting his first monster is met with him using an ImprovisedWeapon and violently beating it to death. Considering part of his guilt is being a murderer, he may suffer a HeroicBSOD over Eddie (and potentially created the second Pyramid Head as a result) but the implication seems to be that he'll messily kill anything that gets in his way out of sheer intent to find Mary for himself. Which has some nasty implications for his psyche. [[note]]In fairness to James, the Lying Figure he kills here was gnawing on a human corpse when he stumbled upon it, and as such posed an obvious threat to him.[[/note]]

** Unlike [[VideoGame/SilentHill1 Harry Mason]], who was given a gun for self-defense and became an ActionSurvivor out of necessity, James meeting his first monster is met with him using an ImprovisedWeapon and violently beating it to death. Considering part of his guilt is being a murderer, he may suffer a HeroicBSOD over Eddie (and potentially created the second Pyramid Head as a result) but the implication seems to be that he'll messily kill anything that gets in his way out of sheer intent to find Mary for himself. Which has some nasty implications for his psyche.

'''As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked [[Administrivia/SpoilersOff as per policy.]] Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned.'''

[[folder: Aberrations]]

[[folder: Pyramid Head/Red Pyramid Thing]]

[[folder: The Town & Manifestations]]

** The original source for the audio clip has actually since been found. It's a stock audio clip, and unfortunately also gibberish. [[https://youtu.be/x3FllKACj70?t=399 The discovery of the original stock clip]].
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iz9bwW0djZg A cleaned up version of the whisper]] seems to say something like "See my dead wife come home to do some laundry to save me see two cars two..."

* The indecipherable whispering in Room 209 of the Blue Creek apartments. It doesn't show up in every playthrough; it's random.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iz9bwW0djZg A cleaned up version of the whisper]] seems to say something like "See my dead wife come home to do some laundry to save me see two cars two..." It's pretty difficult to make out the last bit.
** Don't worry, it's not indecipherable. It says, "[[MadnessMantra See my dead wife and go home, do some laundry, do some...]]"

* The prison graveyard. All those graves, with no explanation why it's there, with your one waiting to be filled... And the next level only reachable by jumping into it...

*** In addition, the title of this exact painting, as noted in the image above, is "Misty day, remains of judgment", which hints at Pyramid Head's nature and reason for existing here: he carries out judgment against criminals. Let that sink in a bit...up to this point, he's hounded James in several locations, seeming to relentlessly pursue him throughout the town. Also, up to this point, the player has no clue [[spoiler: James murdered Mary]], so it makes you wonder what on earth you did to piss off such a thing for it to chase you nonstop...

** The first time you get into an elevator in the hospital, a ''game show'' suddenly blares from a radio that until then only emitted static. Afterwards, Maria asks, "What was that?", and nobody ever mentions it again.

** Not far from the entrance to Woodcreek Apartments is a divider wall that has the feel of dingy hospital linens and a locked door with a message that reads "The door that wakes in darkness, opening into nightmares." At this point early in the game, one might dread when it's time to finally unlock that door and see whats on the other side. The door itself is just a shortcut, but this so you can return to west end of Southvale and retrieve the key to unlock the Historical Society to begin Jame's "nightmares" the message is referring to.

** There are quite a few moments like this in the Silent Hill Historical Society, that while in and of themselves are quite subtle, are extremely unnerving. The two most prominent examples are the several descents that James must make, which would put him almost a mile beneath the surface of Silent Hill, yet you emerge only about a dozen feet below where you entered. This instance of symbolism represents the fact that James has surrendered himself completely to what he knows to be madness, both in his search for Mary and the blind faith it takes to repeatedly jump down tunnels of unknown lengths into complete blackness. There's also a moment right before you fight Eddie where, despite having descended an immeasurable distance, James finds himself in a cemetery where there is rain and thunder, and three headstones with his, Angela's, and Eddie's names on them.
** There's a room in the Otherworld Brookhaven Hospital where you [[JumpScare periodically hear the sound of glass breaking, if you stick around after killing the nurses]].
** In the Otherworld Hospital, you can find a diary entry from the patient who was locked in the "basement's basement". When you actually get to the basement itself, there's a barred-off area you can't get to, but when you walk past it, you hear a repeated noise that sounds like a cross between a child screaming and a pig being slaughtered. And once you finally psych yourself up to enter the "basement's basement", there's nothing unusual in it except an item you need to solve a puzzle, which is arguably [[NothingIsScarier just as bad]] (what did the person who dropped their ring ''see'' down here?).

** What was really being done to the patients at Brookhaven? The staff locked at least one patient in the "basement's basement", and were neglectful enough that Joseph Barkin managed to write a message in one of the padded cells [[CouldntFindAPen in his own blood]]...

** In the Otherworld hospital, the room Maria was resting in in the regular hospital is now empty. However, if you listen, you can hear breathing.

* James himself is a source of nightmare fuel. He thinks he's the OnlySaneMan, but as early as the opening cutscene, he's staring into a mirror looking vacant and empty in the dark as if trying to psyche himself up but failing -- only for the endgame to imply that this was presumably right before he was [[DrivenToSuicide going to try to kill himself somehow.]] The rest of the game has him try to be courteous to others in the town, but his thoughts always go back to Mary to an obsessive degree, as if she's the only reason he's still living, and with the truth revealed, this was all one long walk to a potential death unless he absolves himself or gives into his sin. And between the strange, almost stoic reactions to some of the weirdness going on while he freaks out in other cases, and how.. "absent" he can be in those interactions with others, it becomes clear that he's mostly emotionally numbed, and potentially even a bit psychotically violent or TheSociopath beneath that outer shell. ThroughTheEyesOfMadness usually inclines one having become insane; James is instead deluded into subconsciously punishing himself solely because he just can't cope or mentally comprehend his own guilt in one of the darkest examples of UnreliableNarrator in gaming.

* James himself is a source of nightmare fuel.
** He thinks he's the OnlySaneMan, but as early as the opening cutscene, he's staring into a mirror looking vacant and empty in the dark as if trying to psyche himself up but failing -- only for the endgame to imply that this was presumably right before he was [[DrivenToSuicide going to try to kill himself somehow.]] The rest of the game has him try to be courteous to others in the town, but his thoughts always go back to Mary to an obsessive degree, as if she's the only reason he's still living, and with the truth revealed, this was all one long walk to a potential death unless he absolves himself or gives into his sin. And between the strange, almost stoic reactions to some of the weirdness going on while he freaks out in other cases, and how.. "absent" he can be in those interactions with others, it becomes clear that he's mostly emotionally numbed, and potentially even a bit psychotically violent or TheSociopath beneath that outer shell. ThroughTheEyesOfMadness usually inclines one having become insane; James is instead deluded into subconsciously punishing himself solely because he just can't cope or mentally comprehend his own guilt in one of the darkest examples of UnreliableNarrator in gaming.

*** The [[HellIsThatNoise sound]] of the Great Knife as he approaches is like nails on a chalkboard UpToEleven. You'll be minding your own business when suddenly ''*scree* ... '' ''*Scree* ...'' ''[[OhCrap *SCREE*]]''

* The entire game's focus on rather taboo subjects, such as sexual frustration and abuse, emotional and mental abuse, euthanasia, terminal illness, guilt, and trauma is enough to make anyone terrified.

* The [[HellHotel alternate Lakeview Hotel]], which has been both burnt and flooded. Your flashlight no longer works, which doesn't help when you have to go back into the dark basement, the room doors now teleport you around the building, and several areas that don't exist in the real world are now incorporated into it. And the ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjcazbvU1VQ music]]'': an constant vocal drone accompanied by occasional distorted hissing noises.

* Much of the historical society/prison/abyss sequence. The peak of terror occurs in the corridor before the final hole. A small corridor, with an unopenable door, the last hole... and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wC-BIfL69vw an earsplitting electronic wailing noise]] playing.