Is This Maine City the Inspiration For the ‘Silent Hill’ Video Game?

People from away's views and assumptions on New Hampshire and Maine are always interesting. They assume we're all related, we all live on farms and go cow-tipping (mostly Granite Staters), and for the most part, that all of Maine is haunted. Toss in some lobster, lighthouse, and Stephen King references, and we've pretty much run the gauntlet of assumptions.

But when you come across pictures like these, which Reddit user sixtixerr snagged, maybe it's easy to understand the haunted assumption. Especially when it indirectly relates to video games that are based in Maine.

Silent Hill video game series

According to the Silent Hill Wiki, the video game Silent Hill (and its spinoffs) is set in the fictional town of Silent Hill, Maine. In the game, Silent Hill is portrayed as a rural New England town that has a population of under 30,000 people. The main source of income for the town is tourism, but in the first game, tourism is beginning to decline in the area, perhaps due to all of the rumors surrounding Silent Hill -- that it was built on an ancient burial ground, a possible portal to Hell, and that it plays host to a supernatural alternate world known as Fog World and Otherworld.

Now clearly, we know that Maine reeks of all the awesome, is if anything, a portal or sneak peek of Heaven as opposed to Hell, and even amidst a pandemic, tourism is definitely not on the decline. But, based on the eerie similarities that exist in the portrayal of the game and the above picture of Lubec, did we just figure out the inspiration for the game?

According to Lit Reactor, absolutely not. While there are multiple references to Maine in the series, either by characters mentioning the "Maine wilderness," holding signs for Portland, or referencing Stephen King, it turns out the game is strongly influenced by Centralia, Pennsylvania, which is known for being built above a coal mine (where an underground fire still exists, just like in the game), having gases leak through cracks in the concrete, and numerous other comparisons.

But again, based on the photo above of Lubec, it can't be a complete coincidence that in the series, Silent Hill is a town in Maine, right? Even if it's a very slight one, there has to be SOME inspiration from Vacationland for the game.