I find that very familiar since Chinese religion believes that those who commit suicide will keep on experiencing the suicidal event/moment until the very date in which they would have died for real if they had not committed suicide. Since the developers of Silent Hill 3 are Japanese (whose religion was influenced by the Chinese) it is nothing strange that they would include it in their game. However, I have trouble seeing how it relates to the game(SH3). The cult doesn't believe that and I do not know of any main characters(who committed suicide) where it was hinted that they experienced what was on that magazine page.


At first I thought that the individual who pushed Heather onto the train tracks was the decapitated man's spirit( featured in the newspaper also in the subway at 45:11 of the link )but as I progressed into the game further(I'm now at the Hospital) I don't see any connection to the plot regarding the cult or any main themes of the story. Is this some sub-plot not connected to the main story?

There are definitely some things in the games that aren't related to the themes or story and just "creepy stuff", probably moreso in SH3 than the first two.

That said, while it's not as clear a direct link, the town of Silent Hill does tend to make people relive certain moments and traumas. Think of everything going down between James and Maria in 2. So, maybe more of just a tone setter for the nature of the town and how it makes people confront and experience themselves.

Would be interested in seeing if anyone had a way to connect it more directly to Heather, though. SH3 often gets less analyzed than the two that came before it, unjustly so.

I mean the obvious connection is that Heather is the reincarnation of Alessa, a person who created an entire psychic universe out of the paradox out of both her suicidal wish and her inability to die and find rest in her suffering. You know, like a ghost.

Interesting that you mention Heather being a reincarnation because the whole idea behind the Eastern belief for reliving the suicide is that you were denied your chance at reincarnation until the time of your actual death because it was your punishment for committing suicide. So that belief is actually counter/anti-reincarnation .But I won't rule out your theory.