Subway world bathroom

[Butcher Incarnate]

This isn't important or anything and just out of curiosity , but has anyone ever wondered what or who makes a noise that sounds like a stick of wood being dropped??

[SHF]

From what I remember, it's the first Subway World visit, when Henry enters the Women's restroom, and he can enter the far stall.... the sound could be the toilet lid or something...
Or some type of reference to Japanese noire myth of bathrooms...

[Butcher Incarnate]

Oh ok I see , it also happens in the mens bathroom if you go in there first

[KingCrimson]

I always thought it was a broom or a mop falling over.

[PoemOfTheLastMoment]

Same here. but the fact that the audio was intentionally put there should mean that there's a hidden message underneath.

[SHF]

The legend of Hanako-san is an influence in Silent Hill 3 (The Mall bathroom part), and it may be the reason for the noise and the mannequin in SH4 as well... I can't seem to find a better explanation.

Or it could be an accidental sound that wasn't filtered out in the final make of the game, highly unlikely though

[five5sixers]

Cooould also just be a sound to startle you a bit and put you on edge. I'm sure the sound itself is that of a broom or mop falling over but there doesn't necessarily have to be a deep meaning behind every noise the Otherworld makes. It's often quite noisy and gurgly for seemingly no good reason anyway.

[SHF]

^
I usually try not to think of things as just pure scare tactics... team silent usually are more creative than that.

After all, it is the last game produced by the remaining members of the team....

[five5sixers]

Don't forget, though, that it is still a horror game and they've done stuff like that before.

PRIME_BBCODE_SPOILER_SHOW PRIME_BBCODE_SPOILER:

In Silent Hill 2 there was a bathroom scene later on where James could knock on a bathroom stall and as he was going to leave the room there was a loud scream. It came from the stall, yes, but there was literally no one there to make it. Same for the scream that happened when he completed the three tablet puzzle in the prison. And in 3 there's another bathroom stall scene that involves a bunch of blood; it literally serves no purpose other than to be creepy.

While Team Silent is certainly very careful about the way they do horror and are sure to make everything fit as well as they can, there's no feasible way for every single tiny little noise or whisper to have 100% relevance to the plot.

[Doctor Eggnog]

^ Totally agree. It's just there to scare you. It doesn't freaking work, but that doesn't mean it should have something to do with the story. It's just a poorly implemented random sound.

[Butcher Incarnate]

Or it could be both a scare tactic with a reason or a reference behind it .

[SHF]

^
This. These sounds are relative to the Japanese ghost stories, especially the particular one I mentioned before, Team Silent even said this in the Making of SH3 if I am correct

[Augophthalmoses]

Don't forget, though, that it is still a horror game and they've done stuff like that before.

PRIME_BBCODE_SPOILER_SHOW PRIME_BBCODE_SPOILER:

In Silent Hill 2 there was a bathroom scene later on where James could knock on a bathroom stall and as he was going to leave the room there was a loud scream. It came from the stall, yes, but there was literally no one there to make it. Same for the scream that happened when he completed the three tablet puzzle in the prison. And in 3 there's another bathroom stall scene that involves a bunch of blood; it literally serves no purpose other than to be creepy.

While Team Silent is certainly very careful about the way they do horror and are sure to make everything fit as well as they can, there's no feasible way for every single tiny little noise or whisper to have 100% relevance to the plot.

Precisely. But the problem is Silent Hill has had so many hidden details and references with hidden meanings that it's become a habit for every single thing in the games to be theorized about as if every little nook and cranny has some deep, thought provoking meaning behind it.

[mikefile]

^ I agree with that. I'm sure there are several elements in the SH universe that serve no other purpose than pure creepiness. However, they do have a simple meaning. This may sound timeserving, but a creepy noise coming from a bathroom door, or a loud scream out of nowhere, or even an extra bloody toilet may imply nothing else but the disturbance of someone's psyche. When you have walking manifestation caused by the murder of your wife, or when you're a living reincarnation of a crazy cult's deity, or even just an asset of some psycho's mental kingdom, willing to give birth to his own mother, you really don't need any other explanation than that these individuals are deeply disturbed.

An unsettling sound can basically be interpreted as a genuine fear factor caused by the subject's mind. Sometimes, when you have a nightmare, some elements are freakishly scary, but they don't necessarily need to support a deep Freudian message.

[Butcher Incarnate]

^ I agree with that. I'm sure there are several elements in the SH universe that serve no other purpose than pure creepiness. However, they do have a simple meaning. This may sound timeserving, but a creepy noise coming from a bathroom door, or a loud scream out of nowhere, or even an extra bloody toilet may imply nothing else but the disturbance of someone's psyche. When you have walking manifestation caused by the murder of your wife, or when you're a living reincarnation of a crazy cult's deity, or even just an asset of some psycho's mental kingdom, willing to give birth to his own mother, you really don't need any other explanation than that these individuals are deeply disturbed.

An unsettling sound can basically be interpreted as a genuine fear factor caused by the subject's mind. Sometimes, when you have a nightmare, some elements are freakishly scary, but they don't necessarily need to support a deep Freudian message.

Well the thing is, that sounds isn't unsettling, well at least to me, if it was like the **Spoiler/) bathroom scene in SH2 where you knock on the 3rd stall door and just as your about to leave the room you hear a scream **Spoiler/) now that's unsettling . Maybe SHF is right and it could be that.

[mikefile]

I was simply referring to the general details, as if not 100% of the elements should have a deeper meaning. It doesn't really matter if it's unsettling or not.

[Fevered Dream]

It's not really one of the best Silent Hill bathroom scares in the series (it that's even what it was intended to be), and is kind of random. But, others have suggested that it may be the sound of someone dropping a broom or something that's coming from the real world, as if there's some sort of slight "tear" between it and the otherworld where Henry is at the time. That's the only real plausible explanation aside from the typical random, spooky sounds you hear in the games.

[The SH Champion]

I always wondered about that noise too. To me, it sounds like some wood falling but I can never say exactly where it is in the bathroom though.

[I, Rabbit]

I got the noise after you find the mannequin with the coin, i remember it. I always thought it was the mannequin making the noise, the first time i heard it i legged it as fast as henry's legs could carry us out of there and didn't look back. When i got a bit braver in play throughs i went up to the mannequin thinking maybe it's arm would be down or something? No, nothing of the sort. It's just a weird noise, but every time i played through i expected the mannequin's arm to have fallen down, seeing as i only got the noise after turning away from taking the coin from it's hand.
As far as bathroom scares go, sh4's is kind of lame.