Midwich Elementary School

The entrance to Midwich Elementary School

Location

Midwich St.

Floors

2

Boss(es)

Split Head

Appearances

Silent Hill
Silent Hill film
Dying Inside

This article is for Midwich Elementary School as seen in Silent Hill and its film adaptation. For the school in Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, see Midwich High School.

Midwich Elementary School is a school located on the south-west side of Old Silent Hill, on Midwich Street. Alessa Gillespie was a student there, and it is an important location in the first Silent Hill game. Midwich Elementary School was also featured in the film and comic series.

Appearances

Silent Hill

In the original Silent Hill, the school plays as the first major building in Silent Hill that Harry Mason explores, in a bid to find his adopted daughter, Cheryl Mason, who left clues to her next possible location in the form of scrawls from her sketchbook.

During Harry's visit to the school, he encounters the Grey Children (or Mumblers in the PAL and NTSC-J version), as well as an assortment of various riddles and puzzles that will ultimately lead him to the Otherworld version of the school. Midwich Elementary is the first building Harry visits that undergoes a complete Otherworld transition, though this is done during Harry's travels through the clock tower, so the transition itself is subsequently unseen.

Midwich Elementary also served as an integral part of the Silent Hill demo, which was dubbed as 'battle mode'. In this mode, the player would simply need to escape the school by finding the Lobby Key; an element that would later be replaced with a boss battle, as well as a few other minor alterations.

Silent Hill 3

In Silent Hill 3, Heather Mason does not physically enter Midwich Elementary School; however, in the church area there is a room that resembles Alessa's classroom from the first game. This is, again, the manifestation of Alessa's memories and emotions. It is also learned that Claudia Wolf was a friend of Alessa's, and possibly attended the school with her.

Silent Hill film

The film initially follows the first game by having Rose Da Silva enter the school looking for her missing daughter, only to find clues as to Alessa's life. Instead of Alessa's desk being pushed to the center, like it was in Silent Hill 3, Alessa's was put in with everyone else's but was in very poor shape. The word WITCH had been etched into the wood multiple times by other students, and Rose can see Dark Alessa's hand prints on the desk. After chasing Alessa into a bathroom on the second floor, the school shifts to the Otherworld version. However, Rose is unable to deal with the Otherworld's enviroment and creatures and later escapes with the assistance of Officer Cybil Bennett. Differences are also apparent in the appearance of Pyramid Head and the introduction of cult members in the school.

During the bathroom scene, Rose learns that Alessa was sexually assaulted by a school janitor while trying to hide from her teasing classmates. It is also in the bathroom that Christabella convinces Alessa's mother that her child must be "purified", which later turns out to mean "burned alive". In the film, Christabella is the headmistress at Midwich.

Dying Inside

Lauryn LaRoache is drawn to Midwich Elementary by her sister's evil spirit. Once there, she is forced to help her sister fight in a struggle for control of the darkness covering Silent Hill.

Known students

• Alessa Gillespie
• Emilie Anderson
• Lisa Garland

Known teachers

• K. Gordon - K. Gordon was one of Alessa's teachers, as revealed in her notebook in Silent Hill 3. In the first game, Harry finds her house key and uses it to enter her house to progress through the town.
• T. Moore
• L. Ranaldo
• S. Shelley

Trivia

• In one of the bathrooms in the Otherworld version of the school, a corpse can be found close to some writing on the wall. Written is "Leonard Rhine 'The Monster Lurks.'" This is most likely a homage to Dean Koontz's Phantoms, specifically "Timothy Flyte 'The Ancient Enemy.'"
• The design of the elementary school was heavily designed after the school in Kindergarten Cop.
• In the film, a symbol similar to the Seal of Metatron can be seen in the Otherworld version of the school when Dark Alessa appears at her desk.
• The corpse found in the bathroom in the game inspired the janitor monster seen in the film.
• The teachers, listed on a memo in the reception area, are named for the members of Sonic Youth.
• The school shares the same name as the school from the film Village of the Damned.

Gallery

Alternate school reception.

Alternate school library.

Concept art of the music room.

Concept art of the clock tower.

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